MotorWeek Review | 1988 Mitsubishi Precis LS

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[@67tomcat]

My first new car, purchased a base silver 1989 Precis 4 speed in May, 1989. It was $5,710 out the door if memory serves. No a/c or radio, but dealer installed side molding. Served me faithfully for 3 years through college.

[@mattt198654321]

It only lasted 3 years?

[@KartKing4ever]

​@@mattt198654321Well, it was a Mitsubishi.

[@marshalmagooo3899]

Neighbor owned one, leaked so much oil that he never had to get an oil change. Just refill

[@daviatorcustoms3168]

I had an Excel GLS sedan in this same color. It was loaded with every option it could have including the sunroof. The engine was no rocket by any means, but it responded well when you tapped the accelerator pedal and it wasn't a slump on the highway. The seats were INSANELY comfortable with great side bolsters and lumbar support and nice plush fabric that was like a patterned velour. Contrary to what you hear about with early U.S. Hyundais having poor fit and finish and lackluster build quality, mine was very well built. Seams between doors and panels were tight and absolutely NO orange peeling in the paint. Rubber seals were plentiful and thick. Shutting the doors provided a quality 'thunk'. Even Honda, Toyota and Nissan had orange peeling in some surfaces back then. No other econoboxes were using the aircraft style doors that wrapped into the roof and they gave the car a more substantial look and aero performance. Only issue was a slight annoying whistle of the sunroof when it was fully open if you went over 70 on the highway. I just closed it a hair and it always stopped. Sure, some of the plastics were cheap, but you really didn't care because there were so many other good things about it. It really didn't feel like an economy car, it was similar to what Mazda was doing at the time making their cars less like econoboxes and more like the bigger, more substantial cars.

[@swlancaster1964]

My comments mirror yours!

[@dongordoofthegalletas]

You can't find a reasonably new, or reliable motorcycle, today...for $5,000! The miles per dollar values, sure have slipped down the old commode. Dad bought a loaded Ford car in '92, and wrote the dealer a paper check for it, for a smidge over $9k. The working man's dollar bought a lot more steel, a generation ago. I just love these retro reviews; it helps me remember, those good times!

[@mattt198654321]

In all fairness, that $9,000 adjusted for inflation is about $20,000 today. You can still buy a brand new car for under $20k, and it's a lot safer, more efficient, and will probably last longer than your dad's old Ford. Just throw some perspective on the situation, growing up in the 80's it was unheard of for cars to go past 100k miles, now all the cars I own are over 100k and still in great condition.

[@dongordoofthegalletas]

@@mattt198654321 Funny you mentioned the mileage...we just sold the '91 to its 2nd owner, with 280k on the clock, and a brand-new paint job. The Forte he bought new, in 2016, had a little over 30k on the clock, when the 2.0 slagged itself. 60k later, it's on its third engine, and I'd love to find a buyer for it; but no one locally is keen to buy a Forte, in "great condition" as you say. It's like new otherwise, and has been immaculately maintained, and cleaned. I'm near completely unimpressed, with most new autos. I've had better luck with Subaru, Honda, Toyota etc... other makes and models, have been hit and miss. That EX was spec'ed then, with every available option. It cost around 3-4x, what his GT did; and it depreciated, around 10-15 times faster. There's just no value for dollar comparison, between the two...no matter how, I try and massage the numbers. I'd like to say, we'll see what the Forte' looks like, when it's 32 years old; but I doubt there'll be much to look at, outside of a rotting hunk of plastic, and rusting pot metal. Likely recycled or scraped, a decade or two before that. 😜

[@swlancaster1964]

I LOVED these! Nice styling, comfy cloth seats, it was slow but quiet and rode smoothly too.

[@nickb20]

I’d love to see the Regular Car Review of this car

[@klasseact6663]

Butt in B R O W N 💩

[@sneakerfreak2002]

B R O W N B R O W N B R O W N B R O W N

[@karoltakisobie6638]

I second that I think he did review of Excel version of it.

[@wolfman9999999]

On their comment on 5th gear. I was enough of a nerd to compare the gear ratios of the old twin stick Dodge Colt back then as Car and Driver would post gear ratios of the gears. They were identical for the "power mode" in the first four gears. Interestingly enough the twin stick in "economy" mode had the exact same ratio as 5th gear in the 5 speed Excel manual. I've often thought that the 5 speed was in effect the same transmission as the "twin stick" four speed, and moving the lever to 5th actuated a solenoid to swap between the power and economy ratios for that twin sticks 4th gear. These cars back in the day had a tag hanging off of the shifter to notify the driver that the click that would be heard when selecting 5th gear was a normal sound. It's sad that these are all gone. I'd be keen to try to learn if this was truly the case, and if so, convert one to a "twin stick" like the old Colts were.

[@robertdiehl9003]

Wow. Blast from the past that I totally forgot about..

[@raymondcanessa7208]

Good, simple and basic transportation. Sad they can't make them like that anymore.

[@karoltakisobie6638]

Gov regulations made selling simple cars unprofitable in N.America so they disappeared from dealerships. Truly sad.

[@raymondcanessa7208]

@@karoltakisobie6638 true

[@john5389]

The Mirage has been out for 7 or 8 years. Critics slam it, but actual owners love them. Reliable, and excellent gas mileage.

[@milfordcivic6755]

Back when you could buy a new throwaway shitbox for cheap money. Not today - you need a mortgage to finance a car now.

[@jobplace5842]

i found a decrepit one of these in a field in Mitchel Oregon I want to go back and buy it to gambler 500 it. the frame was perfect. doors opened and shut with one finger

[@Kgio-2112]

That 1.5 was a disaster.

