RE: Mitsubishi 3000GT: Spotted

[Tim16V]

I vaguely recall a saying about these: 'designed for speed, built for storage' due to their complexity.

[myhandle]

The American branded version, the Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo, is so very much better looking . A red or white original version from '91 looks like a concept car of the time. There was an advert in US car magazines featuring the Chrysler Group cars, with the R/T Turbo next to a Viper and a Diablo, Lamborghini being owned by Chrysler at the time.

Edited by myhandle on Monday 6th November 21:13

[ZX10R NIN]

My mate had one of these (I had a 300ZX TT which was a weapon in itself) it always impressed with it's performance (it had 440bhp to my measly 340bhp) but it always seemed to have a niggly issues nothing that kept it off the road long but it was always something.

My other mate had the right car & still has it now which was the Supra.

[dunnoreally]

Back when I was learning to drive you could pick up a decent-ish one of these for about 2 grand, which seemed a fantastic idea and sod the supposed reliability issues, if only the insurance hadn't been five times the price of the car.

£8000, though, will buy you some very nice metal with far fewer than 150,000miles on the clock, even at today's prices. So yeah, I'm not really seeing this one either.

[ReaperCushions]

myhandle said:

The American branded version, the Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo, is so very much better looking .

Errrrrrr... pass the Specsavers logo someone.

[Mike335i]

ReaperCushions said:

myhandle said:

The American branded version, the Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo, is so very much better looking .

Errrrrrr... pass the Specsavers logo someone.

Glad it's not just me,but hat Dodge is not pretty in my view.

[yellowstreak]

Fair enough it maybe a flawed car compared to the Supra and slower than a modern hatchback, but commenting on how it steers on a console game. A 20 year old game?? WTF?

[J4CKO]

yellowstreak said:

Fair enough it maybe a flawed car compared to the Supra and slower than a modern hatchback, but commenting on how it steers on a console game. A 20 year old game?? WTF?

I don't think anyone was imagining that constitutes actual experience of driving a real one, more nostalgia about the game and the era of Japanese imports, it was an exiting time with all these strange and wonderful cars we hadn't seen before and the GT games were like a primer course in what was coming.

3000GT has always been bottom of the pile of big Japanese coupes, unlike Gran Turismo you can't really tune them over 1000 Bhp in a couple of hours and them not break !

Does make me wonder how many kids brought up on GT got their first car and though tuning worked like that, only to receive some melted pistons and a toasted clutch for their trouble.

[Suterman2]

Had a GTO a few years back, actually drove really nicely when it was working! (Which wasn’t often)

Head gaskets went twice in two years, then the turbos went, got rid of it soon after, money pit!

Dropped so much money into that car trying to keep it going. Wasn’t even like it was a dog, the previous owner doted on it too, had receipts for £15k in two years when I brought it!

[K50 DEL]

Always wanted one of these, though I would have preferred the slightly rarer Spyder version.... I have a feeling though that they might fit the category "never meet your heroes" and I certainly wouldn't spend £8k on a leggy one!

[chazwozza]

I actually really like these and seriously considered one following on from my old silvia but from what i've heard mpg is more like 14-15 than 19. Think the prices will creep up as they become quite rare. Too many abused ones with naff bodykits bought on council estates though.

[ravster]

I looked at one last year and was very disappointed. Heavy and slow and not aged well.

Finally saw the light and bought one of these instead. Night and day in comparison

[culpz]

I've seen some GTO's up for sale for around 3k. They probably weren't the best examples out there but nothing horrific, by any means. I'd much rather have one over an FTO. They look great IMO and i can imagine that they go pretty well, too.

I'd actually much prefer a 300ZX, all things considered, but the going rate for one of those is a fair bit more pricey

[Iceicebaby1980]

Wonder how much the owner got when he part ex the car. Bet it wasn't any were near 8k. For that money I'd rather by a decent Celica gt4 and still have 2-3k change

[leedsutd1]

I bought one in 2010 , mint condition , kept it couple of months and sold it on ,the 16 mpg did not help ,very quick though.
sold it for £2,300 ,and made a few hundred,, bought by a stuntman working on the latest James Bond film

[DaveCWK]

I quite like these; they appear to get the Japanese slant on the big comfy GT thing correct, although admittedly I haven't driven one
I might be interested in a nice low miles standard one at £2-3k or so but I'm not sure they exist.

