I bought my 08 Lancer GTS last year June. It was only a few months that I had the car that the key fob stopped working. It wasnt the battery because every time I pressed the button the red light went on and that was it. It wouldnt unlock or lock the car. I was standing right next to the car moving my hands up and down trying to find the right spot for the key fob to work and NOTHING. I went to the dealer and told them about it and they fixed it. 2 months later it happened again. So I went to another Mitsubishi dealer that was closer to my home and they fixed it again, this time I had to take a second trip to give them my other fob. Well no more than 2 weeks after that, one of the fobs stopped working AGAIN!!!! I am working with one fob...and I hope that it doesnt stop working because if it does, I wont be able to start my car. My fiance said that it could be happening because of the bluetooth, but that wouldnt make any sense. The car came with Bluetooth? Has anyone else been having this problem?

I wouldn't say that you won't be able to start the car without the fob (I assume you mean the remote).

There is always the old school method as a backup. Just take the metal key out of the remote and use it to unlock your door. Once in the car, remove the ignition knob, put the same key in the ignition and turn it clockwise. For the trunk, you can always open it from the inside.

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Thank you for your reply. I do know that I can use my key to get in the car, but how do you remove the ignition knob? (I do not know much about cars.) Also, would you know what is causing this to happen?

It never happened to me, I don't know what the cause might be.

To remove the ignition knob squeeze on the two "buttons" on the side of the knob and gently pull it out. You won't mess anything up.

It will not void your warranty :grin:

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Hmmm, that's quite the interesting scenario. I was gonna say you erased the freqency band memory, but after a few FOB's, lol (we call those fresh-off-the-boat where I'm from, lol) It appears to be a receiver issue with the car.

I know this may seem like a random question, but have you taken notice to where most of the prominent failures occur. Is it near high freq traffic areas, like downtown or a radio station? Cell Tower? etc etc. those can cut out your transmit.
Maybe have them change freqencies next time. I would also ask for a completely new receiver system installed as well with the FOB. that way you've covered all basis. good luck

Heya, new guy here.

I've only driven 793 miles already, but I have a few problems.

First off, the paint looks good but when I was trying to wax my car, I've noticed the initial coat felt a little rough and felt the threads in my microfiber cloth being torn as I wiped off the haze. O_o; I had to go through 4 of these towels which weren't cheap. But now I don't feel them anymore. Weird...

Second, I haven't noticed any leaking in the trunk yet but the bottom outside of the trunk after a day of rain becomes prone to stickiness and roughness and whatever was on the car during the rain collected there. Now there's a thin layer of gunk that I will soon wipe away.

Third, I have the 650W sound system and every time I played any music with deep bass (notably the RidgeRacers OSTs, haha I think they're great driving music) there was this noise in the back that something is hitting something. Sure enough, I found that the issue was the loose back cover, behind the rear passenger seats. My fix was some napkins folded 8 times for a thick cushion and went into the trunk and stuffed the napkins through the two holes that the cover was in. Now the napkins support and cushions the cover and prevents it from hitting the trunk metal.

Fourth, the navigation sometimes messes up on exactly where your destination is when you approach it. I was doing a delivery order and I reached the house, but the navigation kept going to the end of the cul de sac which was 2/10ths of a mile more. Otherwise, the navigation is nice and calculates roads pretty precisely. Never had a problem besides when approaching certain houses. Might be that my HDD needs an update.

Fifth, the cheap build interior, notably the steering wheel casing has... popped out. I got it back together but now I try to look for other ones.

Sixth, the carbon fiber interior add-on scratches easily.

Seventh, the bluetooth system doesn't support my phone =( but then again, my phone is an import.

Eighth, the GTS spoiler takes up 1/4th of my rear view O_o and blocks the headlights of certain cars behind me.

Ninth, the MMCS doesn't Fast Forward or Rewind music... unless I missed that part somewhere in the manual.

Tenth, I wish the MMCS screen coubld be more brighter than the max settings when the headlights or DRLs are on.

That's about as much as I've noticed. I really like this car and I pretty much try to find an excuse to drive more, haha. I like the handling and pulled a few fast turns and drive on a lot of small and curvy roads. And the one thing about this 2008 ES is that it's really a GTS since my dad went overboard and got the dealer to add everything that the GTS has on the ES... cept the wheels and bigger suspensions.

On another note:
Not sure if this is a problem or not but, I'm guessing where I live, 24.2mpg is about as good as it gets since traffic systems here kinda suck. But I'm seeing that others are getting somewhere in the 30s. My previous car, Toyota Avalon, gets normally in the 20s. Is there a problem or is this typically normal? I tend to rev the car to 3K and no more.