[@aslant9246]

4:40 plenty of room for econobox owner junk lmao

[@TonyKuehler]

Pronounced pray-see. I think that's a better way to express 'precision'. mid 18th century: from French précis, literally ‘precise’ (adjective used as a noun)

[@Butchcub75]

A precis by an other nae is an Excel

[@arcata31]

"...the crap econobox buyers carry around." Wuh? lol

[@SubieSage]

Yeah I’m still trying to figure out why they included that part lmao

[@pl5624]

These are all gone now...along with the excel and Scoupe.

[@djkenny1202]

Better off with a VW Fox for less. Tracer is way better, too. Too bad these were not the Mirage with new body many assumed. Good Brakes, Though?

[@RoadCone411]

Mitsubishi's Colt was a way better car, a 'real' Mitsubishi when that was actually something to be sort of proud of. I know it generally cost more than the Precis but I'm going to guess an entry-level Colt was around the same price as this 'loaded' Precis. It was a much better car, the Precis was just a rebadged Excel and made no excuses for it.

[@wolfman9999999]

@@RoadCone411 If you looked under the hood of the Excel, and the carbeurated Dodge Cold of the late 70's and early 80's, you would have seen that the engine was literally identical. The Excel was basically a restyled previous generation Mirage/Colt, using the old drivetrain. These cars took modular design to the next level.

[@RoadCone411]

@@wolfman9999999 Yes but Mitsubishi had moved the game on by 1987 with their Colt, at least. Not to mention Korean build quality wasn’t great back then so the engine was far less reliable. The Colt was a decent little car by the late 1980s, the Excel/Précis was not as great.

[@wolfman9999999]

@@RoadCone411 Agreed. Hyundai used the tooling from the older model. Mitsubishi, seeing the success Hyundai was having with it, wanted a piece of it so they rebadged the model for themselves, after of course the car was starting to develop it's not so good reputation.

[@RoadCone411]

@@wolfman9999999 Prob not a good move by Mitsubishi. I was a kid back then but even I knew the Precis was a rebadged Excel (and wouldn't have wanted one...unless given for free) :)

[@Jenny010132]

Absolute piece of crap! Ours used to randomly slow down to about ten miles an hour, making a horrible sputtering noise. We could have been killed in that death trap!

[@emeyer6963]

Mitsubishi Feces would of been a more apt name

[@regalgs51]

@@emeyer6963 would have, not would of

[@raymondcanessa7208]

we all miss the good old days

[@Jenny010132]

@@raymondcanessa7208 not that part! I much prefer my RAV4!

[@raymondcanessa7208]

@@Jenny010132 True, back in the day I use to buy new excell's. Now I buy used a corolla. Lesson learned a used toyota is better than a new hyundia.

[@runoflife87]

Wait, the car never had Mitsubishi logo? Lool.

[@Jenny010132]

They were too embarrassed to have their name on it! We had one, and it was pure crap!

[@runoflife87]

@@Jenny010132 well, at least it was a cheap econobox (speaking of US market). In our country used Hyundai/Kia cars were pretty expensive (early to mid - 90's), so proud owners kept them for 5 to 7 years using any avialable spare parts. But speaking of reliability you can never forget early 90's Daewoos - those were the worst.

[@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY]

Only at the back sold by Mitsubishi North America.

[@thetinysideoftiny7625]

The beginning of the end for Mitsubishi. This seemed like the corporate formula for Mitsubishi moving forward.

[@hutchcraftcp]

Rebadging cheap knockoffs never seems to be a good idea.

[@mexicanspec]

Here we have another extinct car.

[@klasseact6663]

I heard it just got to 60 mph 😆😆😆

[@wolfman9999999]

Mine topped out at 85.

[@endokuken1678]

they definitely went faster than that, my godmother had the Hyundai Excel version and she would fly in the that thing (relatively speaking). She actually kept that car a good 8-9 years and put over 150k miles on it.

[@henryovalles1163]

These and the Hyundai st the time I used to see them smoking on the highway only like a year old cars at the time I used to laugh 😂

[@wolfman9999999]

These cars were bought and treated as disposable transportation. Many who bought these couldn't be bothered to do even the most basic of scheduled service. They were a bit "fragile", but if you actually took care of them, they were more reliable than people would give them credit.

[@endokuken1678]

@@wolfman9999999 this is incredibly understated! I think the key demographic for this car were people who didn't know much about car maint or didn't have the budget to do so.

[@teresapflaumer5717]

This is a Yugo in disguise, right down to that cheapo plastic tan dashboard!

[@RoadCone411]

You do know this has nothing to do with a Yugo, right? In fact, the Excel/Precis were a considerable step up from a Yugo GV in terms of features, comfort and yes, quality. Sure, both had plasticky dashboards but what econocar from the 1980s didn't? The Precis might not have been great, and is certainly a forgotten nameplate today, but it outclassed the Yugo in almost every measure except price. Even the best entry-level cars (think Honda Civic, Toyota Tercel, Mazda 323, each of which cost considerably more than the Yugo, Excel/Precis) had cheap low-rent Tonka-toy plastic dashboards and mediocre levels of 'luxury'. The most spartan of new cars sold today has far more features, equipment, safety and performance than any of the aforementioned vehicles, as one would expect 30+ years later.

[@bobbbobb4663]

The Excel and the Yugo are linked together via the SNL spoof ad for a car called the Adobe. Look it up on yt.

[@Jenny010132]

I’d rather have a Yugo! The Précis was absolute garbage!

[@RoadCone411]

@@Jenny010132 I think you’d have found the Yugo to be even worse! There is a reason Hyundai is still here and Yugo is long gone, and it’s not just because of the war in Serbia.

[@garywalters3007]

@@bobbbobb4663 i owned an adobe. insurance was cheap due to repairs on this car was easy and no need to order parts.