1998 Mitsubishi 3000gt Sl Coupe 2-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #317 LIVE!

We record Autoblog Podcast #317 tonight, and you can drop us your questions and comments regarding the rest of the week's news via our Q&A module below. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven't already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #317
Mitsubishi Mirage

Junkyard Gem: 2006 Mitsubishi Raider DuroCross 4WD

Chrysler began selling Mitsubishi Triton pickups with Dodge D-50 and Plymouth Arrow badging in the 1979 model year, followed by the Mitsubishi Pajero aka Montero with Dodge Raider badges for 1987 through 1989. That Raider name sounded so good that Mitsubishi Motors decided to revive it when they began selling a new pickup based on the Dodge Dakota in the United States. Today's Junkyard Gem is a first-year Mitsubishi Raider, found in a Denver car graveyard recently. The Raider was mechanically identical to its same-year Dakota counterparts and it was built alongside the Dakota at Warren Truck Assembly, but it had its own body and interior designs. The Raider was built for the 2006 through 2009 model years, after which it was discontinued due to poor sales (just under 22,000 total). It wasn't as humiliating for Mitsubishi as the Ascender and I-Series (both thinly disguised Chevrolet models) were for once-proud Isuzu, but that isn't saying much. There's no need for us to bring up the puzzling Suzuki Equator here, is there? This one is a DuroCross, which came with lower suspension, black plastic wheel flares and a front bumper that looked skid-plate-like. It also has the most powerful engine available in the '06 Raider: a 4.7-liter V8 rated at 230 horsepower.  The 4.7 is a member of the Chrysler PowerTech engine family, which has an ancestry stretching all the way back to the American Motors Corporation. AMC began development of new overhead-cam V6 and V8 engines just before Chrysler purchased the company in 1987, and the 4.7-liter V8 made its debut in the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The 2009 Raider was the last new Mitsubishi pickup sold in the United States, though Mexican truck shoppers can still enjoy mas poder de aventura by buying a new Mitsubishi Triton with L200 badges. Who knows, if it's possible to find Mexican-market Peugeot 407s, Dacia Logans, Dacia Dusters and Opel Corsas in Colorado junkyards, I may yet find a discarded Mitsubishi L200. It was much more intimidating than an ordinary Dakota.

Mitsubishi ready to pull Evo's plug

We have all manner of unofficial metrics in the auto industry. No doubt you've heard some of them, like the butt dyno. Another popular measure is the smiles-per-dollar index - how entertaining is a car versus its price. Cars like the Mazda MX-5 Miata, Scion FR-S and Mini Cooper S, for example, score quite highly, while vehicles like the BMW M5 or Audi RS7 are great to drive, but score lower because of their much higher price tags. For a long time, the king of the smiles-per-dollar index was arguably the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, which blended hair-raising thrills for the price of a well-equipped Ford Fusion Titanium.
Now, it looks like the Evo will need to hand over its title, as this generation of the rally-derived rocket is likely to be Mitsubishi's last - at least for a while. There's been no mention of just when production of the current car will end, so if you're in the market, we'd suggest trying to find a dealer with inventory ASAP. The news comes from the automaker's Japanese mothership, which says the brand will instead focus on utility vehicles and EVs. While there are no direct plans for a successor, an Evo XI as it were, the door remains open for a different kind of beast, according to Mitsubishi.
"Mitsubishi Motors does not have any plans to design a successor with the current concept, as a high-performance four-wheel drive gasoline-powered sedan," said Namie Koketsu, a spokesperson for Mitsubishi, according to Automotive News. "Mitsubishi Motors will explore the possibilities of high-performance models that incorporate electric vehicle technology."