Everything You Need To Know About The Forgotten Mitsubishi Starion

A Japanese Car That Has Been Forgotten

The 1980s are known as a decade that was full of excitement. It was the golden age of music and movies. Everyone wore bright-colored clothes and had some interesting hairstyles.

It was also a time when almost every car produced looked exactly alike. They had many hard lines, square edges, flat panels, and aggressive front ends. To some, these are the ugliest cars that have ever existed, and others like me absolutely love them.

In the 80s, Japan started to pump up its vehicle production, surpassing the U.S. and becoming the number one vehicle manufacturer worldwide. People started falling in love with some of these great, affordable, and reliable Japanese sports cars.

Japanese manufacturers blessed us with beautiful cars like the MK2 Toyota Supra, the iconic Toyota AE86, the beautiful Nissan R31, the awesome Honda Prelude, and the legendary Mazda RX-7. Almost every car from that decade gets lots of attention today, except for the Mitsubishi Starion.

It is quite a rare car to see nowadays and almost always gets confused for either a Toyota Supra or an RX-7. The Starion deserves so much more attention and can't continue to be disrespected. It set the standard for many iconic cars like the Eclipse, the 3000-GT, and the Evo.

A Brief Overview of The Mitsubishi Starion

The Starion is a car that screams 1980s with its classic interior and exterior features. It was a car that had plenty of power and great tuning potential. It's the car that inspired all the amazing Japanese sports cars that we love today.

This is a car that you will rarely see out on the road today compared to other Japanese classics. You will almost always see people scratching their heads when they see their first one in person.

I remember seeing my first Starion on the highway, and I was having a hard time figuring out what car I had just seen. Ever since, I have been obsessed with this mysterious and beautiful car that a lot of people don't know about. It's sad that there isn't that much information on the internet about this gem.

The Starion Was Introduced To The World

The name Starion is a combination of the two words "star" and "Arion." Arion was a mythical horse that belonged to Hercules. Mitsubishi wanted this car to be known for its power and high performance, like Arion. That is why its iconic logo featured the head of a white stallion.

Mitsubishi announced to the world that the Starion was in production in 1982. It was a time when Nissan and Toyota dominated the Japanese sports car market, but Mitsubishi was not afraid of the competition.

The Starion was marketed as the Plymouth, Dodge, and Chrysler Conquest in America. European Starion models were marketed as Colt Starion. They all were the same two-door turbocharged RWD hatchbacks, except for the badging and small trim changes.

The car was marketed as a Starion GX, GSR, GSR-V, and GSR-VR in the Japanese market so don't get confused when presented with such models. Each had its differences, and they were relatively easy to distinguish from one another. Unlike the Starions in the U.S. market.

What's So Special About The Mitsubishi Starion

The Starion does not look that different from many of its Japanese competitors but being that it has gone under the radar all this time gives it that mysterious vibe. It is a car you either know everything about or don't know crap about.

Almost every Japanese sports car from the 80s carries a hefty price tag, except for the Starion. Making it a reason why it has been gaining some attention in the last few years. As demand increases, so will the price, but I love seeing it gain some attention.

There's so much to love about this badass car. Everything from the fully electronic seat belts to its turbocharged 2.6-liter four-cylinder engine.

Narrowbody vs Widebody

The Mitsubishi Starion and the Chrysler Conquest were manufactured in two different configurations: a narrowbody and a widebody. At first, only the narrowbody was offered. Then in 1985, the widebody was introduced, giving you the option to choose from either or.

Narrowbody Starions: This model was labeled in the North American market as LS, LE, ES, and ESI. They were turbocharged but made less horsepower than the widebodies. They also did not feature an intercooler except for the last narrow-body model, the Starion ESI.

Widebody Starions: The widebody model was the Starion ESI-R. It was the only widebody model manufactured, and all came with an intercooler. It was more powerful than the narrowbodies, but it wasn't a significant difference.

Narrowbody Conquests: The American narrowbody Conquest was labeled LE and did not feature an intercooler either.

Widebody Conquests: The widebody Conquest was known as the Conquest TSI. Just like the Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R, it came standard with an intercooler.

Features

There were some differences in the interior of Starions and Conquests, but most of them were minor. You will find different interior and exterior amenities depending on the year and configuration of the car. An example is how the American models later offered fully electrically operated seat belts.

