“Sell It & Buy A Turbo”

On October 23, 2008 · 8 Comments

For the better part of the last decade, I like to think I have been one of the biggest opponents to this tired old mantra. It was pointed out to me this afternoon that even I have succumbed to the desire for turbocharged, all wheel drive power. I think that’s what has stung the most about this week’s events.

More than 12 years ago, back in September of 1996, my mom and I walked into Steven Jeep/Eagle in Wichita, Kansas with my down payment in hand to order up a brand spankin’ new Jeep Wrangler. Walking in with our sales rep, I found myself face-to-face with the most beautiful car I had ever seen. While mom and sales guy kept walking to the office to select options for my Jeep, I was paralyzed, stopped dead in my tracks by this car. Last night, after more than 207,000 miles and twelve years together, I left Daisy in the care of her new owner, PJ.

Daisy leaving for the last time.

As hard as it was to watch Daisy pull away, I’ve been excited about the next chapter in my life. Do some digging around on the web with Google and you’re likely to find about a hundred different places where I’ve said I’d never sell Daisy. No way. No how. Yet, here I am, telling the world how I sold her, but why?

This is where we get to the title. I don’t need to explain it to DSMers, but for anyone else reading, there are turbocharged and non-turbocharged DSMs. The fastest are the turbocharged models, but the non-turbo models are the only reason the cars were made more than a couple years. (More than 90% of the DSMs sold were non-turbo.) So when some rookie joins a DSM forum wanting to go fast with class, he was often greeted with “Sell it and buy a turbo,” because there just isn’t as much aftermarket support for the NT models. It took the better part of two decades to finally establish a reputation of being a legitimate platform to modify with respectable performance and intelligent owners. That’s the story behind the title of this post.

Having been one of the biggest opponents of this mindset, it stung a bit this afternoon when my buddy noboost said, “‹oh shit driggs is in the sell it and buy a turbo club now!!!! welcome to darkside, shit, i almost forgot the fanfare!” It hadn’t even occurred to me that I’d gone and done just what I’ve been telling others they don’t have to do for years. Some will say I told them not to sell it and buy a turbo, but I know that I told them to consider their options before doing so.

In any case, this weekend, I pick up another Galant VR4. Number 464/1000. Story to come soon. (Oh yeah, and this one is running at the time of purchase. Big improvement over last time.)

In the glovebox:

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  • http://www.endlessmonkeys.info Endless Monkeys

    Ok. Can you REALLY be a part of the “sell it and buy a turbo” club when you're actually going to a different platform? I mean, if you sold Daisy and then picked up a TSI/GSX, then I could see it. But by selling your 420 and going into an entirely different engine class (unless i'm wrong, but I thought the VR4 platform wasn't a 4G63), you really don't qualify for membership.

    :)

  • http://dr1665.com DR1665

    So close, Greg! The Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 is a twin turbo V6, but the Galant VR4 is 4G63T-powered. Imagine parking the body of a Galant atop the powertrain of a 1G AWD DSM. That's pretty much what the GVR4 is. There are subtle differences, such as the gearing in the transmission of the GVR4 is a bit different to get it's additional weight moving, GVR4s have four wheel steering (4WS), and the wheelbase might be longer, but it's pretty much the same thing, mechanically, as a DSM from the same year.

    While every DSM in the world was made in Normal, Illinois, every GVR4 was made in Japan. Interesting bit of trivia: Mitsubishi only imported 126 cars identical to 464 in 1992. Options were limited (since the cars were loaded to begin with). The Kensington Grey color was only available in 1992, and there were only 126 KG GVR4s with the sunroof and both a tape/CD player. (This one still has the original tape/CD!)

    Appreciate the comment, sir!

  • http://www.endlessmonkeys.info Endless Monkeys

    odd. I thought the galant platform was the 4ag-something-or-other.

  • http://dr1665.com DR1665

    No worries! A lot of people here VR4 and think twin turbo something or other. Maybe, some day, I'll get the absolute top of the line model of a car. I get a Talon, but it's the base model. I get the top of the line Galant, but there's another VR4 which is even mo badder. ;)

    [img]http://www.dr1665.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=991&g2_serialNumber=2[/img]

  • http://www.endlessmonkeys.info Endless Monkeys

    Ok. Can you REALLY be a part of the “sell it and buy a turbo” club when you're actually going to a different platform? I mean, if you sold Daisy and then picked up a TSI/GSX, then I could see it. But by selling your 420 and going into an entirely different engine class (unless i'm wrong, but I thought the VR4 platform wasn't a 4G63), you really don't qualify for membership.

    :)

  • http://dr1665.com Brian Driggs

    So close, Greg! The Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 is a twin turbo V6, but the Galant VR4 is 4G63T-powered. Imagine parking the body of a Galant atop the powertrain of a 1G AWD DSM. That's pretty much what the GVR4 is. There are subtle differences, such as the gearing in the transmission of the GVR4 is a bit different to get it's additional weight moving, GVR4s have four wheel steering (4WS), and the wheelbase might be longer, but it's pretty much the same thing, mechanically, as a DSM from the same year.

    While every DSM in the world was made in Normal, Illinois, every GVR4 was made in Japan. Interesting bit of trivia: Mitsubishi only imported 126 cars identical to 464 in 1992. Options were limited (since the cars were loaded to begin with). The Kensington Grey color was only available in 1992, and there were only 126 KG GVR4s with the sunroof and both a tape/CD player. (This one still has the original tape/CD!)

    Appreciate the comment, sir!

  • http://www.endlessmonkeys.info Endless Monkeys

    odd. I thought the galant platform was the 4ag-something-or-other.

  • http://dr1665.com Brian Driggs

    No worries! A lot of people here VR4 and think twin turbo something or other. Maybe, some day, I'll get the absolute top of the line model of a car. I get a Talon, but it's the base model. I get the top of the line Galant, but there's another VR4 which is even mo badder. ;)

    http://www.dr1665.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=…