Episode #217 - When Was Peak Mitsubishi?
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Car
Mitsubishi Outlander
The Mitsubishi Outlander is Mitsubishi’s SUV. Bringing it up in a “peak Mitsubishi” conversation usually means they’re contrasting the older sports-car focus with the newer, more practical SUV focus.
Concept
body-on-frame
Body-on-frame is a truck-style construction where the main structure is a separate frame underneath. It’s often used on off-road vehicles because it’s tough and can take bumps and rough roads better.
Concept
unibody
Unibody means the car’s body and frame are basically one combined structure. It usually feels more car-like on the road, but it’s not always as rugged as a truck-style frame for heavy off-roading.
Car
Ford Ranger
The Ford Ranger is a small pickup truck. A “91 Ranger” means an older model year from the early 1990s. People talk about it because it’s known for being a tough truck that can handle daily use.
Concept
lifted
“Lifted” means the truck sits higher than stock. That can make it look more rugged and give it more clearance for rough roads.
Term
bench seat
A bench seat is the kind of front seat that’s one long seat for two people. The speaker is saying one truck can be ordered with that, while another couldn’t.
Term
bucket seats
Bucket seats are separate front seats, usually with more individual shape and support. They’re contrasting this with a bench seat setup.
Term
Toyota tax
“Toyota tax” means Toyotas often cost more than similar cars because they’re seen as reliable and popular. The speakers are saying the Nissan trucks don’t get that same price bump.
Car
Toyota Hilux
The Toyota Hilux is a globally popular pickup known for durability and off-road capability, which is why it often carries a strong used-market premium. Here, it’s used as the comparison point for how much “vintage Toyota tax” affects pricing versus Nissan Hardbody trucks.
Brand
Lexus
Lexus is Toyota’s luxury car brand. They’re mentioning it to show that Toyota had a separate luxury lineup instead of just loading features into regular models.
Brand
Denon
Denon is a brand that makes home audio equipment. They mention it because the family bought a high-quality receiver for surround sound.
Concept
tariffs
Tariffs are extra taxes on imported products. If cars or parts are imported, tariffs can make them cost more.
Term
rust
Rust is corrosion of a vehicle’s metal, typically accelerated by road salt, moisture, and poor drainage. It’s a major factor in long-term ownership costs and resale value, especially on cars that see winter road treatment.
Term
smogs
“Smogs” refers to passing a vehicle emissions inspection (often called a smog test). The speaker is saying the car runs and drives and is compliant enough to pass emissions, which is a practical buying signal. Emissions readiness can be affected by engine condition, sensors, and recent repairs.
Term
street value
“Street value” is basically what people pay for the car in real life—like what you’d see on listings or get in a normal sale. It’s not the same as what a dealer might ask.
Term
hot hatch
A “hot hatch” is a small hatchback that’s been made more fun and faster than the regular version. Think sporty handling and more power, usually from a turbo or upgraded engine.
Concept
facelift
A facelift is when a car gets a refresh—usually changes to the front and overall styling—while staying basically the same car underneath. The speaker is saying the later Eclipse looks different because of that update.
Term
slept on
“Slept on” means something is underrated or not getting the attention it deserves. Here, the speaker is saying these Mitsubishi-era designs (Eclipse/3000GT styling they’re discussing) are overlooked by many people.
Car
3000 GT VR4
The Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4 is a fast 1990s sports car. It’s known for having a twin-turbo setup and more performance features than the simpler versions. The hosts are basically saying these cars were cheap for a while, so many surviving examples are rougher.
Term
twin turbo
“Twin turbo” means the engine has two turbochargers. They help the car make more power by pushing extra air into the engine, but they also make the car more complicated to maintain.
Term
NA auto
“NA” means naturally aspirated—no turbo. It usually changes how the car makes power compared to a turbo, especially when you accelerate.
Concept
salvage title
A salvage title is issued when a vehicle is declared a total loss by an insurer, usually due to major damage. The hosts are imagining an Eclipse Cross with a salvage title, which would typically mean a history of repairs and potentially more risk than a clean-title car.
Term
production numbers
Production numbers tell you how many of a car (or a specific version of it) were made. Lower numbers usually mean the car is harder to find.
Concept
total production
“Total production” is the total number of units built for a specific model, year, or configuration. Production counts are often used to gauge how scarce a car is, which can influence collector value and how hard it is to find specific variants.
Term
pearl white over tan
They’re describing the car’s colors: white outside and tan inside. The exact color combo can matter a lot to buyers and can change how easy it is to sell.
Term
Manual
“Manual” indicates the car is equipped with a manual transmission. For many performance models, manual-equipped examples are often more desirable to enthusiasts than automatic versions.
Concept
make model
“Make” means the brand, and “model” means the specific car name. The game is trying to figure out both.
Term
K.A.
“K.A.” sounds like an internal engine code. It’s basically a label engineers used for a particular engine version, which helps explain why power and fitment changed across cars.
Car
Mitsubishi Mirage
The Mitsubishi Mirage is a small, budget-friendly Mitsubishi. Here, the hosts are arguing about whether the car in question is actually a Mirage from 1998.
Car
1998 Mitsubishi Galant
The Mitsubishi Galant is a regular family sedan made by Mitsubishi. The 1998 version is one specific year, and it could come with different trim levels and engines.
Part
shocks
“Shocks” (shock absorbers) control how a vehicle responds to bumps by damping suspension movement. Replacing shocks is a common maintenance/modification step that can improve ride quality and handling, especially on off-road or lifted setups.
Term
cat
“Cat” means the catalytic converter, a part that helps control pollution. If it gets stolen, the car may not run right and repairs can get expensive fast.
Car
Lexus CT 200H
The Lexus CT 200h is a small hybrid hatchback from Lexus. Here, they’re talking about how new tires changed how the car drives, especially grip and handling.
LIVE
In a world with entirely too many shows about cars, this is another Pointless Automotive
podcast.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another, another Pointless Automotive podcast, they didn't
shut us down yet.
Another one.
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We should like, we should sit down and do the math and figure out how much this
podcast has actually cost us in the last four years or whatever it's been.
I think to do that, I have to find some way to value my time, which I don't.
No, I mean, not even valuing our time, just in like for like costs of like
hosting and like, oh, yeah, like this shit that like, well, time though,
dude, like to publish the back of the day when I used to actually edit.
And I apologize for this is a great way to start off.
Just automatically like deprecating the show.
Yeah, we're devaluing our product right now live.
But the thing is at the beginning, I used to put so much edits into the videos.
It took me like three hours to edit a video.
And that's I could I probably could have been done something that generates
some form of revenue, but you know what, I did it for the fans.
I did it for the listeners.
And, you know, I'm still I'm still here for it, dude.
So one day, welcome back guys.
Frank, how are you doing this evening?
I'm good.
I am I'm drinking a beverage.
I'm drinking the last of the Fast and Furious beer series of beers that I have.
And I thought I would save this one for a day because it's it's like the roughly
like two thousand one ish three thousand GT.
No, it clips spider.
Why did I say I looked right at a third gen eclipse?
I meant to say a third gen eclipse spider all fully fast and was that too fast?
Too furious?
I don't remember which one that one it was too fast.
It was too fast to fear.
I do.
We're going to talk about Mitsubishi and I called out the three thousand GT.
Let's just we're not qualified guys.
Bumpy start.
We're we're we're a fucking sham.
Get out of here, actually, we are pretty Mitsubishi minded around
these parts. Yeah, for sure.
Let's kick it off.
This is I like this idea because when we reflect back right now,
everything was better, but let's pin it down.
Let's get a little more granular.
When was when was peak Mitsubishi?
Well, and it's not the outlander that they offer now.
That's not it. Yeah.
That's 2026.
No, what's funny, because it's like out of all of there's a handful of companies
out there, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Nissan, certainly Jaguar,
where in arguably the past was brighter than the current and probable future.
Yes.
So yeah, starting off with this, like this is not this is a very easy one to have
that that viewpoint on this Mitsubishi.
Let's see, because you brought up some some interesting like concern, not a concern,
a pseudo concern that we're going to pick the exact same year.
So on the count of three, this is not practiced.
We're going to say a year when peak Mitsubishi was.
And let's see if we say the same thing.
