23rd May 2005, 14:49

I have had my GTO (Japanese model 3000GT) for two years and has only needed things doing that any other car would require. £6300 ($10,000) bought me a 300 bhp 4 wheel drive dream machine. If I had a £ for every time someoone said "Is it a Ferrari?" I would be a rich man. If you can't out accelerate a Honda ANY HONDA then you is doing something wrong my friend!!

Stick with your Ford Escort mate.

Come back to the GTO - 3000GT - when you can DRIVE HARD!!

Ming the Merciless.

1st Sep 2006, 16:19

I have to agree with the original writer. I brought a 92 VR4 back in 1999 with 80K miles on it. I think I had more problems than this guy.

Then again, I may have gotten a lemon. Regardless, the car was a money pit. The mechanic would always smile when they saw me drive up.. which was almost once a month. Something was going wrong and I was charged a monster premium because of the complexity of this car.

Finally, my VR4 was stolen while parked in front of my house in February of 2000. Since then I've stayed away from Mitsubishi. I have yet to purchase a used car which gave me the problems which the VR4 did.

Great performance. Amazing with the ladies. But the repairs were expensive and often.

So don't rag on the writer, I faced the same problems.

17th Jun 2007, 12:22

This kid probably beat the heck out of it, and now is whinning that the car is having problems. That's WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU RACE A CAR EVERYTIME YOU DRIVE IT!!

16th Jan 2008, 10:29

I've also owned a 91' VR-4 for 3 years and have never had any of these problems. Too bad you can't keep up to a Contour considering it's a low 14sec car in the 1/4 bone stock.

Add a boost controller, gutted pre-cats, better Blow off-valve and your hitting low 13's. Go back to your Escort bud. You do realize this car needs regular maintenance that costs 2K every 60K miles. if it isn't done your going to have some serious problems.

31st Oct 2008, 01:03

Your listed repairs should not be more than couple thousand, and definitely not remotely close to $12,000. Most of the problems could have easily been avoided. If you took care of the vehicle through maintenance (running the car for a few minutes after running the turbos hard and doing the 60,000 mile recommended maintenance... water pump...etc), I'm sure you wouldn't have had nearly as many problems. A stock VR4 is far faster than a stock Honda Civic (0 to 60 4.9-5.1s vs 6.8s?). I have seen VR4's, in person, with less than $500 worth of modifications beat Maserati Grand Sports.

18th Dec 2008, 00:35

I'm 18 and I have a GTO twin turbo. Bought it for $10,000, 53,000kms! HKS blow off valve, HKS f-con, HKS boost controller, and lots more mods. But when I put it away for the winter, everything WAS fine; and then 2 days later, I just wanted to run the engine for a bit. I dunno if it was just because it was cold, OR the cold that did something to my car, but I think the throttle body sensor screwed up or something, because I revved it; it revved up to about 2500RPM, and then dropped down past 1000RPM, just about to die out and then came back up. We will see what happens in the Spring!

Other than that, so far I love the car; a lot OF POWER! Nothing can touch this car!!!

26th Jan 2009, 16:42

Hi, in regards to the people that have had bad issues with these cars, all I can say is do you not give these cars a good assessment check before buying? These cars are like any performance car.. and a baby for that matter. You watch over it, look after it and maintain it throughout its life. If you neglect it, it will punish you.

Before you wonder.. no I don't own a GTO, I'm a Supra owner but soon wlil be buying my GTO TT and I'll review how this car was born to be reviewed.. with praise.

Regards.

16th Feb 2009, 12:52

I am getting ready to pick up my 1991 3000GT SL coupe and it has been babied with synthetic oil, perfect maintenance and I can't wait. It will be my daily driver. I will baby the car and treat it with the respect it deserves. The saying goes you get what you pay for... Well another saying should be you get what you give. If you treat the car well it will treat you well. This is one car I am going to be very proud to own!

18th Mar 2009, 21:09

I'd highly disagree with that piece of crap statement as well!!! I owned my VR-4 for a year, and never had a single problem with it, so ya... besides you can stomp almost any street car that dares to pull up next to you!! VR-4's rule.

