Mitsubishi Lancer - 2003 Review

After owning the Mitsubishi 2003 Lancer for a few years, I have become completely disappointed with the ability of this car to hold up long-term. I need a car that I can depend on for years, and unfortunately my Lancer has become completely unreliable after only six years. The car started out fine and I was loving the short turning radius and accelaration capabilities of the car, but right after my warranty ran out (around 60,000 miles), it began to have problems the transmission and the check engine light came on constantly.  Recently, one of my climate control knobs fell off, and I found out from my mechanic that this is a common problem with Lancers. Apparently Mitsubishi even knew about the problem and issued a statement to their dealers, but did not issue a recall, which leaves all of us that have this issue with around a $1000 bill to have the entire climate control board replaced (which is what has to be done in order to replace the knob). I think this is shady business, and I will not buy a Mitsubishi again.