:00000732: to the forums SkyLegendz, seems like you're off to a decent start, lol nothing too crazy goin on with your car.

It's funny, you mentioned the cheap build interior. Seriously, the interior in my 01 Eclipse Spyder GT was even worse! Mitsu really had issues with mateial quality back then. All black with cheap plastic gauges and plastic panels everywhere YUCKK, lol. It even had a cheap slide-in head unit (1.5 DIN) ,w/Cassette deck! and CD player that would click when you chose a CD. My GF said it reminded her of the 80's.

I remember watching my visor clip fall down after swinging the visor sideways to block the sun, then the high pressure car wash, my GF and I had to hold clothes around the edges so water wouldn't creep in, lol. So basically, this LANCER interior is the friggen "Hilton" of cars compared to that, haha

My only advice, keep an eye on your front hood area for rock chips. they usually become noticable after a couple thousand km's. The same goes for near the wheel wells just behind the rear doors, they get hit aswell. Mud guards should fix that.

enjoy the forums :beer:

:beer: Haha thanks for the welcome.
This is my first Mitsubishi and I like it a lot.

That's great. The pictures help out. I didnt notice the small buttons on the sides of the knob. Thanks.

Hello All....Forum Newb Here.

Anyway, I am looking to buy the '08 GTS or the '09 ES, and was wondering about the car, problems wise i have read the thread, so im expecting the paint to chip and the trunk to be hard to close, but mechanically what else is bad? To be fair i am driving a '91 pontiac bonneville right now so im pretty sure i'll think the lancer is gods gift to car drivers.

Welcome Overlord!

I just picked up my 09 gts and judging from all the issues i'm hearing and reading about the 08 gts, I'd say see if you can afford the 09 gts. Mine is great so far. I also sprung for all the protection packages they offered (especially the paint protection). A couple of things I noticed with this car though, which I've heard about the 08 GTS's;

1) Cabin noise when on the high way (not as bad as the 08 GTS but still prominent)

2) Sirius cuts out pretty fast when under a bridge or parkade.

3) Spoiler blocks any headlights directly behind you (now I'm being a bit too picky lol).

Other than that I LOVE this car. Got it in Wicked White and black leather interior. The leather is very comfy and the leather wrapped steering makes you want to grab it with both hands!! The paddle shifters are sexy!!! Fuel economy is better than advertised surprisingly. Now all I have to do is find a secluded parking spot at work so no one dings my doors...

Good luck and I hope you enjoy whatever Lancer you decide to purchase!!

Well i am hoping to get the '09 GTS but thats only if i can afford it by august of this year. I will definitely keep you all posted about the progression of my first time new car buying experience. so any tips, pointers, help, etc, please do let me know either PM me or just post.

hey i new to this forum but i do have a little experience in working on cars and i can see that some of you have a similar problem with a "no start" or "limp mode" condition. just last week i had one of these "no start" conditions and i was pretty **** as you can well imagine, just paying 18,600 for my brand new 08 GTS. i did a little research into the matter at my work on ALL DATA and found a TSB for these very conditions, the electronic throttle body on lancers with a VIN code of 8 may possibly require a replacement throttle body because of an electrical surge that fries the IAC selonoid and the electric motor which regulates throttle position, required for starting your lancer. I had the throttle body replaced and the car seems to respond a hundred fold better then when i took delivery of the car. thanks guys i hope this helps some of you. :57:

Not sure I've seen the TSB you are referring to. Can you post it? I know there was a TSB many moons ago relating to the no start condition and a software update for the IAC valve, but nothing about an electrical short that I've seen direct from Mitsu.

Mine came with a decent size paint chip on the hood(about half the size of a middle finger nail). I was really impressed by that. And I didn't get a touch up pen or any mention of it.

Also when I bought it the guy hauled me asside and was like " be sure to give us all very goods on the questionaire when they call you from Mitsubishi, they want to see very happy customers" hahahah like really come on right..

I like my car and all but after reading all of this i'm starting to think Mitsubishi is a real shit show. If I had my time back and the whole 33000 later I definitely would not have bought what I did.

I agree. The more I look at my car and see the cutbacks they made (cheap interior, cheap paint, etc), the more I don't like it. It's a beautiful car but I don't think I'll buy from Mitsu again.

Hi. I have a GLS with 2,500 miles on it. I am getting the "SERVICE REQUIRED" message on the dashboard and the CVT jerks when engaging from N to D. Someone told me it has to do with issue P0840, related with the CVT Secondary Pressure Unit. Does anyone have any idea about this issues?
Thanks!!