2nd Apr 2009, 21:45

I just bought my GTO, and I live in Montreal Canada. I don't understand how this guy is saying that the car sucks, it's insane fast for stock. The only real test, is to see if it will pass our winters. If it does, and next year I don't have a single problem with the car, then there is no better car! Maybe you should realise that if you smash the car every time you drive it, and don't give it a nice ride every once in a while... of course it's gonna fall apart... just like any other car... Ford Escort...pfft LOL.

21st Apr 2009, 12:58

I've had my 95 VR4 for 4 years, and haven't had any problems other than regular maintenance. It's fast, sexy and the best car I've owned. Just make sure you buy one that is in good condition and you won't be disappointed.

18th May 2009, 11:18

After reading everyone's point of view on both sides of the line, mainly on the good side, here's my little tid bit.

Bought a '92 Stealth ES brand new with 24 miles on it. Sold it with 167,124 miles on it and NEVER had any problems.

2004 I bought a brand new RX-8. BIG MISTAKE! Luckily Mazda bought it back from me and I was lucky enough to find a well cared for '92 VR-4 with 73,000 on it. Turbos are fine, radio works, it goes left and right, it starts and stops. It's not any quicker then the ES Stealth unless you tach it up and dump the clutch. Top end yeah, it's got about 20mph on the top compared to the ES/RT/baseGT/SL with the 222hp front wheel drive version.

Wet or snowy roads you can't beat the VR-4, unless you've got a WRX or Evo, in which case you're gonna be MUCH HAPPIER PERIOD! I've even had a cheap SRT-4 while I've had this VR-4. SRT-4 would stomp it in a straight line due to the MAJOR WEIGHT difference! And don't kid yourself, the VR-4 is a HEAVY HEAVY car! Yeah it looks great, it's got all wheel drive... and that's about it. Performance IS NOT there. I don't care what people FOOL themselves into believing. Stock it's 300-315HP WITH ALL THAT WEIGHT! WRX or Evo 265-295 HP with 800-900lbs LESS! Do the math, VR-4 isn't all that. YES I remember the Motor Trend cover way back when titled "Ferrari Fighter?". I think not.

Not to mention, all the repairs these previous posters have mentioned, yeah I've had my share and they ARE NOT CHEAP! Struts, you know the fancy ones with the tour and sport mode... you're better off with an aftermarket complete with new controller for the money. Driveshaft is designed for a car with about 200hp, so plan on a new one with your first dump of the clutch. List price on that 3 piece poorly designed monstrosity $1200 (but you can certainly find it cheaper). Oil cooler tends to leak, actually the rubber hose to the cooler tends to be the first piece of rubber on the vehicle to crack, RIGHT AFTER the turbo inlet plenum plastic piece. And just try getting your hands in there to replace the stock driving lamp bulbs! (unless you're a leprechaun)

Yeah, FINALLY! To the guy that got the SL. GOOD CALL!

The TT AWD's are a headache waiting to happen. The FRONT wheel drive versions have WAY FEWER things that CAN go wrong! Unless you're in constant wet or snowy road conditions... you really won't notice much difference until you push it, :) even then the FWD rear end swings predictably. :D.

17th Jan 2010, 16:27

I did have a 1998 3000GT SL. paid 7900 for the car. car was amazing. I drove from Camp Lejeune, NC to PA, then to WV on two tanks of gas. however had the unfortunate experience of totaling it. This car was amazing, I can attest that everywhere I went I would turn heads in it. it was completely stock except for the exhaust, wheels, and tires. if I wanted to "show off" all I had to do was give it a little gas and it would spin the tires all the way through 3rd gear from stop. I'm looking at getting a 92 3000GT VR4 with 112000 miles for $6500. It's had a little bit done to it, so I can't wait to get my hands on it and cut it loose to see what it has. This is what the current owner said that he has done to it.

3SX intake y-pipe

3SX front and rear strut bars

3SX turbo intake

3SX lightened pulley

TurboXS blow off valve

Aussie manual boost controller

Ralli Art steering wheel

Quick release hub

MOMO Italy shift knob

Blitz Dual turbo timer DC

Foglights

I removed about 65 lb. s of sound deadening material

3SX down pipe

3 in. exhaust all the way back

High flow cat.

Apexi muffler

Fully rebuilt trani. (I have receipt)

Ported turbos

Ported upper intake plentium manifold

And I'm probably forgetting some stuff.

Stuff that could go with it

Full Dejon turbo intake system

Tein lowering springs

Koyorad radiator

SPEC stage 2 clutch still in the box.