Mitsubishi Legnum

[yardman]

Mitsubishi Legnum VR4 - Any stories about these and/or reasons to avoid?

We're looking for a decent-ish 4wd wagon with a bit of grunt and this seems to tick all the boxes (except for the occasional hideous interior) including the fairly low pricing.

I've done a bit of reading and expect it needs careful ownership in terms of service intervals and the 4wd system - which I'm happy enough with.

Thoughts?

[sensible]

A mate of mine has one and has had no problems in the 4 years of ownership

Goes very hard with a bit of extra boost

[ariddell]

I had one back in the UK for a bit before we emigrated.

Great car if you don't mind changing the fluids every 5000km or so, especially the AYC fluid.

Most have the horrible blue velour interior that looks like a bad Travelodge carpet but leather was an option as were Recaros.

[motomk]

I used to like these too.
There was a buyers guide in a UK magazine called Practical Performance car about 18 months back. If I have time in the next few days I will look for it.

[yardman]

Happy days - given our limited budget and comprehensive requirements I'm very tempted!

I'd read something about overall the Jap reliability and AYC being amazing, but also needing careful maintenace, which I'm happy to keep up with as it will be a weekend car mostly.

From what I've seen so far leather interior is the only choice really, unless I go colour-blind.

A buyer guide would be great if possible.

Cheers for the input. Tips on how to convince the missus it's not a pointy-nosed, spoilered, chav mobile next!

[deviant]

I have been hanging my nose over one and did a fair bit of research in to them. Essentially an Evo with a V6 TT and wagon body so it carries Evo style running costs and like an Evo the longevity of the car and ownership enjoyment all comes down to keeping on top of maintenence. As mentioned it seems there were a huge number of trim options available in Japan.

I suspect a Nissan Stagea would be easier to live with especially in the basic RWD turbo version (Other versions have GTR engine and running gear) but I doubt they would be as fun to drive.

[ezakimak]

same engine as the 3000GT and a few of the other hot models of bishis from the USA

[akaMG]

own 1, very good cars, but you will have to get the rear ayc diff serviced every 50,000k or so otherwise the can get noisy, the only real weak part is the auto trans, have a spring (search wave spring) in them that can easily break which does bad things, but if you account for swapping this out when you look at one then you wont have any problems, they have the "6a13" engine which is a bigger turbocharged engine from the FTO, it is not the same as the GTOs 6g motor though, is a mean sounding enging with the exhust that is on mine and very quick, has a tonne of grip (especialy with good quality tyres) and goes round corners like a big EVO, search on OZVR4.com for some more info,