GTO or VR-4

I am wondering what to get next, because I found a 93 GTO for $7000 in Japan and I also found a 95 VR-4 for $5500 in Arizona and I was wondering what would be better for me to get next. Because right now I have a 91 SL (auto).

First of all, is the GTO RH or LH drive? Getting it imported and all that would be a hassle, I would think. And I didn't think GTO's sold for that little. Also, $5500 for a 95 VR4? What kind of mileage do these cars have, and what's the condition? I paid over 8k for my 93 with 140k on it, for comparison's sake.

i paid 7200 with 112,000

but i was very lucky

First, if those cars are indicative of your price range, you won't get that GTO into the country. As for the 95 VR4 for 5.5K - either the seller has no idea what the value of their car is or its in pretty rough shape.

the seller of the 95 VR-4 is selling it at that price because where he lives people steal every day and because the body kit he had on it was stolen so its missing the front and rear bumpers

Is the GTO even a TT? And there is no way you are getting it into the country for that cheep.

How does one legaly get an imported car registered?

With lots of money. With Skylines you have to buy a few so that they can be crash tested etc... there are fees to do the crash testing, fees to bring it into the country, shipping, more fees. Then you probably gotta pay sales tax and whatever over fees that the government decides to impose on you.

But the car's are the same in terms of structure, Seems stupid to me since you can build a custom car that dosent have any saftey at all and put it on the road.

You wont have to crash test a GTO since they are sold here, however you have to have it emisions tested, and maybe retrofitted with more equipment, You also have to go through quite a long process of regristration. And on top of all that import fees cost quite a bit.

As far as home built cars go, they dont hurt our economy, and are not built on foreign soil, so they are treated very differently.

How does one legaly get an imported car registered?

ahh...the infamous imported car talk.

look to spend many 10's of thousands of dollars to the price for that GTO to legally drive it in the US and get it over here.

first, the japanese have much different laws when it comes to cars. many things need to be changed, and RHD is NOT one of them to legalize a imported car. most japanese cars have different glass, bumpers, headlights (glass of the headlights), and many other things.

second, you will have to become a registered importer (RI)...or find someone who is.

third, with all the modifications you have to be approved by EPA/DOT to sell these cars and that they pass all crash testing, emissions, and other things. rumors i have heard, this part cost motorex hundred's of thousands of dollars to do with the skyline.

i probably missed a BUNCH of things...the point is, stick to the US unless you want a skyline and you have $30k-$120k...

EDIT:
You wont have to crash test a GTO

i sitll think you would because all the parts that were interrchanged to pass DOT would have to checked again because they do not know its the same car...i dont know though. who cares...too much money. :D

Ive actually looked into what cars have to be crash tested when imported to the US. They basicly have a list of cars that dont have to be, the GTO is on that list. One of the funnier ones on the list is the toyota cavaleir, aka the chevy cavaleir sold under the toyota name in japan.

the TT GTO is only 280bhp becouse the laws in japan dont alow mass produced cars to come with over 280hp stock or at least thats what i heard

^^ wrong

the TT GTO MR is like....350 horse or more. it comes with 13g turbos stock.

and its actually 280ps not Horsepower...and they are only said to be at 280ps, they are not actually 280ps. the japanese companies came to agreement that they wouldnt rate their cars over 280ps back in the early 90's. ie. the GTR is knows to lay down over 280ps to the wheels and we all know that it doesnt have 0% drivetrain loss....

BTW:
Ive actually looked into what cars have to be crash tested when imported to the US. They basicly have a list of cars that dont have to be, the GTO is on that list. One of the funnier ones on the list is the toyota cavaleir, aka the chevy cavaleir sold under the toyota name in japan.
thanks for the info, i just figured all of them would need to be crash tested beings parts will need to be exchanged...

^^ wrong

the TT GTO MR is like....350 horse or more. it comes with 13g turbos stock.
WRONG! The MR is only a lighter version of the regular GTO TT. It is built on the Z15 NA AWD GTO Chassis so it has not AWS, ECS, or any weight adding creature comforts. Also the MR did not come with 13g's. It came with 9b's just all other GTO TT's. Only some Euro spec 3k's came with 13gs.

