The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support ExtremePSI
Please Support Rix Racing

WTF is Mitsubishi thinking

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This thread has put a smile on my face. every car I've ever owned has been 10 years old and my newest model year ever an 06 saab 95 yes bust my balls but I do love Saabs. It's not just cars that went to shit but everything from music on down. we Dsm'ers are a special breed and I'm so happy to see you all feel just like me! Everyone is into disposable everything or what is cool on tv. But nothing is as satisfying as watching that deuch in a 75k dollar BMW eat shit from my $1200 dsm. keep it up fellas n gals
 
I've given up on hoping that someone comes out with something that I want. When I graduated college I was ready to support a manufacturer who makes fun cars. I went out and preordered a Focus RS. AWD, a hatchback, turbocharged, manual, too heavy for its own good. It sounded like a good successor to the Eclipses that I grew up with. After 11 months of being shit on by Ford corporate and one particularly unethical Ford dealer, I finally got my RS. And it's fun, I guess, but it's no DSM. It feels closer to my sister's 80s Volvo than it does the DSMs that I had - large, heavy, uncertain, and slow. They took a Focus ST and made it faster, but in the process it lost everything that made it fun. I'd take my college room mate's ST over my RS any day of the week, and with the rather extreme price difference, I don't understand the hype around the RS. Mine is up for sale. I bought a 98 GSX to replace it. After a three year hiatus, I'm back in the DSM world and hopefully I won't be leaving again.

Although my 98 GSX threw a timing belt one week after I got it and has been parked ever since. Old habits die hard, I guess.

But anyway, I tried the whole "modern version of a DSM" thing. From a company whose performance cars garner tons of international praise, I expected so much more. I have had too many great cars in my life to consider the RS exciting, and if this is the closest that we get to a DSM of the 21st century, I am perfectly happy going back to the 90s, unreliability and all. The RS was my first 21st century car and will hopefully be my last, certainly in the short term. Mitsubishi has nowhere near the resources that Ford does. Mitsubishi has no enthusiast leaders in the company, unlike Ford who has many. Mitsubishi doesn't have access to numerous well-established platforms to tweak for a performance variant like Ford does. If Ford can't do it, I have no doubt that Mitsubishi will never top the 4G63-powered lineup of the 90s and early 2000s.

In addition to all of that, look at the current Japanese automotive landscape. Toyota is trying with the Supra, but it sounds like it is not going in the right direction. Mazda had to partner with the floundering FCA just to get the new Miata to market and despite all of their promises, they have no Speed cars in the pipeline right now. The Brits are building a hot hatch with a Honda badge because Mother Honda wouldn't ever do it on its own. Subaru can't seem to get a decent engine into its flagship performance sedan even though the writing was on the wall more than a decade ago. Nissan hasn't touched either of its performance cars in a decade. The manual transmission has been dead in mainland Japan for years.
 
Last edited:
Mitsubishi doesn't have access to numerous well-established platforms to tweak for a performance variant like Ford does. If Ford can't do it, I have no doubt that Mitsubishi will never top the 4G63-powered lineup of the 90s and early 2000s.

I'd argue that Mitsubishi has a different heritage. Mitsubishi, for whatever reason, has always had something to prove. Mitsubishi has always been about innovation (first production GDI motor, first widely produced car with cylinder deactivation, active aero, electronically controlled suspension, etc.) and performance (I think the 4G63 in the FQ440 still holds the world record for HP/L of any production car). When you say Mitsubishi, the average person of a certain age is probably going to think of a sports car: the 3g Eclipse--they were EVERYWHERE in the early 2000s. In light of all that, I hope that Mitsubishi gets back to its performance and technology roots sooner rather than later, even if that means they're doing performance electric cars.

In addition to all of that, look at the current Japanese automotive landscape. Toyota is trying with the Supra, but it sounds like it is not going in the right direction. Mazda had to partner with the floundering FCA just to get the new Miata to market and despite all of their promises, they have no Speed cars in the pipeline right now. The Brits are building a hot hatch with a Honda badge because Mother Honda wouldn't ever do it on its own. Subaru can't seem to get a decent engine into its flagship performance sedan even though the writing was on the wall more than a decade ago. Nissan hasn't touched either of its performance cars in a decade. The manual transmission has been dead in mainland Japan for years.

It's like the 80s all over again--depressingly boring boxy vehicles everywhere, all slushbox equipped--and here we are, sticking with our ageing pony cars, just like a generation previous stuck to their Mustangs and Camaros.

The question is, will the 90s come again?
 
Last edited:
I've given up on hoping that someone comes out with something that I want. When I graduated college I was ready to support a manufacturer who makes fun cars. I went out and preordered a Focus RS. AWD, a hatchback, turbocharged, manual, too heavy for its own good. It sounded like a good successor to the Eclipses that I grew up with. After 11 months of being sh** on by Ford corporate and one particularly unethical Ford dealer, I finally got my RS. And it's fun, I guess, but it's no DSM. It feels closer to my sister's 80s Volvo than it does the DSMs that I had - large, heavy, uncertain, and slow. They took a Focus ST and made it faster, but in the process it lost everything that made it fun. I'd take my college room mate's ST over my RS any day of the week, and with the rather extreme price difference, I don't understand the hype around the RS. Mine is up for sale. I bought a 98 GSX to replace it. After a three year hiatus, I'm back in the DSM world and hopefully I won't be leaving again.

