Street Sighting ~ Mitsubishi FTO

By

Other than the occasional grid appearance in Gran Turismo 4 the Mitsubishi FTO hasn't successfully steered my attention in its direction until now. And after a little research I'm glad it did - even if I find them ugly.

http://www.cornerstories.au

This one in particular, whilst still no looker hides its awkward body lines with black paint.

As prefaced I knew nothing about these other than the front wheel drive layout which turns out has a 'front mid-engined' V6 some even equipped with MIVEC. I'm pretty chimp-spec so just in case you're like me here is a diagram of 'front mid-engine' layout;

http://www.cornerstories.au

Anyway, I do have some experience with MIVEC motors, having driven the absolute drivers car that is the Mitsubishi Grandis for a small partition of my p-plates.

http://www.cornerstories.au

Apologies, getting distracted. But final remark, the Grandis is a great car that deserves its own post/review at some point. Back to the FTO...

http://www.cornerstories.auhttp://www.cornerstories.au

I couldn't find the stats but the FTO never really got the Australian delivered treatment with the majority being imports or orders through the special Mitsubishi dealership network. I'd be curious to know how these cars handle because of the few I see around they are always quite beat up and poorly treated. Despite this people went out of their way to own these cars.
 
http://www.cornerstories.au
 
Culture wise, these cars likely rode on the coat tails of the Eclipse from the Fast and the Furious era. A better car (with its own problems) we never got in Australia.
 
http://www.cornerstories.au
http://www.cornerstories.au
http://www.cornerstories.au
     
I can't really imagine owning one of these, even for an imaginary drive so instead just know that this largely forgotten, not thought about car actually won Car Of The Year Japan award in 94' beating both the Toyota Supra and Subaru SVX.
 
 

Adelaide based. No real consistency just yarns, plain and simple.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ALL JAPAN DAY 2025

By
Image
This will be long and lack any sort of direction, forgive me. This All Japan Day was far more relaxed for me, as I decided early on I wouldn't be making a video like last year: As a result I picked up fellow enthusiast/blog author Nick at about 10:30ish in the Vortex . Flying in from Canada at 4:00AM Nick somehow still had energy, and as we cruised down south we picked apart the in's & out's of the strange Subaru .   I did feel a touch guilty that it only received a garden hose spray-down & leaf blower dry off. Good enough for Nick's first impressions. Now from about here-on-out you are going to read the writings of someone who allowed his mind to wander and instincts dictate when to take a photo. In other words if you want a comprehensive run down of AJD , this is NOT it. Out the gate I enjoyed seeing not one but two triple-S datto Stanza's. I know the Stanza is a boring boxy sedan to most, but I'm a sucker for sports allure, and the SSS paint schemes...
Read more

Car Feature ~ Subaru Vortex

By
Image
Subinats 24' was a wild ride. While strolling the show & shine, making sure to get enough footage, I finally got to meet Shane. Meeting another Vortex owner is a rare occurrence and Shane didn't disappoint. A super genuine dude, we talked wedge, getting the run down on his Wynn's Safari inspired Vortex .  I'll type up a page on that car soon, but during the tour, Shane told me he was not alone. There was another Vortex at Subinats.  At that very moment I noticed a red coupe. It was absolutely hauling ass around the elevated sections of Sydney Motorsport Park. Once Shane's attention had turned to the parade lap I knew it was my job to go track down the red Vortex . Seeing Grant's car in front of me was VERY surreal. When the Vortex came out it received a donk of a motor, the EA82 . Later on in Japan and the US, it would receive revisions including a new motor the ER27 (essentially a six cylinder version of the EA -donk). Anytime you had a problem with the...
Read more

Street Sighting ~ Subaru WRX

By
Image
This car has passed, been opposite and crossed in front of me multiple times driving. Every time so incredibly short - enough to bug me with intrigue.  So to finally see it standing still I took my chance to pass, circle, cross it & take pics. I found it pretty perplexing. Close examination revealed it was more setup as a track toy and yet every prior interaction it was running the streets. Normally when I type up these street sightings I undertake a bit of guess work. But for this rather unique looking rexy, with no internet presence, I attempted some research ( desperate to know more ). Lucky one bloke came through ( Cheers Grant ). The car has been an SA car for at least half a decade, starting life as a street car that progressed into its current state. Motor wise a built 2litre mated to a STI 6speed gives it the ducks guts. The other works like suspension, brakes, seats, turbo, and  ECU make for a level headed but quick bita machinery. But the kicka has to be the ae...
Read more