1991 Mitsubishi GTO Twin Turbo

[ex vtskid]

Just bought this to replace my 330i, quite a different car. Wanted to go back to boost and that pushed me towards Japanese cars which I don't really mind as I'm very much a Gran Turismo kid at heart. I know they aren't well regarded (seem to be regarded very poorly in fact) but I couldn't resist this for £1350, so much car for the money.

Seems to turn quite a few heads, whether this is in admiration of disgust I don't really know (or really care for that matter). Interior is tatty but runs fine or did an the 5 hour drive back anyway. Suspension needs refreshing I think. Feels faster than any of the other cars I've ever had in a straight line at least and I haven't pushed it at all due to the suspension which really needs sorting I think. Will no doubt be expensive but I never expected to buy a GTO at this money and not have to spend something on it - I looked at ones for £2000 and they had worse problems than this. Drives well otherwise. I think I got a bargain but that could well be famous last words!

Pictures are very poor, I'm terrible! Hope to have some better ones up soon. (They'll be better as I'll get someone else to take them).

[dudleybloke]

nice!

[EDLT]

For £1350 you should be glad it got you home. There are a lot of rough GTOs out there (as you've probably seen).

[ex vtskid]

dudleybloke said:

nice!

Cheers!

EDLT said:

For £1350 you should be glad it got you home. There are a lot of rough GTOs out there (as you've probably seen).

I do know what you mean and I found that in this sort of price range (£1300-£2700 or so) price isn't necessarily a good indicator of condition. Mine drives at least as well if not better than ones I looked at that were near enough twice the price. Some of course are real dogs, a lot of trash out there. Everything I'd read told me to expect problems with these but I thought with what I'd found that I'd rather pay out a grand (say) fixing a car I spent bottom money on than one I spent £2500 on as they seem to be in similar condition anyway. The fundamentals appear fine anyway, oil pressure is bang on, boosts correctly, engine temp fine ect.

[Baryonyx]

Thats the thing with these older sporty Japanese cars. The Japanese stuff is easily the best in class, but this is often reflected by them having been thoroughly thrashed since their 90's heyday! Congratulations on finding a working one, I hope you enjoy it.

[soad]

Don't mind these as not many about locally, and used to see quite a few. What's the spec like? Full of toys and gizmos?

[ex vtskid]

Baryonyx said:

Thats the thing with these older sporty Japanese cars. The Japanese stuff is easily the best in class, but this is often reflected by them having been thoroughly thrashed since their 90's heyday! Congratulations on finding a working one, I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers, mileage is 153,000km so pretty low which I think helps. About 60,000km of that since it was imported in 2001 so I don't think it's been thrashed too much in the UK. I have enough paperwork to think that the UK mileage but who knows if someone twiddled with the odo in Tokyo before it came over.

soad said:

Don't mind these as not many about locally, and used to see quite a few. What's the spec like? Full of toys and gizmos?

Spec is quite funny as it doesn't have things I'd expect on a car that would have been very top of the range (even if it was 20 years ago) like a trip computer. It does however have active aero (spoilers front and rear activate at 50mph and go back down at 30mph) electronically controlled suspension (ECS, has 2 modes sport and tour but stuck in back-breaking sport mode), rear wheel steering, active exhaust (there's a button that makes the exhaust quieter - not been used yet ). Probably other things too, lots to go wrong but in fairness I'm not too fussed if for example the active aero stops working. A lot of it is cool for a geek like me but gimmicky.

[Greg_D]

ex vtskid said:

Baryonyx said:

Thats the thing with these older sporty Japanese cars. The Japanese stuff is easily the best in class, but this is often reflected by them having been thoroughly thrashed since their 90's heyday! Congratulations on finding a working one, I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers, mileage is 153,000km so pretty low which I think helps. About 60,000km of that since it was imported in 2001 so I don't think it's been thrashed too much in the UK. I have enough paperwork to think that the UK mileage but who knows if someone twiddled with the odo in Tokyo before it came over.

soad said:

Don't mind these as not many about locally, and used to see quite a few. What's the spec like? Full of toys and gizmos?

Spec is quite funny as it doesn't have things I'd expect on a car that would have been very top of the range (even if it was 20 years ago) like a trip computer. It does however have active aero (spoilers front and rear activate at 50mph and go back down at 30mph) electronically controlled suspension (ECS, has 2 modes sport and tour but stuck in back-breaking sport mode), rear wheel steering, active exhaust (there's a button that makes the exhaust quieter - not been used yet ). Probably other things too, lots to go wrong but in fairness I'm not too fussed if for example the active aero stops working. A lot of it is cool for a geek like me but gimmicky.

Good attitude

One thing i did hear though (i've never owned one) is that a lot of the systems are intertwined, eg. if one system, ie. the aero breaks, it makes other, more important things stop working as well

But if you are happy to keep deleting systems, then good luck, they are basically a very fast car.

[Mr MXT]

You must have massive cojones! Best of luck!

Seriously though, I'd be interested in the joys of running a cheap GTO so please keep the thread updated!

[Mr E]

What was the line? "Designed for speed. Built for storage"?

Lots of luck. Hope she's a good one.

[ex vtskid]

I have heard that about the rear steering - if that breaks then my car becomes an expensive paper weight as apparently the car cannot function without it. Which is a little worrying!

I suppose one advantage of this negative reputation is that no one wants to buy them which of course drives prices down to these sorts of levels.

