NEXT MONTH:
The most unexpected
winner of Performance Car
of the Year – possibly ever
Has Renault built a true
Cayman rival with its Alpine
sports car? We drive it. Also:
a very well done turbo BRZ.
ON-SALE JANUARY 28
Hero Worship
Fast Car History Lesson
by SCOTT NEWMAN
1990-2000 3000GT
IN THE 1980s Japan was riding the
crest of a wave. Its strong economic
growth and electronics leadership
led to tremendous confidence,
which was nowhere more apparent
than in the vehicles it was creating.
Standalone luxury brands
Eunos, Infiniti and Lexus sprang
up from Mazda, Nissan and
Toyota respectively, while in the
performance sector Japan’s first
supercars arrived in the form of
the Honda NSX and Nissan Skyline
GT-R. The likes of Subaru, Mazda
and Mitsubishi were also making
a name for themselves in rallying
by embracing all-wheel drive and
turbocharging.
Oneofthehallmarksofa
Japanese performance car was lots
of technology and the poster child
of this ethos was the Mitsubishi
3000GT. Even compared to the
high-tech R32 GT-R, the 3000GT
(known as the GTO in Japan)
wasacomplexbeast,featuringa
transversely mounted, front-mid-
engined twin-turbo V6, anti-lock
brakes and all-wheel drive.
THE SPECS
ENGINE
2972cc V6, DOHC,
24V, twin-turbo
POWER
210kW@6000rpm
TORQUE
407Nm @ 3000rpm
TRANSMISSION
5- or 6-speed manual,
4-speed auto
WEIGHT
1720kg
0-100KM/H
5.9sec (tested)
PRICE NEW
$89,950-$118,940Heady stuff for the era, but the
3000GT went even further with
adaptive dampers, all-wheel
steering and active aerodynamics,
which could alter the angle of the
rear wing by 15 degrees and lower
thefrontairdam80mmatspeedto
increase downforce.
Overseas markets had the choice
of an atmo version of the 3.0-litre
V6, however, Australia only gained
access to the range-topping twin-
turbo monster, which produced a
hefty 210kW/407Nm, 4kW/52Nm
more than an R32 GT-R.
Unfortunately, all that technology
cameataprice–infact,itcame
at two. The first was a kerb weight
of 1720kg (at a time when an M5
weighed 1670kg), which not even
that clever suspension could
adequately control.
The second problem was the
price. Nissan got away with
the GT-R’s $110K ask due to its
racetrack success, but at almost
$90,000(soontorisetomorethan
$117,000) the GTO failed to seduce
many Aussie customers.M
Costume Change
Weight problem
Nip ’n’ Tuck
Despite more computing
power than NASA, the
3000GT driving experience
was underwhelming, a 1993
MOTOR comparo finding it
“fast and safe, but heavy”
with “understeer ’til the
cows come home”.In the US a restyled GTO
could be had as a Dodge
Stealth with either a woeful
119kW/250Nm SOHC, 12v
version of the 3.0-litre V6
(which was a Magna engine
in Oz) or the twin-turbo R/T.A facelift in 1994 brought
with it styling alterations, a
six-speed manual gearbox
and 238kW/427Nm. In
1998 the pop-up headlights
disappeared (above),
however, by this time the
3000GT had been taken off
Aussie price lists.High-tech Mitsubishi too clever for its own good
Three 3000GT gems
1
2
3