The Mitsubishi Starion was a two-door, turbocharged four-cylinder rear-wheel drive four-seat hatchback sports car that was manufactured by Mitsubishi from 1982 to 1989. Rebadged variants were marketed in North America as the Conquest under the Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth brands.
The Starion is one of the first modern Japanese turbocharged performance automobiles with electronic fuel injection.
Mitsubishi began marketing the Starion in 1982, during a period in which a number of Japanese grand tourer (GT) sports cars were available, including the Nissan Z cars, Mazda RX-7, Toyota Supra and to a lesser extent, the Honda Prelude and Isuzu Piazza.
The Starion was marketed in the US under Mitsubishi as the Starion and badge engineered variants of were marketed as the Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler Conquest. In the UK it was sold as the Colt Starion.
Manufactured in two body configurations; a narrowbody and widebody, the narrower style complied with Japanese exterior dimension regulations taxing larger vehicles and engine displacement exceeding 2000cc. Only the narrowbody was offered through the 1985.5 model year.
The introduction of the widebody also split the car into two ranges: one a non-intercooled lower horsepower car using the narrow body style and a high-performance intercooled widebody. In most markets, widebody cars were given the label of Starion ESI-r or Conquest TSi. Markets that never received the widebody had the ESI-r label, these cars had similar performance as the widebodies. Widebody cars were offered in 1986-1989 model years in the US.
Mitsubishi says "Starion" is a contraction of "Star of Arion" — and refers to both a star and the mythical horse, Arion.
Several sources attribute the name to struggles by Japanese engineers to pronounce the word stallion. Automotive journalist Paul Niedermeyer noted that an early Japanese television commercial for the Starion closed with a logo of a stallion's head with the word "Starion" below it. The translation of the voiceover says the name refers to a star and the mythical horse, Arion. The Mitsubishi Colt and Mitsubishi Eclipse featured equine names, with the Eclipse named after the champion racehorse.
Marketing material from 1982 somewhat confirms the official explanation.
On an episode of BBC`s Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson says the name was supposed to be stallion however it was misunderstood as "Starion" in a phone call with the marketing team and the name stuck since then.
The Starion uses a traditional front-mounted engine with rear-wheel drive layout. Many came with a limited slip differential and anti-lock brakes (single channel, rear wheels only) as standard features. The entire chassis was derived from the previous high-performance variant of the Mitsubishi Sapporo or Mitsubishi Galant Lambda sports coupe, with a MacPherson strut suspension and sway bars that were fitted to the front and rear.Rack and pinion steering was not offered, instead gearbox steering was standard on all models.
Engine capacity differed between markets. American customers received the larger SOHC Astron G54B 2.6 L engine. Most markets received the SOHC 2.0 L Sirius 4G63 engine, subsequently featured in DOHC form in later Mitsubishi sport compacts such as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Both the 2.0 L and the 2.6 L produced roughly the same horsepower, the larger 2.6 L did have a slight torque advantage and the 2.0L had a higher redline. Reporters of the time considered the 2.0l to be peaky and exciting, while the American market 2.6l had plenty of torque, but was less rewarding. Both engines featured computer-controlled fuel injection and turbocharging. After 1987, European Starion models were also fitted with the 2.6 L engine, as was the GSR-VR for Japan. The move to the 2.6 L in all markets was spurred by emissions restrictions around the world tightening to meet the American standards for lead in fuels. Reviews during the change were negative as many felt the car was slower, for most of these markets this was the case as the engine change also coincided with a move to the heavier body style.
From 1983 until 1987 in Japan a 12-valve (two intake, one exhaust) SOHC intercooled version of the 2.0 L G63B was made available in the top-spec GSR-V (and some GSR-VR) trim grade Starions. This setup was known as the Dual Action Super Head (or DASH for short) due to its ability to activate the third intake valve above a certain RPM, thereby increasing top end response, flow and overall engine performance.
Horsepower varied between 150–197 hp (112–147 kW; 152–200 PS) depending mostly upon the turbocharger that was fitted, the presence of an intercooler, and whether the 8-valve or 12-valve head was used.
A naturally aspirated version known as the GX was offered in the Japanese market, with production ending in 1983. The Starion GX was offered without power windows, air conditioning, independent rear suspension, fuel injection or power-assisted steering.
Seating was a 2+2 with rear seats unsuitable for large adults. The front seats were adjustable for lumbar, angle, knee support, position and featured variable-angle side-braces.
Front seat belts were located in the doors for the driver and front passenger. 1987 and later American models featured electrically operated seat belts. Newer models also featured power windows that remained powered up to 30 seconds after the engine was turned off.
A five-speed manual transmission was standard in most models, however, an automatic transmission was sold as an option in some markets.
Later upgrades to the model included an intercooler, five-lug wheels replacing the four-bolt wheels it had shared with the rear wheel drive Mitsubishi Galant Lambda, rear power train changes from four- to six-bolt axles, various fuel management upgrades and upgrades to the transmission.
Towards the end of the models US run a widebody could be bought with a "Sports Handling Package" or SHP. This included adjustable front and rear struts and 1 inch wider wheels (up from 16 x 7 to 8" front and 16 x 8 to 9" rear). The SHP was only offered during the '88 and '89 model years. The package can be retro fitted to earlier pre-widebody cars.
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