Well, i could ask my friends 100ft down the road at Nissan about it. They came out with an all-new V6 engine that is winning raves and is showing up all over their product line. Then of course there is the all-new 2.5L engine they replaced the old 2.4L and 2.0L engines with. Lighter, more powerful, more fuel efficient, better emissions, reduced NVH - yeah your right, why would anyone want that? Probably less expensive to produce to since it can take advantage of 2-decades worth of production improvements and without need to maintain old well-worn tooling.

No sense at all.

 

Hey MarkF What about the JDM spec ralliart pajero....any news on it being a limited prod model in the US?

 

Don't hold your breath

 

MarkF, Any word on raising hp output to match or greater than the STi and/or if they will offer electronic diffs for those who are interested for 04 evo production?

 

Too early to say. I doubt any decisions have been made yet about 04' Evo's. Personally I would not expect major changes.

 

Subaru is coming out with a Legacy turbo. Is there any chance will try to compete with a Galant VR-4?

 

if brings back the 3000GT, which might happen from what a little bird told me, than other companies will counter it. Mazda is bringing the RX-8 already, think about it. If 3000GT VR4 comes back, than we might see supras again. That would be a dream .

 

If they are they are not talking about it. An AWD Diamante is likely but not yet a given. Galant though...?

 

4WD Magna (Diamante) is on sale in Australia. Mr. Phillips, the Managing Director of wants to sell these in the U.S., so who knows. Also, the updated Magna will be launched in Australia this Summer and probably make it to the U.S. early in 2004, with the 3.8l V6 from the Montero/Endeavor. Expect more hp but less torque, unless adds the MVIC from the Eclipse GTS...

Update: The current body style will NOT be sold with 4WD in the U.S.
The re-styled Diamante is expected to be available late fall 2003(this year not next as stated above).

See this link:
http://www.thecarconnection.com/inde...&sid=176&n=156

 

Which is exactly what I said. The car gets a reskin this fall for the 04' model year. I would expect the 3.8 to have the exact same tuning as the Endeavor BTW.

 

I was referring to, and correcting, my own post not yours...
The 3.8l V6 in the Endeavor is very much geared towards torque.
I would expect the Galant to get the 3.8l as well, but retuned for more hp(pure conjecture on my part).
Hence, the Diamante would also get the same engine. My reasoning for MVIC (NOT MIVEC) is to differentiate the Diamante.
We'll get some answers to all this during the NEw York launch of the 2004 Galant.
Looking forward to more of your insights.