So for a couple months I've been on the hunt for a Dodge Raider/Mitsubishi SWB Montero project, browsing all over the eastern US for the right one. I've contacted probably a dozen people (mostly on FB Marketplace, but also via CL) to ask questions about the listings, and I've been interestingly surprised to find two distinct types of owners: the ones who own the Dodge version and the ones who own the Mitsu version. This is curious since they are literally almost identical vehicles in every way - engines, transmissions, suspensions, interior, etc (minor cosmetic changes). Based on about half-and-half of each type of owners:
Both:
- Tend to be in rural areas, and there doesn't seem to be a geographic difference in who is sellign the Raider vs. Montero
Almost completely, the Mitsubishi listings/owners:
- Have very complete listings with a ton of pics and details
- Are asking more money for same-condition as the Raiders
- Reply to messages quickly
- Are happy to provide even more photos, detailed information, and honest appraisals of any issues with the vehicles, unprompted.
- Will reply to multiple messages. A few of them followed up with me weeks later to see if I was still interested.
Meanwhile, most of the Dodge listings/owners:
- Have lousy pictures and pretty sparse details about the vehicles, including what engine/transmission
- Vehicles tend to be in worse condition, always dirty in pics, and are cheaper
- Only about half of them actually reply to my messages with questions about the listing. None answered all my questions, or even most of them. None seemed to have very good reading comprehension.
- Only one has been willing to provide additional photos
- Only one actually provided basic details via message/email of stuff not in the listing (transmission, rust, etc)
- Two totally ghosted me in the middle of discussions and never replied again
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Anyhow, seemed like a interesting generalization of two identical vehicle owner groups that just happen to have different badges on them.
I imagine there are similar types of "personality" groups from other multi-make same vehicles but I've never seen it so apparent before.