Everybody's our witness three, two, one, ninety one, ninety one is peak Mitsubishi.
Yeah. And I think that's inarguable.
I wonder, I don't know.
I wonder. I will.
I do have a second.
I do have a runner up, though, because I thought like, oh,
we're both going to pick ninety one and it's kind of it.
Unless you say ninety two, would I say ninety one or something like that?
Yeah. But I would say runner up.
I would put it ninety nine.
Oh, you're talking like the three thousand GT spider error.
There's like.
Yes. The second gen eclipse.
Second gen was really good, which is really good.
You had the Mirage, which was fine.
You had the the.
God, what did they have?
Yeah, they still had the.
That was the last that was the last year.
The second gen Montero, which I believe is the best Montero.
I think the best looking for sure, 100 percent.
And the like I like a third gen Montero,
but the second gen Montero was still body on frame.
Third gen was unibody.
Yeah, big difference there.
And the I just the interior build quality was higher on the second gen, in my opinion.
Agree.
The touch points were nicer.
It was built to a higher quality than the third generation.
And then also you got the Montero Sport,
which nobody cares or talks about, but I think it actually does a pretty good
forerunner impression.
What a deal.
What a deal.
If you're looking for a cheap off roader, we talk about that often.
Yeah, who's not our demographic?
Yeah, I was going to hopefully look at one today and it fell through.
So I'm still hunting.
But game.
Yeah, I would say.
And you still you had Diamante, later Diamante,
you had that you still had the what was that the shit?
It wasn't the shit.
Four kind of probably was Fortune Galant.
Fortune, that would be like, what's that?
But no, it would be that would be seventh gen.
Seventh gen.
Yes, OK, because our beloved Galant VR fours or sixth gen.
Really? I thought it was for whatever.
Maybe we don't know anything.
Oh, you're right. You're right.
You're right. I like all the ones we never got, like the GTO and all that stuff.
The Sigma's Sigma male.
Let's do it. We're right there, dude.
Let's just do the lineup real quick.
We got 1991 at your local Mitsubishi dealership driving excitement.
Wake up and drive, if you will.
Those are those are like as a little later, but we had we'll start off.
I'm kind of going up in like mass mass of the vehicle.
So Mirage, you could get a Mirage in 1991.
You could get a GS Turbo Mirage for the manual.
Correct, which is a super cool little hatch offering.
The Eclipse, you could get a GSX.
You could get it, you know, they were talking first gen here.
So you could get an all wheel drive forward G 63 turbo fun little sports car.
You could get the Galant VR four, which you just mentioned.
First year of that, two years only.
3000 GT also VR four variant.
First opportunity for that was for the 91 model year.
Diamante, which the first gen's fucking excite me, dude, like they they shouldn't.
And the car isn't it isn't that great, but they look great.
Were there's no built in Australia or is that like my head cannon and that's wrong?
Oh, I don't know if that's incorrect.
For some reason, my brain tells me.
I mean, maybe they do have before you go hardcore deep dive.
I did want to mention that you could get a
Diamante wagon in the first gen and that is fucking hot.
That is a pretty cool little offering.
So Diamante diamonds, I think that's the word for diamond.
And then, of course, the aforementioned Montero, which was a dope ass truck.
Yeah. What else do you need, Frank?
If you're going into whatever dealership in 1991, you walk into Mitsubishi,
they have you covered.
There's a whole other one you didn't even say, my friend.
Really? The mightiest offering.
Oh, yes. Yes.
The mighty Max.
Yeah, which is a Dodge D 50, correct?
Like little, little small pickup.
When was the last time you saw a reasonably OK looking
four by four mighty Max?
So rare, dude.
They're all beat.
If you to death, I think if you took every
compact four wheel drive truck
and you put them in a line,
you're going to be a champion.
Where do you think it falls?
Like as far as ranking, if you were to say, 1991.
No, no, just in like.
Oh, I want that one just by like looking at them compared to like a 91 Toyota,
91 Nissan, which would have been a hard body.
Hard body. Yeah.
91 S 10, 91 Ranger.
God, all winners.
The B series. All winners.
They are.
But I hate those.
Mitsubishi's look so good.
They look dope.
The four by fours had a little more of a like a kind of like a Baja look to them,
right? Yeah, a little lifted the way they looked.
You get like what is it?
The Nerf bar, like the roll bar with the KC lights on sports bar.
Yeah, the sports bar.
Yeah, the six.
Yeah, the two, six Astron motor.
Yeah, super cool truck.
Dude, the Mitsubishi symbol and that nice like black diamond grill.
Yeah, that's so good.
Mitsubishi across the entire tailgate.
Yeah. Yeah, that's a goodie.
It's funny, there's a lot of dodge here, but we'll go with it.
I don't I.
It's been it's been a few weeks.
It's hard.
Martin Marks. No, no, I know it's been so long since I don't know.
I cannot tell you even like a Radwood or anything like that.
I don't know when I've seen don't see them.
They're so sick. Cool little truck.
Yeah, you can get a bench seat in there too, which you couldn't get in the hard
body, Nissan.
Yeah, the hard bodies are all like bucket seats.
So maybe they expect you to be like hard bodies to the side and it's like, oh,
no, these people are way too like yoked and hot to be like to share a single seat.
They have to be separated.
The Nissan chiseled body attack.
Exactly. No, the hard body.
Talk about it.
That's a Baja looking truck.
The sporty version of that.
The Deser Runner.
I had a sports bar.
Yeah, oh my God.
How hot are those?
Talk about not being influenced by the Toyota tax.
How are hard bodies still so fucking affordable?
It's wild.
I, you know what, the only the only decent ones I've seen in a long time,
which are much harder to find than Toyota's like Toyota's got kept.
I think the reputation made it so
it was like, oh, if you keep if you take care of it, it'll take care of you.
And so there's like some weird like survival, like.
Sure. Yeah, yeah.
But if you find like a good, clean, hard body, I don't,
they're not that cheap anymore.
But comparative to like a Hilux or any, any vintage Toyota tax, right?
Yeah, yeah.
So I think, I think they're still, but you find them that they can be brought back
and they're still drivable.
They're like dirt cheap compared to their like partner, the Toyota.
Right. I don't know.
But um, yeah, what a lineup.
Like can I point something else though?
This whole lineup,
every one of these cars could be had, except for the Diamante, there wasn't
really a performance one, which is a fucking shame, nor the Mighty Max, really.
Didn't they later?
Did they later make like a like a VRX
Diamante, like a performance trim, which I think was just like a body kit and
like a spoiler or something.
Did they the Galant, Seventh Gen Galant?
We got that because we didn't.
Yes, I think they did.
I think they also did it with the Diamante as well.
Really, I think they did.
I hated how the Second Gen Diamante looked, but we're in 1991, my friend.
We're taking it back to the cool headlights.
Every one of these cars was a normal car that had a performance variant just about.
So, you know, like I said, the Mirage GS Turbo, you had the Eclipse with the GSX,
the Galant, the 3000 GT.
I thought that was cool.
And that's what we have referred to that before.
Automakers were just doing that across the board, right?
And I think that's cool because you could go in there and you could get your daily
grinder Mirage, your budget.
I need to get to work car, right?
Like a stripper Mirage.
You could also walk out of there with a 3000 GT VR4, which at the time was like
one of the most, I think it was the most expensive vehicle Mitsubishi made, right?
Before the Monteros became, because the...
Well, then the Spyder showed up and the Spyder was ludicrously expensive.
In 1991, there was no concept of cutting the roof off, right?
But we were at a very...
ASC was not involved.
What a price delta between a base Mirage Colt, right?
And a 3000 GT VR4.
Later, the Monteros supplanted that, right?
Because the Unibody ones had like so many luxury features jammed in and technology.
They became the most expensive Mitsubishi.
Well, they did.
And what's funny is like,
you know, Toyota didn't do that really.
I mean, they kind of did.
You know, Mark Four Supra was a spendy piece of kit towards the end.
Yeah.
But when you're looking at you had...
Toyota had Lexus.
Mazda didn't really have anything.
They played around with, what is it?
Unos, which never made it here.
And then they had, you know, you had...
Wait, what is the Mazda?
It's another word.
Unos was the other word for Miata in Japan.
Well, no, they made...
Well, there was the Unos...
