- Oh my Lord, the 90s were such a fantastic time,
mostly, because I was born then,
but I mean, come on,
but we've all like the 90s,
they were full of some real good (bleep),
like great TV shows, public school food
that wasn't all about being green and healthy,
and moon shoes, moon shoes,
you know the things that you cracked your ankles on
and never did again,
yeah, those,
and they were some really nice good proper
Japanese classic cars,
so hey guys, what's going on,
it's Alex from Fitment Industries,
and on this episode of So You Want,
we're talking about the underappreciated,
yet iconic JTM legend
that is the Mitsubishi 3000 GT.
(upbeat music)
(car engine revving)
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so taking it back to the 90s,
Mitsubishi decided to grace us with the introduction
of the Mitsubishi GTO,
which is way better than a Pontiac GTO,
but we're not gonna get into that
because we're gonna make our viewers mad,
but there's like twelve domestic people
and about twenty thousand GTM people
so I'm gonna say it anyway,
and I was a car that with like all wheel drive
and it was like fast and it was quick and it was beautiful,
it was incredible from start to finish,
it was an incredible car,
but originally meaning to capture the competing audience,
that Mazda had with their RX7,
Nissan had with their Skyline,
and Toyota had with their Supra,
the Mitsubishi GTO or 3000 GT as we call it
was a car that truly just came out swinging,
Japan had some neat stuff going on for them in the 90s,
and it's a shame that we weren't really able to see that
with the brand,
(Alex coughs)
nowadays.
Little bit rough Mitsubishi, just a little,
a little rough.
So coming out of the gate in 1990
with the best design cue you could possibly imagine,
popup headlights,
had a 24 valve V6, it had a couple extra goodies,
it was pretty okay,
but there was more
because there wasn't just the 3000 GT,
it was 3000 GTVR 4,
and that's what we're gonna spend the day on,
because you don't need know that the 3000 GTVR 4
was Mitsubishi's top dog,
you already knew that,
you knew that it came with all the tech
you could possibly imagine
like active air dynamics,
twin turbskies, adjustable damping,
suspension control, exhaust adjustment
to make it louder or quieter,
an exhaust system that had more buttons
than your dad's TV and stereo set up in 2001,
no, no,
you already know that,
what you need to is that
it almost always,
it almost always was broke,
I know, I'm sorry,
you see, in the history of videos,
you know what's going on there
but we're here to teach you about it
if you actually wanted to pick one up,
nowadays, for one of these bad boys,
which for anyone that's probably owned them in the passed
could tell you one
if you'd like to have a cold one with them,
because trust me,
it's unfortunately true and I've had two of them,
just if you're gonna,
if you want to pull up a cold one with me,
just don't forget the bush light,
because Dakota will probably have the rest of them
if I leave them at the shop
because he continuously drinks all of the stuff,
and never replenishes the actual fridge
in which case we keep all the beer
which is totally fine
but whatever, we'll just keep going back into it,
I'm gonna pretend that Dakota's not behind the camera,
so getting back to it,
the 3000 GT was at the original core,
a technological masterpiece, it had horsepower,
tech, style, elegance, everything,
even though it shared the spotlight
in the good old US of A with the
Dodge stuff,
there was nothing really like the 3000 GT
in the same market with what it had,
and it was awesome.
Over the years,
the 3000 GT continued to impress automotive enthusiast,
the car only feature one major facelift,
because it really only needed one,
definitely not because
they were only around for eight years or so,
but they did get rid of the headlights,
which makes me a little sad,
but that's okay.
The car did outsell and outperform the 300 ZX, RX7
and Toyota Supra
but that didn't last long
because Japanese cars all suffered from the same pain
of over optioning.
It's like the DLC in video games these days
is what the Japanese companies
were doing to themselves then,
but the options were pretty slick though,
they upgraded their 5speed to a 6speed,
they offered interior options
that no car to this day still couldn't offer,
and maintained some serious performance
even though it weighed,
it was just a little thick,
it was two Cs in terms of the weight that it had,
but it was still all right,
overtime the car continued to be produced into the 90s
until being eradicated by the Y2K,
and from there, it was all up to us,
the enthusiast guys and gals to keep the car alive.
Initially, the 3000 GT was well received
and up until the early 2000s,
it was quite the popular aftermarket platform for people.
You'd see the 3000 GT grace our presence
in the five minute prologue intro,
the 2 Fast 2 Furious,
which it actually what made me get my first 3000 GT,
fun fact for all, you can tell your mother,
and it wasn't that bad,
the 3000 GT had an inherent problem
with the aftermarket community.
