We’ve previously asked which models best represent the essence of Honda, Toyota, and Subaru. Now it’s Mitsubishi’s turn. The company was once known for having an entire portfolio of turbocharged cars, and for their broad AWD lineup. They’ve also been known for tough trucks and for being rally legends. But if you had to pick one car that best represents the brand, what would it be?
Which Mitsubishi model is the most Mitsubishi?
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “For which post-1980 JNC is zenki better than kouki?“.
It turns out a lot of readers prefer zenki to kouki designs and offered good examples to back up that argument. Some that really stuck out were streetspirit‘s pick of the Mitsubishi 3000GT, speedie‘s choice of the Isuzu Piazza, and Taylor C.‘s selection of the fourth-gen Toyota Hiace (which he is still looking for). Several Mazdas got the nod, including Ko‘s votes for the FD RX-7 and NB Miata, and Alan‘s pick of the SA22 RX-7.
However, there was one car that got repeated nominations from the readership, the Z31 Nissan 300ZX. Apparently people really hate the fact that the Z31 went from angular and blocky to smooth and rounded. This was reflected in comments from Lee L, Franxou, Ryan S., and our ultimate winner Richard, who gave additional arguments to why zenki is always better.
In pretty much ALL cars I prefer Zenki, for example the Z31 since it’s popular in the USofA.. the first gen looked sharp and athletic whereas the Kouki lost it’s definition with lard to an extent, end of the day facelifting is just maximising sales, Zenki in my eyes always will be the purest form.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Favorite Mitsubishi would be the Starion Turbo from the ’80’s
I second that. I had one.
This is so hard. While the most iconic is the full Evo lineup, I would say the 3000gt is “most Mitsubishi” because it was leaps and bounds ahead of it’s time in real technology and execution (not what is marketed as tech today) in one high performance in your face car. It set the tone for what was yet to come.
However, the original Colt or Lancer, and the performance parts and rally success with that car in the Safari put the NAME Mitsubishi on the map….
Gotta be the Evo … The Fast And The Furious did that for me!
I was born in 87, so in the 90s I was really getting into cars and of course the Eclipse was the car from Mitsubishi that I noticed. Not only that, but in the late 90s and early 2000s it was a prime choice for modding and represented in the F&F Movies.
Sure the EVO is probably a better car, but the Eclipse is still around (ok, it’s an ugly crossover now) carrying the Mitsubishi badge.
The Minica Dangan ZZ is hands down the most Mitsubishi, Mitsu. It has groundbreaking technology being the first 5V production car, has a racing pedigree, and is still criminally underrated. Also, it represents Mitsubishi’s penchant for making awesome things that nobody asked for and that makes corporate bean counters shudder in fear.
Mitsubishi 3000GT hands down. For me Mitsubishi always had the good looks, racing pedigree, Japanese tech, Japanese design direction and solidly built. The 3000GT encompassed all that, and for me was the better looking of the sports cars Japan gave us in the 90s. Also had a lot of features not seen on other models. It truly was an innovative product that did what was requested from it. You could say the Pajero / Shogun / Montero or even the Evolution or the Galant VR is more of a Mitsubishi but the 3000GT was special and for me it is the Mitsubishi model that is most Mitsubishi.
For me it has to be the Mitsubishi Colt Galant GTO (1970-77) don’t think USA got them but we in New Zealand were luck enough to, all the elements of an American muscle car in a small perfectly formed package just gorgeous.
Mitsubishi Elf…after the Zero-sen!
I kind of hope not to win this week, for I have a sad answer.
Mitsubishi used to be cool cars, interesting cars and technologically advanced cars. A lineup of cars, too! At times you could get a small and economical hatchback, the sport version of which revved to 8k rpm, a shuttle van, some regular sedans for regular families, a turbo AWD sports coupe for those not yet ready to become regular families, and a full fat AWD turbo sports car with all the tech they could fit in it, a near-luxury car and some kind of SUVs.
Now you get some SUVs. Not that they are not nice, they probably are, but where is the spark that would make me want to go visit a dealership?
Mitsubishi is now only the shadow of what it used to be. Part owned by Renault-Nissan, so I expect the cool vehicles will be Nissan of Renault first, and then maybe a Mitsubishi badge-engineered version. They shuttered their north-american production so we should not see any cool partnership like the DSM trio anytime soon.
