Mitsubishi GTO

[gorgath]

And consider yourself if you found a garage to willing touch your car when servicing. Most shops here in Sydney declined servicing GTO's due to restricted space on the engine bay.

 

[frozen]

id love a GTO... always wanted one.. budget said get a galant wouldnt have anything less than a 1998-2000 facelifted mr 6spd tho.. not sure how hard the combos are to come by.. but pretty sure that would be almost $30k.

 

[Guest]

Hey vr4ers, I've got a late 96 mitsubishi GTO MR. In terms of straight line speed it would be a fair bit faster than a Galant/Legnum. We're talking low 13s to high 12s stock.

My car has the usual bolt-ons, cat-back, heavier clutch, fmic and lowered. Still running stock boost and there's not much on the road that can come close in a traffic lights race (done on private roads only of course). 4wd launch is unbelievable as you'd all know.

In terms of cornering it is very good too. For some reason people have decided that they handle poorly and weigh a lot. The MR is slightly lighter (around 1650kgs) than the normal one because it doesn't have all the "useless" stuff like electronic suspension, 4ws, cruise control - personally I think this means there's less to go wrong.

In terms of reliability I haven't had any problems with it at all - other than the usual things like wheel bearings (car is just over 100k kms).

For fuel consumption I average just over 12l/100kms with mostly city driving (although that is a mix of 60 and 80kms zones - with not much stop start). On the drive over from Adelaide to Canberra I got about 9l/100kms (just sitting in 6th the whole way). If you drive it hard then you can almost watch the fuel gauge drop though.

All the turbo GTOs are 6-speed manual after around 95. The gearboxes are pretty good in the 6-speed - people have run low 10s with them. The 5-speeds aren't so good. Both boxes have got re-enforcement options available. They are very popular in the US. Also the stock motor can handle up to around 600hp! Just what on some big turbos and you're set.

There are plenty of bolt on turbos and turbo kits available in the US at easonable prices too. If you want to stick with stock turbos and fuelling you're limited to around 250kwatw, which would be a nice daily drive.

Reason I'm posting here is because I'm thinking of trading mine in for a Legnum (or a Caldina) in the next few months. I need something that I can fit people in the back of.

Any more questions feel free to ask.

 

[Sydo]

Reason I'm posting here is because I'm thinking of trading mine in for a Legnum (or a Caldina) in the next few months.

Stick with the Mitsubishi.

 

[Guest]

Oh yeah, and I've never had any problems getting it serviced. Most performance workshops have had something to do with them before. Last place I took it to said they weren't great, but be still preferred it to a 300ZX or skyline GTR!

They do have a cramped engine bay, and changing spark plugs etc on the back cylinders isn't as easy as it could be, but it's still only a 30 minute job.

They are put together well though. I'm not sure about the vr4s, but the number of bolts and brackets on the thing is amazing. I reckon there was about 80 bolts holding the front bar on! If you're planning on doing work on the car then obviously this can be cut down quite a bit

 

[Guest]

Stick with the Mitsubishi.

I like the look better, but I think the Caldina might be better for working on/fuel economy. Both are better than the Stagea imho.

I think a goal of a reliable 200awkw would be easy enough with both. Maybe I should start another thread

 

[frozen]

caldina is a 4 banger.... nuff said.

 

[bradc]

Caldina's are slow, laggy and sound like crap. Their interiors aren't very nice either.

 

[Mortz]

In HPI latest issue there was a question in the letters sections asking about potential for VR-4's and it was mentioned that GTO turbos could be bolted on to our cars as an upgrade. Anyone actually explored this option?

 

[Guest]

Send us a picture of the stock turbos and I'll let you know. If so then there are heaps of other bolt on opportunities. It's a 3 bolt flange pretty much evenly spaced - unlike the wrx. Not too sure about the bolts on the dump, but you might even be able to use the stock ones too?

 

[Mortz]

One of the people on here would most definitely have a picture of the stock turbos. Lets get a piccie up so we can see if we have liftoff

 

[bradc]

They won't fit on easily at all, at least not any easier than any other turbo upgrade

 

[ygoslo]

caldina is a 4 banger.... nuff said.

One of the better 4 cylinders ever built. For years, the GT500 Supras ran 3SGTEs instead of 2JZGTEs.... Nuff said.

 

[godzilla]

Excellent point Tim, they can make a serious amount of power yet have such a light weight and the ability (in the GT500 Supras) to give them a better front/rear weight balance.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

I like the look better, but I think the Caldina might be better for working on/fuel economy. Both are better than the Stagea imho.

I think a goal of a reliable 200awkw would be easy enough with both. Maybe I should start another thread

Caldina better then a Stagea Autech 260RS? I don't think so mate! Go the Legnum though, so much cooler!

As for 4 cylinders what about the SR20DET? Pretty good motor right there which has been shown to do some amazing things with just 2L of displacement.

As for the GTO, they look pretty cool but I once had a look under the bonnet of one and it turned me off, reminded me of a 300ZX engine bay.

 

[Guest]

Caldina better then a Stagea Autech 260RS?

Didn't say anything about the 260RS, they're a completely different league, like comparing a skyline to a GTR. They are also at least $10k on top of either the Legnum or the Caldina. Although if you mean in terms of looks then I'd disagree, not a big fan of the Stagea at all + they're too big. The later stageas look like Volvo knock-offs.

Don't think that the under bonnet of the GTO is that different to a Legnum, you're only talking 0.5l displacement extra + there's enough room to fit larger turbos in the GTO!

Took a Legnum for a test drive for the other day. It was an auto first gen, I was quite impressed. Not particularly fast straight line, but fast enough for daily street driving, especially when combined with the handling. It was a completely stock car though. I was very impressed with how it handled. The steering was not quite as sharp as the GTO, but the grip levels were definitely comparable.

Interior space was excellent for a car that size too!

Now I just have to check out a Caldina.

 

[jaygore]

the 3sgte is an awesome engine and i too was going to bye a caldina gt but didnt due to tha fact that i thought the legnum looked much better...

But my mate had a celica with a 3sgte conversion, was pretty darn fast... would have flogged our VR4's any day, they are great little engines

 

[Guest]

hey guys i actualy own a gen 1 gto, although quite modified and pretty hard to guess its a gen 1, actualy doesnt look like any gen gto lol. Anyway they are great torquey cars and pull from quite low revs, with a bit of weight reduciton you should see about 1500-1600 kgs but engine has tonne of potential. i pull 12.2 1/4 and 0-100 4.05 so not too shabby. Also got some handling mods and full adjustable tiens and many of my mates struggle to keep up with it around mountains, so its not that bad a car

 

[Esoteric]

the 3sgte is an awesome engine and i too was going to bye a caldina gt but didnt due to tha fact that i thought the legnum looked much better...

But my mate had a celica with a 3sgte conversion, was pretty darn fast... would have flogged our VR4's any day, they are great little engines

Front wheel drive turbo'd Celica beating a VR-4? They are good engines yes but I doubt whether it would put the power down sufficiently. The VR-4 would definitely have a traction advantage from a standing start and faster spooling turbos.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

I heard once you got to something like 150rwkw there is no real point putting more power in a fwd car. Obviously this isn't gospel or anything but I would think that a lightly modded VR-4 should have a heavily modded fwd vehicle.... I think....