| The Mitsubishi Starion and its badge-engineered Dodge Conquest TSi twin were more quintessentially 1980s than neon-colored leg warmers and regulatory fiascos, combined. You had your gloriously ridiculous Japanese-macho lines, bright red interior, and TURBO emblems everywhere you looked. The Starion/Conquest was quick, too, with a big turbocharged Astron four-cylinder engine. Only problem was, the Starion/Conquest was a finicky, fragile machine, best known for maddeningly undiagnosable fuel-system problems, weird electrical-system woes, and general flakiness. Many are tempted by Starion projects, but eventually most of those MitsuDodges sitting under tarps in driveways will end up in The Crusher's waiting room, as this Denver example has done. To me, any car that had TURBO seat belts is all right! Chrysler really lost something when they replaced the cladding-and-spoilers slot in the lineup with the Dodge Daytona IROC R/T. Of all the sporty cars that have competed in 24 Hours of LeMons races enough times to give us a decent sample size, the Starion is by far the least reliable. The Jaguar XJ-S, Alfa Romeo Spider, even the dreaded Porsche 944— all of them are cockroach-grade survivors on the race track, compared to the Starion. But still, it's impossible to think truly bad thoughts about this car. Just look at it!
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com |
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