BMW's, Audi's? - Ha!

[ChrisP]

Afternoon Gents,

As a current owner of an elderly BM E36 tourer, I've been looking at a replacement, been considering BM's E46, Audi A6...etc...however always had an eye on the Galant Estate.. ( wish I could afford a Legnum..but my budget comes behind wifes & daughters shoe budget..ahem..)

So much crisis in our house..gnashing of teeth etc...( German Vs Japanese..!!)

So I have my eye on a local highish mileage (166K) Galant V6...FSH etc..

What should I be looking for at this mileage.?..what should I check has been done etc?..while not German build qual..at least the heater bit on a Mitzi should work....

Cheers all, Chris P.

[elnevio]

/Welcome2 to CVR4!

There may still be a few V6 estates for sale in the For Sale forum on here - take a look for some comparison if that helps.

[Nick Mann]

If it is a manual, listen for input shaft bearing whine on the gearbox. Whilst sat in a quiet spot, with the window down (or up if it is bad!) put your foot on and off the clutch and see if a dry bearing noise comes and goes.

The rear arches are one of the first places you will find rust.

The cam belt is every 54k, so should have recently been done.

/Welcome and good luck in your search.

[Rambaud]

/Welcome2

As someone who has owned 13 BMWs and AUDIs in the past, I have not been disappointed with my Galant - only the disastrous state of the UK economy has stopped me from swapping my GDI for a VR4/Legnum.

The perceived superiority of the German marques has waned considerably in recent years.

[Physician]

Hi & welcome Chris.

Have you got a figure/budget in mind?

I would have thought that a 150,000+ mile car would be in the £700+ ballpark figure. Of course, it depends very much on the present state and whether it has history etc.

But you do need to be very careful ......... if it needs a cambelt done then think in terms of £500/600 parts and labour. However, when doing the cambelt you really should get the plugs and water pump done which increases the price obviously.

Gearboxes get even more expensive ........ anyway, best of luck with the search.

[Kieran]

I used to own a V6 sport like Nick Mann - Nice car, very smooth and a cracking HOWL when pushed!

In terms of mileage, there's a lot of three figure mileage V6 Galants about and they stand up to it very well - PROVIDED they've been serviced regularly.

Ownership cost will also depend on your mechanical ability; To do the 'works' on the cambelt side (New cambelt, tensioner, tensioner pulley, idler, water pump, plugs, anciliary belts and related new gaskets) only costs about £200/250ish in parts for the lot and on the V6 nothing moves when you slacken the belts off - However it is an involved job and hence as Richard says if you leave it to a garage set aside about £500 for that.

I would perhaps avoid the square foglamped 1996-1999 cars if you want an automatic as the Non-tiptronic autoboxes seem to like eating their Torque converter & input shaft splines after about 100,000 miles. In 2000 they introduced a tiptronic box and I've not heard of one of these having the same failure.

The other downside of the square foglamped ones is that there's quite a few that are starting to look rather scabby these days. Unfortunately one area where Mitsubishi really should have done better on these cars is with rust proofing. First areas to go are the rear arches and around the front strut tops (open the bonnet and look for rust along the spot welded seams).

Nick's covered the manual gearboxes.

I would budget for a set of shocks if it's not had a set by the time it hits 100,000 miles. They tend not to leak but they loose their rebound damping, making the ride a touch jiggly.

But yeah, in all honesty, these cars will see you well past 200K if they're looked after right - buy well and it'll look after you!


/EDIT: If I may be so cheeky, perhaps have a look at this advert. It shows what I think is an average to good example of a Sub-£1000 V6 - As Nev says the bodywork isn't great but that's what you tend to find with the older Galants. It might help give you an idea what to expect:

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32152

[elnevio]

/EDIT: If I may be so cheeky, perhaps have a look at this advert. It shows what I think is an average to good example of a Sub-£1000 V6 - As Nev says the bodywork isn't great but that's what you tend to find with the older Galants. It might help give you an idea what to expect:

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32152
Such excellent taste in adverts, Sir!

[ChrisP]

Gentlemen,
Bloomin heck!..wasnt quite expecting this level of help that quickly!, yep ..plonked down my 20 squid for club membership already

Unfortunately said car has gone (http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/MITSUBISHI+GALANT/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-18-55-240-4294963613-4294967258/advert.action?R=200835111306378&distance=1&postcode=RG23+8JE&channel=CARS&make=MITSUBISHI&model=GALANT&min_pr=&max_pr=4000&max_mileage=)

However your info is very usefull, so we're talking a post 2000, auto/tiptronic, fully serviced, (inc multiple 54k services), cambelt, waterpump etc ..car? - got to be an estate though...family/dump trips..(plus I like the fact of driving around in a fairly oomphy large estate...and surprising a few people where I live...he he..)

No probs... should be achievable..budget is upto 3K (I'm 45..wifey 42..insurance?..not really an issue ...she's got a black VW MK4 1.8 T GTI.. both got NCB out of our ears...) (Cheers Elvenio for the car advert, but Estate rather than saloon etc)

So back to the AT...(Currently at work..24x7 IT bloke...yawn...)

Cheers all, Chris P.

[Turbo_Steve]

Shame...there is an absoloutely MINT 2000 plate saloon for sale just up the road from me for around £2000. Haven't checked mileage. Keep looking at it and wanting the wheels (yes..yes, I know they won't fit on the VR-4, but they'll suit my OTHER car a treat!)

[bradc]

Get Paul Beazer's manual wagon. It is in good condition, is a well known car and best of all is a manual.

The auto's really blunt performance and only have 4 gears.

[HMG1K]

Welcome along!

