1989 Mitsubishi Montero — 3.0L

The 1989 model year does not appear in the year-by-year federal record, which begins with 1990 data, so a direct backward comparison is not possible. However, the 1990 Montero launched with 24 complaints, 1 recall, and notably 2 NHTSA investigations—higher than the following year (1991 had 18 complaints and 1 investigation). Complaints declined steadily through 1992 (12 complaints, the generation low), then escalated sharply beginning in 1994 (33 complaints) and peaked dramatically in 1995 (99 complaints) and 1997 (98 complaints). The 1989 model's own complaint data shows only 6 total across its top issue categories—Steering and Seat Belts each with 2, Air Bags with 1, and Tires with 1—with 2 crash-related complaints and zero fire complaints. This places the 1989 well below the complaint levels that would soon plague the mid-1990s models, suggesting it may represent a relatively trouble-free vintage within this generation before the quality issues escalated. The concrete takeaway is that the 1989 appears to be a better candidate than later-model years in this generation, though the lack of contemporaneous federal data for 1989 itself means some uncertainty remains.