I thought they made other...
Was it?
Was it?
Because I thought it had another one.
The Cosmo was also the Unos, it was the Unos Cosmo.
Right.
And then the Unos Mx5 and then they had one other...
They had they had another one.
It was going to be like their luxury brand.
I thought it began with an A.
As soon as on fire.
But no, then it was...
But all of this is to say that Mitsubishi didn't have their own
like luxury brand.
So it was all in house.
It's an A.
Amati, which is so close to Amati.
It is.
Kia Amati.
And also close to Avanti, anyways, whatever.
Yes, they're all they all sound.
They all sound like a company that would make like shitty,
like made in Pakistan, chromed 27 inch wheels.
Mitsubishi, it was all in house.
It was like, we're a Zybotzu.
We used to make the zero and now we make everything from the Mirage
to the 3000 GTV R4 to 500 pound TVs.
That are home cinemas.
Dude, remember those things?
Dude, when I was a kid, a lighter side of that.
So here's the thing, funny you mentioned that.
So when I was a God, how old was I?
I was probably like 12.
My my mom went on this like home stereo kick thing where she's like she she got
like a nice like Denon receiver with like the then top of the line
Dobie Pro logic.
Oh, good surround sound and all this like
infinity speakers for the house and all this stuff.
And then she went and she got from, I believe it was the good guys.
She bought a heavily discounted floor model because it was the only way that we could afford it.
Mitsubishi 50 inch.
I was going to say 50 inch projector, projector television.
And we had to they delivered it, but I think it was one of the like.
Your dad's your dad's back is still paying for moving.
Oh, no, we had to get like the neighbors to help and a dolly.
And it was something like they delivered it, but only like because it was a floor
model and they cut us like a scream and deal on it.
They're like, oh, we only like delivered to like your porch.
Like we don't bring it inside.
And so it was this whole thing and it was it was like, I think it was like a two hour
affair just to get it into the living room, which is not very far.
The house that grew up in it was like a three and two.
It was like 1400 square feet.
It's not a big house, but it was just like getting it all of like 70 feet.
Yeah. And it was a whole thing.
But we had we had that thing for a very long time.
We had it until.
I mean, this was probably like 1991.
That would have been appropriate.
It was like 1995.
OK.
And I think we got rid of it.
I think my parents got rid of it in like the late 2000s, like oh,
oh, seven, oh, eight.
They had unnaturally long lifespans.
I remember that like the picture would start to fade in spots, but they gave it away.
So they gave it to I think they gave it to a boat anchor company.
No.
You know, it's funny.
OK, I'm I'm I haven't.
This is something I haven't thought about with her fuck all.
Uh oh.
So they gave it to my now in-laws.
Then it was just like the parents of this chick I've been dating for like 18 months.
And they gave it to them because they had a different
no game brand projector TV that like.
So this was a this was a reverse dairy.
OK, I'm tracking. Yeah, exactly.
Let's go. And so like and there's like because you know how sometimes like the
screen on it was like had like a like a texture to it.
Yeah, yeah.
And like something happened where like the dog jumped on it and it fucked it up.
And it was theirs.
But they were just like lived with it because like I don't want to pay money to
replace it. And so we're like, well, no, get rid of that one and then take hours.
So we gave them hours and it was
a fucking mess to move it over there.
My thought my future father in law at the time had like a as
like an 86 Ford Ranger that like ran on five cylinders and we put it there and got
anyways, and then they had it for like five more years.
And then they gave it to family friends of theirs who were who this is wild to think
about, who eventually their daughter, who was really good friends with my wife,
married my younger brother.
And so now I need to figure out what
eventually happened to the TV because then it lived with them for a long time.
Yeah, interesting.
Mitsubishi or can't they do Mitsubishi?
Yeah, honestly, they do like cars and love.
Yeah, I almost bought a mini when I was looking at mini splits.
I wanted a Mitsubishi just because I love Mitsubishi.
Same. I look for that for the garage.
You're so fucking crazy.
I know and they're probably more now because of wait, do we still pay tariffs on it?
I'm confused. I don't know anymore.
I want my refund.
Good luck.
But like that's the thing.
It's like Mitsubishi, they made everything and they made luxury stuff.
They made trucks, they made entry level stuff.
Everything well, like everything on that list did well.
None of those were like flops.
Maybe the Diamante sold a little less because it was like their attempt at
like a luxury offering, which everybody from Japan was doing at the time.
But I was nothing on that list was inherently bad.
Well, I was about to ask, what do you think on that list is the least competitive?
It's it's probably the Diamante.
I think the Diamante probably was their least like sales successful car 100
percent because the Monterra was a car or even I mean, there's lots of cars that
aren't that are that do well in sales.
But you could argue, aren't terribly like competitive.
And I know that doesn't that's counterintuitive.
But what I'm saying is like
like the Versa, I would say like the first generation Nissan Rogue.
We're like, if you put that up against anything else in its class, it kind of lost to.
Yeah. But they still sold a bunch of them.
A. Who knows?
B. Dealers were like taking putting money on the hood or just like weird.
Yeah, speaking of Mitsubishi back in early 2000s when Mitsubishi did like the zero,
zero, zero thing, like they got in trouble, zero down, zero due.
Oh, 100 percent APR came back to Hanum.
Yeah.
And and that put them where they are now.
But what I'm saying is like
you can have like a not terribly competitive product that sells well.
I would say I would say the Mirage
probably fits like the standard Mirage,
because it was competing with at the time, Civic.
Yeah, that's like the base Civic, Ford, Escort, Chevy, Cavalier.
I mean, it did, it did, but I would.
You think it's better?
You say one thing about Cavalier.
Say one, I'm here with your little shit across this fucking line, Frank.
I would say at the time the reputation
was and I would say the reputation currently is that
Japanese compacts were almost in almost in arguably better than any domestic compact.
But you can make arguments and they fought hard to get that designation
because at first it was the opposite.
It was like, oh, that's a cheap Jap car, you know, and like made of tin and it's
going to crash and burn and you can't find parts in the seventies.
But by the time we got to ninety one eighties,
I would argue that early eighties are still that kind of mindset.
I would argue, I mean, in in Michigan.
Well, OK, Mr.
Where I grew up was like up until 2010.
OK, so here, like here in Northern California, yeah, we were like eating
eating avocados and I didn't know where I was going to say I was eating with avocados.
We're just straight eating ass.
Yeah, exactly.
Where's the pit?
I'm getting fired up, I'm getting fired up.
You know what, no, hold on, I don't fly.
Yeah, no, we need to have an East Coast, West Coast,
like car culture battle.
Oh, is that a thing?
Episode where like here's what's good about like there's no rust on the West Coast.
But then East Coast is like your your dashboard doesn't crack instantly.
You have paint and like paints.
Yeah, like we have like a great, you know, a great roads here.
And you're like, we have White Castle.
I don't know. But there's like, there's going to be.
Don't have that. Yeah.
In the Midwest, I guess. Oh, yeah, yeah.
We need to we need to get like a Midwest put it down so we can delegate.
Anyway, let me let me.
Yeah, let me talk steer back on topic here.
So I agree that maybe the Mirage Mirage is good.
But everything else on that is a respectable car from that period,
which is crazy in the breadth, like the breadth of variety is huge
because we named little teeny hot hatch with little small pickup.
We have a full sized family SUV in the Montero.
You have a full like the 3000 GT VR4 is a legit sports car offering
and 1991, that is there's no way around it.
That thing was a technological marvel four wheel steering, all wheel drive,
active arrow, just they looked like spaceships when they came out.
I remember seeing them and being like, what the fuck, what even is this?
They still nothing on the road looks like one.
They're so wide, so low.
It's I don't know. It's like what anything it was.
They were checking all the boxes.
I can't think of a better time than like early nineties
and they kept it for a while, like through the mid nineties, 100 percent.
And I'd say right into like the Fast and the Furious era
because the second gen eclipse ripped and then, you know, they tried to keep it alive.
Iconic. Yeah.
The Evo in the early 2000s, Epic, not a mass market selling car
and the rest of the offerings weren't as great.
And that's about when they started to decline.
Yeah. I mean, I thought about this when I was thinking about, OK,
what besides 91, would we could we potentially even look at?
Because like earlier is really tough.