And I did see that quote but inside it's rather like a reverse tardis - for such a physically big car there isn't a lot of room inside, especially the rear seats.

And yes, I plan to keep this updated with tales of how good an idea this was. What will probably result however is multiple tales of woe until I have to sell my computer to fund a gearbox ECU or something!

[Jon Brown]

Awesome cars, my dads got a non turbo mk2 which hes had for ten years most reliable car we've ever had

[ex vtskid]

In case anyone's interested my first 10 days or so have passed without incident and I've done about 500 miles in that time. Very pleased with it so far.

Touch wood it doesn't punish me for that!

[Monsterlime]

You can "delete" the rear wheel steering, if you want. Head on over to one of the owners clubs and there are posts on how to do it.

And, nice car Looks like a good price!

[robsco]

You brave, brave man. Glad things have paid off so far, my fingers are crossed that your luck continues.

[Xenocide]

I love the look of these, always have. Interior really does need a tidy up doesn't it

[driverrob]

As has been said many times elsewhere on this forum, a well maintained GTO can be as reliable and cheap to run as any other car of a similar spec.
I've had mine over 6 years, done several track days and 30,000 odd miles with no major problems. And as for the uninformed comments about the rear steering or one fault producing others, just enjoy the car.
Joining GTOUK will put you in touch with other owners and recommended garages in your area. As a general rule, do NOT entrust your car to any garage without personal recommendation. There have been some dreadful experiences of places claiming to be jap specialists and knowing bugger-all about these cars.
The 'dogs' out there which have given s/h GTOs a bad reputation have often been the result of owners saving money on proper servicing etc by using a mate or by DIY.

[Homer Lawtey]

Congratulations on your new purchase a wise choice! I realy should post up a thread in here with details of my daily driven trackday GTO.

Greg_D said:

One thing i did hear though (i've never owned one) is that a lot of the systems are intertwined, eg. if one system, ie. the aero breaks, it makes other, more important things stop working as well

Hi Greg, I think you've been given a bit of mis-information on that! I know on some of the newer cars full of gadgets that one failing can affect everything on the car, but fortunately the GTO/3000GT has all the toys as seperate systems that aren't interlinked. For example the OPs electronic controlled suspension has gone faulty and has stuck in sports mode for safety, but this won't affect any of the other systems on the car. The ECS fault could be as simple as one of the thin wires on a strut top being broken, or could be a dead damper motor (new strut required). It could also be a faulty sensor or wire that the ECS ECU has detected, or the ECS ECU may have died. Fault finding is easy enough with a voltmeter to check the error code though and the usual suspect is a simple solder repair.

ex vtskid said:

I have heard that about the rear steering - if that breaks then my car becomes an expensive paper weight as apparently the car cannot function without it. Which is a little worrying!

Don't worry about the rear steering! The only real fault with the rear steering that people have is when the rack seals start to leak (as they would on any steering rack over time). The symptom of this is the rear steering gaitors balooning up with fluid over time. A reconditioned service exchange rack will set you back about £200, and for a specialist garage such as Eurospec in Guildford to replace the rack will cost about £250 in labour (from memory!). You can change the rear rack yourself, but it can be a pig of a job as the rear subframe, rear suspension and diff have to be dropped to get to the rack. You can (as mentioned above) remove the rear wheelsteering system all together for about £100 of parts (adjustable links, threaded pipe caps and a blanking plug). If you wanted to remove the disabled rack from the car you would still require the rear subframe dropping as above. If the seals do start to leak, it won't render the car undriveable (in fact you wouldn't even notice it until you run low on fluid!), but as with any leaking steering rack it's not advisable to drive as it's an MOT failure.

Glad to see someone else buying a GTO for the right reasons and going into it with a sensible head on and their eyes wide open though! Too many of these cars are going for silly money because people see them cheap on eBay and buy them without realising that the service and repair costs reflect their original sale price rather than their current bargain selling price.

If you want to know some more about the cars from helpful owners, there's a completely free UK based owners club at www.gtooc.org. Won't cost you to sign up, you won't be limited to how many posts you can make or which forums you can read either! Look forward to seeing you (and any other potential new owners who'd like further information) over there and have fun with your new motor. We also have a number of discounts on parts and services for our members which can be found here;

http://www.gtooc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t...

...and also for any potential racing drivers, we're in the process of finalising a GTO/3000GT specific entry level race series for 2012;

http://www.gtooc.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=51

Steve

Edited by Homer Lawtey on Sunday 27th February 13:00

[GTO Scott]

Looks good for the money - there are a few topics on GTO ownership on here, with good information in - worth checking out.

One thing I would say is get the cambelt/tensioners/water pump service done as soon as possible if you have no proof of the whole job being done properly. If the belt goes it's a big bill to repair the damage.

[DPN]

Homer Lawtey said:

If you want to know some more about the cars from helpful owners, there's a completely free UK based owners club at www.gtooc.org. Won't cost you to sign up, you won't be limited to how many posts you can make or which forums you can read either! Look forward to seeing you (and any other potential new owners who'd like further information) over there and have fun with your new motor. We also have a number of discounts on parts and services for our members which can be found here;

http://www.gtooc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t...

...and also for any potential racing drivers, we're in the process of finalising a GTO/3000GT specific entry level race series for 2012;

http://www.gtooc.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=51

Steve

Edited by Homer Lawtey on Sunday 27th February 13:00

As Steve said Get yourself over to the GTOOC forum.

Regards
Dave Naxton