In my never-ending search for a new car, I've bounced back and forth between many cars. First it was a Prelude. Then I decided that domestic was the cheapest way to go for the most power, such as a Mustang GT or Camaro Z28. Then I was looking to get maybe a mid-eighties Corvette, for its prestiege mixed in with the other two. Now, if I could make a good find on that, I'd probably still consider it....

But then I found a 1992 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 that a friend was selling; for $4900. It's white, it runs beautifully and has a leather interior. It is bone stock, other than an after market turbo dump gate. The car is in good condition, other than a pretty heavily used stock sound system (I think a speaker is blown, or at least it rattles really bad at certain frequencies.) It does, however, have 130K miles on it.

Now you know my life story, and some stats about the car. Here's what I'm looking for:

A car with after market potential, for drag, track and street use. Possibly shooting for 400-450 horsepower, but I would like to keep the engine pretty torque-y too. Can this be done with a V6? Anybody know what the steps toward that would be?

A car with class, which is part of the reason I was looking at a Corvette. I want it to look good. POSSIBLY a very subtle front lip. The size of the stock rims is nice, but I don't like the style. However, visuals will always take a back seat to performance.

A car that will perform the best at the drag strip, but also will be fun on a track. Streetability isn't all that important to me, I've driven my share of cars where 1st and 2nd gears are useless and I've also driven cars where overheating made driving in very hot weather was risky business.

And does anybody know about the reliability of this car? That was my main concern. What problems tend to creep up on this type of a car? Expensive? It does have 130000 miles on it so I'm not sure.

Sorry this was long, I always ramble on, but this is the closest I've been to buying a car since... well since the last time I bought a car.

I don't know much about that particular car. I would check out a 3kGT forum; they will have a lot more info.

What I do know is that an aquatince of mine had one. We knew each other, but really weren't friends, so I'm not too sure of what he did to it. I do know that he upgraded the turbos, computer, intake, and exhaust. I don't know what brand parts he used though.

However, he doesn't lie and other people confirmed this, he beat a 911 on the street in a straight line. He guessed it was about a 2001 911, but couldn't tell if it was a turbo, or awd. Sorry, this probably doesn't help much; but for being so porky, these cars do have potential.

Dodge stealth is rebadged mistubishi 3k Gt, keep that in mind when searching for info. In my town there's a Stealth that beats a stock 996 turbo, so I guess it could be very fast with some work on the engine :)

Don't read any Mitsubishi site. While that may be a good idea on other forums, where opinions are actually realistic, they are all self promoters. "Ok, so our cars break down every other day.. they're TURBO AND AWD!!!".

Seriously.. I've never seen such naive people.. ones who think spending $3,000 a year on maintenance is normal.

They're great cars if you can keep them running, but I'd personally never own one with more than 100k on the stock motor.

Don't read any Mitsubishi site. While that may be a good idea on other forums, where opinions are actually realistic, they are all self promoters. "Ok, so our cars break down every other day.. they're TURBO AND AWD!!!".

Seriously.. I've never seen such naive people.. ones who think spending $3,000 a year on maintenance is normal.

They're great cars if you can keep them running, but I'd personally never own one with more than 100k on the stock motor.
good point:)
something to definitely think about when buying..

I know this guy who drives a 3kgt and he gets 18mpg avg. because of turbo+awd, I'd rather get a Supra:p

Attaus, how much mpg u get with that Z28?

About 18-20 with medium driving, and a little over 20 if I drive like I should. You don't want to know what it is when I get on it. lol

I had a base 3000GT for almost 2 years and loved it. It had a few problems but once fixed it was great. Very quick, loved the looks and sound, and the women liked it too!

If you really like it, go for it, it will be worth it if you're alright with spending a little more to keep it in tip-top shape.

If you decide on a 3kGT, even if it's not this one, PLEASE make sure it's a VR-4.


3kGT SL's are just Dodge Neon's with more weight and better looks.

I personally think they're ugly, and you'd be much better off with a Corvette, however please note that the C3 is probably the least respected series of the Corvette history.