Car Throttle

Picking up where Part I left off, we find ourselves in the back of 3SX Performance's service shop. In addition to a handful of lifts in the main service bay, 3SX also has a number of other rooms filled with interesting stuff in the back of their shop - starting with the dyno room.

This is 3SX's photo, because I somehow forgot to take one of the dyno.

3SX's dyno is a SuperFlow AutoDyn 88, which is a four-wheel-drive unit.  This seems like a no-brainer, but the vast majority of dynos at private shops are only 2WD models, as they're cheaper, easier to set up, easier to keep working right, and easier to use.  But when the bulk of your business

One of the things I'm trying to do in an effort to bring more interesting content to you, the reader, is cover more local items. There are plenty of places you can read a rehash of the latest press releases, but here at CarThrottle we strive to bring you coverage and features you won't find anywhere else.  So to get the ball rolling on this, I introduce our new "Shop Tours" series, where I'll be traveling around the eastern seaboard of the US, highlighting the best and brightest of performance and modification shops our country has to offer.  First up is 3SX performance in Concord, North Carolina. If you're familiar with the world of Mitsubishi performance, chances are you've heard of 3SX before.  They are the

If you're a car guy, chances are one of your past times is Craigslist. The free online classified ad website that has been running since 1996 is the perfect place to find everything from a sitter, to a new dog, to furniture, to your soul mate, to... a car!  Heck, my last car came from craigslist - friendly, knowledgeable seller, cool car, good price.  And while most stuff on craigslist is a bit normal ("2003 Camry, Grey, 86k, call Jeff...") occasionally you'll find something cool.  Here's what turned up with a quick perusal of my local CL. Don't tell me you're not tempted.  What is this heap?  Why, it's an Alfa Romeo Milano!  And what the hell is that?  Well, it was Alfa's competitor

Every 5 years or so, it seems the future is revealed to us. The newest, greatest technology that will save the future of the automobile has come around, it's time is now, and it will undoubtedly be the greatest thing that has ever happened to the car industry.  Sometimes it's right - look at concepts like direct injection, turbocharging, variable valve timing, hybrids, clean diesels, etc - and sometimes it's an epic flop.  While ideas that stick are cool, what I find more interesting are the ideas that come and go, and no one really remembers them.  Here are a few of my favorites. 1) The Wankel Rotary Engine Once upon a time, it was thought that the future of internal combustion engines was a three-sided pregnant

The sports compact genre has flourished over the past few years. Mitsubishi is a big player in that market with the Lancer Evolution, a favorite in racing games everywhere. The Evolution X SE is a new mid-range model that sits between the GSR and MR. Mitsubishi made a promotional video for the car as it was was put through its paces in California. We're glad Mitsubishi is focused on enthusiasts - because this car is specifically geared toward the enthusiast market. The Evo X SE starts at $36,445, and is equipped with the dual-clutch transmission on an Evo X. That price point puts it at about $2000 more than a base Evo X GSR and over $3000 cheaper than a base Evo X MR, the high-end model. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLkeGG_vva0&feature=player_embedded#! Next-Gen 3-Series

It was announced just last month that the Mitsubishi RVR crossover was being renamed to ASX for the European market, as well as making an official introduction at the Geneva Auto Show. However for Japan, the name will remain RVR. Whether it is called RVR or ASX (who knows what it will be for the North American market) the important thing is that the vehicle remains the same. Until now, there has only been a few pictures released of the car. Now a whole group of them has come out, including shots of the interior. The RVR/ASX looks to be a head-on competitor to the Nissan Juke, another compact SUV introduction at Geneva.

The 3000GT VR-4 is a sign of both what's right and what's terminally wrong with the automotive industry. Which is remarkable, because they haven't made one since, oh - 2000.  US imports ceased in 1999, meaning the freshest of 3000GT's are more than a decade old at this point, so the relevance of the VR-4 is questionable.  But it was quite telling. The 3000GT (marketed in Japan and other countries as the GTO, which you know wouldn't have gone over well here) was Mitsubishi's flagship halo car, a rolling testbed to show just what the company could do.  It replaced the ancient (but awesome) Starion Coupe when it debuted in 1990, and when the specifications were announced it sounded like a world-killer. Based on a shortened Diamante

The Geneva Auto Show is one of the most important shows in the world, hosting many of the large introductions outside of the United States. The North American International Auto Show was just completed, but there was little in the way of important production debuts. Concept previews? Yes. Official production cars? No. Rumored launches for Geneva are coming in, with this one being from Mitsubishi, a brand looking to expand it's presence in the U.S. Remember the RVR we showed you last month? It has been renamed for production, to ASX. We quite liked the RVR name. The most important thing though, the vehicle itself, isn't changing. Besides, ASX isn't the confirmed name for every market. The ASX promises to be efficient, with combinations available like a

Top Ten lists are a longstanding tradition with automotive journalism outlets. And why not?  People love a Top Ten list (it gives them something to argue about!), and man, they're not exactly hard to throw together.  The issue is that the vast majority of them are fluff, crap, really just a slap on the back to whichever manufacturer schmoozed that rag the most that year. ('’) Well we here at CarThrottle don't subscribe to that happy, shiny version of things.  To be honest, a large number of the cars on our roads are complete, total junk.  This has always been obvious.  The world's full of Chrysler Sebrings and Kia Amantis.  But there are even cars trying to pass as performance vehicles (which is a heavy focus

Often times, many good products are introduced in other markets that never make their way over to the United States. That is starting to change lately - for instance, Ford bringing over its European small car the Fiesta and General Motors giving Buick the Insignia in the form of the new Regal. Mitsubishi is introducing a new vehicle now in Japan - and , they are confirming it will be sold in other markets - including ours, right out of the gate. The new model is dubbed RVR, and is a small sports "crossover". It looks sort of like a small hatchback, and is based on the same Mitsubishi's global platform that also underpins the Lancer and Outlander. However, it is over a foot shorter than the Outlander.