Mm hmm.
Because there was there was some really interesting stuff.
Yeah. Stereon. I know you're going there.
Yes. Yes. Stereon.
Stereon, you've got like the bizarre, like, like twin stick.
Trent, like dual range, four speed transmission stuff.
You had the Galant Sigma.
The Cordia. Yeah.
The Cordia Turbo.
The was the the the Precie.
You had the.
There was a lot of interesting stuff,
but I don't think any of it was like terribly compelling.
By the time you got to the early to mid nineties,
it was like heavy hitting stuff. Dude, yeah.
And then on the other end, yeah, I would say.
Where it really started to fall off.
Was like, oh, three, oh, four.
Because you had you had you had the introduction to the Evo,
which pulled pulled the brand up.
Sure. By a bunch and held it there for probably longer than it should have.
Like, oh, three, oh, four was like where.
You know, when you know, when Wiley Coyote runs off the cliff
and he doesn't realize he's off the cliff until he looks down.
Yeah, it takes a while.
That that is where the two thousand two two thousand four Mitsubishi.
They had fallen off the cliff and the Mitsubishi that the Evo.
And like and the third gen Montero kind of kept them there.
Sure. And then they looked down and it they became garbage.
But I think the peak of the bell curve was was 91.
By that time, the eclipse was the third gen,
which is often panned is not a good, good generation.
I got a line on a good one, if you want.
Dude, is it a V6 manual?
Yes, but also a spider.
It's actually really clean.
It's like a maroon over over black cloth.
Is the paint gone?
No, the paint's good.
Bro, what's what's wrong with it?
Nothing.
It's well, it's got I think it's got a hundred and I think it's got 160,000 on it.
OK, that's on the clock.
It runs and drives smogs.
Yeah, smogs, runs, drives.
Can we talk after?
Yes, OK, yes.
I don't think it's a three.
Fuck, dude, come on.
Does that have the gray tail lights?
Because I always like that.
Oh, I don't remember.
You know what I'm talking about?
Yeah, yeah, I think that's the.
Is that the early ones or the late ones?
They don't remember.
It's only that's a good.
I think it's later.
I don't remember.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Third gen.
Third gen.
Nobody cares. Nobody gets a fuck.
Nobody cares.
Value a manual V6, even though convertible has the street value
of probably like fifteen hundred bucks.
Who's looking for one of those?
Um, I bet you, honestly, honestly, I bet you can sell for four.
I bet you there's four grand in it.
I don't know.
I think this one's clean.
This one looks really sure.
Yeah, but I don't think that's an easy sale.
I don't think it's a I don't think it's a 24 hour sale, if you will.
Yeah.
Oh, I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Um, but yeah, ninety one.
OK, if you had to, should we should we do?
I mean, it's kind of played out, but should we do it?
What?
Mary fuck kill.
Ninety ninety one.
Mitsubishi's.
Oh, OK.
You want to go first?
Um, yeah, I think I'm going to.
We're going to pick the same fucking things, aren't we?
I don't know.
I don't know if we are.
Mary Galant, the air for.
God damn.
The the maybe right answer is, you know what?
I think I'm going to I think I'm going to.
It was the fuck is tough.
It always is at our at our age.
That's my advertisement.
The fuck is tough.
Um, God, I kind of think I want to.
I think I kind of want to.
I think I want to fuck.
We're still talking about just that.
Just just period.
I just want to.
I think I think I'm going to take a twist around.
What what what did they call it?
What's the what's the name of the the red that the 3000 GT came in?
No, I'm going to.
I think I think I think I'm going to clipped menstrual crimson and red.
Yeah, eclipse.
Yeah. All right.
First, I'm GST.
I think I'm going because this guy.
Yes, because GST is just it's more.
It's more rowdy.
It's just rowdy.
It is lighter, a little bit lighter and and then.
Although I can I consider that four by four mighty max,
because it's so fucking cool.
And then I think I'm going to I think I'm just I think I'm going to kill.
I can't kill the Diamante.
I'm killing I'm killing the Mirage.
OK, fair enough.
I'm I'm marrying the VR4 because unlike you, you fucking quitter.
I'm going to keep mine one term and I own four of them,
so I can't get away from that.
Only on two.
I would fuck a 3000 GT VR for a clean one.
That's kind of the right one.
Oh, hard. That's kind of the right seller hard.
I mean, they do look so iconic in red.
I'm impartial to white.
White looks good.
Yeah, it's kind of can't lose.
You can't lose.
I wish I don't know what all the colors.
I wish you could get that talon like fluorescent highlighter green that came out.
Yeah, you could not the talent.
Yeah, it's stealth that highlighter.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the fuck that would fuck that.
Yeah.
But no, I'd probably get a red or white 3000 GT VR for and totally fuck it.
There were some cool blues and then I would I would kill the Diamante.
It hurts me to say that, but like I'd rather have a mirage
GS turbo as a little hot hatch offering than a Diamante automatic.
Yeah, I think yeah, that's true.
That's where I'm going, man.
So 91, you can get Glacier Pearl stable black.
Dude, black is kind of the black looks good.
The black is the Mitsubishi.
I'm not a car guy, but the Mitsubishi symbols red.
And I think it is all wheels, too.
And then with the go with a tan interior.
Oh, that's good.
Nairobi, beige.
Morocco red, which was like the the dark red.
Yep. Yep. Fiji blue.
They did do Jamaican blue, which is like the teal.
Oh, yeah, that's right.
But 91 only.
It was the only year you can get it.
That's it, then.
And then Monza red, which is like the Mitsubishi bright red.
It's so good, though.
It's a good red.
It's a really good one.
I have to go Jamaican Pearl.
Jamaican Pearl with some some bronze wheels on it.
Jamaican me pearly.
Yeah, that's the 91 Mitsubishi.
How are they going to get back?
They won't. They can't.
They just can't do it.
But man, I think if you're going to, like you said, yeah,
they had some other shining moments, I think one shining moment.
Yeah, I would say besides 91, like I said,
probably like the onset of the second gen eclipse,
which was like fiercely fiercely like popular.
Yeah, I still think that's why I like 99
because at like 99 was like the facelift.
Yeah, the facelift, the second gen, which I like the early cars
are a little cleaner.
They're a little more like they are more squished or not as like bulbousy.
But the face, the bulbousy ones are actually pretty badass.
Yeah, and you can get a 3000 GT spider, which is kind of fucking wild.
And that that end, that like last 3000 GT with the big kind of boxy
spoiler and the big white mouth, so those are pretty fucking cool.
Like, dude, they're all good.
I do love, I love the 91, like the early ones are my favorite though.
Activero, it's so like it just looks smaller.
It just to me, it's like such a slim like form factor.
I don't know.
I think those cars are like slept on.
I think I don't know if there's clean ones
because they were cheap for so long, right?
Like the 3000 GT VR4 has always been cheap.
And now people are asking 15 for like beat to shit examples that don't run.
Yeah, because it's hard to get when they get when they get cheap.
Then the maintenance doesn't happen.
And those cars, they're not like extreme maintenance hogs.
They're up there, but they're up there.
The thing is the challenge, like it's it's actually a more challenging car
because I had that stealth, which is the essentially the same thing.
And it's like having belts or pain.
Yeah. And I had a 300 CX twin turbo.
Also, a car that receives a lot of like criticism for being hard to maintain.
But those two cars, those two cars are very cool.
And like performance wise, or like the same, like in every test
when I reviewed them.
So yeah, totally better driver.
300 CX. That's that's I expect that.
100% what I would expect.
Such a highway composure on that car.
Nothing from 1990 drives like a 300 CX twin turbo.
It's so good, dude.
That in the power is just like it's like
it's not abrupt, like a like a 4G63 car.
It's like the twin turbo six is just beautiful.
I've only driven an auto.
I've only driven an NA auto and a turbo.
I should have had you drive mine.
It was it was a peachy peach and my stealth was really fucking good.
Very different power like things too, right?
Like the way they way they operated.
The stealth was surprisingly not that much weight difference, too,
even though one was all wheel drive.
Yeah, it's kind of funny how they were both kind of porky.
But 3,000 GT kind of is a cool fucking car
that I think that slept on way hard still.
Yeah, I don't know if it's ever going to get there.
As far as like value and it's so special.
