Thinking About 380s - Anything To Look For?

[Cruiser]

While I'm still considering my Verada restoration, I haven't ruled out looking for another car either. I've been a real sucker for punishment with this particular KJ, everything from leaking or warped rocker covers to a bad heater core, failed steering rack, driveshafts, oil pressure switch, busted up interior... and that's even after the major service, new brake calipers, new rocker cover gaskets, new radiator and thermostat, new tyres and a bunch of other things I can't seem to recall.

So I know from experience there are some common faults to watch for in the Magna and Verada models, but I haven't heard so much about the Mitsubishi 380.

It seems there are more 380s being listed than Veradas at the moment, and for relatively little money as well. Some have <140,000kms on them while others have 200,000-240,000. Some ex-government and ex-fleet cars in there as well. So I'm tempted to have a look at these as another option.

Of course they'll need the regular maintenance items - like timing belt, tensioners, water pump and so on - but are there any common design or maintenance issues to be aware of as well? From what I can tell they appear to have a fairly decent reliability record, or the issues they do have seem to be relatively minor in comparison to those experienced with my current car. Recall wise the issues seem to be fairly minor, with the exception of the fuel tank strap, but that should have been addressed on most of them by now and at the worst I can have the revised part fitted.

The build quality seems to be consistent across years as well, that is a 2008 380 isn't necessarily noticeably better than a 2006 380, although I'd like to know more about whether this is true or whether there's something I've missed.

I don't mind small issues, power windows, switches and what not, because these I can tackle myself. It's the big engine-out and dashboard-out type stuff I'd like to avoid.


What are your thoughts?