Grudge Match: Ford Mustang SVO vs Mitsubishi Starion

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The Invisible Mustang vs the Mitsubishi Everyone Forgot

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YSSMAN

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Grudge Match - Remember the '80s Edition:
Ford Mustang SVO versus Mitsubishi Starion

800px-%2783-%2786_Ford_Mustang_Hatchback_%28Orange_Julep%29.JPG


800px-1987ChryslerConquestTSi.jpg

One of the greatest things about the 1980's is that, in general, automakers were willing to go out on a limb in order to keep things fresh in an age of increased pressure from governments and consumers. What kind of pressure? Fuel mileage, safety, cleanliness, and most of all - performance. The Mustang SVO was an American corporation's first foray into turbo performance as some kind of replacement for V8 power, the Starion being Mitsubishi's gamble (and Chrysler's new toy here in the US). Both were accepted, well, kinda. Both lived pretty short lives. But, a quarter century later, the cars are still pretty big benchmarks for their time.

Which do you go after? The invisible Mustang or the Mitsubishi that everyone forgot?
 
SVO for 2 important reasons...

You didn't expect an American car company to do a 4cyl turbo in a sports car while you'd expect Japan too. And second, it's a Mustang.
 
Starion is dope.
**** American cars ;) The Starion is a boxy, coupe Evo, RWD 4G63T, it doesn't get more awesome than that.
 
SVO, because I have the same engine in the Ranger, only non-turbo charged!

What a fantastic 4-cylinder!
 
Well, I was Expecting a Mustang thread to involve perennial competitor Camaro, but this works...

I do like the Starion, but I'm going Mustang for three reasons...

1: I've always wanted to do a Cossie RS500 head swap on one...(or perhaps a full-on Cossie engine...)
2: Stupidly turboable motor.
3: You know it won't have a dual exhaust, traction bars, Hoosier drag slicks, and a hoon behind the wheel. I can't tell you how tired that makes me of Fox Bodies.
 
The Mustang SVO was blasphemy, and it's amazing. It had numerous specific performance upgrades and options that put it miles ahead of where any Mustang had been before. I don't think I've ever seen one either, so they're very rare. Are there any performance tests comparing the two? I've got a feeling the Mustang is the better performer for sure, and hell the later models with the flush headlights even look much better than that hideous Starion.
 
Since I don't know much about either cars, I voted for the Mitsubishi Starion. I've known of the car for a while and I always thought it looked really bad ass. 👍

Just look at this!
4580003970_529c7af28b_b.jpg
 
Keef
Are there any performance tests comparing the two?
Click to expand...

Yes! Car and Driver has a matchup of the Mustang SVO and Mitsubishi Starion ESL right here via 1985. Both the Ford and the Mitsubishi had some updates by then, and the world had gone mad with turbo power. That damn Mustang would run to 60 MPH in less than seven seconds, which was scorchingly fast back then. The Mitsubishi would pull a 0.80g on the skidpad, which was very impression for the time as well. Both cars would be left in the dust by a modern sport compact, but nevertheless, for the money at the time... Yow.

Interesting that the Merkur XR4Ti faired better than the Mustang, even more surprising that the Audi Turbo GT did so well given their reputation at the time.



Anyway, I'd have the Mustang. To me, it goes against everything holy in the realm of pony cars and does its damnedest to get away with it. Its just as fast as the GT of the time (with the kickass 5.0L no less), handles better, and arguably looked more of the part than the GT did. I mean, for the time... What an outrageous car. It would be like sticking the new 2.0L EcoBoost in the Ford Mustang. But they're talking about doing it anyway... And its still totally rad.
 
Starion for sure.

a) Raced at Bathurst.
b) Used in WRC Group B.

Both of these reasons make it 10 times better than the Mustang.
 
Starion. Gr.B heritage, perfect boxy 80's looks, came with both RWD and AWD, turbo and nonturbo.
 
Starion all the way.

Mitsubishi knew exactly how to do an 80's car, the only better looking sports coupe from the 80's was probably the RX-7. I would love to find one as a cruiser

As for the Mustang, it just looks like a crappy compact that you wouldn't want to be seen in(as is the case with any fox body).
 
Starion.

Not even close.

There's something about the Mustang that is just,.... common. And cheap.

I just don't like American cars much from the 60s until about 2006.
 
Starion. The other is an underpowered econobox for people who's wardrobe consists entirely of Tapout shirts and wifebeaters.

It's a pathetic excuse for a Mustang
 
Pathetic excuse for a Mustang... even though it's a second and a half faster than the Starion and matches it in the slalom?

0-60 in 7 seconds... at a time when vehicular performance was at its absolute nadir... okay, the nadir was in the late 70's, but close enough... From assorted stats, that's only two tenths slower than an 84 Vette (though much slower than the 85), that's faster than an IROC of the same time, and only a few tenths slower than the Mustang GT... and it obliterated the V6s in that group test, as well as the other turbocharged cars, in terms of acceleration. You can't talk performance without taking into consideration the competition... and considering the competition at the time, the SVO was a corker.

