Shed Of The Week: Mitsubishi FTO GPX

Eastern promise in this week's Shed in the form of a zingy - and manual - Mitsubishi FTO

JDM. Three letters that strike fun or fear into the heart. They stand for Japanese Domestic Market, of course, but much hidden meaning lurks beneath the surface.

OK, so the wheels would need ditching

For some, greyly-imported JDM cars are distinctive and generally well-specified cars that, for reasons never fully explained, failed to go on full official UK sale. For others, JDM brings only the fetid boombox whiff of the ultra-chav, a grotesque masquerade of exclusivity and a buying decision determined largely by straitened economics and the plentiful supply of keenly-priced cars with uncertain histories.

Shed takes no sides in this debate. However, having visited Japan on numerous occasions, he has no problem with the absence of indigenous servicing paperwork on JDM cars. Why? One, the average Japanese motorist drives about as aggressively as Miss Daisy's chauffeur. And two, Shed doesn't read Japanese. For all he knows, a docket could just as easily say 'cambelt not done' as 'cambelt done'. So what's the point?

Ready to rev; teeny V6 is one of the big appeals

The Mitsubishi FTO is not the ultimate expression of the JDM motor, in that it sort of went on sale here. At least, Shed has a dim recollection of it receiving a degree of Mitsubishi UK support in the shape of a small number of 'Red Zebra' cars smuggled in under the Ralliart banner. The three letters this time stand for Fresh Touring Origination, a phrase from the list of Jenglish jabberwocky that some mischievous Brit must surely have punted around Japanese car factories in the 1980s. Who among us can forget golden spirit of runner on explosive cloud of nippy strength, soaring up in bright young glow of fragrant shiny power?

The ad for our Shed is a bit random. It's referred to as a '95 model in the text, but the header and spec panel say it's a MY2000 with a four-pot engine. Some basic FTOs did have 1.8-litre 125hp fours, but you won't see many of them in this country. Most greys had a sweet 2-litre DE3A V6 spinning out 170hp in the GR and GX models (or 180 in post-97 facelifters).

Velour'n'plastic in the classic 90s JDM fashion

Shed is fairly sure that the GPX range-topper, which this one is, was the biggest-selling FTO. Weighing around 1,170kg, it claimed 200hp@7,500rpm courtesy of the MIVEC V6 (Mitsu's answer to Honda's VTEC variable-cam, kicking in at 5,500rpm). It had a 142mph top end and a low-seven-second 0-60 time. Strictly speaking, the GPX wasn't the range-topper: that was the slippy-diffed and slightly lighter Version R, or GPvR. A really rare one is the 300-off Nakaya-Tune model with uprated Ohlins suspension and uprated brakes, muffler and spoiler.

The number of previous owners of this specimen are said to be only three, but the ad has a flip job feel to it, with airy references to 'stuff under the bonnet' and little of the detail and knowledge that you'd expect from a true FTO enthusiast. Vendor thinks the odo is reading in kilometres, but isn't sure. He talks about a cambelt receipt, but gives no date. Mentioning a receipt for the scabby old Dotz replacement alloys makes you think the belt job might have happened quite a while back too.

It's a punt, but at £600 one hopefully worth it

The seller shoots himself in the foot a bit by admitting his desire to replace his FTO with 'a usable car', but it's a sunny day so let's take the charitable view that his circs have changed, the missus has popped out a new addition to the family and he needs something with more doors. There's certainly nothing to be scared of in terms of practicality for the average PH nuclear family of probably one, maybe two on a good day. In motoring parlance, two plus two doesn't equal four, so don't buy it if you have a real family to shift.

Shed likes the sound of the stainless exhaust, and the next owner should too. There's nowt like a free-breathing small-displacement V6 to stir-fry the old cockles. Yes, the FTO is front-wheel drive, but it's one of the better-handling ones. And, most unusually, this one is a manual, so you can fill your boots banging out some classic 8,000rpm choons from the mechanical torturer's playlist. You'll pay for that privilege though in the ghastly form of mpg figures in the low 20s.

So, to sum up, what you have here is an interestingly-engined, quick and not unstylish coupe that was Japan's Car of the Year when it came out, now available for £595 or less. What can possibly go wrong? Buy now and tap into the unique FTO bimbo-fresh leaping scent of life-dunkery.

Here's the ad:

1995 Mitsubish FTO

This is the one to have, very soon will be none left

Mivec
24valve
GPX
Manual

MOT to December

Alloys with receipt for £500

Custom built Stainless exhaust receipt for £700

belt receipt for £350

lots of old MOT's and lots of receipts for lots of money spent

clock shows 148000 probably kilometers

MOT to December 2014

Metallic grey , cloth interior, pas, electric windows, alarm, alloys, and various other stuff see under bonnet pictures