In the humble opinion of the editorial team here at Garage Dreams, the Mitsubishi 3000GT (also known as the “GTO” in some markets) is one of the unsung heroes of 1990s Japanese performance motoring.
While it was never lauded to quite the same extent as the Toyota Supra or Mazda RX-7, the 3000GT – especially in VR4/twin turbo guise – was a seriously quick car in its day and remains a powerful vehicle to this day.
In our opinion, part of the reason for the relatively lower popularity of the 3000GT can be found in its purpose and mission.
The 3000GT was not built to be a point to point “race car”. Although very powerful (and blessed with excellent grip and predictable handling) it was always a bit too big and bulky to compete with the likes of the RX-7 as a racetrack monster.
The 3000GT was – as the “GT” implies – a Grand Tourer.
It’s a car that was built to allow you and your passenger of choice (let’s face it, the back seats are really parcel shelves) to load up for the weekend and cruise the highway in comfort and speed, easily passing when needed. When the road got twisty, you could still have a lot of fun with the 3000GT as well. It might not be as good around the bends as a focused sports car, but that was more than made up by the superb comfort and array of technological features in the car.
Because the 3000GT never reached such heights as the Supra or the RX-7, there remain some misconceptions and questions about this relatively rare vehicle.
In today’s short article, part of our burgeoning Car Facts series (where we pick apart a single question about the great cars of days bygone), we answer the question:
“Are Mitsubishi 3000GT rear wheel drive”?
Mitsubishi 3000GT are not rear wheel drive. Most models were all wheel drive (in fact, Japanese “GTOs” came only as all wheel drive – as is often the case, the North American market had some differences). Non VR-4 3000GTs were available in North America in front wheel drive configuration.
You can learn more about the all wheel drive system on VR-4 3000GTs (and Japanese GTOs) on our 3000GT buyer’s guide. There is also some very handy info on this old looking but highly informative site – click here to read it.
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Car Facts – check out the rest of our interesting articles where we answer your car questions.
