ClubCJ - The CJ Lancer Club

I'm going Lancer shopping this weekend and I wanted your opinions on whether I should get options from the dealer or if it is better to go after market.

The things I am thinking about for an SX are:


Tow bar - for carrying a bike rack, doubtful I will want to tow a trailer on a Lancer
Side protection mouldings - to keep shopping trolleys at bay. Never actually seen a Lancer with these fitted, are they body colour?
Reversing sensor - heard these are pricey and I would prefer one with a display not just a beeper.
Window tint - almost certainly not from the dealer.
Mudguards - are they standard on the SX?

Other stuff:

Floor mats - should be easy to get thrown in
Seat covers - can't find them on the Mitsubishi website. I reckon it would be awesome so have ones with body colour accents.
Fog lights - doesn't look right without them but this can probably wait for now.

What are your experiences? Thanks.

Good Luck shopping. I just bought mine this Monday
Was in the same boat so I can answer some of your questions.

Side protection mouldings - to keep shopping trolleys at bay. Never actually seen a Lancer with these fitted, are they body colour?

No they are 'Black/Grey' in color. There is someone in here (probably GlenoCJ) who has side protection mouldings on his ride. Waay to expensive at the dealer...if you can handle it..may be try some aftermarket stuff..pretty easy to find 'mouldings' at SCA or Autobarn i suppose.

Reversing sensor - heard these are pricey and I would prefer one with a display not just a beeper.

No experience here...sorry...might be asking the same question in a few months myself

Mudguards - are they standard on the SX?

Yes they are standard on SX (atleast on a sedan)

Floor mats - should be easy to get thrown in

Yes..I would not buy a NEW car without these thrown in

Seat covers - can't find them on the Mitsubishi website. I reckon it would be awesome so have ones with body colour accents.

I generally like to have seat covers...but the SX having seat air-bags makes aftermarket choices limited. The OEM ones are of 'snorkeling' kit material..outer layer is more like 'neoprene' quite pricey IMO. you could try to source them from Ofey.

Fog lights - doesn't look right without them but this can probably wait for now.

Again...quite pricey at the dealer...may be try Ebay or source from Ofey.

What are your experiences? Thanks.

My experience was that..when haggling on price...start with the 'bare' car price(of course including mats & tank of fuel) and get the lowest price possible. Then try to add a few stuff that you want for atleast half the RRP of those parts.
I managed to get mine for $19,200 including Mats, bonnet protector, 2 x weathershields, floor illumination and tank of fuel. Think its a pretty sweet deal! But I had a few sources so I dealt straight with the Manager.

Good luck.

PS: Love that Car!

Edit: Its an Effect Grey - Manual - Sedan (plated 08/11)

Nice. Thanks for the info ego. Effect grey is my fave but my wife likes the lightening blue - won't want to put black mouldings on that one.

I vaguely remember seeing the seat covers thread on this site, will dig it up.

There..
this is the OEM parts thread
http://clubcj.net/viewtopic.php?t=1131

Anything you try to option in with the dealer will cost more than getting it through the club.

however the point to note is that getting it as part of your purchase you get it included in your warranty.

Now, the next point to consider is how to execute that warranty.
For mats, it's fair wear and tear so no warranty.

Just to point out, the mats that the dealer throws in for free may not be the Mitsubishi ones. Most dealerships in Melbourne include their own mats which they make themselves.

Check out the pricelist above and realise not everything is as expensive as they make it out to be.

Juisarian the side protection moldings for the lancer as far as I'm aware come in grey colour. When i had them fitted the dealer asked me if i wanted them painted the same colour as the car. I said no as I felt the grey would blend into the silver colour of my car, so I left them grey. Also i have a grey oem rear diffuser which is grey as well. So whatever colour you decide to choose, you can get the moldings painted to match no doubt for a extra charge. However when purchasing the car haggle the dealer to supply the mouldings for free like I did.

