A guy I know is talking about buying an Eclipse, and I have another guy telling me they are reliable cars, and nothing ever breaks on them. So I'd like to get some input from the community about common problems, etc.

 

www.sovadsm.com

 

Depends on what you are buying. Main thing is maintence just like every other car. Check it over real good. They can be a great car or your worst nightmare. See if the car has been taking car of.

 

what kind and what year, stock or modified?

 

To start off I've had my 99 GST for about a year now, and put alittle over 15k miles on it. Over that year the only problems I've had with the car is I had to replace the stock turbo which went out after 110k miles. Then after letting a dumbass attempt to drive my car and him starting it with the gas pedal on the floor and bouncing it off the rev limiter for over ten seconds, it spun a rod bearing. My conclusion on DSM's and reliability is that as long as you keep maintenance up to date, the cars will last as long as any other "boosted" car. I still think that if you want a motor to last 200k miles than its not gonna happen with a DSM, if thats what you want buy a honda. I dont "baby" my cars driving all the time but I do keep up the maintenance. Just like any car they have common problems like crankwalk on 2nd gens, AWD cars and tranny issues, and some people have boost leak problems. Its also gonna depend on what you do to the car. If you keep it mostly stock with mild mods it'll probably last you longer than if you go frontmount with an FP Red over 20psi. I love DSM's I think they look sex and can be made fast very easily. If you can find one in good condition that hasnt been beat up I'd definently jump on it. Basically just check out the car real good and make sure you dont think it looks like it's been beat to shit and not taken care of. Hope that helps your friend out making his decision.

 

i've had mine almost 2yrs now '96 mitsu Gsx.... and i've had plenty of problems with it, but it has come along way since i bought it. it was POS and i paid way to much for it at the time but like i said it has came along way. as stated already if you take good care of it, it'll take good car of you modified or stock..

 

had a gsx for 4 yrs, they respond to mods great, dont ever skimp on the timing belt/water pump change every 60k miles, keep good oil in it, fix small problems before they become BIG problems and they are great cars. MOST stories of unreliable dsm's stem from unreliable owners doing stupid things. They are also very easy cars to work on so any problems are usually easily fixed

 

I think this statement sums up every single make of car going...

 

I've had my 95 GST for a year now. I bought it riced out and have since saved its life. After throwing roughly 7 grand into performance and maintance, I wouldn't trade the car for the world.

Its a blast to drive and it responds well to mods.

As stated before do the maintance and keep on top of the problems. Just remember you're going to be buying a car at least 8 years old, when you beat it shit breaks.