2000 Mitsubishi Montero — 3.5L

The 2000 Mitsubishi Montero occupies a transitional middle ground in this generation's federal record, with 56 complaints, 2 recalls, and 31 TSBs — a moderate uptick from 1999's 40 complaints and 25 TSBs, but far below the dramatic spike that hits in 2002, when complaints balloon to 174 alongside 110 TSBs and an investigation, suggesting a problematic redesign that the 2000 model narrowly precedes. Looking at the broader arc, the generation's complaint volume peaked in the mid-to-late 1990s (99 complaints in 1995, 98 in 1997), settled down by 1999, and then surged again in 2002 before collapsing to single digits by 2004-2005 as the vehicle aged out of active use. The 2000 model's top complaint areas — Structure (7), Air Bags (5), Service Brakes Hydraulic (5), and Suspension (5) — are relatively evenly distributed with no single dominant failure mode, and the data does not specify root causes for any of these categories. With 7 crash-related complaints and 1 fire complaint, the safety signal is present but not severe relative to the generation's worst years. **Bottom line: the 2000 Montero is a reasonable used buy within this generation — it avoids the catastrophic 2002 spike and carries fewer complaints than the 1995-1998 peak years — but a pre-purchase inspection focused on structural integrity, airbag functionality, braking, and suspension is essential given the documented complaint pattern.**