I just got the floor mats and tank of fuel with mine but that was in February on a 2011 plated car. They were having a 2010 runout at the time. They were $20990 which is what I got my '11 for anyway. The 2010 models they were getting rid of didn't have the bluetooth. I wanted bluetooth. It's brilliant by the way.

They actually gave me proper embroidered Lancer floor mats. Nice

See if you can get the protective plastic things on the back doors thrown in. Check out my garage photos. I got them on. There's a spot on the back door and back guard where you get heaps of stone chips. The stuff, which is like contact, protects it really well. There aren't any stone chips on mine. It was just really dirty when I took the photos. I live on the North Coast in the country and we've had a bit of rain lately

Seatcovers are a problem with the airbags but Supercheap do sell deploy safe lambswool ones. They're about $200 to $300 a pair for the front. The $200 ones are gold or something and the ones closer to $300 are the Platinum ones. Thicker fluff I'm saving for some now. They usually have specials on them and usually knock about $50 a set off when they do. Keep an eye out. I remember when I got seat covers for the Bubble from Mazda in 1997 it cost me around $400 for the full set (front and rear) and they were only cloth.

I would go with your wife on the colour choice myself. Go Team Blue hehehehe

All you need to play your music is a cheap thumb drive by the way. I have a 4gb one that I got for about $4. I put all my music on that and stuck it into the USB slot in the glovebox. Works beautifully and you don't have to worry about anything getting stolen. I also stick my iPod Nano in there sometimes but mostly just use the thumb drive.

Have fun haggling and I hope you love your car as much as I do.

Go at the end of the month... as long as you are prepared to throw your money down on the spot.. they will pretty much do you a great deal..

I got mats, reverse sensors and camera, tints, gear knob, hand brake... he said I could pretty much have any option I wanted.. I wanted the illuminated scuff plates.. but completely forgot about it at the time! ><

EDIT: Always better to talk to someone higher up the sales chain as well if you can get to them!

Yep end of month, I got my 2011 SX with proper mats, tint, bonnet protector, bluetooth, 19's for $21,650 D/A. Hard to say no.

Thanks for the info. I got the blue side mouldings and a non-OEM towbar, didn't really haggle as hard as I should have ended up saving about $600 of the options price they initially offered. Plus the mats, will be interesting to see what sort they are.

They did mention the SX is still "shipping" but there don't seem to be many around Adelaide at the moment so I wasn't keen to wait until the end of the month.... maybe that was foolish.... ah well it's only money

I also got window tints from the nice lady... something about a life time warranty and the fact that they do it in-house suckered me in .

Will talk to my mechanic about a reversing sensor, the one the dealer offered didn't appeal to me.

Adam I have the OEM reverse sensors and I can tell you I love them but the instructions were to fit them to low. I fitted them myself. It takes a few hours but is easy enough to do. Just make sure they are fitted in the higher part of the bumper. If you see where mine are in my garage, they some times read the ground when you reverse into a dip.

Make sure they do not cut the bottom of your bumper for clearance for the tow bar tongue. This is not necessary. It looks ugly IMHO. You only need a small spacer fitted to the top of the tongue for it to clear the bumper.

aspir3 wrote:If you see where mine are in my garage, they some times read the ground when you reverse into a dip.

For some reason I find that very amusing I see what you mean about the height from the pics, that looks way too low compared to other cars.

aspir3 wrote:Make sure they do not cut the bottom of your bumper for clearance for the tow bar tongue. This is not necessary. It looks ugly IMHO.

The sales guy said they wouldn't cut it... will see what actually happens.

Nice choice

Another wonderful hubby buying his wife a blue Lancer

Genuine mats, no hole in the bumper and the side mouldings look pretty cool IMHO. I am a happy camper

If u want aftermarket sensors let me
Know and I will send u a set. Really really easy to install. Will also give u all the measurements u will need for where to drill your holes etc. All up sensors are a 45min-1 hour install