I purchased my 1998 Eclipse gs in 2003 with approx. 38,000 miles on it. Within 2 months, my driver's door handle broke when opening the door. This occurred on a day in the middle of the summer. Not thinking much about it, I had it replaced at a cost of almost $300 (parts, labor, & paint) it happened again within 3 months. The dealership replaced this one also and only charged me for the part, a mere $175. About 6 months later, my girlfriend at the time was opening the passenger door and that handle broke off. This makes 3 broken door handles in 11 months. I might be a strong guy, I guess, but my girlfriend was 5'1" and about 90 lbs.. the kind of girl who had trouble tearing notebook paper. Well, while waiting for the dealership to order a replacement handle, my brother was getting into the driver's side of my car to install a new stereo and the driver's side handle snaps off in his hand. I had to leave a window down for a week inorder to get in and out of the vehicle. I have since stopped ordering from the dealership as a fiberglass door handle was available online for $35 and came black in color. To date, as of 2010, I have had to replace the driver's door handle 6 times and the passenger side twice. After speaking wit quite a few Mitsubishi enthusiasts, I have discovered that this is a problem Mitsubishi knows about, always knew about, and has simply refused to fix, even as far as not making replacement door handles out of stronger material. I will never buy a Mitsubishi again based on this simple design flaw which the company deems is beneath them to make right.

- Florence, SC, USA