Actually, this vehicle is owned by a good friend of mine. However, I've driven it as least several hundred miles myself, so I can certainly offer a valid opinion on it.
My friend didn't actually intend to buy this vehicle. He was taking a look around at a few car dealerships about 3 years ago when he found it. After taking it for a spin once, that was it, he bought it. At the time it had 35,000 miles on it and he paid about $8000. It's the AWD, turbo, manual transmission model.
Other than it being a manual AWD turbo, what else is good about it? The build quality! The Laser is of course a re-badged Mitsubishi Eclipse, only the exterior styling differs, the mechanicals are identical. Even with the 60,000 miles he now has on the Laser, it is really rattle-free, dependable, and very fast. His best run with the car in the 1/4 has been a 14.9, with full interior, aftermarket stereo (including woofer box) and no modifications. It's easily possible to boost the car into the 250HP range with just a few simple bolt-ons.
It is SUCH a fun car to drive too, being a 2.0L 4 cylinder, when you take someone for a ride in it, unless they know its a turbo AWD (since he has removed all the emblems) peoples reactions can be quite interesting. Usually I start driving around at fairly low speed/RPM, as the turbo doesn't provide any boost till somewhere around 3,000 RPM. Normally, the typical response is "what's so great about this car?", at which point you floor it! Once the boost kicks in, the car is a whole different animal, particularly leaving the line on boost at about 5,000 RPM, the car pulls like a V-8. With a stupendous redline of around 8,000 RPM, cruising down the highway in 5th, dropping into 3rd and hammering it lets you whip most of those pesky Mustangs and Camaro's our there that like most V-8 owners, can't imagine a 4 cyl. being a fast car.
Are you an individual who is maybe looking for a inexpensive second car to trick out? Are you an individual who would like a reliable daily driver, that's also really fast & reliable stock? BUY THIS CAR!
