Originally Posted by
Reelax
Originally Posted by bradc (clubvr4 member)
"Man the stock grill is so ugly, what is wrong with mitsi america?"
i totally agree... alot of the USDM design was ugly, that's why alot of us in the US change to JDM/ world spec parts. all the new mitsubishi's in north america (except for the EVOs) are built in the Mitsubishi North America (MMNA) factory at Nornal, Illinois, USA. Also MMNA designs it's own models (3G and 4G eclipse and 9G galant) according to what they believe will satisfy the US taste and sensibilities as well as manufacturing costs.
in my opinion, the USDM galant is both upgraded and downgraded when compared to JDM/world spec galants. the USDM headlights are cheaper in design and feature an H4 bulb providing both low and high beam functionalty (instead of the better looking and performing H7/H1 setup). the USDM grill (1999-2001) is a hybrid of the original design and the taiwanese version (which still looks better than the USDM). The front bumper design was made to appeal to family buyers and thus was "dulled" down. also the US has different safety regulations in regards to crash protection... this is the reason the USDM cars have front and rear bumper covers that extend 3"-6" further from the car than do the JDM/world spec counterparts. overall the JDM/world spec cars look much much better from the factory... but the US loves big engines: the USDM 8g galant is the only 8G galant w/ a 3.0L v6 (6g72). In the US, people are super charging and turbo charging this engine w/ great results (400-500 whp).
in another, "what were they thinking?" type question, it appears that there is a new fad outside the US where car enthusiasts are modifying ther cars w/ USDM specific parts to mimmic USDM status. i guess we all just want to make our cars unique and when the cars in our home country all have your domestc parts, getting foreign parts (no matter how ugly we think they are) is cool!
Originally Posted by bradc (clubvr4 member)
"But wouldn't you prefer a 4wd twin turbo 2.5l v6 to a 3.0l sohc v6 with fwd?"
of course... in fact there have been efforts made to swap the VR4's 6a13tt into the USDM chasis... it turned out to be a nightmare and the owner just decided to import a JDM VR4! the other otption we have is to swap in an evo8 4g63t and this has been successful! but as far as i know, nobody has completed an AWD tranny and drivetrain swap yet. MMNA did not want the VR4 in the US since it would dilute the EVO market that was introduced at about the same time as the 9G. also, correct me if i am wrong, but there never was a LHD vr4 from the factory (i know there have been conversions). since the factory never tooled up for this, it would have cost MMNA even more to bring that car stateside to a lukewarm market since most 8g galant purchasers here are strictly interested in family cars with no focus on performance. the LAST galant vr4 we had was the '91-'92 6g VR4 (4g63t, AWD, AWS) and those are coveted!
my point about the US market having the only 3.0L v6 is that here the average buyer is rather unsophisticated and displacement is more atractive than technology when it comes to marketing. this is a throw back to the old "there is no replacement for displacement" argument that started in the US's muscle car glory days. the galants here are also rather stripped down as compared to the foreign markets where galants garnish a more "luxury" status and in some markets are sporting full navigation and DVD entertainment as well as computerized dual climate control as factory options... we have none of that and have to add it all ourselves!
if i could, i would import a world spec VR4 and convert it to LHD then transfer my exterior and appearnce parts over to it. actually for the money i have spent thus far, i probably could have!
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