-

Here we had a turbocharged four cylinder... a first, and a last, for ponycars. For that, the SVO deserves kudos. Granted, the Starion is probably a more pure sportscar, but the SVO has it beat for quirkiness. And they didn't even have to butcher its name to achieve that distinction.
 
I love how at evening in North America, all the votes are for the Mustang.. Now that its the time around in Asia where people are woken up and its day, the votes for the Starion are up.
 
SVO, although I'd prefer the much faster, much less expensive better sounding GT with the 5.0.
 
Not really fond of both to be honest but if I had to choose I'd pick the Starion regardless of which actually performs better.
Any Mustang made between the mid-seventies and 2005 are just missing the point both in styling as well as the apologetic engineering.
They should have just remained true to the core-appeal of the original ( which they now thankfully do again ) or killed off the mustang name and replaced it, for the time being, with a new name without the historic connotations ( like the Starion ).
This particular generation looks like a Ford Sierra designed by Volvo and, apart from this rare SVO model perhaps, I doubt it will be a classic, not even in an ironic way.
The Starion is just what it is, no historic paralel to compare it with, and it just shouts Eighties ( although for me that's not necessarily a good thing ) and has a race/rally pedigree somewhat to justify some classic status sometime ( although for now it might be just ironic ).:)
 
WeinerSchnitzel
Since I don't know much about either cars, I voted for the Mitsubishi Starion. I've known of the car for a while and I always thought it looked really bad ass. 👍

Just look at this!
-pic-
Click to expand...

What look at how horrible that car is now some idiot has modified it.

I love the Starion, and is a bit of Q-car, the Mustang really hasn't dated well.
 
eiriksmil
**** American cars ;)
Click to expand...

Holy crap, this just been posted by a Norwegian?! :p

I think I've yet to meet a Norwegian who doesn't think American V8s are the greatest things on earth :lol:

Starion for me, just the looks alone do it.
 
I dunno. While the Starion is classic '80s in terms of look, it doesn't really stand out all that well when you consider the RX-7 and Supra of the time looked very similar. The Mustang though, well, I guess its something that you had to like in the first place. The early SVO did suffer from the same case of ugly that the early Fox bodies had, but the updates in '85 made it look pretty nice. Like this '86 model...

1986-ford-mustang-svo.jpg


All things considering, this car rocked. It was fast, handled very well given its foundations, and I'd still say the classic notchback look holds up well. Given the $600 price difference between the two (in 2010 dollars), you'd have to be insane not to choose the Mustang if you're looking for out-and-out performance. But, even then, both were pretty solid values compared to the Celica-Supra and 300ZX of the time.
 
Yes and no, YSSMAN. May have been the case in the U.S., but everyone else got the good Starions...Stuff like the GSR-VR.

But, over there, Ford's answer was this...

Sierra_RS_Cosworth_Front.jpg


So, trumped again.
 
Starions are cool, don't get me wrong. But for ultimate coolness factor the SVO get's my vote. Just because they are so unique.

Doesn't help that a local guy keeps bringing his Starion's out the the local track days and every time one of them has some kind of problem.
 
Jim Prower
Yes and no, YSSMAN. May have been the case in the U.S., but everyone else got the good Starions...Stuff like the GSR-VR.

But, over there, Ford's answer was this...

*Ford Sierra RS Cosworth Pic*

So, trumped again.
Click to expand...

True, I suppose. We did have the XR4Ti, which was a more expensive and slower in-house competitor to the SVO... But, the two only co-existed for a year (1986) before the SVO disappeared entirely.
 
Starion.

Even though we got the 2.6L G54B rather than the 4G63 (Which was only the SOHC version for these cars).
Looks awesome. Has flip-up headlights.

black6.jpg


[Oh, and Leonidae... No AWD available on these ;) ]
 
Huh.. I could had sworn that there was an AWD model available.. My bad. Still better than the curse of the blue oval. :D
 
Slicks
Starion.

Even though we got the 2.6L G54B rather than the 4G63 (Which was only the SOHC version for these cars).
Looks awesome. Has flip-up headlights.

black6.jpg


[Oh, and Leonidae... No AWD available on these ;) ]
Click to expand...

**** me - that is Massive Awesomeness!...
 
Leonidae@MFT
Huh.. I could had sworn that there was an AWD model available.. My bad. Still better than the curse of the blue oval. :D
Click to expand...

It may have been only a motorsports vehicle then. Something about Group B Racing, I think.
 
A friend of mine had a tuned 4G63 Starion, wasn't extremely reliable but one of the few Mitsubishi's I have always admired.


As for AWD, IIRC there was a Homologation model in AWD but in very very few numbers.


Edit: this is it



As you can tell it's pretty much a rally car but sold for Homologation.
 
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