To represent not what Mitsubishi was, but what Mitsubishi now is, I offer you the Mistubishi Eclipse Cross – a shadow of what it once was.
I’d vote for the 3000GT to be Mitsubishi’s most Mitsubishi. It’s an iconic Mitsubishi car. I think everyone that was into a Mitsubishi, knew about it. It was either the Eclipse or 3000GT that were pretty iconic and felt like they were the most ‘Mitsubishi’. The 3000GT’s iconic rear lights, side ‘vents’ and ‘sleek’ body made it pretty distinguishable to the other JDM sports cars.
As much as we celebrate the cars really it’s the Montero (Pajero). Mitsubishi was easily ahead of Toyota and Nissan (and Isuzu) in the 1980s in the off-road aspect, entered Dakar 26 times, won 12 times, and put Mitsu on the global map, it’s not a stretch to say that enabled or at least encouraged much of their ongoing other rally/racing attempts/successes and thus the Evo etc even though yes they also rallied going back to the 1960s. The 3000GT is kinda cool now, back in 1990 it was fast but looked at as overweight and frankly, overwrought from a styling perspective. With hindsight and ten FnF movies a 3000GT now looks almost modest and restrained but back then? No. The Minica may be the first five-valve (kei)CAR but Yamaha had been putting four cylinder 5-valve engines with more displacement into motorcycles for half a decade by then. Starion is incredible (but fundamentally a Japanese Porsche 924/944.).
The original Montero/Pajero in both 2 and 4door form was right sized, not too big and heavy (LC FJ60), not too small (Suzuki), extremely efficient as far as shape and interior packaging goes, nimble, well-built, tough, capable of any terrain, and eventually just like the LC and Pajero morphed into a fairly luxurious conveyance in the US while still being available as a stripped down only-the-essentials model in United Nations white for more hostile terrain.
It’s too bad Mitsubishi isn’t really a player anymore in the U.S., the two vehicles that would probably do more today to reinvigorate the brand not just in sales but also in respect would be a pickup truck and a new BodyOnFrame Montero that undercuts the new “Land Cruiser”, yes, that new Prado thing. Nissan could use the same platform to make a real Pathfinder again too and finally take the fight to both the new LC as well as the 4Runner, never mind various models of Jeep.
Easy. The A6M, circa 1940.
This is the correct response, since the Nakajima (Subaru) Ki-43 was a better plane. Just like how a STi is better than an Evo. 😉
I am late to the game but had to chime in. It is all anyone wants to bitch about. Mitsubishi’s offerings now. Mitsubishi is a multinational company that should be respected while appreciating it’s rich history. I support them and currently have in my stable of drivers a loaded Outlander Sport that was a promo vehicle at Mitsu in Cypress California very proud of it and still turns heads, It was so optioned that it was $37K new. Have a slammed and cambered 15 Mirage stick and a recent addition a new Mirage Rally Art. I also own a Dave Wollin team Eclipse that was converted by Road Race Engineering to AWD and made into a World Rally champion. So what’s the Most Mitsubishi? It is a Mitsubishi that you enjoy driving and take pride in maintaining. I like them all. VR4 and EVO’s rule. The Lancer was a great entry level car that gets zero respect. The Colt GT twin stick and Starquest all put Mitsu on the map. None better than F&F Eclipse.
I liked my Expo LRV. People would leave notes under the wiper asking about it and wondering if it was for sale. Only time in my life anyone would give me their phone numbers.
I am late to the game but had to chime in. It is all anyone wants to bitch about Mitsubishi’s offerings today. Mitsubishi is a multinational company that should be respected while appreciating it’s rich history. I support them and currently have in my stable of drivers a loaded Outlander Sport that was a promo vehicle at Mitsu in Cypress California very proud of it and still turns heads, It was so optioned that it was $37K new. Have a slammed and cambered 15 Mirage stick and a recent addition a new Mirage Rally Art. I also own a Dave Wollin team Eclipse that was converted by Road Race Engineering to AWD and made into a World Rally champion. So what’s the Most Mitsubishi? It is a Mitsubishi that you enjoy driving and take pride in maintaining. I like them all. VR4 and EVO’s rule. The Lancer was a great entry level car that gets zero respect. The Colt GT twin stick and Starquest all put Mitsu on the map. None better than F&F Eclipse.