What is the best year for the Mitsubishi Lancer?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Mitsubishi Lancer
which year?
Compare every Mitsubishi Lancer model year the EPA recorded, 2002 to 2017. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Mitsubishi Lancer year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Mitsubishi Lancer years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2003
199 indexed complaint reports; visibility is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2003 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect2002148 indexed complaint reports; visibility is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2002 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect200998 indexed complaint reports; engine is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2009 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Mitsubishi Lancer model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2016 Mitsubishi Lancer
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 30
- Combined EPA economy
- 25–30 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 5
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,050–2,450
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelspower train 21electrical system 4vehicle speed control 4
Open the 2016 evidence dossier →2017 Mitsubishi Lancer
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 6
- Combined EPA economy
- 26–30 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 3
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,050–2,350
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsair bags 3power train 2structure 1
Open the 2017 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2017 has 24 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2016.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Mitsubishi Lancer by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 6 | air bags 3power train 2structure 1 | 26–30 | 3 | $2,050–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2016 | 30 | power train 21electrical system 4vehicle speed control 4 | 25–30 | 5 | $2,050–2,450 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 23 | electrical system 6unknown or other 6air bags 5 | 19–29 | 8 | $2,100–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 16 | power train 6air bags 5structure 3 | 19–28 | 10 | $2,200–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 5 | engine 2power train 2unknown or other 2 | 19–28 | 10 | $2,200–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2012 | 19 | power train 6engine 5fuel/propulsion system 2 | 19–28 | 10 | $2,200–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2011 | 34 | engine 8power train 6electrical system 4 | 19–28 | 12 | $2,200–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2010 | 51 | engine 13engine and engine cooling 8electrical system 5 | 18–26 | 10 | $2,350–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2009 | 98 | engine 22electrical system 19power train 14 | 18–25 | 10 | $2,450–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2008 | 91 | suspension 23engine 13steering 12 | 18–24 | 4 | $2,550–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2007 | 2 | air bags 1electrical system 1exterior lighting 1 | 25–26 | 2 | $2,350–2,450 | Dossier → |
| 2006 | 37 | air bags 17suspension 9structure 5 | 18–26 | 7 | $2,350–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2005 | 24 | air bags 10electrical system 2service brakes, hydraulic 2 | 19–26 | 7 | $2,350–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2004 | 80 | visibility 21air bags 19electrical system 7 | 19–27 | 6 | $2,300–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2003 | 199 | visibility 71power train 53unknown or other 16 | 19–26 | 5 | $2,350–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2002 | 148 | visibility 26air bags 25power train 22 | 23–26 | 4 | $2,350–2,650 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.