1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder — 2.0L

The federal year-by-year record commences in 2000, documenting a trajectory that begins with minimal complaint volume (3 complaints, 1 recall) and remains subdued until a pronounced spike in 2006 (99 complaints), after which reports gradually taper through 2012. While 1998 precedes this dataset, its documented complaint profile—21 Power Train, 17 Air Bags, 15 Structure, and 15 Engine & Engine Cooling complaints—indicates substantial reported issues, with the Power Train figure alone exceeding the entire annual complaint count for 2000, 2004, 2005, and subsequent years outside the 2006 spike. The 1998 model also registers 23 crash-related and 5 fire-related complaints, severity metrics that suggest higher risk profiles compared to the low-incident period that follows in the record. Because the data does not specify root causes for these 1998 complaints, mechanical origins remain undefined. Relative to the subsequent generational trend showing significantly lower complaint volumes through 2005 and beyond, 1998 represents a high-incident outlier. Given the concentrated complaint load across critical safety and drivetrain systems alongside multiple fire and crash reports, this is not a favorable year to purchase.