Enough of Petrol Increase Talk, Let's Talk About A Dull, Fast Car, the Mitsubishi 3000GT

All this talk about rising petrol prices has actually knocked everybody off balance. We are now hearing stories how families with a combined income of less than RM2,500.00 suffering and making all sorts of cost cutting. We hear stories of food prices rising due to increased transport costs. We hear people eating out less or eating less at fine dining restaurants and frequenting the mamak shop more. We are hearing a whole lot of complaints in which clearly shows that not one single person, whether rich or poor is basically happy with the way things are in Malaysia. 

Heck, notice that the last 2 postings of mine relate to depressing petrol increase related topics. What we need is actually something good to happen to everyone. The economy's still not allowing everyone to enjoy. The latest Indiana Jones movie seems to be an above average movie but still doesn't really hit the spot. There are no really fantastic new car launches since the new Nissan GTR. There seems to be nothing interesting to do as everyone has decided to save their money and not do anything silly anymore. I blame it on the sudden rise of petrol. Now let's get on with life.

One of the dullest superfast cars that I've driven is the Mitsubishi 3000gt from the 1990s. This car was conceived during the time when Japanese motor manufacturers thought that they could easily build a car that was better than the average Porsche and Ferrari. It's peers were the reknowned Honda NSX, the Toyota Supra and the Nissan 300zx. All of these were large 3.0 liter sports cars and were part of the Japanese invasion of sports cars throughout the world. The Mitsubishi 3000gt or GTO in some guises came in both turbo and non turbo versions. The one which I am discussing here is the full blown 3.0 liter, twin turbo, 24 valves quad cam, All Wheel Drive, 4 wheel steer, active aero version, a blonde in the glove compartment, ejector seats, rocket launchers and more. Why am I bringing up such a car? Because it was one of the dullest over 160km/h drives I ever had.

I remember sometime in the late 1990s I had the opportunity to take one for a spin or two. It cost around RM300,000.00 at the time brand new, and hitting the ton with it was with utter ease, it's handling was very neutral due to the 4 wheel steer and all wheel drive. It was a car loaded with gizmos that even KITT of Knight Rider would feel slightly outdated. It was basically Mitsubishi's masterpiece of working technology. It was actually a car that could hit 0-100km/h in around 5.5 secs, had a top speed slightly about 250km/h and even with a slightly basic All Wheel Drive system could drive rings round any Porsche 911 on a slightly wet road. But it was dull beyond compare due to its dependence on electronics and gadgetery. Some cars like the R34 Skyline had the techno mumbo jumbo, but its engineers made it drive like an old rear driven muscle car.

The thing with the 3000gt was that it felt so safe going so fast that you could yawn. Which is extremely dangerous sometimes and that for most people, doing 160km/h and thinking it was 60km/h would and could actually kill them if they weren't paying attention. I remember doing almost 160km/h in 3rd gear going into 4th and all I was thinking of was what am I going to have for dinner that night. I think I had a sloppy Ampang Jaya Ramly burger which tasted better than the 3000GT at speed. However, for such a dull to drive car, it stayed in production for almost 11years. Amazing. I must be wrong about it as so many people liked this car to keep it around for so long.

Now almost a decade later I've decided that I'd write about it. The reason I am writing is that not all fast cars are fun to drive and not all slow cars are dull to drive. And now, with petrol prices out of control, we don't need 3000GTs that are fast yet dull, we don't need dull to drive small cars like the Kancil. We need something tremendous like the old mini (I state again), something like an old Fiat 124 Special T (those who have memories would know), or even another 1989 Ford Laser TX3 1.8 (which could kill you with lift off oversteer if it wanted to). These were all reasonably cheap cars with poke that made us grin. We also need a Skyline that does not cost RM700,000.00 or the new Impreza or Evo at RM300,000.00.

I am just ranting here. The Mitsubishi 3000GT is a fast car that's dull. That's the reason for this article. Nothing Else.