Mitsubishi FTO's

I've never owned one, but they seem to me to be a bit of a 'style over substance' car. Lots of technology and a revvy MIVEC V6, but it's only a 2 litre engine in a reasonably heavy car so they're not actually that quick. I wouldn't mind one though.

Ooh, wow! That's awesome. I'd never even considered that there might have been earlier models! I'm off to look at some retro FTOs now...

Here they are! Shame that it's only the one model of Galant FTO.









And a Galant GTO:

Yeah the old FTO is rather nice, didnt know they did one of those!

If you're asking me, then definitely not! Our Galant was locally-built (probably Chrysler badged at that time) and there was no FTO version as far as I know.

Australia used to have fierce import tariffs/taxes on cars, which kept our local industry safe. Most imported vehicles were locally assembled to save on tax, many which you would never think of. Plenty of Buick, Ford and Chevrolet in the early days, with locally-made bodies. We also did locally-assembled Cadillac, Pontiac, Vauxhall, Vanguard, Standard, Triumph, MG, Austin, Morris, Wolseley, Hillman, Singer, Humber, Rambler, AMC and probably more. Other makes which were originally assembled from imported parts but also later had a proper manufacturing presence were Toyota, VW/Datsun (Nissan bought out the VW factory for local production and shared the line for many years, hence VWs and Datsuns of the late 1970s being painted in the same colours) and Chrysler/Mitsubishi (once again, Mitsubishi bought out Chrysler). Only Toyota, Holden and Ford are still going now. The VW/Datsun/Nissan factory at Clayton Park now turns Holden Commodores into HSVs (Vauxhall VXR-8 to you) and the former Chrysler/Mitsubishi factories right near my house are currently being gutted after shutting down last year. No major manufacturing buyers have stepped forward for the Mitsubishi site, so it looks like the end of car production there.

New Zealand has never had much of a car industry and hence got/gets all the imports.

I own a FTO GPX MIVEC that I had imported two years a go.I had a LPG kit fit ed to it to make
cheaper to run as a every day car. As for it being style over subsidence I have to disagree, it has amazing handling and even though its fwd when it lets go its the back that steps out.
The car its self is light and the engine is something else,it has a V6 24V that pulls well up to
5500rpm then the vvt kicks in and makes the most amazing sound and cares on going up to 8200rpm. You do have to look out for rust as imported FTOs where not undersealed,parts are
ease to obtain as the car was based on the galant platform. There are some cheep FTOs out
there but you have to do your home work and check car thoroughly as a lot of them get thrashed,
if your thinking of buying one I'm happy to give you some advice on what to look out for.

I particularly like this one





I'd give my nuts for a Galant FTO though

I did europe in mine in 2005 with 9 other ftos from the owners club....2000 miles including the nurburgring and stelvio pass. It just ate up the miles with a few good 120/130mph runs....never missed a beat.That was prior to the turbo when it had,filter,intake,large throttle body,rpw manifolds,de-cat and exhaust and vafc2 218bhp. It was nearer 250+ @ 6 psi with the turbo with loads more torque. Not a simple conversion because of the pipework runs....all custom i'm affraid. The mapping/fuelling was taken care of with a microtech ecu and a big 7th injector

Thanks guy's, still waiting to hear back from the guy. Ive also just been offerd a 52 plate Mundano in p/x.
I like the FTO's but I must admit it's not what I was looking for, but I suppose I could roll one for 6 months or so