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dazeet |
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Frequent flyer Bronze Posts: 43   Location: NSW | Good evening everyone! Here are some quick snaps of my LX. Most of these were taken from my mobile whilst taking my dear wife to Thredbo and back a few weekends ago. After losing my much loved then-15-year-old quartz silver TR Magna with the full Whiteline Works suspension package when it got rear-ended 7 years ago, then switching to a relatively more communicative, dynamic and manic modified Astra Turbo that can get tiring over long distances, it looks like I have come full circle back to a trusty large Aussie-made Mitsubishi. And in silver as well! It really feels like the honest, hard-working, and "never say die" spirit of my old Magna is now living on in a better overall package  This car was purchased from an ACT dealer last June with almost 145,000km on the clock, and appears to be completely stock, with the only accessories AFAIK being the "LS" floor mats, front weather shields, headlight protectors, and tow bar package. The Impco Sequent 56 was reportedly installed at around 46,000km. The only things I have done to it so far besides servicing and tuning are a new battery, catalytic converter (covered by the dealer), one of the six LPG injectors plus the vapour filter, rear QFM HPX brake pads, and brake light bulbs. As it is a daily driver, I intend to keep it stock with only mild enhancements that does not sacrifice its endearing refinement and comfort levels. Any suggestions are welcome! Probably as with all 380s, this car absolutely LOVES long distance cruising. The trip computer was showing 14.4L/100km just before the Thredbo trip, and have brought us back home showing 10.9L/100km after refilling the LPG tank twice. Most of this was on cruise control too, including blasting up many hills at a true speed of 108km/h or so in third, and only stopping the CC in order to stay behind slower cars and letting other vehicles overtake at well above the speed limit first, before resuming the CC and joining in with the overtaking at or just below the speed limit. It simply rides, handles, and behaves so brilliantly and in such an "unfussed" manner, even though I swear that the shock absorbers are on their way out, that I struggle to find many other vehicles that can match let alone beat it, especially for a total outlay of less than $10k back then. So good is it that, even when compared to a near-new XR6 that I hired 2 months ago in Vic, the only thing I found superior in the hire car was the handling, and even then, only by degrees. The XR6 was definitely a LOT noisier, and its CC, although very easy to set and modify (press "+" once to go up by 1km/h, and "-" to go down 1km/h), it was definitely inferior in keeping speeds up hills, allowing the speed to drop to more than 5km/h below the set speed before it will act (which kind of defeats the purpose of having CC in the first place!), whereas the 380's CC will start responding at less than half that. Even the 380's wipers, when set at its quickest intermittent setting, will sweep more frequently on its own when the speed rises beyond around 60km/h, then slow down by itself accordingly once the speed drops below around 60km/h! It simply shows the great attention to detail MMAL placed in the 380's development. Something that, sadly, most motorists simply do not understand, care, or appreciate. My only concern is the large A-pillar, especially at the bottom where the wing mirrors are attached. It can easily lose a pedestrian, a cyclist, even a car at a roundabout/zebra crossing/intersection. Oh well: nothing wrong with taking one more second and flexing my neck a bit! Now with more than 153,000km, I hope to keep this car for as long as I possibly can Edited by dazeet 22/3/2014 18:53 (380FrontQuarterMGRegoRemovedResized1000.jpg) (380RearQuarterLJRegoRemovedResized1000.jpg) (380InteriorResized1000Rotated.jpg) Attachments ----------------  380FrontQuarterMGRegoRemovedResized1000.jpg (321KB - 741 downloads) 380RearQuarterLJRegoRemovedResized1000.jpg (306KB - 686 downloads) 380InteriorResized1000Rotated.jpg (264KB - 689 downloads) | ||
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Frequent flyer Gold Posts: 1092   Location: An island off southern Tasmania. | |||
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| dazeet |
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Frequent flyer Bronze Posts: 43 Location: NSW | Thank you John for your support. Much appreciated. Money is tight at the moment, but besides some comfort and convenience items such as tinted windows and reverse parking sensors and fixing some of the marks that were already on the vehicle, just really subtle and mild enhancements without losing the "stock" look such as Phillips X-treme Vision headlight bulbs, slotted disc rotors, uprated shock absorbers, and so on. It has been a while since I was in the modifying game, so any tips to save me from the costly perils of trial and error would be great! The existing Mastercraft Touring LSR tyres are starting to lose their plot a bit in the wet these days, so I may take advantage of the current Bridgestone "pay 3 get 4" promotion Problem is, I have been given the run around by the technical department within the RMS (aka RTA), the local Bridgestone guy, and my insurer. So I will be very grateful if someone can tell me is it legal AND is there enough clearance AND without the wheel/tyre sticking outside the wheel arches to: A] fit 225/55R17 tyres onto my existing 17x7 factory wheels? That