I think I think I think if it was going to happen, it would have by now.
Really? Hmm.
I think I still think there's a little bit of hope for the Z 32.
I absolutely there is.
Yeah, I think that if any of these cars that aren't quite there,
because I think I think the styling of the Z 32 is age better.
Oh, absolutely.
I think the driving experience is age better.
It's a Z car, right?
It has a heritage.
I prefer the interiors on those cars.
Yeah, it's got the heritage.
Doesn't mean that 3,000 GT is not cool, though.
No, they're both fucking great.
And I've owned like technically I've owned them both.
And it's hard to pit them against each other
because the numbers the same.
Yeah, like it doesn't matter which one you get,
but how they get to those numbers, very different experience.
Love them both.
Lots of presents, right?
Yeah, that's a presence of both.
Fuck the numbers.
The older I get, the older I get, the more like, no, but you have 14
year old me who was just like hadn't ever driven a car
and just nose buried in a road and track.
Right. It's like, oh, yeah, the numbers.
This is everything.
Or like you play the video game and the video game is based on the numbers.
Like, oh, my God, this is everything.
And now, yeah.
But I mean, like not just the numbers, like the horsepower and torque figures,
which I could care less about the performance, though, like the actual
like acceleration times when I zero 60 and quarter mile, almost exactly the same,
which is but it feels completely different.
So it's it's I love that.
I love that you get there different ways.
And I think you couldn't win.
You could.
I mean, you can't lose with those two.
But I think the 3,000 GT, you couldn't win.
You can't win if you're doing your own maintenance.
I'll tell you that right now.
Well, yeah, that's fair, dude.
It's a pain in the dick and or balls.
Yeah, and or no, great, great cars, though.
Those three clean 3000 GTs are going for like 15 to 20, like not even like
not even like clean, clean, like I'm talking the 160,000 miles.
No, like most of the body panels kind of match.
And it's a driver and a runner.
I think that's 15 to 20 K right now, which is crazy to think that.
Yeah.
A lot of car, like even like kind of a good buy, though, kind of a great buy.
When you can get like a pretty clapped, like
Integra GSR coupe for the same money.
Oh, the hands down, I'd get a GT 3000 GT.
Yeah, like it's way more cool and special, way more car.
And like.
It's a way different driving experience.
It's less bubbly.
It's like, but it's just, I don't know, anyways.
Yeah, Mitsubishi.
So we should do this again, where we don't pick the exact same fucking year.
Yeah, I mean, I think I think it was easy.
Because it's a big board, Borg Ward.
They just anyone was 91.
It's so obvious, though, like for Mitsubishi.
But yeah, fuck, dude, it's just it's it makes it more sad, right?
It drives home even though I get a little I get a little excited
when I see an eclipse cross on the road.
It's just it's not the same, dude.
It's not it's just a drive train swap, but like a salvage title eclipse cross.
Oh, how good would that be?
Yeah, it's still sick.
The chassis dynamics are probably uninspiring, you know, but it but you know,
we we say a lot of these things like the the Glot VR4, like one of our favorite cars.
They didn't sell a lot of them.
They didn't there was never even a lot of them for sale.
How many Mirage GS turbos for people really buying?
Probably not like the performance variance.
I think 3,000 GT VR4s sold decently at first.
And then I don't know like who was shopping Diamante wagons.
I want to meet them because that seems like
because I don't know when I last time I've seen one.
You you haven't they probably made they probably made so few of those
and no one kept them on the road.
Diamantes in general, first gen Diamantes.
Yeah, it's been a year plus since I've seen one for sale and it was questionable.
So all right, 3,000 GT.
Oh, this is by color.
I didn't want it that granular.
I'm looking at production numbers Corvette specs over here.
Let's go. Yeah.
So 91. OK.
What do you think the least so the least popular color?
Wait, hold on. I can't be right.
They made one in black.
Apparently, they made a single one in black.
Oh, Albany black.
They made there were two different. Oh, I guess.
Interesting. So one was one was an Albany black pearl.
And then the standard black and I'm just going to say VR fours.
Six hundred and eighty four.
Pearl white seven hundred and sixty.
These are your fours for sure.
These are all VR fours.
I'm saying only VR four.
They have the SL and stuff here, too, but no one cares.
Nairobi, beige, metallic, eighty one.
Morocco, red. That's the more maroon one.
Two ninety three.
The red is going to be number one.
Monza, red.
Twelve hundred and forty two.
So easily the most.
Jamaican blue metallic.
One hundred and twenty nine and Fiji blue metallic two hundred and fourteen.
The Fiji is pretty good, too, on those cars.
So the Nairobi, beige, which is like kind of like a silver,
but more of a Fiji silver, only eighty one.
That's the rarest color. OK, there you go.
Full Corvette guy. Good numbers.
Like for a sports car, first year of a weird sports car.
Yeah. Yeah. And then pretty respectable.
Like total. Can I get total production?
Uh, I just can't get behind an SL.
It has a lot of the looks, but you have front wheel drive and a motor.
I just can't get behind my friend.
I just can't. I don't know what it is.
I see a clean one and I'm like, oh, no, no.
You know what I saw?
I just to go before we completely close this out.
This was not a Mitsubishi, but I went to a is a Carson coffee thing.
And there were two cars that caught my attention.
One was a Z 32.
Hmm. It was a 90.
I don't know what it was.
It was not a 90.
Twenty twenty two twin turbo.
The little slats.
So it was intercooler slats on the front bumper.
That's how you know.
Yes. And it was.
Yeah, it was pearl white over what's the interior?
I guess it was tan. Pearl white over tan.
Good combo cloth.
Hmm. Manual.
And I looked at the odometer teatop and the odometer.
It was like 66000 miles.
And it was clean.
That's a 30,000 dollar bone stock down to the cereal.
Like it was 30,000 car.
Well, did you see that one that just sold on cars and bids to 8000 mile one?
Yeah, was it 60 or 87000?
87000. Yeah, I saw the big number.
Yeah, but that was like never.
Oh, that was perfect.
Perfect. Yeah, it was like the nicest one on the globe.
Um, in that case, it's compared to like a clapped
Mark four Supra would do 87.
Like it's kind of a good buy.
And there was also there was also an FDRX seven.
Silver over red, which is like my spec.
That's your spec auto.
Oof, heartbreaker.
Yeah, but, you know, for a cruiser, if you want a cruiser,
which FDRX seven is not a great cruiser.
Not a cruiser.
Yeah, no, no, I think Mark four super, you can get away with that angle.
But yeah, our auto.
Yeah, um, anyways, but you can pull it together.
What are you on this list?
What are you more likely to purchase next, Frank?
Out of the 1991 Mitsubishi lineup, what are those cars that we named?
Would you actually consider or are thinking about even purchasing?
Completely honest compared to considering what we need to do a Montero.
Oh, oh, topical.
He took it back. Yeah.
Yeah.
Monteros, I need, I need, I need a budget overlander, my friend.
I've been looking at them too.
I think as an overlanding vehicle, those second gens are kind of unbeatable
for the price point, what they offer, and they are goddamn rugged.
You have lots of space like compared.
Well, 91 is still first gen, right?
That is right.
Shit. Wait, I think so.
I think it is.
I think was it 92 or 92 or 93?
I think so in the second you're right.
It's still that boxy, boxy, boxy boy.
Yeah, do you get the two door, like the Dodge Raider version?
That's the thing like for this challenge of ours, space.
No, I mean, space is one thing.
Yeah. But I'm kind of looking like that.
And like those early troopers and like first gen forerunners,
they're a little, they're a little bit older than what I want for this.
Not because I don't think they can make it or will make it,
but there's there's too many variables
and you pay the premium for like the vintage feel.
So something like a first gen Montero.
While dope, you end up spending more money on nostalgia
than like capability and reliability. Right.
I hear you on that.
That said, if I found a perfect first gen 91 Montero.
Yeah, that's probably or or a Colt turbo.
Anyways, yeah, out of everything on this list,
even though I've had the the style twin turbo,
I think I still would go for a clean ish 3000 GT VR4
that I could nurse back to health.
I think I think that'd be a killer project.
And I've always wanted one like a first gen.
I'd love it. I'd love an Eclipse.
So a first one. Yeah.
One G's are good. They're good.
