Comments by "Don" (@dct124) on "" video.
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2 main complaints, heavy, and air conditioning LCD screen 🤦🏾♂️
All this cool stuff and journalist complained about the AC LCD screen 😭. I don't care what car you drive, you need weight to handle heavy cross winds especially ascending mountains, highways and crossing bridges. You need weight in rain, ice, slush and snow. The stuff that breaks had easy fixes but computers were still really new back then. Owners complained about changing spark plugs but in all honesty it's super easy. The intake plenum is literally 6 bolts, detaching the throttle body (1 screw) and a metal gasket 🤷🏾♂️ lazy ass owners.
Why isn't the 3000GT VR4 celebrated? In 91 we still had big racial issues in the country causing fans of the Indy500 to boycott the Dodge Stealth from being the official Pace Car since it was Japanese and giving it to the Dodge Viper then C5 Corvette. The engine was mounted transverse to accommodate for FWD. However the primary reason was high speed stability. I think I still have the article from the designer on my Flickr account.
Lastly, greed. Many people only liked the Supra and RX-7 after they were killed off due to a combination of hype surrounding Fast and Furious, Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. The value appreciating as a result.
Additionally tuners finally started unlocking the hidden potential of the 2JZ which was already a great engine as the 1JZ. People today have forgotten how terrible the RX-7 and Supra were received back in the 90s and how awful they sold as a result. My generation which were children love these cars as adults. 60 and 70 year olds today were 30 and 40 years old back then, didn't like them much. Don't forget insurance. So the running cost was actually lower in the 3000GT and Stealth. The FWD varients which sold the most were easily accessible by more people who didn't have good driver skill like women of the time. Don't forget RWD in the 90s was dangerous ASF 😳😳😳 no stability control, air bags, Japanese car stigma, price, tires, insurance, weren't that good in the rain and horrible in the snow. While the 3000GT didn't have dual air bags till later, it did actually have the best safety built into the car for the time. Cross bars in the door, a 5 star safety rating with a 4 star passenger safety rating.
People hated the RX-7 because, it was a wankel tiny refrigerator engine and small car for the price. The Supra styling didn't catch on, too expensive, no real cargo space, understeer unless pushed hard and heavy for only being RWD. That ugly 3000GT body kit featured in Fast and Furious 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢 and it wasn't even a VR4 🤦🏾♂️ Then you have greed, once the value goes up 2x, people will change and act like they always loved the 3000GT etc. because, they want to make a buck.
Compared to today's standards, the 3000GT VR4 is avg. weight. The stock internals can handle 800AWHP. 95% of all 3000GT VR4 are modified unless a 99 or Convertible VR4. No good aftermarket support. All those cars had issues but once you spun a bearing in a 3000GT VR4 chances are you blew your engine.
This car out sold the Japanese heavy weights combined and by a wide margin. The problem was the owner's who couldn't afford to maintain them. It has a bad wrap for being a heavy weight yet the Toyota Supra Mark IV, Nissan 300ZX, Nissan R32 and Nissan R34 were just as heavy and didn't out perform the 3S in the real world on the street. The RX-7 was the only light weight of the group but was considerably small and not practical. The NSX was over priced, and over hyped and also not practical.
The Supra wasn't good on back roads because, it understeered. The 300ZX was about as good as the 3S on back roads. Only the RX-7 and NSX were worth taking on back roads quickly but both were cramped especially the RX-7 and I'm only 5'9".
Now the real forgotten car isn't the 3000GT, it's the SVX.
The 3000GT was made for All Weather driving. Heavy winds, sand, mud, snow, pot holes and rain performance. It was also expected to perform on mountain roads especially for ski trips. This was also to be driven on the Autobahn. This was the car you could drive across the country with just spare oil.
Regarding the interior plastics and soft touch materials, it's the same as what's in my current Mercedes E350 and dare I say a better interior from 1991 vs 2013. I used to own a 3000GT and I can say with certainty the seat was better and more equipped. You could adjust bolsters on the 3000GT tight, the slide and recline were manual which is far better than auto (slow).
With the AWS, unless you watched the maintenance videos you might not know but it wasn't just for steering. It was an early form of Stability Control. The Viscous coupling and AWS worked together to stabilize the car at moderate speeds, the active aero would further stabilize the car at high speeds.
Other cars the 3000GT VR4 outperformed Ferrari Testarossa and F355, Porsche 911, Mercedes EVO II aka Hammer, BMW M3, Corvette C4, Lamborghini Countach.
Unless you had access to a Ferrari F40 or McLaren F1 which was over $700k when released, you couldn't beat the value/performance of the 3000GT. Later came the Viper and other faster cars but once it got the 6spd it was a repeat of before. Also the Nissan 300ZX was a bigger car than the 3000GT, but had less space inside, cost more, was slower and the hardest to work on.
The only car that could beat it without paying a few $100k was the Porsche Yellow Bird by RUF.
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@Number27 No doubt, if you can find one. The other car from the 90s that's hardly mentioned is the Toyota MR2. Toyota honestly doesn't get the sports car sales imo, due to delivering product's that are over priced and under perform. They are over engineered but all you need do is look at the LC500, RF, LFA, Supra Mark V, Supra Mark IV, MR2 from 1991 - 1997. The moment the 3000GT VR4 hit the market it literally sucked up the Japanese sports car and GT segment in the US
The crazy thing is if you count the entire life of the MR2, the 3000GT and Stealth still sold more than all those cars combined (+40k units). It sold 19,208 from 1991 to 1997 and sold 0 in 98 and 99 until it was updated in 2000.
I never initially counted the MR2 or SVX, but just did and even with both of those cars Mitsubishi and Dodge dominated US sales of sports cars with the Stealth and 3000GT.
Like the NSX and 300ZX you basically need to do engine out service on the MR2. The Supra and RX-7 also won out because, they were easy to work on in terms of accessibility. The RX-7 was still new technology and finding a good shop to service that Rotary was non-existent.
The 3000GT fixed it's rod bearing issue on the 2nd Gen. It too was pretty difficult to work on but most serious maintenance just required removing the driver side wheel. Now it has the Jester ECU which fixes the failing capacitors the original ECU had, which could be repaired but they'd just fail again.
If you have one now, best solution is to find one of the good shops that specialize in the 3000GT and upgrade everything. These cars are very reliable when serviced on time especially now since oil and fluids are even better. You can find many high mileage 3000GT (not the VR4). You can delete the PTU, original ECU, AWS (cool overs), upgrade to bigger brakes, better tires, 6spd, exhaust. There's a good sold by PitRoad M in China that fixes the aero dynamic flaw around the cowl and windshield or the one by 3SX. Brass bushing for the shifter. I think anyone holding onto a VR4 can expect it to be worth $70k in a few more years. It's already creeping back up to $50k.
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