Both cars were capable of seating four passengers, but it was too tight for any adult to sit in. the rear seats. They were two-door turbocharged RWD hatchbacks with classic pop-up headlights and four-wheel disk brakes. Most had limited slip differentials and anti-lock rear brakes from the factory.

They came standard with cruise control, automatic climate control, power/manual windows, rear spoiler, two or four-spoke steering wheels, standard or electronic clusters with a boost gauge, cassette stereo, two very adjustable front bucket seats, and door-mounted seat belts.

Interior Features

Like most cars from the 80s, the Starion had some cool interior features, and some are often overlooked, like the cool futuristic door chime. The interior of this car felt like you were in a car from the future. It's sad to think that this interior design will never be manufactured again.

Mitsubishi was so proud of its turbocharged Starion that they went ahead and just slapped the turbo badging anywhere they could. You will find the word turbo inside the car's backrests of the front cloth seats and also on the rear and front seat belts. The seats were either cloth or leather but had the same bucket seat style.

On some models, you will find the steering wheel fully wrapped in leather with remote audio controls. The mirrors in some models were also electronically controlled and could be adjusted with a button in the center console.

Most models came with a digital clock, and some later ones came with fully electric seat belts that you could also control with the push of a lever on the center console. The later Starions also had a cool feature of power windows still fully functioning 30 seconds after that car was turned off.

The later models also gave you the option of having a digital dash cluster which was cool, but the bad thing about them was that the RPMs tended to lag. Most people preferred the standard cluster especially those with the 5-speeds.

Exterior Features

The exterior of the Starion and the Conquest was very similar to the RX-7s, AE86s, and MK2 Supras of the time. These Mitsubishi sport compacts came in two configurations, as stated before wide and narrow bodies. Both configurations look very similar, and the main difference is the wide fenders.

The factory wheels on the Starions were just beautiful. They are my favorite stock wheels from any car of the 80s. They were 16 x 7 (8) in the front and 16 x 8 (9) in the rear.

Some models had that intercooler peeking through the large front bumper. That, along with the pop-up headlights, gave the Starion an aggressive look. Some models depending on the market, had sunroofs and side mirrors that were mounted on the actual body of the car instead of the doors.

Performance

The Mitsubishi Starion Turbo was a car built to be driven aggressively. It was up there with the RX-7s and the 300ZXs of the time. These engines could be tuned to produce 300hp plus easily, but nowadays, many people ditch these old engines and throw in something much more powerful.

The Starion came standard with limited slip diffs and anti-locking brakes. They also had a MacPherson strut suspension and front and rear swaybars. Gearbox steering was standard in all of its models.

Most markets received the SOHC 2.0 L Sirius G63B engine, later featured in the Mitsubishi EVO. This was the engine that most people wanted because of its potential. The North American Starions came with a SOHC Astron G54B 2.6L inline-four engine. A much torquier engine than the 2.0.

Both of these engines produced roughly the same horsepower. They both came turbocharged and featured electronic fuel injection. Their horsepower ranged between 150-195. They weren't the best engines of the time, but they weren't the worst either.

You could choose between a 5-speed manual and a 4-speed automatic. Mitsubishi kept upgrading the transmissions over the years but never anything significant.

Mitsubishi decided to offer a "sports handling package" for later models in the U.S. market. All it meant was that the car came with adjustable front and rear struts, one-inch wider wheels, the ability to control individual fuel injectors with programmable computers, two injector systems, and 5-lug hubs instead of the previous standard 4-lug hubs.

History of Motorsport Competitions

The Starion was not the quickest nor the most powerful, but it did compete in many motorsports competitions and performed relatively well. Competing against much better cars, especially in the JTCs (Japan Touring Car Race)

To many people, it is a surprise to hear that this little hatchback had some success in World Rally Championships, mainly because it was never built to be driving off-road. It was mainly known for its success in endurance races.

It was in the U.S. where the Starion made an impact. Team Mitsubishi Starions won the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) U.S. endurance championship three times. They aren't seen in any events today like some of its competitors but don't be surprised if you do.

Where Does The Starion Stand Today

The Conquest, or the Starion is one of the cheaper high-performance Japanese sports cars on the market today. Mainly because it has been completely forgotten. It is a car that many car collectors around the world want to add to their collections.

They will most likely appreciate in value down the road. As people begin to show interest in this gem, it will be more difficult to get your hands on one. If you ever get a chance to purchase one of these beauties, I suggest to do so. You won't regret it!