They're just really hard to modify,
the platform was accepting of aesthetic modifications,
BBKs, aero, carbon fiber hoods and all that good stuff
but not much mechanical
because the engine bay was way too tight,
and it showed because doing minor and moderate modification
often required heavy involvement in that space,
most often, you'll hear of others pulling motors completely,
just to save time and patience
versus trying to work around anything in the engine bay,
so does a car need a ton of aftermarket modification,
probably not,
does that matter to somebody
who knowingly overspends on a piece of metal
that does nothing but takes you
from one place to another,
I don't think so.
That's how models are more common, easier to maintain,
have decent looks, and aren't super fast,
but aren't terribly slow if it's you're first car,
the three liter naturally aspirated ain't bad at all
if you're okay with telling you're friends
that it isn't the VR4 model.
You won't have a terrible time
but yet you have to tell them,
because they're gonna ask.
It took me a while to admit my first one
wasn't SL, still can't let that one go,
however, we all know we're looking at that juicy VR4
like that Gillette ad meme thing
that was super popular three months ago
and now it died and now I'm bringing back up again
because why not,
the VR4 is an absolutely astonishing car,
but like I said before,
it's features are almost always broke,
the active aero would often get stuck down,
and many would just keep it that way forever
because it looked cool
and you can tell people that you had it
even though it never worked,
the active suspension would also face fatigue issues
and get stuck in certain settings
and the cost to repair was just more
than just switching it out
with an aftermarket coil over setup.
The all wheel steering would commonly get deleted
because it was a constant issue,
the exhaust flanch for the adjustment would often rust
and just break.
It was super cool,
just like not a great hand me down cool,
you find that if you're looking to pick up a VR4
that many people would just rip all of that out,
because it just either broke underneath their own ownership,
or they opted to buy even though it was already broke,
and they just figured that it didn't matter,
but can we get past that,
yes we can,
excitement,
because the 3000 GTVR4 is fun as (bleep),
it's a great looking car,
it performs fantastic in the right hands
and can do quite the run
with the right modifications but
it's a car that not many people know about anymore
because it sits at a price point
that competes against others
that are newer and have more benefits,
it's not just the most exciting to work on
or modify and there's not a massive platform
even though there is a core group of enthusiast
that absolutely love these cars.
Take one look at the engine bay
and you'll know what I'm talking about,
I just, there's a lot going on in there.
If you do jump in and pick one up though,
you're in for a ride,
you find yourself looking at the mesh style wheels
because they just look so good on it,
BC racing coil overs because if you get a VR4,
the other ones probably don't work,
window tint because window tint,
bloFLs because pshhh,
and injectors, oil and a manual
for which fuses to pull so the damn dash lights go away
because everything else is more than likely not functioning,
so you want a Mitsubishi 3000 GTVR4,
hell yes,
they're not a DSM, but they are a fantastic car to drive,
they aren't the cheapest
nor a they the easiest to keep alive,
they are a car that will get you noticed
because everyone and their mother
thinks it's a Ferrari Testarosa,
they are not a car that you can jump in and out
whenever you want,
because more than likely,
they are gonna be sitting next to the eclipse
that is also broke that is underneath your ownership,
once you're in it though,
you are in,
it's a fun that's a bit like film photography,
it's a little bit of a pain,
it's as like commonly accepted as it once was,
it's not that great really anymore
but people still do it,
because they love the task of keeping the art alive.
The 3000 GTSL or VR4 is still a fantastic car to drive,
they look absolutely great
and they're one of the few 90s cars
that you can actually jump into
compared to some of their competitors
and not have pay an arm and a leg,
but they a little bit funky,
and you're gonna have to get used to it.
So have you had a three thousand GT before,
drop in a comment below
on what you liked or didn't like about it,
and of course don't forget to subscribe
and hit the bell button if you haven't,
anyways I'm Alex from Fitment Industries,
let us know what you want to cover next
and if you're here and want some free wheels,
I'm not wearing the shirt
but they'll put a picture up,
if you guys looking to get winning, words,
if you want to get part of the next give away,
I'm thinking about the words as they come out of my mouth,
you can actually check the description link below,
we are partnered with Konig
because Konig is awesome actually
and if you pick up a T-shirt,
you can win a free set of wheels,
if that's you're thing,
be sure to check the description link below,
we'll also be doing a monetary donation
to the ASPCA because I love animals
and that's all you need to know,
I'm Alex from Ftment Industries for the 2nd time,
we will see you later, peace.
(upbeat music)