Back when they were a more common JDM import I recall reading that there was some issue with one of the ECU's getting nicked all the time during transit.

[BricktopST205]

ravster said:

I looked at one last year and was very disappointed. Heavy and slow and not aged well.

Finally saw the light and bought one of these instead. Night and day in comparison

What is the price of a Supra Twin Turbo to an absolute mint GTO? GTO money would most likely get you a N/A at best. GTO would make a perfect alternative grand tourer. Buy one for the summer, go for a road trip around Europe then sell it with no loss after.

People always expect some kind of samurai sword with these things. It is more like an Audi RS6 in terms of its purpose. These remap to 400BHP quite easily and were more like 330BHP in standard than what the genetleman agreement stated.

[Bradley1500]

samoht said:

I can kinda see the charm, especially if you find one cheap - but this particular one looks *way* overpriced at £8k, plenty still around for half that.

It might be the top end of what these sell for but it isn’t ‘way overpriced’. The 3000GT has always been more expensive than the GTO, mostly because of their rarity compared with the imported car.

The £3K cars people are talking about will be GTOs and likely not very nice. 3000GTs start at £5K and also won’t be particularly nice.

I have owned a couple of these: an automatic non-turbo and a manual twin turbo. They’re not sports cars, they’re GTs, and I think this misconception is what brings them the most contempt. And their dubious reliability doesn’t help. That said, both of mine were fine and it does seem to be pot lock on whether you bag a good one or not.

My dad owned three GTOs when they were newer. One tuned to over 400BHP which was perfectly reliable, and an automatic non-turbo and a lightly-tuned manual twin turbo at the same time. The non-turbo car was perfect, but the twin turbo car was problematic with the headgasket failing on route home from the docks, both turbos failing shortly after the headgasket was fixed, and further smaller problems thereafter.

Despite the problems he loved all three cars and still talks of buying another now. His red car was often confused for a Ferrari by non-petrolhead friends, which annoyed his friend who had a red Ferrari 355 at the time.

I now own a Supra and have driven a few Skylines – R32s and R33s – and the GTO/3000GT is nothing like either. The Supra is a heavy car but the GTO weighs 200KG more, which is noticeable when driving. As a result, the Supra and Skyline feel a lot more eager and faster too. That said, the GTO/3000GT are a quarter of the price of either, so look a bit of a bargain in comparison.

I would definitely own another if I didn’t have the Supra.

[ravster]

BricktopST205 said:

ravster said:

I looked at one last year and was very disappointed. Heavy and slow and not aged well.

Finally saw the light and bought one of these instead. Night and day in comparison

What is the price of a Supra Twin Turbo to an absolute mint GTO? GTO money would most likely get you a N/A at best. GTO would make a perfect alternative grand tourer. Buy one for the summer, go for a road trip around Europe then sell it with no loss after.

People always expect some kind of samurai sword with these things. It is more like an Audi RS6 in terms of its purpose. These remap to 400BHP quite easily and were more like 330BHP in standard than what the genetleman agreement stated.

Supra Turbos manuals seem to be over £20k. As a lot have been modified, the original examples if they come up are £25k although what they actually
go for is probably less. Autos (which I prefer) are £12-18k. UK specs are rare but quite a few JDMs around. I’ve not seen a 3000GT above £10k so yes you are right that you will get a lot more car at the same price brackets.

[Steve_F]

Years ago on a road trip round Scotland in my mates older shaped Fiesta ST, we weren't exactly hanging around when he took a very obvious look in his mirror and said "Holy f***", a 3000GT/GTO came absolutely flying past us making a lovely noise. I was absolutely gone within a few corners.

Did a lot of research into them at that time but even at a much cheaper price point than this one it felt like a crazy gamble. Really regret passing up on my cousin's slightly tatty single turbo auto Supra for under £4k though, that would have been a much better buy.