2008 Mitsubishi Evolution X MR: Busted

broken hood release latches is a common issue with the VW NB too. never happened to me, but knew people who ran into issues with it. easy fix though, so it's not that big of a deal I guess.

This is not uncommon and their might even be a TSB on this. A little grease in the right places apparently goes a long way to preventing it.

hopefully not a common problem
i had to take a bumper off a lancer gts and took a little while just to get out all the little taps holding it on
not a fun thing to fix

I for one don't think its a minor flaw. Imagine having a serious breakdown on the road and having the release come off on your hand. One thing you should over engineer is that release.

its a hood release and its broken?

i'm with karjunkie

this is a huge deal, what if you are in an area with no car dealer, and one of your low fluid lights turn on?

what if its winter, and you can't refill the blue-juice.

why did they have to over complicate a hood relase to the point where it doesn't work when you need it.

Big deal vote #3

The hood release on my old saturn ion was defective too....you'd pull it from inside the car and it would stay "released" (i.e. slamming the hood wouldn't latch it) until you went back into the car and manually pushed the hood release back into place. That was just annoying.

Not being able to get under your hood is a big deal, and a part like this breaking makes me wonder what else might break. Should I bend over the engine bay or will the hood prop fail?

Will the door handle break off in my hand and leave me locked out (or in).

Not only is this a big deal, it is totally inexcusable. Access to the heart of any machine must be 100% available 100% of the time.

Karjunkie is spot-on with his over-engineering comment. I'll bet way-back-when some bean counter was looking over the shoulder at the engineer designing lug nuts asking him "are you sure you need more than two?"

Probably some parts supplier not doing their job on quality control. Parts like a hood release cable typically get farmed out to 1st tier OEM suppliers, for which an OEM like Mitsubishi creates a spec. Then once it's in production, the OEM supplier cuts corners or doesn't monitor quality control, and soon the automaker is installing bad parts on their cars without even knowing it. Or, it could have been a bad design too - who knows.

I have heard this a few times on the evo x forums. The most common problems are the hood release breaking, the gas petal breaking off, and the inside of the front wheels wearing extremely fast because of excessive toe in. (the last some have been reporting the deal won't fix, because it is standard wear)

The problems are as everyone says, when you put $15000 of drivetrain mods into a $15000 car, you're going to still dealing with a $15000 car. Although, its amazing bang for the buck.

I'm sure this wont have any bearing on the overall perception of the quality of the Lancer.

Isn't the EVO's battery located in the trunk now?

Waevox -

I don't know too many $15,000 cars with breaking hood latches, gas pedals falling off, etc.

If you took a Honda Fit and stuffed $15,000 worth of driving upgrades into it....it'd still be a quality econobox.

joe

@alphasti

i thought the battery was in the trunk as well, according to this post:
http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2008/08/2008-mitsubishi-lancer-evo-mr-domestic-chores.html

for the record, it was the CLUTCH pedal that broke, not the gas pedal. this is why i don't bother with these cars anymore... too many corners are cut to make it perform so well yet still be relatively affordable. if it were obvious cuts like a cheap looking interior, then i can live with it. just dont compromise safety or the basic functions of a car!!

its like these damn cell phones... you can go online, watch videos, play/ store/ download music, text, email, play games, get gps maps and driving directions, ask someone where the bathroom is in cantonese, turn on your house lights from inside the car, etc. etc. etc. BUT when you try to call someone it doesn't work so well!

Mitsubishi cars have never been known for their quality, so I'm not surprised by any of the issues mentioned here.

Just because it's $40K doesn't mean it's high quality. Ask my friend about his $100K Aguar (the J fell off). That thing was a pile of crap...

Heh, I'd agree Joe. There is a 06 civic and 08 evo in my garage. I'll let you right now the civic is the better value.

I was just trying to point out that the evo still has all the squeeks and quirks you might expect in an economy car, even though you could get a 135i for the same price.

Meh. I think my decision to get the evo was based on the emotional value of the car, not that its practical. I think it's the same arguement that the inside line guys make about the M3.

I sometimes find myself trying to defend my purchase of the evo, but in the end, I'm always happy about it.

years ago I was woke up one morning by a neighbors car horn that kept going off. I went out to see what was going on (in a less than cheery way). He quickly explained that for some reason every time he turned the key on the horn went off and didn't stop till he turned the key back off.
I said 'pop the hood', planning to disconnect the horn. That is when he held up the hood release handle and about a foot of cable that was frayed at the end.
Unfortunately, the horn fuse also powered the brake lights.

The hood release breaking is apparently a relatively common issue with the Evo X. Less common is the break pedal.

And yes, the battery is in the trunk.

Eh.... should have been gas pedal, and not brake(break). I'm sleepy.

I'm always a bit amused with blogs like this. Something breaks on a relatively new car and it's total garbage, inexcusable etc.

I've owned lots of cars. Cheap, expensive, fast, almost as fast. Occasionally something breaks. It gets fixed. Sun still comes up the next day.

Have you checked the M3 posts? It seems to break daily. Still the most popular car in the fleet.

i guess edmunds forgot the battery location when they went to jump it

My feelings exactly ibognar. S@#^ happens. It gets fixed. Move on. Unless you are a pampered car journalist reviewing anything made in the US; then it means that the car is a total piece of crap, can't live with, GM/Ford/Chrysler engineers are idiots, anything made in Germany & Japan is better, etc.

Even though the battery is in the trunk, there are terminals to hook the jumper cables up to under the hood.

Quick comment on the pedal braking information. From what I understand, the pedals were designed to break, in cases of accidents or times where extreme pressure would be placed against them. It was meant as a safety mechanism to keep from pinning a driver or causing injury.

That being said, there is no excuse that the pedals break during any normal driving conditions, which they are. It was obviously a design flaw in the planning that nobody would put as much stress on the pedal that they do, and I am sure Mitsubishi is scrambling to redesign or recall the ones that have.

It was not however the case that they built a pedal that they anticipated would never break, which is all I hoped to clarify.

The hood latch breaking is of course a completely different case. They should be obviously banished from ever making cars again and should consider ditching the whole car, now that the hood latch has broken.

Let me know if you are looking to sell off your car cheap now that the hood latch is busted, because I still want one.

Why the heck did you open the Hood to jump-start your friend's car, when your Evo's battery is in the trunk?

0_o I guess you got "owned"?

Nevertheless, that's not minor. Although I believe too much strength was applied while pulling. I've noticed how sometimes when I try to open the hood in my Lancer, I get this feeling of "this crap will break if I pull it too hard..." so I try my best not to.

When you treat your car good, believe me, things won't be braking here and there.

"Why the heck did you open the Hood to jump-start your friend's car, when your Evo's battery is in the trunk?

0_o I guess you got "owned"?"

No ownage. The vehicle tester probably didn't know the Evo's battery was in the trunk, and assumed it was under the hood like most cars, but he never got that far to find out as the hood cable broke.

The testers/editors switch cars often - these cars are not theirs, so they are usually not completely aware of every single little nuance of each car, such as where the battery is. It's not like you sit in an Evo, and think "hey the battery is in the trunk!"

"No ownage. The vehicle tester probably didn't know the Evo's battery was in the trunk, and assumed it was under the hood like most cars, but he never got that far to find out as the hood cable broke.

The testers/editors switch cars often - these cars are not theirs, so they are usually not completely aware of every single little nuance of each car, such as where the battery is. It's not like you sit in an Evo, and think "hey the battery is in the trunk!" "

Ya that makes a whole lots of sense.

Still I agree it's not a minor issue... and Mitsu should address these and the Clutch pedal ones accordingly