Austarion

After a substantial period of not owning a Starion, I got the Starion itch so I decided to start keeping an eye out for another Starion. I contemplated buying my old JA back, but after seeing some great looking widies around here, I had my heart set on another widey.

I looked at buying one already here, however, before I had made up my mind, this one came up for sale in Japan. With only 3 small pics of the car, but with a long list of its history, I decided to buy it (November 2010). It took a while (for various reasons), but I finally got my hands on it in mid-March 2011 and it was registered.

The car has had only two owners in Japan and had a set of complete service books from new in the glove box, with the first owner doing 142,000km and the second only 5,000km. The second owner also changed or overhauled a number of parts, such as brake master, power steering, exhaust etc, and also fitted brand new SHP suspension from Mitsubishi Japan.

Body and chassis have no rust and the car is in excellent condition for its age. My agent in Japan said it's the best one he had seen, so that was good enough for me.

Apart from 'sports' pedals, the car was 100% stock, down to the exhuast,
so, soon as it was registered, I just had to start modding it a little. First thing I did was take off the ugly factory(!) mudflaps and the cheesy reflectors that the previous owners had fitted :D I also had a set of 19's lying around so I had them fitted and then borrow a set of 1.5" lowered springs to see how they looked and felt with the SHP's and 19's. I also had the guards rolled in anticipation of the D2 coilovers that I had already purchased.

So here are some pics of the car as it sat in Japan after it was purchased:

Congrats! Nice one.

What's up with that door edge?

And here are some pics taken by Aaron on the recent cruise after some small changes when I finally got my hands on it :D:



And a pre-lowered springs pic (thanks Shannon):

Thanks, jk.

It's a protective door edge strip. It was one of the things I had removed...see pics above.

Bloody niiiice!

Are those factory mudflaps?? Some people in the US love those ugly things... don't throw them away, list them for sale on SQC!! One set sold for $400... LOL.

Black Starions are the fastest!! Looking great.

-Robert

I knew some yank would pipe up about the mud flaps.

Look forward to seeing pics with some dishy wheels installed. Now your PMs with questions about MPI make sense.

LOL... I don't like them at all, just to be clear.

-Robert

Csh


Nah, this car is awesome in the flesh, so clean. If you are going to go multi point charlie, ill see what bits I may have around from old my sigma dragger (2.6).

This car is VERY sexual! :o

That is absolutely gorgeous, although I'm a bit of a fan for keeping perfect cars like that standard.
Having said that, it looks super hot in the beach pics.
:beer

Thanks, guys.

I try to drive it as often as I can (which isn't much due to other commitments). I have received plenty of thumbs up and questions as to what car it is etc. It's a good feeling being different particularly amongst the hordes of other Jap imports.

Aaron, that would be great. I already have a late model Magna TR head and a TN/TP inlet (but might use a TR manifold), EVO III/TD06 20G, and larger cooler and piping.

I am not that much of a fan of keeping cars stock unless they were immaculate/mint condition ones. I will try and keep it as original as I can, with the only mods being bolt-ons and small cosmetic enhancements, such as Conquest mirrors, black-faced climate control, and Lancer EX A175A Steering wheel.

I don't plan on selling it anytime soon, so I might as well enjoy it.

Anthony, I would have thought you guessed it already ;) You car was one of the widies that made me want to get another one. :beer
The Blitz wheels are only temporary, I already have a couple of other dished sets lying around, but will fit them once the D2's are ready. The ride with the new SHP suspension despite having low-profile 19's is surprisingly smooth and comfortable, but I went for a ride in John's Starion with D2's and they seemed to be quite ok for a street car.

I am also aware that some of the Yanks will pay good money for the mudflaps (they like to be different?) :D They will be on SQC/Ebay soon enough. There were also some weird rubber 'flaps' on the top side of the side mirrors that I also removed, not sure if they can be seen in the Japan pics.

Nice!
Looks really good!
I'm jealous! :drool:
Was there much price difference between buying local and importing/complying/registering?
Just curious because it might be something I look at doing myself...

600 h/p drop in set-up, turbo to pan:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Mitsubishi-sigma ... 2a0fbf5d6f

I am familiar with the setup and owner, what he says is pretty much on the money.

Charlie
We need to clean our cars again and go for another cruise, i am with you, keep it clean with the mods, make it still look original. sleepers are always good value, pisses the V8's off