Opinions of Mitsu 3000GT?

bluej wrote:

sachilles wrote: We had on local in the club, turbo, well cared for. It was incredibly fast. It met it's demise against a tree. Car didn't survive but the driver did. Which is an all important factor. It was at a hill climb. Hit hard enough that we had to pull parts of the tranny case out of the tree, that were lodged in like spikes. Very sobering moment. He only had a minor injury, which is amazing.

lawdogg? how is he? I remember when that happened and he said he was taking a break from car stuff for awhile after that. do you know if he ever got back into any more? I had the '92 stealth version of that car for sale above through most of college. great for that purpose. quick enough to enjoy cruising, looks great, can haul a surprising amount of stuff. as long as you keep up on the 60k services (tbelt/wpump) and oil changes, they are actually pretty dang reliable. and of course as mentioned above, seen some people walk away from some really ridiculous crashes in them. the NA FWD ones are cheaper/easier to maintain/more reliable than the turbo ones.

did that happen up in vermont? a guy i autocross with from new zealand, james m(?) hillclimbs an e36 m3 up there and told me a strory that sounds very much like that....

In reply to WilberM3:

that's who i'm referring to. if not then two people in the upstate NY/VT area have crashed their modified 3kgt vr4's on hillclimbs. sorta doubt that.

You guys should keep in mind that a LOT of the things that suck about the VR-4 do NOT suck about the SL. They are a simpler car.

In fact, if you go for a later year with the SOHC motor (or a stealth), you can see a lot of ground through the engine bay.. i would call those roomy engine bays, in fact.

I've heard that Dodge techs back in the day didn't like to work on the Stealth since it was basically a rebadged Mitsu. Any fact to this?

To this day, I still feel that the 3000GT is one of the best looking cars ever made. If I had lots of time and money, I'd love to tear one apart and refactor it into a RWD with a longitudinally mounted motor.

Vigo wrote: You guys should keep in mind that a LOT of the things that suck about the VR-4 do NOT suck about the SL. They are a simpler car. In fact, if you go for a later year with the SOHC motor (or a stealth), you can see a lot of ground through the engine bay.. i would call those roomy engine bays, in fact.

Yes but then you have the same engine pretty much as a 3.0 caravan!

It is decently fun and you can fold down the back seats and lay in the hatch which can be awesome w/ a girl. My friend sold his after the second automatic transmission went out on it. Maintenance sucks ass.

I drove my buddy's 94 FWD 3000GT back when it was pretty new. It felt well-put-together and was a great cruiser.

Heavy car. Puts a beating on front tires and brakes when driven in anger. Brakes were totally faded less than a third of the way through the Dragon (US129.)

To me, the most memorable thing about the 3000GT is a certain illicit act with the shifter that is caught on video somewhere in the seedy white underbelly of the internet.

I recently robbed the front brakes off of a 97 3000GT at pull-a-part to put on our 97 Talon Lemons car. Combined with Carbotech brake pads, this combo ought to be fade proof and long lived on a Talon/Eclipse.

92dxman wrote: I've heard that Dodge techs back in the day didn't like to work on the Stealth since it was basically a rebadged Mitsu. Any fact to this?

The 3000GT and the Stealth are the exact same car. Like the Geo Prizm and the Corolla. Or the Talon and the Eclipse.

Tyler H wrote: To me, the most memorable thing about the 3000GT is a certain illicit act with the shifter that is caught on video somewhere in the seedy white underbelly of the internet.

I've seen screenshots of what I think you're talking about but chose not to pursue any further than that. Didn't know it was that car. Didn't really want to know.

While it would be hard to maintain, I can't help but like the idea of cruising around in a clean VR4.

Surprised nobody's mentioned the valve stem seals - they often seem to wear out and make a lot of smoke. The upside is, if you see one smoking, that's probably all it needs to fix it...

$4k will buy a similarly nice Z32 Nissan 300ZX. Naturally aspirated of course.

Not QUITE as hard to work on, less to go wrong, and more rewarding to drive.

I may be biased slightly- I hate my 3000gt... But only because I deviated from "the Plan". I will say it is alot of car for the money IMO. I HATE driving stock appearing cars- yet with my modified headlights and HIDs I have been approached like it is a brand new model. I love my auto, but it is not for everyone. With a single turbo setup, the ATX is heaven. Before- it was bearable... but not fast compared to modded cars. If you plan on going traditional import with it- get a 5speed. If you want to ride slow and smooth, get the auto. If you want to be scary fast past 30mph get an auto and run 14PSI of boost with a factory TT ecu. I love my luxury bruiser.

Yes but then you have the same engine pretty much as a 3.0 caravan!

And? Up to 4500-5000 rpm its going to feel just as fast as the DOHC one. A sohc/5spd is decently punchy. And the motor is there to grow into if you want more power. The bottom end is basically the same as the DOHCs. Over 500 whp has been made on that motor.

As a long time 3kgt lover but not owner, ive gradually come to decide that the 3kgt i want the most is a SOHC.

Also, from the point of view of both a driving enthusiast AND a transmission rebuilding mechanic, i would avoid the autos. The only way they become fun is either with a high stall converter or with boost, and they are not cheap to rebuild when they break.

WilberM3 wrote: did that happen up in vermont? a guy i autocross with from new zealand, james m(?) hillclimbs an e36 m3 up there and told me a strory that sounds very much like that....

James Melhuish. Yep it happened in Vt.

There is a canoe near the bottom of page one.

I have been seeing a lot of these for sale recently. Are they all finally hitting 120K in miles?

They had to cut holes in the hood because they realized the struts didn't fit. If that doesn't make you run in fear then there is something wrong.