But the 3000 GT has always been that kind of that's been my kind of poster car.
Like I remember growing up.
It's I remember seeing one as a as a young lad in the
in the early in the early nineties and being like,
what the fuck even is that part of the Godzilla?
It's wild.
Like what does it five some between Supra
three, it's one of the ICONS 32 RX seven NSX.
Like, yeah, it's like that.
Cinco Wumberand, I don't know what I'm trying to collect them all.
I Supra. What do I need?
Supra and RX seven. Let's go.
It's got the NSX.
I had a lot of Supras, just not the good ones.
It's not that one.
Not the super that one or that one.
Bank of Busting one.
Yeah, because they had the NSX, the 300 ZX and then the Stealth,
which is the same. Yeah. Anywho.
Yeah, we find some couch cushion money.
But yeah, Mitsubishi 91.
Did we miss it, guys?
Did we miss the year?
If you come at us, bros.
Yeah, put another year up there and let's let's talk about it
because we might we might have missed something.
You never know. Unbros.
Yeah, let us know.
We're we're I'm wrong every fucking day.
So could we be wrong here?
I don't know.
I learned from my mistakes.
Is it 79? I don't know.
What are the the Plymouth?
The rebad Plymouth cricket should have won the day.
I don't know.
Carved at 43 horsepower.
That's probably that's a good one.
Plymouth. I think we need to transition into our little our little game.
I'm going to dig something.
Oh, am I going to smoke you?
I can't get you back to back.
No, you can. I don't know.
That's not right.
All right, let's see what I got.
Bring the heat.
Well, while Chadwick gets lost in his terabytes
of deeply questionable problematic pornography,
sir, purely just to find an advertisement.
It's not just to read for fun.
It's for our game, our print ad quiz game.
How do we do this?
What the hell am I talking about?
Well, in today's episode,
Chadwick has found an automotive print advertisement
for a vehicle, a car, probably, hopefully,
from the 80s, 90s to mid 2000s.
And he's going to read the type copy from this.
He's going to redact out anything
over the identity sometimes, usually.
And then during that process, he's going to finish the ad.
I get 10 minutes.
I get three guesses.
Maybe I get hints in between.
We're going to find out to try and figure out the make model
and approximate model year of the vehicle in the ad.
Please play along at home.
It's good fun.
I'm going to play along at home.
And yeah, let's see what's coming at me.
What you got for me?
Get ready, guys.
Glasses are going on.
We'll get some reading quality.
So single pages.
All you get, my friend, vehicle, passenger,
three quarter angle on the front,
taking a corner with some enthusiasm.
Probably more than this car should do.
So extra hint there.
Tagline here today, here tomorrow.
Today, both statements.
Here tomorrow.
Presenting the blank with well over two million miles.
Actually, I'm going to take these off
of developmental testing behind it.
Bullshit, prove it.
The blank was built to withstand the test of time.
It couples a highly responsive 1616 valve engine
with refined automatic transmission.
I don't know how refined this transmission is.
That's questionable, too.
Resulting in stronger acceleration and a smoother drive.
It's incredibly quiet, too.
Thanks to remarkable aerodynamics and extensive sound insulation.
And for added peace of mind,
every blank comes equipped with dual front airbags.
So there's some time period stuff for you.
Height adjustable front shoulder belts,
safety cage construction and protective crumple zones.
The blank is specifically designed for long term comfort
from the blank family of reliable blanks.
Hi, there are some picture in pictures,
which we love because that's where we get our tidbits.
Because I need more than that.
Picture of a motor.
The 2.4 liter, 141 horsepower,
16 valve engine efficiently powers you right by gas stations.
Oh, wow.
And then you run out two miles later.
Automatic climate control.
A little picture of the climate control system.
Automatic climate control in blank,
and it's a trim variant,
maintains a perfect atmosphere inside,
regardless of the temperature outside.
Wow. Perfect.
That's what they do.
Yeah, Frank.
Climate's controlled.
Ten minutes on the clock.
Oh, wow. That's it. OK.
That's it. Come on now.
That's not as spartan as the one you served me last time.
Two point. God, there's a lot of two point fours in this era.
There is. We should be.
She had a two four.
Honda did not.
Toyota.
It's not a 22 RE.
Decidedly so. Decidedly so.
I don't think this is a Toyota product.
Boy, could this.
I mean, Nissan, you had a two four.
The K.A.
Which was like 255 and the two 40 SX,
but they put it in front wheel drive variants
like the Stanza and the early Altima.
That were detuned, but I don't know if they were detuned to 141.
I can't think of a Mazda with a two four.
You I can't think of a Ford product with a two four.
Or there were Chrysler products.
Gali. I don't know about a two four.
Which could have been a rebadged Mitsubishi GM.
I can't think of a two four.
You had two three.
You had two two.
You had two five.
I can't think of a two four.
Was there a Saturn two four?
Because it's got to be late 90s at earliest.
Dual airbags, dual airbags.
And in Europe.
Crumple zones, crumple zone and 16 valve to four 16 valve.
So this is four cylinders.
I don't think Mercedes Benz, but this is not a Mercedes Benz ad.
Most are two threes because of two over two million miles of developmental testing.
It's 16 valve.
Because that's not so.
But if that part sounds Volvo-ish, but also they had a two four,
but a little bit of five cylinder and math isn't math in there.
OK, so to just kind of kickstart my chart, we have.
OK, two four, one forty one, I'm going to say.
No, because the first gen, a first gen Altima.
I think it was 150 horsepower and I don't think came with a passenger airbag.
Second gen Altima, I think was the same horsepower.
I don't think this is an Altima.
Therefore, I don't think it's a Nissan product.
Hmm.
My, my, my, my, my, oh, my.
Two four with one forty one is tricky.
It's a little tricky.
Sixteen valves.
Because even was there a GM 2400?
I'm picturing, I'm picturing, like, engine cover bullshit.
Because there's a 2200 or 2300.
I think there's a two four.
We're nearing the five minute mark.
I know.
OK.
Somebody is somebody somewhere screaming at their, their potentially, potentially.
OK, just to kind of get the party started.
I'm going to say.
This is a nineteen ninety.
Eight Nissan Altima.
This is not.
Big Ultima energy from 1998, my friend.
How can I steer you in the right?
I don't know.
How about a horse to tell you grinding my ears?
It's a tough one.
You are in the right country.
Come.
So Japan.
Japan and street, street fighter.
Yes.
Annunciation.
Yeah.
So good.
So good as the clock is starting to take faster.
Shut up.
Let me on.
I'm having a fun. OK.
Destroy the L.S. 400.
I'm trying.
So Japan.
Japan only available with an automatic.
Only available.
As it said, even there, it said with a refined automatic transit.
Very refined, smooth, refined, automatic to four.
Oh, I'm sorry.
In what how I described it with that motor.
Sure.
Oh.
Yes.
OK.
You could get a lesser.
Sure.
Lesser one.
Potentially with a different transmission.
Yeah.
With a manual.
Fair, fair, fair.
But yeah, what I described.
And I'm sorry.
It didn't.
It didn't mention like seat or door count, right?
The last line that I intentionally blanked, I will give to you from the blank family of
reliable sedans.
OK.
It's a sedan.
Japan.
Japan.
Japan sedan.
24.
24.
Dual wielding airbags.
Yep.
That's.
I'll drop you a third hint in that same.
Even though you've only guessed once.
You were right on the year.
God, what the fuck year does it say?
98.
98.
OK.
There's three hints of your first guess.
You have two guesses remaining three minutes on the clock.
Is this a 1998?
I'm going to.
Yes.
That part's right.
He's done it.
So far, so good.
So far, so good.
Oh, God, oh, fuck.
Gosh.
Come on.
1998.
What's what shitty is I was thinking maybe like a galant.
What's shitty is.
No.
OK.
Is this a 1998?
Mitsubishi Mirage.
Which they made as a sedan.
You get a coupe.
You get a sedan.
I think the base.
No, the base is a one six, I think.
And I don't think the big motor was a two four.
But maybe.
It doesn't really look like a fucking mirage ad, though.
I'm running out of time.
So I'm going to say this is a 1998 Mitsubishi Mirage because I don't
think it's a galant because a galant you can get a V six.
And that was the bigger motor.
