Selling a dead or junk Mitsubishi

Below: where the name comes from, which of its 22 nameplates owners have complained about most, and an index of every Mitsubishi the EPA has rated since 1984.

A name older than the cars

Wikipedia's Mitsubishi article dates the Mitsubishi group to 1870 and names its founder as Yatarō Iwasaki, with headquarters in Tokyo. The cars came much later. The EPA's fuel economy list starts with the 1984 model year, and six Mitsubishis are already in it: the Cordia, Tredia, Starion, Precis, Montero and Mighty Max pickup.

What stands out in that list is how many Mitsubishi nameplates have come and gone. Of the 22, only three reach 2024 or later: the Outlander, the Eclipse Cross and the Mirage. The other 19, from the 3000GT to the Lancer, are out of production.

Where the complaints pile up

Our October 10, 2026 pull of NHTSA's complaint database found 10,814 owner complaints across the 22 models. Six nameplates hold most of them.

The top three alone account for 5,983 of the 10,814. Read the numbers with two cautions:

• Volume drives counts. The Eclipse ran for 23 model years, so it had more owners to file. A count is not a reliability rating, and it says nothing about any single car.
• Newer cars have had less time. The Eclipse Cross, sold since 2018, shows 60 complaints. Part of that gap is simply fewer years on the road.

At the other end, eight nameplates have 16 or fewer complaints each: the Cordia, Tredia, Starion, Sigma, Nativa, Precis, Van and i-MiEV. With counts that small, they tell you almost nothing either way.

When the Mitsubishi isn't worth fixing

A 2000s Galant or Eclipse, a high-mileage Lancer, a Montero that hasn't moved in years: on cars like these, a single major repair bill can be bigger than the car's value. Facing that call with your Mitsubishi? Think a Mitsubishi repair quote is too steep? Weighing a big Mitsubishi repair? Mitsubishi repair quote bigger than the car's value? If fixing your Mitsubishi costs more than it's worth, read our guide on that.

Selling it whole skips the teardown. Here's what to have ready:

• The model, year and rough mileage.
• Whether it starts, whether it rolls, and what's broken or missing.
• The title, or a note that you don't have it. A lost title is often fixable; see selling a junk car with no title.
• Where the truck will find it: a backyard, a carport, a lot, the side of a road.

The car leaves as it sits. Afterward, deal with the plates and paperwork.

Rather talk to someone? Call (877) 421-6008.

All 22 Mitsubishi models

The table runs in order of each nameplate's first EPA model year. Counts are owner complaints in NHTSA's database on October 10, 2026, the same pull as above.