Mitsubishi 6A1 (6A12 / 6A13)

Mitsubishi's small V6 — the 1.8 6A11, 2.0 6A12 and 2.5 6A13 — in the Galant, Diamante, FTO and Legnum.

⚑ A 2.0-litre V6 is an unusual thing and it explains most of the fault list. Six very small cylinders means twenty-four valves, two cylinder heads, two camshaft belts' worth of complexity and a great deal of it packed into a transverse bay. Everything is harder to reach than the displacement suggests, and the rear bank is against the bulkhead.

It is belt-driven and it is an interference design, and the belt job is exactly the access problem described. On a car of this age with unknown history that is the decision that determines whether it is worth keeping.

Its recurring complaints are ignition and breathing: coil packs, a carboned throttle body, and inlet gaskets that harden and leak unmetered air.

The 6A13TT twin-turbo in the Legnum VR-4 is a different proposition and its results should not be read across to the naturally aspirated engines.

Documentation outside Japan is thin, which is the practical constraint on all of them.