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Peg's car. Also badged as the Eagle Summit Wagon or, most accurately, the Mitsubishi Expo LRV (also the RVR in Japan). It's sorta cute, and there's not many on the road, so it's fairly unusual. Basically if you convert a subcompact economy car to a minivan, you get the Vista. This car was the replacement for the Bonnie (1980 Bonneville) when it was put to sleep in January, 1995. I read in the paper once that the Eagle Summit Wagon had the second lowest vehicle theft rate in America, at least among new cars. Since this is really the same car, that explains why no one's really messed with it much, despite that it was parked on the street in Detroit for a year. They did eventually rip off the wheel covers once, but nothing else. We finally decided to keep the Vista, since what we owed on it and what people wanted to offer for it were egregiously mis-matched. It's basically reliable, though, and now that it's paid off, we may as well keep it until it dies completely. Worst thing we've had to fix on it so far was the crankshaft damper, which separated from itself. Evidently a normal Mitsubishi failure. Still only cost $350 altogether. (Damper, belts, labor.) Did I ever mention the first time I did the brakes? Nevermind how hard I had to kick the wheels to get them to break loose once the lug nuts were off, the damned rotors were completely fused to the hubs. Eventually a liberal application of heat from a Mapp gas torch (hotter than propane) and a big hammer got them off. Sadly, perhaps a year later, I'm having to do it again, since the front-right caliper basically seized up. I take full blame for that, but now I can't get the rotor off at all. So if you don't like frustration, don't replace the front rotors on your Vista. January, 2001 — The transmission blew out again, about 70,000 miles after the first rebuild. The Vista was donated to the National Kidney Foundation, whih had it sold at auction. (Beats the scrap yard.) The transmission was always the weakest part of the car, and it was part of the reason I hope never to buy another automatic. (click to enlarge)
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updated: 1 Feb 2001 |
