Archive for Mitsubishi

Two new variants of the Mitsubishi Triton pick-up truck wil be launched by Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia sometime in June 2008. Complementing the existing 2.5 liter 4X4 Triton double cab manual and automatic versions will be a 4X2 version of the 2.5 liter double cab model with manual transmission, and a 3.2 liter 4X4 double cab model with an automatic transmission.

The 2.5 liter 4X2 Mitsubishi Triton is estimated to retail at approximately RM60,000, while the 3.2 liter 4X4 automatic has an indicative price of about RM100,000. The exisitng Mitsubishi Triton 2.5 liter 4X4 goes for RM91,782.00 OTR with insurance for the automatic model, and RM86,782.00 for the manual model.

The 3.2 liter engine specifications have not been announced at the moment, but we can expect it to be similiar to the engine specifications of the 3.2 liter turbodiesel Triton in other countries. The inline-4 turbodiesel engine produces 158 horsepower at 3,800rpm, and 347Nm of torque from 2,000rpm.

RELATED: Mitsubishi Triton 3.2 Test Drive Report

Mitsubishi has launched a new special edition of the Colt Ralliart in Japan called the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart Version-R Special, which has a special chassis that is 10% stiffer than the standard version. This is thanks to the usage of continuous welding in certain areas of the chassis as opposed to spot welding. This should enhance chassis response to steering movements.

For the 2008 model year, the 1.5 liter MIVEC turbocharged engine also has its power upped to 163 horses, compared to the previous 154 horsepower. Torque remains 210Nm at 3,500rpm. This new upgraded power levels are also available with normal non-special edition Colt Ralliart Version-R for the 2008 model year.

The Colt Ralliart, or even the standard Colt is one of the best handling Japanese B-segment hatches around, and the turbocharged version kicks up the fun level another notch higher. If I am not mistaken, they are going for about a bit under RM100k in the second hand market for a model that’s perhaps 2 to 3 years old.

While waiting for Mitsubishi’s 4-cylinder turbodiesel for C-segment vehicles (announced by chairman Takashi Nishioka at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show) to be ready, Mitsubishi has temporarily given the Mitsubishi Lancer a Volkswagen 2.0 TDI engine.

The turbodiesel Lancer is available in India amongst some other countries. The Volkswagen turbodiesel uses Pumpe Duse injection (one pump for each injector) as opposed to common rail (a single pump for the common rail), and produces 140 horsepower at 4,000rpm and 320Nm of torque at 1,750rpm.

This engine is interesting because in some aftermarket applications its been known to be able to produce slightly over 200 horsepower.

At first glance, you may confuse the Mitsubishi Lancer Fortis launched in Taiwan sometime last year with a Toyota Mark X, or some other car, but definitely not the latest generation Lancer. This is because Taiwan’s Lancer has its own styling, featuring its own totally different front and a modified rear end which reminds me of the USDM Civic and features LED tail lamp clusters.

The side profile looks similiar, but with what appears to be a shorter rear end because it does not feature the Lancer’s aggressive protruding snout anymore.

The interior is largely similiar to the original Lancer interior, but Taiwan gets an option for 7 airbags, a DVD player, rear parking camera, and a host of other gadgets. Under the hood is a version of the 4B11 which makes 157 PS at 6,000rpm and 205Nm of torque at 4,250rpm, slightly more powerful than our 155 PS and 199Nm of torque.

It looks more grown up and tamer than the very aggressive Lancer that Malaysia and the rest of the world gets. Which do you prefer? I prefer ours.

View more photos and a video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Taiwanese market Mitsubishi Lancer Fortis

Pick-up trucks are becoming increasingly popular as family vehicles these days. They love the utility provided by the storage bed, the frugality and hardiness of the turbodiesel engine, and the off-road capability to tackle our flood-cursed city centrals. Many small families do not mind the cramped interior that you get most of the time. While pick-ups are available with safety features like airbags and ABS, how safe are they in reality?

For the first time ever, Euro NCAP has tested pick-up trucks in the light of the vehicles becoming more and more popular for family usage, and it reveals to us some shocking facts. Three trucks were crashed – the Nissan Navara (second generation Frontier – ours is the first gen), the Isuzu D-MAX and the Mitsubishi L200 (known as the Triton in Malaysia). The following are the results:

Please read the following full crash test reports for full details:
Isuzu D-MAX, Mitsubishi L200, Nissan Navara

The Nissan Navara scored the worst in adult occupant protection – not even one proper star but only a struck-through star. According to the report, the chassis rail collapsed and the accelerator pedal moved as much as 20cm into the footwell – that would definitely cause really serious injury to your legs. The airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners also activated too late into the crash, which EuroNCAP says poses “a high risk of life threatening injury”.

Nissan has developed new airbag software for the Nissan Navara and all new Nissan Navaras now have the updated software. All existing Nissan Navaras on the road will also receive a free airbag software update at their service centers.

The Mitsubishi L200/Triton scored 4 stars for adult occupant protection, and if you view the full crash report, you will see that the driver’s body and leg protection ranged from weak to marginal, but at least the head received good protection.

Very shocking – please do read the full crash test reports linked above. It’s a pity EuroNCAP did not test the Toyota Hilux. The Toyota Hilux is one of the most popular pick-up trucks used as a family car here in Malaysia, plus a full-bodied 7-seater version of it is sold as the Fortuner.

Click to enlarge

Mitsubishi Motors has released more photos of the upcoming Mitsubishi Prototype-S, which previews the soon to be launched 5-door hatchback version of the Lancer. A high powered Lancer Ralliart version featuring a 240 PS turbocharged engine and a less high tech version of Mitsubishi’s all-wheel drive system compared to the one installed in the Lancer Evolution X.

