Mitsubishi Space Star 1.9 DI-D S 5dr > Reviews (2)

I had never heard of a Mitsubishi Space Star until I went looking for a Honda Civic (does that make sense?) You see my local Honda dealer (J.T Hughes in Telford) is next door to a Mitsubishi dealer (J.T Hughes in Telford).
I wanted a diesel and Honda have only just started taking diesels seriously, so the Civic offerings at that time only had the Isuzu 1.7 engine, and the economy was not listed at being that good.
I Looked around at all the used cars for sale and saw lots of Space Stars, and they were all very reasonably priced compared to what Honda were offering. I could have a one year old Space Star diesel for the price of a three year old civic. So I went away and did some homework on the Space Star and booked myself a test drive.
As many of you may already know the Space Star is a Mitsubishi by badge only, they are actually made in the Netherlands and have a Renault engine, and various parts from other cars made at the same factory including Volvo, but in saying that the Carisma is basically a space star saloon, so do Mitsubishi make any cars at all?
I selected a 1.9 DidS as my test car, the S having 115 compared to 100 horse power, side skirts, roof spoiler, roof rails and a lower road tax group.
The car drove really well, and basically did everything well, not the drive of my life, or throw away your Porsche and buy one really well, but well er really well - the controls were simple to use, the visability was very good, it was easy to drive and park, it was capable of sixty miles to the gallon, I liked it. I then began the haggling over my p/x allowance.
So now fifteen months on what do I think.
I still like it, I can get sixty mpg, although a more realistic figure would be fifty mpg. The boot is a little small but OK, the handling is not something you can take for granted, but its OK.
The only fly in the ointment is the service costs. If it were a Renault (remember the engine is a Renault) it would need servicing every 18k, but as its a Mitsubishi its 9k, if it were a Honda CRV (my wife has one serviced by the same dealer), the service would cost £175.00, but for the space star its £279.00.

So if you have a friendly trustworthy garage that can maintain a Space Star for a fair price and you want a no frills pleasant car then go and get one, you would be daft not to.