So I'm not going to say that.
So I'm going to say Mitsubishi Mirage with the two four.
Obligatory begrudging answer.
It's not a mirage.
The mirage didn't come with the two four.
I don't think you could even get it.
That's what I was thinking because I thought it was a one six and
maybe a one eight if you had or a two liter max.
I don't know.
OK, so we got Japan 98 sedan.
Not a mirage.
2.4 60 valve.
Same motor that was in like the cloud cars.
Just in case you didn't know that.
Sure.
Yeah.
That's before that was shared around.
It's not a fucking galant.
Eat my asshole.
Or don't.
I mean, no, but yes.
1998 Mitsubishi galant.
Final answer.
Here today.
Here tomorrow.
The Mitsubishi galant built for living, dude.
How is that the big motor?
I thought that I thought you can get the three liter.
Not 98.
I don't think the first of the seventh gen.
I don't know if you could.
I mean, all the way all the way back to like the fucking fifth gen.
You could in the in the Galant Sigma.
You got the three liter.
The Sigma male grind set edition.
It's optional for the Galant DE and 98 Galant ES.
ES was the top of the line.
If I remember correctly, right?
With the seventh gen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't think they had unless they had like they didn't have like an ESI or anything.
Look, the California rating was 138.
What?
What?
That two four.
The good motor too.
It was a good motor.
I swear to God, they had the V6.
You might, but that was not in this one, dude.
This was the good dual overhead cam one.
I think they saw the other shitty four cylinder one.
If I remember correctly.
Like the single overhead cam.
Like a piece of shit one.
A sock.
You just got it.
I don't know why you were fighting it so hard.
It is the Galant.
It is the seventh gen, which I want to speak about a little bit because here it is.
Yeah.
Not the best quality, but yeah.
Look at all that overblown whiteness.
Meaning my face.
We didn't get anything spicy, but there was a VR four with a twin turbo six and
all wheel drive, the VR four variant for the seven gen.
I always thought those were fucking cool.
And the leg numb wagons.
Get the fuck out of here, my friend.
Yeah, those are sick.
Dude, I'd love one of those.
And they look so 90s, right?
Like they look like the Galant, the VR four, the six gen we love is definitely
an eighties vehicle, eighties design, clearly, but those seventh gen, like the
leg numb wagons.
Bitch.
Good shit, dude.
But yeah, good job, man.
You got there.
I almost got you twice in a row, dude.
They did have a V six.
Guess what it was rated at?
Is it slight?
Just the 148 horse.
That's why this was the better motor.
Yeah.
And I think these, they charged more for that motor too.
Yeah.
Because the technology, right?
It was a torx.
How funny is that?
That's hilarious.
Good job, dude.
You still got it.
Sort of.
You still got it, Frank.
Limbden.
Mitsubishi.
Definitely not peak Mitsubishi 1998, clearly.
I don't know.
I'm pushing for 99.
Keep pushing.
Keep pushing.
Nice.
Let's PCP it.
Should I leave this dance?
Because you should because I ain't done shit.
Oh, I did.
What did I do?
I'm trying to think if I had anything that I've done, I still have not bought
an overlander.
I have not done the shocks in the vehicle behind me yet.
I have them.
They have revived.
They look good.
They're in like a motorcraft OEM box, which is dope.
That's awesome.
I like how I'm just like brainstorming future episode ideas the last few weeks.
He's like, these are projects I need to work on.
We should, we should at some point talk about the big aftermarket parts
supplier.
Like collapse.
Have you seen about all that?
Oh, yeah.
That's a good conversation.
Yeah.
Because it's like, it's going to hurt folks like you and I.
Like Ray Bestis doesn't exist anymore.
It's wild.
And however many other businesses stop tech.
Like all of these are just like, oops, they're gone forever.
Yep.
But no, I've not done PCP.
Sadly.
How about you?
It's good.
It's a sign of discipline.
I have actually.
Well, I kind of, I got rid of something and sometimes it sounds easy,
but for us, that's a very hard form of PCP to indulge in.
I let go and in much typical Chadwick idiot fashion,
I let go a very reliable, very well in really well maintained out.
Yeah.
See, it was well and down in the fuel economy criteria field.
My CT 200 H my Lexus.
I let it go.
I don't, I haven't had a commute for a while.
I literally, like I said, I have a 15 minute secondary road commute
and there's it's overkill to drive.
I love the concept of like, oh, we just nuked like an OPEC nation and
suddenly, suddenly fuel costs of like $6 a gallon here in Northern California.
Literally, let me get rid of my hybrid daily.
That happens.
So the other part of the story is too, I wrote it in my notes to less than two days
later that happened.
So it went before that and it was still getting on that tank.
I think it was like 44.6 mixed for like 180 of those miles.
Mine was pretty clean.
It had 185,000 miles just ticked over.
Just a 13?
2015.
15.
Yeah.
The facelift.
It's got the hourglass facelift, which looks really good on that.
They actually did.
They actually executed it pretty good on those cars.
Really good.
Not forced.
So, and I'm usually into forced stuff, but it's what a good looking car.
It took a combo.
It had the pearl white with the Carmel Nulux interior.
So it's a brilliant combo.
I had all the maintenance on the head gasket was done.
I'd ace in water pump.
I cleaned the hybrid fan.
I did all the wonderful things.
Just did an oil change.
Just did do brakes, pads and rotors.
Sold it for the exact price.
I bought it for 20,000 miles, 8,500 bucks.
I let it go out the door.
It was listed on Marketplace.
Great buy.
Especially, yeah.
Less than 24 hours, the person had already picked it up.
I hate I'm going to go into my rant again.
I hate selling normal cars, Frank.
Everybody comes out of the woodwork.
The low ballers.
You got to add a little bit more on top.
Just a little bit.
No, but I hate like 10, 5.
I know.
Like 85.
I wanted to sell it pretty quick.
I wanted the cash.
I paid 85 for it like 27,000 miles ago.
So it's been a great stream.
Yeah, you got your money up.
Yeah.
I can't get upset about it, but it's probably saved me a lot
in fuel like over the years too, right?
So great car.
Super happy.
It was a guy buying it for his daughters going to college.
It's her first car.
I'm like, what a fucking, what a first car, right?
Like no risk of like crazy stuff.
She's going to be safe in it.
Yeah.
Going to be economical.
Super comfy.
Yeah.
It's like not, it's not a penalty box at all.
Not at all.
It's not nearly as embarrassing as like showing up to college
in your Prius, your parents bought you.
It's like.
Yeah.
It's in the paint on it is on.
Like they thought it was repaint.
I'm like, no.
The opposite of mine.
Well, it's pearl.
The pearl paint for Lexus has the inability to like burn.
Right.
Because it just reflects it all back.
Yeah.
Dude, I was like.
The red.
The parcel.
Completely but fuck.
Yeah.
That's a rough one.
My brown spice, Mico, which that brown color,
which I really loved on the other one.
That one started to like started to get a little bit of that
clear code action.
So my favorite is that mustard honey mustard yellow.
Oh, that's a rare ass color.
Quick ass.
That was only on the F.
Yeah.
The F sports, I think.
No, you could get a regular with it.
You could get a regular.
Fucking F sport.
I don't want to like harsh your suspension on my fucking.
That's doesn't make any sense, dude.
Speaking of which.
On mine.
I want to.
I don't have project progress, but I have news.
Yeah.
First off.
I teased last week.
That I had a dream.
About you and you getting rid of your daily driver.
Yeah.
What happened with this?
It was actually.
Okay.
So it was actually more based around my daily driver.
And this was like the night before we recorded last week.
Where I had, I had a dream.
Good way to start a speech.
I had a dream.
Let me be clear.
I, where I walked out to my car.
In the morning.
And for some reason.
Creatures of the night.
Stolen the doors, the fenders, the wheels, the seats.
It was like picked clean.
Wow.
Right.
Oh my God.
What the fuck?
Like somebody just absolutely destroyed by car.
And then I was just like, oh man, what?
I need to get another one of these.
This car was so great.
And I just put like, I was bummed because I just put new tires on it,
which I did in real life.
Yeah.
And I spent like real money on like getting new,
new TPMS sensors and,
and new tires and alignment and all the stuff.
And then suddenly it got picked clean and rock.
