 I purchased my 2000 Mitsubishi Diamante last August for two main reasons, its price and features. I couldn't find a similarly equipped toyota Camry or Honda Accord for my $9,500 budget. A few months later, the heater core O-ring failed and coolant started leaking into the vent system. The fix was costly, about $1,100 but the car has been running without a problem since. The Diamante has lots of power under the hood, the acceleration is good but the transmission gets confused sometimes i.e. downshift may not happen immediately when you need a quick boast.  The interior is quiet and its ride quality is somewhere between good and excellent. The Diamante is clearly more biased towards comfort and doesn't handle as well as my previous Mazda Millenia 