Today I had a short feel of what driving a boxer engine felt like. Well, in terms of sound anyway, not power.

I was driving back from a mamak session. First gear, second gear, then when it came to third gear, the car started to feel really weak. REALLY WEAK.

Performance started to be really sluggish at speeds below 2500rpm. And it came with that pulsating sound that boxer engines have due to the unequal exhaust header length. Once the revs touched somewhat above 2500rpm the power kicked back in.

Could you imagine the struggle I had when I paid my toll? It took a good two to three minutes for me just to get from 1000rpm to 2500rpm on first gear. With the accelerator pedal fully depressed. I was moving slower than a turtle.

Suddenly once the rev went above 2500, there was a strong jerk and power came back in. Sounds like some ultra laggy turbo huh?

My guess is one of my spark plugs gave away, leaving the engine running on three cylinders. I’m waiting for the mechanics to open shop so they can replace it for me.

So, if you want to make your Mitsubishi engine sound like a boxer, just unplug one of the spark plug cables.

Update: I was right, it was the plugs. Mechanic gave me a temporary set of plugs to use while my platinum plugs order arrives tomorrow.