Yeah Its is really impossible to import a car... one of perfomance dealers i go to has a skyline he told me they had to build to complete exhuast out of catalic converters to pass emissions test. because all the major car impoters are in califonia and florida and they have really stricked emission laws... now if you could import it to texas lol then no prob there... plus the guy said to buy it there was only a small part of the price most of it was geting it over here...

now i really havent took time to look into this but what is the main dif between a VR4 and GTO... I always thought they called the 3rd gen or 99 vr4s the GTO...

now i really havent took time to look into this but what is the main dif between a VR4 and GTO... I always thought they called the 3rd gen or 99 vr4s the GTO...

ill let someone who knows these cars alot better to confirm this and go into detal but i think Mitsubishi GTO (AKA Mitsubishi VR4 here in the US) was only offered to japan...

something about they had to rename because there was already the GTO name here in the states...

true but earlier someone said they came stock with the 13b turbos... thats a dif...
is their any engine dif like bore and storke and such?...

wait mabey i read things wrong :S
but if what they are saying is true that the JDM version of the VR4 or GTO comes stock more HP then man ill ship me a engine in... but if they are all the same then forget about it...

i think there is controversy about the JDM GTO MR's...because i have also heard that the MR version had 13B's and then i have also been told that they had 9B's and they just weighed ALOT less.

but i think they had to have a little more HP...but thats just my opinion based on the MR video floating around beating a GTR with a 12.6 run in the 1/4 mile...

anyone want to fly to japan and find out???

13Gs, 13Bs would be pretty big lol.

13Gs, 13Bs would be pretty big lol.
oops...you know what i meant FOO!!! :D

Yea, I should have corrected it the first post lol, lazy me.

It is a fact that MR's came with 9bs just like any other GTO. And as far as GTO's all JDM 3000gt's were GTO's. There was the GTO TT, GTO MR, and GTO SR. They were all AWD too. None of the JDM motors came with any more engine hp. But they had less emissions equipment on them so more power got to the wheels than US spec.

It is a fact that MR's came with 9bs just like any other GTO. And as far as GTO's all JDM 3000gt's were GTO's. There was the GTO TT, GTO MR, and GTO SR. They were all AWD too. None of the JDM motors came with any more engine hp. But they had less emissions equipment on them so more power got to the wheels than US spec.

so how much less does the GTO MR weigh compared to the VR4??? it has to be almost 1000lbs lighter to run the times it does and still have no power advantage except for a few extra horses from lack of emissions equipment...it is said that you lose approximately .08 second from the 1/4 mile for each 100lbs depending on car, before weight and all the good stuff...but we will just use that as an average persay. and then we will give the MR 15hp extra to make up for the lack of emissions equipment. so now...the VR4 if ran very well runs a mid 13...so we will say 13.5 seconds in the 1/4 mile.

with those numbers the GTO MR would have to weigh at most ~2900lbs...to run the 12.6 in the 1/4 that it ran against the GTR in that video clip. thats a 900lb weight loss and thats generous...to actually run that time it would probably be more like a 1200lbs weight loss because once you start getting less and less weight that .08 seconds per 100lbs starts to get lower and lower.

this is all possible...but the MR edition is supposed to be mitsubishi's best performing car. so why would they offer the better performance in a non MR edition and not the MR??? it just doesnt make sense to me. im not tryign to start an argument or anything, im just trying to learn whats going on...

it didn't run a 12.6 it ran a 12.8

it only weighs 130lbs lighter then the vr4, so about the same weight as the supra if not less

as i said once before, drag racing has many things that come into it, wht type of pavement or concrete is bieng ran on, what elevation. the weather etc...

in best conditions a regular stealth tt ran a 13.0
most likely it was cold outside and he was very close to sea level.
with some very good drivers and the right conditions 12.8 is very doable with 130lbs gone

C&D ran the supra when it first came out at 13.1 stock. take another car with 320hp and awd with the same weight as the supra and you have a better 1320 time

I'm assuming this mixup is my fault...I had it wrong in the FAQ (it is now corrected). Stealthee and young are correct, they had 9bs.

ok guys JEEZ...it still doesnt make sense to me, but i guess i will have to take everyone's word. :lol:

Its probably just a difference in drivers lol, since as you said it would have to be a lot lighter than it is to go so fast. I guess everyone who drove the VR4 sucked lol.

Its probably just a difference in drivers lol, since as you said it would have to be a lot lighter than it is to go so fast. I guess everyone who drove the VR4 sucked lol.

i dont know...maybe the japanese are just that much better than us americans at driving. :dunno:

its not the fact that the MR is that fast that makes me question it...its the fact that mitsubishi designated the MR name to their best performer out of that model of car. you know what i mean...why would they name it the MR and then make another one quicker??? that part doesnt make sense.

