Advice on 01 Limited

[huachuca]

About five years back, I bought a 98 Puerto Rico import from a member here. I figured to use it as a family spare and didn't really expect too much out of it. Well, it didn't take long before those were the keys that always seemed to be missing from our board and 80,000 miles later (200K total) she's still going strong.

So, a friend of a friend has a really clean 01 Limited with 125k at what seems to be a fairly low price. Current owner has had the vehicle for only a few months but has maintenance records that look good - 4K or less oil changes since new, plugs, brakes, wheel bearings, O2 sensors, valve cover gaskets, new tires and battery. Most of these are backed up by car fax and/or records I found on the Mitsubishi site. Everything points to a consciencious owner except no evidence of timing belt and water pump service - ever. This would be first on my list if we get together. The only problem I've found so far is the gas gauge is slow (couple of minutes) to register. There's a service record of removal and solder of a resistor to fix this about eighteen months ago.

Anything else I should look for on this particular model? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Oh, plans are nothing hard core - Outer Banks beach driving, forest service roads to back country camping, maybe towing a Canadian M101 with RTT and gear.

 

[normal_dave]

I say "game on". If it's not in your driveway by tomorrow, likely it will end up in somebody else's.

I understand the benefits and toughness of the Gen2, but I drive my Gen3 daily, and when I occasionally take inventory of 4WD vehicles around me on the road, it's surprising how often I get that "cat that ate the canary" feeling. The Gen3 is so amazingly well constructed, and the Limited options are surprisingly still "competitive" with today's vehicles. Once you get past the Mitsu gremlins, (valve seals, etc.) you're good to go, and well ahead of many other SUVs in terms of capability. I was sitting at the stoplight in bad weather recently, and a full-sized Land Cruiser crossed my path, he was giving my Montero "the stare" as he drove by. :sombrero:

 

[coffeegoat]

I agree with Normal_Dave - if it's a good price and has some reasonable maintenance on it I'd pick it up. I also daily drive my 2001 Limited and it works great. I haven't done a ton of difficult off roady stuff but I did just finish a 2k mile road trip and it just purred along. As with any vehicle of this age, expect some quibbles and lots of miscellaneous fixes but it'll be cheap to buy, cheap to repair, and cheap to run. I averaged ~17.5MPG on the trip at ~70MPH, try finding a comparable vehicle that can do all of the off road stuff, and be comfortable on the road.

I do most of my own work on the rig and need to update my build thread with the stuff I've knocked out over the past couple months, there are certainly little things that can make it much more comfortable, but I wouldn't hesitate to purchase it again. All the repairs you note would probably be on the list to fix and some of them are expensive so if they're already done that's a great starting point.

 

[huachuca]

Thanks folks, appreciate the responses. I spent most of this morning with the Montero - driving (interstate, two lanes and farmland) and as much mechanical checking as could be done in my shop. Definitely a different experience than what I was accustomed to with the barebones 98.

I couldn't come up with very much and made an offer contingent on these being addressed. The seller agreed so guess we'll see what happens from here.