And then being like extra double down like, fuck.
I could have just bought chat,
bought Chad wicks from him, but he just sold it.
Like the day before I had this dream about like getting,
and I was just like, now what am I going to do?
I'm like destitute and like my, my life is ruined.
But that was my dream was not only did my shit get, get, get pulled.
And not a good way.
That also you sold your car and then I couldn't purchase,
I couldn't continue the CT lifestyle.
That's, that's killer.
Hi.
Can I ask you something?
Yes.
They're so not known as being a Prius.
They never get the cat stolen.
Correct.
That's so great.
Like you think because with it, with it, what is it?
Is it a third gen Prius or second gen?
Third gen.
Third gen.
You have to be careful when you leave your car.
You have to be dead nuts.
Careful.
I might not.
They're just like waiting for the, the, the cat to get picked.
Cause then it's like, oh, totaled the car.
And then they cut me a check for like $8,500.
Even though I paid five for it.
And I put huge miles on it.
Next to like a pile of sawsalls and pile of cutoff catalytic
converters and no one will touch your CT.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's fucking great.
But anyway, dude, 8,500, I think, I think I sold it well.
Like I, whatever.
Well bought, well sold.
I mean, yeah, you did, you did okay.
But like honestly.
She killed it.
Not that you did that.
You didn't put the head, you didn't do the head gasket work,
but you did the brakes.
You did the, the maintenance stuff.
You did all that.
And so like it's going to be a great car for the next person,
which is fine.
Like that's, I'd rather sell somebody a very good car than
something that's like super sketch and I hope I like,
I'm like staring at my phone anytime it rings.
So it's like for like a month and a half,
like expecting it's like you, you tried to kill my daughter
when she went to college.
Right.
But I, so welcome to the Lexus CT 200H hour.
We're in the after hour anyway.
So let's go for it.
So I want to report back about the tires because I put the,
I put whatever, how long, like a month ago,
three weeks out of a bitch did have PCP to report.
I did.
Well, okay.
Well, here's, so I put, I put PS4 all seasons on,
on the CT 200H.
And I have to say I already had PS4 all seasons on the front
before, but they were older, right?
They were older.
They were worn.
They were on the car when they bought it.
They were old, old, but they were like 20,
they were 2022.
Okay.
And the rears were laufins, which are basically hockey pucks.
Sure.
To the point where I can get it to oversteer at will,
which could be an impossibility in a CT 200H,
especially in the wet, in the wet,
it would bite every now and then.
Oh, and I like, which is insane, but that's what it was.
And those were older.
Those were like 2020.
Okay.
So not like, not like dangerously old, but a weird combo.
And that's just what was on it when I, when I got it.
Well, one of the laufins is what failed.
So I put all new four on it.
I was pretty consistently averaging like 41 and a half, 42.
Okay.
In mixed.
It's about where you should be.
For a higher mileage one.
Sure.
Now that I'm on four fresh PS4 all seasons,
which I had, I had the same tires on the front before.
It should be that big of a difference.
Is that 38?
I'm like, I'm like 39, 7, 39, 8.
Oh, you're driving like a race car driver now, dude.
Well, no, I'm, I'm to the point where I've like,
I've thought about that.
Like, Oh, is it just me?
And like, no, let me like try and like really drive efficiently.
And I'm still over a tank and like struggling to maintain 40.
Wow.
Which is like a real gas.
You could have got winter gas at some shit station.
Who knows?
I mean, I, I filled up like, it's been in the seventies this week
and I'm feeling it's the same shit.
And I, the only real difference is the tires and,
but on a lot of grip only.
And so like, I don't, I'm taking like a,
like a 7 to 8% mileage hit.
That's a lot.
Yeah.
Unless like, I don't, unless maybe I was like super over inflated before
just for like, like, I don't know, MPG maxing.
Yeah.
I always went three PSI over on my CT.
Yeah.
I tried to, did it, would it throw TPMS sensor codes?
Nope.
It doesn't have an upper threshold on those ones.
I don't think.
Oh shit.
All right.
I'm gonna run 58 PSI.
I mean, no, your tire will be gone.
I think it's 51 is the max on, on those tires.
I remember.
58.
Push it, push it, push it, push the envelope.
But no, actually.
58 cold.
Yeah.
Exactly.
70 hot.
Yeah.
That's, that's like, that's like four and a half limp.
No, we're not doing that math.
But, um,
So come here for the Mitsubishi talk and stay for the CT after hour.
Yes, exactly.
They're good better fellow Lord, but no, that actually is interesting.
I kind of wanted to like see if I could put more PSI in them.
Cause yeah, it's wild.
That was like, Oh, I, I lost like nearly 10%.
Ooh, that's, yeah, that's too much.
That's quite 10%, like 7%.
Still, still.
Yeah.
It feels like a lot.
Anyways, close us down with that riveting conversation.
Let me tell you, let me tell you, like it, I'll just like,
Oh, clover leaf.
Uh-uh.
I'm not touching the brakes and just, just go on in and, and,
No lift baby.
Regen max on the way out.
Love it.
Love it.
All right.
Shut us down, man.
Take us on.
Oh man.
Yeah.
We need to, we need to end it aggressively and swiftly.
Um,
That's what we're doing.
Goodbye.
No, not that swiftly.
So, um, yeah, we should, uh, we should just do all the things.
You should check us out on the Patreon.
If you haven't done that yet.
Um, mostly because we're trying to not lose a huge amount of money in this
operation, which is not huge, but it's like,
We'd like to break even.
So on the quest for breaking even, if you like what we do here and you
want to support us in what we're doing, uh, the absolute best way you can do
that is checking us out on Patreon and signing up for our Patreon, uh,
$5 a month.
What do you get?
Almost nothing.
You get a single bonus episode per month, uh, which we're actually
way behind Chadwick.
Uh, what do you do tomorrow?
I don't know.
We'll have to figure it out.
We got to figure that out.
Yeah.
We'll talk about it.
Yeah.
We'll talk about it later.
But, um, yeah, uh, we, we drink horrible things.
It's even more unhinged than what you get here.
And, um, you're part of a very exclusive club.
Let me tell you, um, of, uh, Patreon members.
So, uh, please check it out.
That's a Patreon.com slash APA pod.
Uh, it's wonderful.
Just like you.
And, uh, also wonderful is, um, find us on, uh, Instagram.
We rarely post, but you can harass us and harangue us there, which is lovely.
And, um, you can also, you can like rate us.
You should do that on all of the podcast things and just like tune in next week.
Tell your friends, hide your kids, hide your wife, um, and, uh, just continue to be participatory.
Keep doing what you're doing.
Um, if you want to see the pictures of things, mostly cars, always cars.
Uh, I'm, uh, at the photographer's garage Chadwick.
How about you?
Oh, auto obscure garage, all your rescues, reviews, restorations, all that kind of silly
stuff.
Uh, check me out there on the YouTube's also check us out on the YouTube.
Subscribe, leave some comments, get in the comment section, get a little crazy.
YouTube part.
Yes, sir.
Bye guys.
Oh, yeah.
For you guys watching us.
Bye.
And we'll catch you maybe in a week.
On the flip side, maybe with some, maybe with some budget off road vehicles.
Frank, I know I got work to do.
I don't know.
Full disclosure.
Oh shit.
Like Chad is out because bought something and he hasn't told me.
He keeps like winking at me like a lot.
Um, that's a stroke.
I gotta go.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do you smell toast?
Bye guys.
About this episode
The hosts debate Mitsubishi’s “peak” year and land on 1991, arguing it was the sweet spot when the lineup covered everything from Mirage hatchbacks and Eclipse GSX to the 3000GT VR4 and Montero—plus the quirky Mighty Max. They compare why the brand cooled off later (early 2000s, after Evo hype) and talk real-world ownership/maintenance quirks, especially around 3000GT/Stealth. The episode also includes a print-ad guessing game that Frank nails with a 1998 Galant, followed by CT200h tire and MPG updates.
Original notes
Every automaker peaked at some point in history. Zero people think that 2026 is the absolute zenith for Mitsubishi, so... when was this specific zaibatsu at their best? The dudes sit down to flesh it all out.
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Another Pointless Automotive Podcast
Frank Harrington IV and Chadwick Atkinson
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72:19