Bryan's Mivec

So they do exist! Finally we have our first example of the hottest motor ever dropped into a production Magna/Diamante engine bay (excluding of course, the Ralliart Magna). I had seen the 3L DOHC engine listed on the Mitsubishi Japan website - but must have missed the Kanji for 'MIVEC'!
Like Toyota's VVT and Honda's VTEC, Mitsubishi's Mivec engines feature variable valve timing - an advance that really gets the stock 3L going like a rocket - 198kw to be exact. I am yet to see any performance times - but my guess (based on power/weight) is that this engine should equate to something like a low 15 second quarter mile.

This example belongs to Bryan Flanagan of New Zealand. It is a used Japanese import. New Zealanders are very very lucky - they have a country that is full of excellent (and often, very cheap) imports. I travel there quite often, and always see the most fantastic cars (many of which we very rarely see in Australia - Mazda Cosmo 20B, Cyborg Mirage, Mazda 4WD GTX, etc). I am sure there aren't many Mivec Diamantes there though - so Bryan is a very lucky man.
As this is a stock car (though it seems strange calling a Mivec Diamante 'stock'), this won't be a list of added extras - instead, I will let Bryan tell you about the car:
Driver's impressions so far:

"Very quiet inside. Extremely comfortable after one 300km trip. Dash is clear, well laid out and easy to understand. Excellent CD stereo. Climate control is effective, well distributed and quiet. All controls are well placed.

The Tiptronic 5 speed gearbox is one of the best. The only problem found so far is that the gearbox needs a couple of seconds to regain it's composure after stopping at a traffic light or stop sign before applying power or else there's quite a noticeable thump as power takes up. Apart from this, the car moves off the line and shifts very smoothly indeed in full auto mode. Ratios are well chosen. In full auto the gearbox does a pretty good job of pretending to be human, changing down on the over-run and holding appropriate gears on the hills. In so far as maintaining the appropriate ratios this is without doubt the very best gearbox I've used.
In Tiptronic mode shifts are again smooth with a very slight delay between ordering a shift and getting it. Downshifts at higher revs do not happen as smoothly as a well operated manual though. If you do not order a downshift before the engine revs drop below a certain point the Tiptronic will take over and downshift for you, right down to first if necessary. Then as you accelerate away, you must shift up. Being a good Kiwi bloke I thought that Tiptronic would be for me but the full auto mode is so good that I found myself leaving it to the Mitsi once curiosity and ego were satisfied.

Handling around town initially felt a bit clumsy (particularly after getting out of a Series 1 Toyota MR2) but familiarity is causing a bit of a review of that opinion. Not sure if this one has rear wheel steering, but if it has, then that would explain the "unusual" feel around town. Notwithstanding this, town handling is not bad. On the open road things really settle down and the Diamante assumes the poise and grace one would expect of the "grand touring" car which this surely is. Corners are navigated with a minimum of fuss and body roll, and interestingly enough tyre temperatures remain quite low even after a hundred or so kilometres of twisty but quick motoring. "Seat of the pants meter" tells me that the suspension has some form of speed-adaptive control.

And what about performance? Bloody marvellous. Prior to buying the Mitsi we tried a normally aspirated 94 Toyota Supra – "seat of the pants meter" says that the Supra would be dog tucker both from a standing start and from roll-on. Too much mumbo off the line causes the traction control to kick in, making the motor feel a bit lumpy but once the Mitsi gets into second and higher the motor is allowed to produce full power and the car just soars up to the 180 kph Japanese-spec speedo limit.

Power delivery is linear; very torquey from idle, building up to an almost manic top end.

To slow it all down there are of course anti-lock brakes. They have a big job to do on this heavy car but they seem reasonably effective and undramatic. Putting two wheels onto the grass verge and stomping on the brakes results in a straight, quick stop. You can hear a soft banging sound from the anti-lock mechanism on the slippery side as it operates.

Finally, economy. Haven't done a proper check yet but we put 57ltrs into an almost empty tank & the trip computer told us that this would give us 620km. That works out to close on 10.8km/ltr or in real terms about 30mpg. Not sure what the computer bases this on tho.

Is it a BMW/Jaguar/Bentley/whatever ? No. Feels totally different to a BMW, cost me $100,000 less than a friend's BMW 320 coupe, and caused him to get very derisive when I mentioned that the local Mitsubishi franchise suggested that the 3ltr MIVEC engine puts out about 270hp/7000rpm. It's a little reminiscent of a 3.8 MkII Jag except much more refined. It's a Mitsubishi and doesn't need to pretend to be anything else"