I know why, they all weigh under 100lbs! lol I'm not one to talk I only weigh 130.

Edit: And what is faster than the MR? I don't get what your saying lol.

Edit: And what is faster than the MR? I don't get what your saying lol.

i guess maybe im just assuming that the one with the larger turbos is better...or atleast there most improved model.

I don't think the euro cars were any faster, wasn't the boost the same setting?

I don't think the euro cars were any faster, wasn't the boost the same setting?
i dont know...but i bet they had a better torque curve at the least.

yeah boost was still the same

I have never realy heard any of the numbers from the Euro spec 3k's that came with the 13g's. There werent even any certain special models that came with them either. It was basically it came with 9b's or 13g's. The closest the US got to the MR was the 95-96 Stealth TT. It was built on the Z15 chassis and had a lot of comforts taken away.

Theres one guy on here BBsomethingorother from england, wonder if he knows.. havent seen him in a while though.

it doesnt matter...the bottom line there is none in the states and the majority of us live in the states.

it just doesnt make sense to ME...

BTW: i wasnt saying it was a special model, i just didnt remember whether they received the GTO badge or the 3000gt badge.

The closest the US got to the MR was the 95-96 Stealth TT.

so how much does the 95/96 stealth TT weigh in comparison to the VR4??? and what are AVERAGE 1/4 mile numbers for this year stealth?

not sure but thats the one that ran a 13.0

not sure but thats the one that ran a 13.0

but you guys said that that time is very rare...like hes the only one to ever do it rare. thats why i said on average...

13G's were dealer options on some Euro GTO's, so the dealer would pull off the 9b's that came stock and put on 13G's

13G's and 13B's are the same size, the difference is in the compressor wheel. B's are even spaced G's are doubled up.

The GTO twin turbo is the equivilant to the 3000GT VR4 as far as features go. The MR was around 130 lbs less than the the Twin Turbo model.

J-Spec 6 speed cars had shorter gears than their US equlivilants, therefore making them quicker cars in general. The MR is the obvious choice for racing because its slightly lighter and costs a lot less due to it not having any luxury features.

Good catch. I totally forgot about MR gearing being shorter. That will make a huge difference, even more than weight savings.

go for the gto it is the best sports car around .

the turn signals on the gto are not to nice though.
is it hard to change gear ratios on the 3s cars?

To change gear ratios you have to have a 6 speed car. You buy the J-Spec final gear for the trans and a 5 speed rear end. Not as easy as rwd cars have it, buts its fairly simple. Also, all J-spec GTO's are lower gearing not just the MR.

so what yall saying is if i bought a gto tranny got 13G turbos, and droped 130 or so lbs... my car would be Equivalent to a GTO TT MR?
see right now I guted the trunk took off the front venture skirt and about to remove all the ac stuff... so i have about 200 lbs droped (some ppl say the front venture skirt weights 120lbs due to the motors and metal renforcement) (the trunk weights was like 20 - 40lbs dues to carpet spare and the cargo boxes...)(and the ac unit itself weighs alot... plus all the ac lines).
I planed on buying 15G turbos after i get my frontmount kit in...

You wouldnt even need 13g turbos. MR's came with the regular 9b's. And you would need at least the gearset and a 6 speed and also a 5 speed rear end.

J-Spec 6 speed cars had shorter gears than their US equlivilants, therefore making them quicker cars in general. The MR is the obvious choice for racing because its slightly lighter and costs a lot less due to it not having any luxury features.

ahh...now there we go. now that would support the car being so much faster in the 1/4 mile. :rolleyes:

go for the gto it is the best sports car around .
maybe, if it was a sports car. :lol:

well i have the 5 speed rear end all i need is the 6 speed transmission...

ahh...now there we go. now that would support the car being so much faster in the 1/4 mile. :rolleyes:


So your unaware of muscle cars guys who do the same thing and drop tenths off their times. This becomes amplified with an AWD setup on a heavy car. How its geared on the US spec cars you are always on the borderline of a good launch or bogging. Or you can be insane like some people and just tach it up to 7 and dump the clutch and hope to god the wheels spin, but stock there is no way they will. Changing the gearing makes a repeatable, less stressful, and faster launch possible. It also lets your wind out 3rd gear all the way on a stock car, and 4th becomes useable on modded cars, instead of being a burden.