Although my 98 GSX threw a timing belt one week after I got it and has been parked ever since. Old habits die hard, I guess.

But anyway, I tried the whole "modern version of a DSM" thing. From a company whose performance cars garner tons of international praise, I expected so much more. I have had too many great cars in my life to consider the RS exciting, and if this is the closest that we get to a DSM of the 21st century, I am perfectly happy going back to the 90s, unreliability and all. The RS was my first 21st century car and will hopefully be my last, certainly in the short term. Mitsubishi has nowhere near the resources that Ford does. Mitsubishi has no enthusiast leaders in the company, unlike Ford who has many. Mitsubishi doesn't have access to numerous well-established platforms to tweak for a performance variant like Ford does. If Ford can't do it, I have no doubt that Mitsubishi will never top the 4G63-powered lineup of the 90s and early 2000s.

In addition to all of that, look at the current Japanese automotive landscape. Toyota is trying with the Supra, but it sounds like it is not going in the right direction. Mazda had to partner with the floundering FCA just to get the new Miata to market and despite all of their promises, they have no Speed cars in the pipeline right now. The Brits are building a hot hatch with a Honda badge because Mother Honda wouldn't ever do it on its own. Subaru can't seem to get a decent engine into its flagship performance sedan even though the writing was on the wall more than a decade ago. Nissan hasn't touched either of its performance cars in a decade. The manual transmission has been dead in mainland Japan for years.
yah I'm sorry to hear your disappointment in your new rs. the new rides take the driving out of the entire picture by doing it all for you. us dsm'ers take even our abs out LOL it's all about feeling and controlling each and every aspect of our rides. any noob can now go buy their 350hp car push a button for what type of driving and boom launch without a problem. that would just pissed me off
 
I just wanted to weigh in here because I love what's being said in this thread. Especially the guy talking about the RS. I believe it was the same guy that said Subaru is still looking for a reliable engine in it's flagship car. In 2011 my beloved 98 GS-T had a myriad of issues as it's age started to show. So I decided to trade it for a 09 WRX. It had that same thrill that my eclipse had when driving it except with even more power. It did understeer more than my GS-T but I was still enjoying it just the same. The car only had 19,000 miles on it and so I planned to have it for the next decade. To make a long story short tho. The center differential failed at 72k miles and the turbo went at 76k miles. I fixed both those issues only for the engine to blow with less than 80k miles on the car. I paid almost 25,000 dollars for a car that lasted 50k miles before going up in a puff of smoke. Now I'm looking to buy an old 2nd Gen Eclipse again because there just aren't any fun and RELIABLE cars out there. I drove a Fiat 124 Spyder and a Miata, and they handle great but the power just isn't there. Dodge and Ford still make cars that don't handle well at all. The 90s were filled with fun coupes that didn't break the bank. I only hope that the up turn in our economy will open this market back up. In the mean time, I'll pick up an old Eclipse and put up with a few nagging issues because I know it will at least run and be fun to drive...
 
Just found out about this last night when snooping on Facebook of the Eclipse Cross CUV.

Really ....
Great to bring back a trademark name from Mitsu, but to shame it also by attaching it to a CUV that doesn't deserve it. But, the Cross replaces the Lancer, including the EVO.

Still keeping the turbo, but as with the other manufacturers, putting in a piss-ant, undersized 1.5L motor in a 3600lb chassis with a large multi geared automatic transmission with a 5.65:1 final ratio so the little putt-putt doesn't explode from moving all of that iron.

Found out that the Normal IL Plant has been closed down .. where it all began back in 1988 with the Plymouth X2S concept sports coupe and roadster in the Spring of 1988 - 30 years ago ... where the Laser and the Eclipse began their lives at.


Thus, the Cross is made across the big pond back in it's home territory to make its way worldwide.

OH well, I'm still enjoying my 1G 1990 Ply Laser Turbo .. and still has the power that it was built as.

Good luck all - DSM
 
Seriously? No not Mitsubishi, the fact that you lot thought they would do anything else. Think of what you would like Mitsubishi to do, give them all of the opinions of what cusomers want AND have the money to buy and here's the important part, new. Now, expect Mitsubishi to do damn near the exact opposite. The days of the 3000GT VR4, Galant VR4, Lancer Evolution I-X and first and 2nd gen Eclipse/Talon oh and that Plymouth Laser thing yeah, they're over. Book closed, and with the way the Lancer Evolution went from IX to X showed exactly the path they're headed. Trying to please everyone, so everyone will have a luke warm feel to a vehicle designed by a board room and to a price point.

Wake me when someone is fired, hired or dies really high up in Mitsubishi Automotive who has the pull and desire to change things, passion filled / automotive enthusiast.
 