is, 10mm wider tyres with slightly larger overall diameter. B] fit factory 6-spole Evo 17x8 rims with, say, 235/50R17 tyres? That is, 1 inch wider wheels at least 8mm further out from the hub + at least 20mm wider tyres with similar overall diameter. C] fit aftermarket 18 inch rims with, say, 235/45R18 if not 245/45R18 tyres? And what will be the legal limit as to how wide and how different the offset of each wheel can be? Based on my reading of VSI09 Revision 4, I believe I cannot do A], the maximum legal wheel width is 9 inches (as TMR380 runs 19x8s from the factory), and the legal offset range is from 33.5mm to 58.5mm. These were all I needed the RMS to confirm, but they have only responded by giving me VSI06 and VSCCS Bulletin 01, with the former on page 8 referring me back to VSI09! Go figure... Certainly a lot more red tape now it seems, than when I swapped out the 14x5.5s with 185/75R14s for 16x7s with 225/50R16s on the Magna all those years ago! Edited by dazeet 23/3/2014 00:27 Attachments ---------------- vsi09_rev4.pdf (158KB - 1022 downloads) vsi6(1).pdf (261KB - 2995 downloads) vsccs_bulletin_01(1).pdf (348KB - 2513 downloads) | ||
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Frequent flyer Gold Posts: 1092 Location: An island off southern Tasmania. | |||
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| Shiloh76 |
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Posts: 15 | |||
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| rayien |
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Posts: 14 | How is your steering wheel so clean? My greasy fingers have worn away at the leather  | ||
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| AM380 |
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Frequent flyer Silver Posts: 62 | Beautiful car, jealous | ||
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| dazeet |
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Frequent flyer Bronze Posts: 43 Location: NSW | Thank you everyone for your helpful input. Much appreciated! John: I probably just want to go up to 18x8s with the correct offset (46?) and 245/45R18 tyres because 235/45R18s are rare and much more expensive. Hard to find wheels of that width and offset though - always 7.5 or 8.5 it seems, and with offset being 30-something. Don't want 18x7.5s with 225/45R18 because a smaller rolling diameter + a shorter sidewall will surely kill the ride...it is already a lot firmer in these RE002s now than the old Touring LSRs even in the same 215/55R17 size (albeit a good trade off for actually being able to corner at some speed now!). GT/GTL wheels do look nice especially the ones with the "diamond cut" machine finish (Series 3 like Terry's?), but IMHO they match the lines of the SX/VR-X/GT/GTL/Series 3 bumper covers more than the lines of the ES/LS/LX bumper covers (e.g. the raised edges on every 2nd spoke of the current wheels echo the horizontal lines across the front of the car). Shiloh76: Good point. By the time I need tyres again, may possibly just get 225/55R17s for the best of both worlds (ride and sure footedness). rayien: Actually, for some reason that photo does not appear to show the darker bits on the wheel. It is actually a bit worse in reality than from the photo... :$ To this end, appreciate if anyone can suggest some good ways and good products to clean and care for the leather. The stitching on the 2nd row backrest near the parcel shelf has also come undone a bit - thanks to me having to swerve to avoid being hit by a crazy lady out west in a first-gen CR-V when I was carrying some used factory Mazda3 16s on the back seat wrapped in blankets for a friend (I was in the middle lane, she was on the left lane behind another car and had to cut me off just to go back to the left lane and turn left into the gym car park 200m later at 7:30a.m. on Saturday from memory - and this was after she has already behind that vehicle for 20 seconds - what's an extra 10 seconds? If only I can bill her for the damage!), so happy to hear suggestions of a reputable and good value auto trimmer within an hour or two's drive from Sydney. AM380: Jealous of how clean and shiny your car looks! The wheels alone look "enhanced stock" - just the way I like it! I am still waiting to see if I can get some if not all the marks fixed on mine... Always have fun surprising some clueless and inefficient drivers in smaller vehicles (usually cheap imports) whenever I am in the mood. Many would just "jackrabbit" start and cut in in front of me, only to have me overtake them comfortably around corners even up to just 7/10ths (or up to 9/10ths against keener cornerers). If I get $1 for every shocked-looking face ("No vehicle this big and heavy [below $10k] has the right to corner as well and as fast as this, right?"  ), my wife can probably quit her job! And with suspension that is now 157,000km+ old too. As per the WebWombat review (http://www.webwombat.com.au/motoring/news_reports/mitsubishi-380-gt-review.htm):"I really liked the way it handled itself on winding roads, and though not quite as rewarding as a sporty rear wheel driver, it's balance makes this one of the best FWD sports sedans on the market. It's got a level of composure that would even challenge the fleet-of-foot Honda Euro Accord, which is a huge wrap for the much bulkier, much heavier Mitsubishi." | ||
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| dazeet |
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Frequent flyer Bronze Posts: 43 Location: NSW | |||
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