It would appear that manufacturers are having to spend an awful lot of money just to be in the running. Also they are appearing not to be getting enough out of it in terms of media exposure. I really don't think that these reasons are all that valid. Often we see privateers coming pretty close to the works guys and even taking the podium at times. And I'm pretty certain they're not spending anything like the Citreon factory team for example. As for media exposure Mitsu, VW and Nissan has thrown millions at the Dakar and that only runs like two weeks a year and a good number of their cars don't even finish.

The FIA should make sure that you can't just spend your way to a champoinship but surely there are more intelligent ways of doing it.

Whatever the case, I think one of the key factors that the FIA never seem to mention is that car manufacturers around the world are owned by a handful of companies. I mean you won't see an Audi works team competing directly against a VW works team for example - so there are fewer and fewer manufacturers (or rather names) that can race together in the same league and that's no doing anybody any good.

 

The V6 twin turbo 4 door car already exists. The Galant VR4... never came to the USA though.

 

What the Evo needs is a more upscale car like the Subaru Legacy is to their WRX. I guess that's what the old Galant was...

 

But it does not. That vehicle is no longer in production, and hasn't been for a couple of years.

I don't know of anything like that. I thought it was just a traditional FWD vehicle.

 

maybe 4ws?

 

sorry, nothing that amazing - i just checked.

It had a 5 speed auto with the +/- tip tronic type thing. Considering this was back in 1997 it's pretty advance stuff which is probably what I remembered to be the 'clever' thing with the tranny. Also it had Mivec and a front LSD. It was banging out 200bhp on a 2.0 N/A so not that bad...

It made its peak power at 6000rpm, less than what I would have thought and all that stuffed into a car that weighted around 1200kg (2640lbs).

It died in 2000, after 5 years of production (well they only made 160 in 2000 so that alomost doesn't count). I guess between the eclipse and the evo, there just wasn't room for it - having all that stuff in it would make it cost quite a lotl.

 

tht VR-4 looks sick. i have a 92 galant. i was thinkin about picking up a VR-4 that i found. but it was in horrible condition. they r hard to find in the U.S. although i didnt kno they were twin turbo.. even the older ones?

 

I miss cars like the Starion Turbo with its huge 2.7 4 cyl in line, or the agil Mirage FWD turbo(too bad it naver came with an intercooler) and definately I will always miss the 3000GT VR4 and Eclipse GSX. These cars were the back bone of Mitsubishi fans

 

No. The only Galant VR-4's sold in this country were '91 and '92 models. They had 4G63T's and were basically the same drivetrain as the 1G GSX.
They started using V6TT's with what we call the 7 and 8G bodies.

Actually it was a 2.6L, and it has pretty crappy head and ignition design. That's why most people swap to a 4G63T for serious power, the same with the Mirage.

I was always curious how the 4G92 would have done in this country. As it was Mitsubishis answer to the B16. It was also 1.6L, DOHC MIVEC, had an insanely high RPM range (and needed it to get the peak power) and some versions claimed 172hp in stock(ish) form. Its too bad the Mirage Astis and Cyborgs they came in didn't have the double wishbone setup that made older Civics legend.

 

The v6 evo might be more likely than you think.

http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/i/index.html

-AWD
-3cyl, 659cc 97hp/litre
-turbo, intercooled
-Mivec

It's a neat car (45:55 weight distribution to boost) but bear in mind that it's getting that sort of performance in a tune for maximum fuel consumption (18km/litre!!!) and I have no idea where they put the i/c.

If you strap two of these together, you get a 1.4L v6 with around 140hp. Assuming that they can enlarge this to a 2.0L then a 2.0 V6 is certainly possible. Add a proper turbo and you should be getting something like performance engine.... okay, perhaps not...

Other than that, the other two v6's are the SOHC ones - which will be a little naff to have in a car brand new for 2007 and the mysterious one from the FTO.