My advice would.be to stick with the Lancer. A second hand seat and a headlight should cost less than the dealer's margin on a replacement. I am not sure undersealing it would help at this stage. Unless done properly, you run the risk of trapping moisture in and rusting it quicker.

Nothing wrong with your suggested list, but I would consider Suzuki, Kia and Hyundai models too

Thanks for the info Will also consider others mentioned as well John

Similar considerations to my mother recently. She had a 2009 Honda Jazz that needed a bit of welding for its Mot and we pondered spending money tidying it up. But when thinking of the safety of our young son in the car and Granny’s inability to cope with a breakdown I convinced her to upgrade to a newer Jazz instead. If like her money isn’t of huge consideration I’d upgrade. The Lancer tends to get a bit crusty underneath and it’s probably too late to really do anything about that. Parts are becoming an issue too since the firm left the UK, though service items are easy enough to find. I used to sell Mitsubishi’s and was very much a fan of the brand in the 80’s and 90’s. Sadly it was struggling financially for years with only the finance arm of Mitsubishi bank keeping it afloat and investment in the products plummeted. The 90’s were the high point in my opinion, until 1996 when they introduced the Carisma and newer Colt. Both were a disappointment when we got our hands on the first examples, they just weren’t of the same quality previous models were.

Thanks for the response. Of interest bought my first Galant in Germany, nickname there was "Japanese Rolls Royce" Collected from Rotterdam Port. Upgrade might be best John