Wake me when someone is fired, hired or dies really high up in Mitsubishi Automotive

You mean like a new CEO? https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...otors-Corporation-Announces-New-President-CEO

Remember that Mitsubishi has, since the turn of the millennium, been treading water. And that's not even taking to account the active sabotage by Daimler until MHI bought the company back in 2005, but by then the damage was done and it was everything Mitsu could do to just keep their head above water.


As MMC’s stock price collapsed, the company replaced its president, Takemune Kimura with Katsuhiko Kawasoe, who began a restructuring program. Even so, its debt, by 1999, was over 1.7 trillion yen.

MMC’s reputation suffered a crippling blow when, in 2000 and in 2004, the company had to admit to covering up defects from as far back as 1977, and recall over 160,000 vehicles for free repair. When the Fuso commercial line also required a recall, the total of vehicles rose to over a million. Kawasoe and twenty-three other employees were eventually arrested, but three of them have since been acquitted.

DaimlerChrysler briefly held a controlling interest in MMC, and sent German executives to slash and burn Mitsubishi’s domestic operations. The issue of whether to buy more of Mitsubishi led to the ouster of Juergen Schrempp from the leadership spot of DaimlerChrysler, putting Dieter Zetsche in his place. JP Morgan finally sold a controlling stake to members of the Mitsubishi keiretsu in 2005, leaving MMC’s fate once again in Japanese hands — and possibly saving the life of the company.

https://www.allpar.com/history/mitsubishi.html


The murder of Mitsubishi has been more than a decade in the making, having begun with the 1990s Asian financial crisis. In 2000, DaimlerChrysler, just two years married and already in counseling, acquired 34 percent of debt-ridden Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. Though Mitsu had maintained a long and fruitful relationship with Chrysler, the tumultuous DaimlerChrysler and Mitsubishi were, in the words of Rodney Dangerfield, an earth sign and a water sign—together they made mud.

During what some Mitsu employees refer to as “the occupation,” Daimler installed hatchet-man Rolf Eckrodt as CEO to slash costs. The cars rapidly blanched into forgettable vanilla. The ultimate expression of Mitsubishi’s master mediocrity plan was “Project America,” a doomed scheme to pare costs by building three models on one platform in one factory [3g Eclipse platform/former DSM factory].

https://www.caranddriver.com/column...cated-in-the-slow-murder-of-mitsubishi-column

Another good read on what happend to Mitsubishi: https://www.researchgate.net/public...Chrysler_Mitsubishi_merger_A_study_in_failure
 
Last edited:
That is really interesting actually I didnt know that stuff. But MHI is now back in control and has been for a while and it has been their decision to take the company in the direction it is headed now. They decided to drop the Evo and it will continue to be their choice to cater to the large market of people that want functional grocery getters and not passionate care enthusiasts.
 
That is really interesting actually I didnt know that stuff. But MHI is now back in control and has been for a while and it has been their decision to take the company in the direction it is headed now. They decided to drop the Evo and it will continue to be their choice to cater to the large market of people that want functional grocery getters and not passionate care enthusiasts.
You gotta pay the bills, man, and sports cars don't do that, but I hear you. Hopefully, once they're back on their feet, we'll get something more interesting. As i posted up-thread, I'm holding out hope that we'll get the Eclipse back as a coupe, and since Mitsubishi has no other halo cars cannibalize sales from, we'll finally get a good drive-train again.

Wouldn't mind a new GTO either.
 

Technologically, the DSM's combination of short hood and long rear quarters, plus the 4G63/4B11 unit, makes a mid-engine, rear drive 2-seat sports version logical in an era when Caymans run about 80% more than such a new DSM would. Technologically.

Aero the hood, give the transmission designers some latitude in a more flexible engine room, redo the suspension, and the DSM returns as a modern day Pantera without having to invent much of anything at all. It'd be unique among pricey European imports and Detroit retreads and this rendering looks better than many of them too.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.


Here's another idea with no hope of actualization: Use the AWD platform to base an active electric drivetrain on. Of course, anybody can build an electric, but as juice for a brand revival, a performance electric with all the usual advantages of an active AWD system also makes sense - active torque vectoring, regenerative braking, and so on. I'm surprised nobody's converted either AWD generation into one so far...
 
Last edited:
It's actually funny you mention that. There was a craigslist ad of someone who is selling the body of a dsm because he tried to convert it to an electric drivetrain.
 
Technologically, the DSM's combination of short hood and long rear quarters, plus the 4G63/4B11 unit, makes a mid-engine, rear drive 2-seat sports version logical in an era when Caymans run about 80% more than such a new DSM would. Technologically.

Aero the hood, give the transmission designers some latitude in a more flexible engine room, redo the suspension, and the DSM returns as a modern day Pantera without having to invent much of anything at all. It'd be unique among pricey European imports and Detroit retreads and this rendering looks better than many of them too.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.


Here's another idea with no hope of actualization: Use the AWD platform to base an active electric drivetrain on. Of course, anybody can build an electric, but as juice for a brand revival, a performance electric with all the usual advantages of an active AWD system also makes sense - active torque vectoring, regenerative braking, and so on. I'm surprised nobody's converted either AWD generation into one so far...

I'd drive that.
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top