How about Paul Beazer's Galant estate - facelift, 2.5 V6, manual, silver 105k miles, think Paul may be looking for £2k looking at his most recent post at the end of the thread.

Photos and details here:

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30402

[bradc]

TBH if I was in the UK, I'd buy his car!

[Kieran]

The auto's really blunt performance and only have 4 gears.

There's a couple of things here. Everybody reckons the Auto V6 Galants are slow. They are not. Having owned a manual V6 and been a passenger several times in an auto V6 and each time I've been surprised at the acceleration available. They'll still scoot to 60 in 9 something seconds and their top speed is about 130ish. Okay that's somewhat slower than the manual, but I think it's an acceptable trade off.

Having 4 speeds.... Hmm well the only reason you get 5 on the VR-4 tip box is because 1st is so bloody short. My GLS (The 8G, not the 6G) was a 4 speed tip and I found the ratios suited the car - Very good for motorway cruising too.

[AncientOfMu]

My Auto V6 is an amazing car.

It does exactly what it needs to.

If you want speed go for a VR4.

A lot of people forget that the V6's have 160ish BHP on tap. That aint to be sniffed at.

The auto is slower than the manual but I would never change my Auto.

Mines done 120k miles now and still drives like a dream, however I would put most of that down to the first 85K being up and down motorways as a company car.

Only complaint I would have is the rust. Shes starting to go on the rear arches and underneath the bonnet aint that great either.

And dont forget dodgy looking paintwork with poor finish can be fixed ;)

[bradc]

I've been in Carstens 25ST and my ST-R is just so much quicker. It feels a good 20-30% quicker due to the shorter gearing in the manual, lighter weight and no torque loss in the torque converter.

I would buy a 5 speed tiptronic VR-4 for cruising in, but I would not buy a 4 speed N/A Legnum or Galant.

[HMG1K]

A lot of people forget that the V6's have 160ish BHP on tap. That aint to be sniffed at.

Agree! Foot down and you're gone! Not a VR4 - but as Don says there's enough power on tap!

[ChrisP]

Well Gents, after all your kind advice (and before the Australian holiday....ahem...)....I thought I'd dip my toe in the water a bit...see how warm it is..booger me if I didnt fall in!..

So I'm now the owner of (& picking it up at the W/E...) - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=270272642543 as at 21:15 tonight..

Ahem...not actually seen the car...(Huh!)...bought blind...(WHAAT!)..however several conversations with the seller later...and nearly went to see it this avo and got stuck at the M4/M5 junction at 5.00pm..

However have a warm fuzzy feeling about whats been said & stated (& got in Ebay replies...he he..) - 71900K, upto 54k (inc cambelt)mitzi FSH , self serviced since..ex AA man apparently (we'll see on that one..) 51 reg (late model) etc

...watch this space..ChrisP.

[Roberto]

Looks good, nice leather too.

Best of luck with it Chris.

Seems a good price to...

[miller]

ooooh nice interior!

[ChrisP]

Chaps,

Picked the car up yesterday - great bloke I bought it from (Ebay! ), if poss even better than described...have been out and about in Basingstoke this morning embarassing a few people round our roundabouts..

(If anyone was travelling back up the A303 yesterday around 4.30pm - and a silver V6 Est passed them at around 110 heading to 120...having left behind my wifes VW GTI 1.8T...wasnt me...honest..rilly...)

So yes another convert...car is absolutely brilliant and I'm already looking towards a few..ahem..enhancements...(..cough..)....free'er breathing exhaust (to get a little of that V6 sound out)...and an induction kit (air intake does seem rather small...about 6 sq inches, under bonnet?...smaller than my 318..

So Gents any suggestions from anyone who's been down this route most welcome.

Thanks all, Chris .P.

[Nick Mann]

There's not much on the tuning front for the V6. Most who have wanted more simply bought a VR4. (Excepting one or two that put a VR4 engine in their V6!)

There are some good threads about suspension improvements, try searching for bilstein and eibach.

I'm sure you will enjoy it - hopefully for a long time!

[Kieran]

Glad you're enjoying it Chris!

Getting a sports cat (or a decat if you're feeling naughty!) and a cat-back performance exhaust wakes them up quite a bit; my V6 Sport responded well to just having a decat and a Fujitsubo back box (which was straight through, but very large and so still nice and quiet).

I would not modify the intake with a pod filter, the MAF doesn't take well to them and they just slurp up hot engine bay air anyway. Best compromise is a perfomance panel filter like a k&n in the standard air box.

The ECU has a pretty good map from the factory if the dyno day results are anything to go by, so there's not much to be had there, but possibly a bit if you wanted it.

If you want to tweak the suspension, Nick's suggestion is a very, very good one. :)

[bradc]

There might be some gains to be made in getting an ECU. While Kieran is right about the stock ECU map being quite good, the AFR tends to sit around 12:1 under load all the way to 6500rpm or so, I beleive that it could still be bought up a little bit, and that the timing could be advanced slightly in conjunction with use of 98 or 99 octane fuel rather than the 95 or lower that they were designed for.

In fact, my JDM ST-R which has the same engine as your car is mapped for 128.7kw which is slightly more than the rating on UKDM cars at 121kw (I think, K will correct me if I'm wrong)

Anyway, my point of mentioning that is that my ST-R has 0 detonation according to EVOScan and always stays at 100% octane reading, even if I run it on New Zealand 91 octane which is the cheapest fuel you can get here. Based on that I think there is room to make quite a bit more power on higher octane fuels

[valleyforge1]

Hi

Hope your enjoying the motor. Sounds like your CHUFFED to bits with it.

Nice little testing road that A303.