3000GT

A Japanese sports car that was mainly designed to be a grand tourer (GT). Because its capabilities exeed those of the GT line, many people compare it to Ferrari and other cars of that category. This often makes some folks say that it was a failure of technology and leave other comments of that nature. These people come short of rational thought though, because they do not think of the main purpose of the car and what would happen if its purpose was to be a racing supercar, using all the light materials and all nessesary equipment in order to compete in this class. As a matter of fact, this car is capable of an acceleration of 11.8 seconds in the quarter mile and 4.2 seconds 0-60 MPH times in racing trim. These times are better than the times achieved by many of the supercars including Acura (Honda) NSX, Porshe 911 Turbo and many others. Such people should only ask themselves "What would have happened if the 3000GT was meant to compete in this class instead of in the GT class? The answer is pretty clear - it was going to be the king of the hill, just like it is in the GT class for which it was meant. The Mitsubishi 3000GT has a steel body which is much heavier than the alumunum body of the NSX, for example. And yet, its times are so close to these of the NSX... Can you imagine the 3000GT being dressed in the lightweight clothes of the supercars? Oh, happy day... But it was made heavy, because of the purpose it serves - to be stable and safe as a GT! This car has a superb styling as well. It is so perfect that, as one journalist said, "Maranello needs to roll out a Testarossa in order to match"! Actually, the 3000GT still looks contemporary while the Testarossa does not so much. The Mitsubishi 3000GT comes in three different trims: 3000GT (165 HP,) 3000GT SL (222 HP,) and 3000GT VR4 (320 HP). In the U.S.A. it was sold as the Dodge Stealth which was its twin brother. The differences were only cosmetic. The 3000GT VR4 became The Import Car of The Year in 1991 in America, announced by Motor Trend.