The version of the 4B11T in the Prototype-S puts out 240 PS and 343Nm of torque and is mated to the 6-speed Twin Clutch SST gearbox. The car has a wheelbase of 2,635mm, a height of 1,480mm, a width of 1,760mm, a length of 4,585mm and rides on 19 inch wheels wrapped with 215/45R19 tyres.

On the interior, Mitsubishi has given the car’s upper dashboard a black suede finish, while the upholstery gets light brown combination leather. The production version of the 5-door Lancer hatchback will be launched by the end of 2008, and is vital for Mitsubishi’s European plans.

More photos after the jump.

Related Posts:
Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Details
Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Sketch
Mitsubishi Prototype-S to feature 240 PS turbocharged engine

Click here to read the rest of Mitsubishi Prototype-S previews Lancer hatchback

Mitsubishi Motors has published a list of what they claim are technical innovations in the new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. The list does look very fancy indeed, and stuff like ETACs will lend the Lancer Evolution X a much needed more upmarket feel – the Evo 9 did not really feel its price.

• No Reverse Gear – The 5-speed manual does not have a reverse gear, instead it uses a combination of gears 1 and 3 with an idler gear on a separate shaft to reverse the direction of rotation.
• Spoilers In The Wheel Arch – A miniscule spoiler lip protects wheel houses from swirling wind, this improves aerodynamics.
• Energy Saving Glass – This reduces solar heat transmission by 66 to 100%, and cuts out UV light so that the air conditioning system does not have to work too hard.
• Stainless Steel Manifold – the insides of the exhaust manifold is smoother.
• ETACs – The Mitsubishi Electronic Total Automobile Control system lets the driver personalise his car. For example, he or she can decide how long the interior light stays on after door closure, or just disable the feature. The wing mirrors can also be set to automatically fold when the door is closed and ignition switched off.
• Acoustic Engineering – Lightweight acoustic and vibration dampening materials including foam filling for pillars for good NVH while minimizing weight increase.
• Adaptive Front Lighting – HID lamps light up the way ahead but additional beams light up to illuminate corners.
• Vents – vents are placed around the car like the ones on the hood and behind the front wheels to release heat, and a central air intake for cool air.
• F1 Piston Technology – The 4B11T uses Mahle full floating pistons which are based on F1 technology. The pistons are made of a very hard and strong alloy. The 4B11T is about 12kg lighter than the outgoing 4G63T.

Click to enlarge

I was thinking the other day about how the Proton Perdana V6 and the Proton Arena are pretty much the only Proton cars from the old generation still on sale now, with the old Saga having being replaced recently by a second generation model that has been rather well accepted by the public.

Before the Volkswagen-Proton talks collapsed, many have been speculating that the next generation Proton Perdana replacement nodel could be a badge engineered Volkswagen Passat. There were many good artist’s impressions of a Proton-badged Volkswagen, mostly based on the long wheel base Skoda Superb.

Now that that deal is off, we will have to look at the current Mitsubishi Galant/Mitsubishi 380 to see what the new Proton Perdana could end up like, as developing a Perdana on Proton’s own is definitely not very financially viable. Proton previously entered into a technical partnership agreement with Mitsubishi, but we have not really seen any obvious results from that yet, as it looks like it is still at exploratory stages.

So yes, getting to the point of this post, I asked Theophilus Chin if he could whip up a second generation Proton Perdana replacement for us to admire and imagine. It’s basically a Mitsubishi Galant/Mitsubishi 380 with styling derived from the 2nd generation Proton Saga. Do you like it? A Proton Perdana based on the Mitsubishi Galant could come with a 2.4 liter inline-4 engine, probably the 4G69 which makes 160hp at 5,500rpm and has a maximum torque of 212Nm at 4,000rpm

If you’re interested in taking a trip back to the past, read the posts below back from 2005, and 2006 when Proton was still in talks with foreign partners: mainly PSA Peugeot Citroen, Volkswagen and a bit of Mitsubishi.

Related Posts:
Perdana Replacement Model to be a Volkswagen Passat? – 27th June 2005
Perdana Replacement Model photoshop based on Skoda Superb – 17th July 2005
Mitsubishi 380 powered by a 3.8 liter V6 – 4th February 2006
Mitsubishi 380 to be exported to Malaysia – 9th March 2006
Perdana Replacement Model due in April 2007 – 27th June 2006
Perdana Replacement Model to get inline-4 engine – 17th July 2006
Perdana Replacement Model study still underway – 1st August 2006

The facelifted Mitsubishi Galant will be joined at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show by its sportier sibling the fourth generation Mitsubishi Eclipse which also receives a mid-life facelift. The new facelift features a new front and rear as well as a higher power output for the 3.8 liter V6, which now puts out 265 horsepower and 355Nm of torque.

The new front look now features Mitsubishi’s new corporate grille, which sports a rather Audi-like look with a blackened bar going through the middle.

More details on the facelifted Eclipse once Chicago 2008 rolls by.

Click here to read the rest of Facelifted 2009 Mitsubishi Eclipse at Chicago 08

Everyone’s waiting for the next generation full model change Mitsubishi Galant that was previewed as the Mitsubishi Concept-cX to arrive, but Mitsubishi decided to facelift the current Mitsubishi Galant in the American domestic market anyway.

The USDM Mitsubishi Galant can be had with either a 160 horsepower 2.4 liter inline-4 MIVEC engine with a 4-speed auto, or a 238 horsepower 3.8 liter MIVEC V6 with a 5-speed auto that takes the V6 Ralliart model from 0 to 100km/h in about 6 seconds.

More shots after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2009 USDM Mitsubishi Galant Facelift Revealed