Several years ago, a chance encounter with a 2003 Honda Accord V-6 sedan convinced me to trade in my 2002 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 2+2 sports coupe. The Accord was comfortable, fast, handled flawlessly, had brilliant brakes. Like that high school "senior celebrity" who did everything right, that Accord even got good gas mileage. That Accord was spectacular and everything I wanted my Camaro to be but it wasn't. Weeks later I traded the Camaro for that bastion of practicality, a Chevrolet Tahoe. It was less expensive than an Accord.
When our Mitsubishi Starion was young, sports coupes did everything better than "ordinary" cars. They were faster, handled better, had better brakes and many times, depending on the engine they had, got better gas mileage. Buyers bought them because they offered performance above and well beyond what ordinary cars could muster. They also looked great. Bonus.
The only thing they wasn't, was as practical as a sedan. 2+2's, 2 people up front and 2 in back, might have been comfortable for the front passengers but not so much for those subjected to the torture chamber "back there". While many 2+2's came with a handy hatchback (like our Starion) to give a modicum of practicality, many did not instead offering a trunk that was vestigial at best.
Fast forward a generation or so and sedans do everything well that "sports coupes" did years ago. What's more, they do it with zero compromise. Cars like our Starion offered huge helpings of compromise along with a whoosh of turbo power. That was, honestly, part of what what drew fans like myself to them. After awhile, though, that compromise had us scratching our collective heads asking, "why am I doing this?" You scratch harder when you drive a four door, "family car" that sucks the doors of your "sports car".
Are today's sports coupes better than sedans? Some are, yes, but...where they excel is at the outer limits of performance; places where people rarely push their vehicles. Today's "sports sedans" are so good, that more than ever, a "sports coupe" is more of a fashion statement than ever before. Who needs a sports coupe when sedans offer everything a coupe does without any compromising? Slaves to fashion and image, yes. But those folks are few and far between. Niche.
Those "sports sedans" and let's not forget, "sport utility vehicles" (SUV) pushed sports coupes, metaphorically, to the back of showrooms. Dealerships still put them at the front of their showrooms but they're at the bottom of the monthly sales ledger.
The Mitsubishi Starion was born into a world (1982) where the sports coupe market was healthy and strong. In fact, the market for two door cars in general was still vibrant although it was beginning to wane after the boom in the "personal luxury car" market of the 1970's. Still, the Starion was a bit of an oddity. A styling mashup of part Toyota Celica Supra, Nissan Z, Mazda RX7 and even 1984 Chevrolet Corvette.
While the Starion's styling was derivative, a turbocharged 4 cylinder engine was a point of differentiation. Many consider the Starion one of the originators of the modern Japanese turbocharged performance automobile genre, and the first to use electronic fuel injection.
Many of the performance features of the Starion were integrated into later vehicles like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Galant VR-4. Both of which, for those keeping score, are four door sedans, not two door coupes.
pictures words Charles Connolly
When our Mitsubishi Starion was young, sports coupes did everything better than "ordinary" cars. They were faster, handled better, had better brakes and many times, depending on the engine they had, got better gas mileage. Buyers bought them because they offered performance above and well beyond what ordinary cars could muster. They also looked great. Bonus.
The only thing they wasn't, was as practical as a sedan. 2+2's, 2 people up front and 2 in back, might have been comfortable for the front passengers but not so much for those subjected to the torture chamber "back there". While many 2+2's came with a handy hatchback (like our Starion) to give a modicum of practicality, many did not instead offering a trunk that was vestigial at best.
Fast forward a generation or so and sedans do everything well that "sports coupes" did years ago. What's more, they do it with zero compromise. Cars like our Starion offered huge helpings of compromise along with a whoosh of turbo power. That was, honestly, part of what what drew fans like myself to them. After awhile, though, that compromise had us scratching our collective heads asking, "why am I doing this?" You scratch harder when you drive a four door, "family car" that sucks the doors of your "sports car".
Are today's sports coupes better than sedans? Some are, yes, but...where they excel is at the outer limits of performance; places where people rarely push their vehicles. Today's "sports sedans" are so good, that more than ever, a "sports coupe" is more of a fashion statement than ever before. Who needs a sports coupe when sedans offer everything a coupe does without any compromising? Slaves to fashion and image, yes. But those folks are few and far between. Niche.
Those "sports sedans" and let's not forget, "sport utility vehicles" (SUV) pushed sports coupes, metaphorically, to the back of showrooms. Dealerships still put them at the front of their showrooms but they're at the bottom of the monthly sales ledger.
While the Starion's styling was derivative, a turbocharged 4 cylinder engine was a point of differentiation. Many consider the Starion one of the originators of the modern Japanese turbocharged performance automobile genre, and the first to use electronic fuel injection.
Many of the performance features of the Starion were integrated into later vehicles like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Galant VR-4. Both of which, for those keeping score, are four door sedans, not two door coupes.
pictures words Charles Connolly
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