Mitsubishi Legnum VR4 vs Subaru Legacy GTB?

[FnG]magnolia

[FnG]magnolia

[FnG]magnolia

Caporegime
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I asked a while back about various JDM station wagons as we're moving to New Zealand. Is anyone familiar with the two cars in the title, pros and cons etc? I've signed up at the VR4 forums but am really looking for a more balanced overview.

Anyone help? Cheers :)
 
Depends what age GT-B. My mate has a 97 GT-B, it's good but the Mitsi is much better looking inside and out. Not much in it on the performance side I don't think. He currently has a 98 Facelift GT-B on water, should be landed in 2 or 3 weeks, I'll have to check that one out, not seen one yet to compare.
 
Yes, I should have mentioned age. I can get a VR4 on a '00 plate for about NZ $10,000 (£3.8k) and a '04 plate GTB for about NZ $15,000 (£5.7k).

I'm happy to pay up to £6k but I think they stopped making the VR4 in 2002 (?) so the prices are cheaper as there's nothing newer.

Thanks for the input. Anyone else? :)
 
In NZ there are a lot more GT-B's floating around than VR4 Legnums.

We own a '96 VR4 Legnum and it's only faults/expenses so far have been - 2 sets of tyres (about 25K per set), 2 ignition switches (weird fault where key doesn't engage switch correctly), 1 x Cam belt & Water pump and a truck load of petrol.

The VR4's prefer to drink either 96 or 98 octane - current price here per liter is around the $1.70 mark (67p ?). Fuel economy varies from around town (18Mpg) to open road (Mpg).

A lot of the local insurance companies have 'issues' insuring both VR4's & GT-B's, they will usually ask for a 5* rated alarm/immoboliser - I think our insurance is around the $700 per annum for the VR4 (named drivers, over 25, clean licenses, etc). Touch wood, it's never been tampered with (apart from rear badge was stolen).

And for local auction site - www.trademe.co.nz (equivalent to e-bay)
 
I think the VR4 would be a better performer to be honest. It has the AYC etc from the Evo of it's time, whereas I don't think the GTB has anything special diffs or anything? Could be wrong though.
I'd have the VR4 over the GTB :)
 
Performance wise they're probably fairly similar.

The VR-4 is fairly difficult to get massive power gains from, the standard ECU has yet to be cracked (although some very clever people are working on it right now) and the 2 small TD-03's boost early, but don't give massive peak power.


Fuel economy - erm... not particularly great! Around 18mpg around town, and up to about 25mpg on a sensible run.

Manuals are more frugal than the tiptronic, but are rarer. The Tiptronic is a very good box (partly designed by Porsche!) and has INVECS-II, which learns how you drive, and adjusts the gearbox to suit. If you're hooning it, it'll hold the gears for longer, if you're driving sensibly it'll upshift quite early.

Servicing: the VR-4 has very short service intervals - every 4.5k miles!
This is engine oil/filter (fully synthetic only) and AYC fluid in rear diff (Mitsubishi SP-III or equivalent (which includes Hyundai SP-III and Amsoil "Universal" ATF).
Auto box, transfer box, diff oil every 45,000 miles, along with spark plugs, cam belt etc.

They're NOT cheap to run and service, and you have to be aware of that before you buy. Don't skimp on servicing, and you'll have a reliable car which will serve you well!

If you want to know what a VR-4 is like, contact someone on ClubVR4 who's in NZ and see if anyone's nearby who will let you have a look around theirs :)


Garry
 
Thanks for all the advice.

The options I'm running through are Subaru Legacy GTB, Subaru Forester, Mitibushi Legnum VR4, and Nissan Stagea (not that keen though). They appear to be similar in the basics - strong bhp, AWD, spacious, petrol hungry - but I'm aware that there'll be differences which only owners or enthusiasts may be aware of. Hence my couple of threads, I guess.

One thing that does concern me is the age of the cars. Not from a mileage point of view but more from a tech point of view. Would these cars be considered dated by today's standards and, more importantly, should I care?

I'm leaning heavily towards the VR4 but that may change when I test drive all the models over the coming weeks.
 
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