Grey Market Vehicles - Mitsubishi FTO - The Automotive Experience - video Dailymotion

Executive Automotive Society

Here we are again at Function Automotive in Easton MA, but this time we're in a super rare vehicle.  The Mitsubishi FTO is a tuner car only available in Japan.  It was part of heavily traded grey market system that was in place, but unfortunately the US never approved its exportation.  That is until it became 25 years old and became part of the exemption list!  Now you can import them all day!    So today we pick up a V6 FTO and drive it around US roads in the Northeast.  It's wide body, lowered, and we're going to put it against sand and potholes to see if it has what it takes and show you What It's Like to Drive!!!    Visit our social media locations and podcast for more automotive news and reviews, supercar discussion, fashion, business and motivation.  For all your high end car needs and event coverage.  For quick look up use our Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/vipprimo  TheSociety Website: https://www.executiveautomotivesociety.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ExecutiveAutomotiveSociety Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/executiveautomotivesociety/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/executiveautomotivesociety Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ExecAutoSociety LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/executive-automotive-society Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/executiveautomotivesociety Daily Motion: https://www.dailymotion.com/executiveautomotivesociety  VIPPrimo YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/vipprimo Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/vipprimo Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vipprimo/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vipprimo/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/vipprimo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vipprimo/ Kick: https://kick.com/vipprimo TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vipprimo  Podcast: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1BZFhP8GxqhsNWaNpFGTDD Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcast/89022484-40e0-44ec-9af9-49172bd7c9ad/car-side-chat Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/car-side-chat/id1588813691 Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy82Y2YxMWJiOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw Anchor: https://anchor.fm/executiveautosociety

Transcript

00:00Okay, so you have considered all sorts of cool cars in your life

00:04But one car you've never considered as we're back here at function automotive

00:09To check out probably one of the coolest cars on the market a great market vehicle, but not just any great market vehicle folks

00:16Today, we're gonna feature Mitsubishi FTO

00:24I'm your host VIP primo. I know this is gonna probably be the last one of this year

00:28This has been a wreck of a year, but you know what?

00:31we're landing the last one on a really high note here because we wanted to go over great market vehicles for a while and

00:38This car is the epitome of great market vehicle. This behind me is a Mitsubishi FTO. It's a

00:451995 now if you're doing your math

00:4725 years is the extension for when you can start importing great market vehicles and the FTO was never

00:54Offered in the United States. So here's an opportunity to take a car

00:57That was never offered here

00:59Take it for a spin

01:00See what it what it's like to drive and really go over the the fine-tuned details with this. This is kind of an area

01:07I think there's only like five of these in the United States total and there's probably with this one

01:12I think one got messed up. So we're down to probably about four so max

01:16We probably only have four of these in the United States. It can't get any rarer than that

01:21So I was kind of a little nervous driving it

01:23So the beauty of it is is that it's only making about 170 horsepower

01:27So I don't think I'm gonna be destroying myself too badly. I think I can control that kind of power

01:33You guys tell me if you know if you think I break stuff

01:35I'm sure there's some guys out there. That'll be like you had 170 he can mess up a car

01:39Yes, I understand that but for the most part we're really gonna try to see what this is like

01:45There's a lot of things that are done to this like it has coals

01:47It has some other things that get really kind of unfriendly on the road

01:50To see how that comes together is gonna be very interesting, but this is one of my favorite cars

01:56so this is gonna be kind of

01:58It's gonna be a revelation for me to be able to drive this

02:01This is kind of my test drive moment to see how this drives and see what it feels like

02:06So today we're gonna find out what the Mitsubishi FTO drives like what it's like to drive

02:11How much it costs to have a vehicle like this of your own and third?

02:15What are the upkeep costs what are the kind of pitfalls that you're gonna run into this with this vehicle?

02:21We're all gonna do it and we're gonna cover it right now. Okay, I'm in the driver's seat of an FTO

02:27Cuz I got the keys. I need the keys. All right, so okay. I got the key in

02:35Can move the seat Oh Wow, okay. I'm in. Okay. First thing I'm gonna feel about this

02:42It's

02:45Talking to me in Japanese

02:46Dude, this is awesome. Okay, the first thing about this is that a number once an automatic

02:51So it's gonna be really easy to drive. We're gonna be able to focus completely on the driving factor here. I'm really excited about that

02:58But the thing is is I didn't expect the feel it's it's not clutch

03:02It feels closed in feels very sporty, which I would didn't expect from it

03:07But also it feels very like comfortable it really feels like a driver car

03:14And it makes sense why this was like really car. I mean this car had been made in America. I

03:19Had to have taken off shift it. I got a press down on it. It's got a nice little Momo knob from Italy here

03:25I got a backup camera, which is sweet

03:28Alright, so we're gonna go real slow here. I'm not gonna break this nice car because it was imported and

03:34He put a lot

03:36So the other thing is is this is really really lowered

03:40We had a video a while back on the lowering process and how that is and how that feels

03:45And this is going to definitely be a little bit of a rope fest here

03:50But we're gonna we are gonna kind of take it slow don't get used to it

03:54We have some good flat spots here. So we get a little power on it

03:58I'm just gonna say it

04:00The power for this is not anything to write home about I'm not saying that in a bad way

04:05But if you are just like me, I own my Genesis it only makes 220 horsepower

04:11This is all I would need. This is not like I would definitely not complain about this too much

04:18It's you know, I'm not going to any drag races anytime soon

04:22So that's this really does fit the bill for it

04:25I'm happy with the power it has and how it feels and just just amazing

04:31That would be this nice for this car and it's done the guys, you know, this is the dream car mine

04:37I've wanted to drive an FTO forever. I want to import an FTO. I'm kind of upset that

04:43They've got to it before me

04:46It is 25 years now and I am ready to get my first car and that's the other thing is I guess this is

04:52Effectively my test drive to see what if it's a car I want to own

04:56So and that's the thing is is it's already winning me over is that a speed bump? Yeah, this is not bad though, right?

05:01So the car was imported six months ago. So it's got BC coals on it. So 15 millimeter project F wide-body and

05:10for some reason today the road is sandy and

05:14I am like losing sleep over the amount of sand that we're like hitting here and I'm just

05:20Look at that. Look at me. Look I know what I'm doing

05:23It looks like I've driven cars before huh? Like you can tell my car is lowered two inches, right?

05:28But I yeah you guys out there if you've never considered a Mitsubishi FTO, right?

05:33I really am gonna say right up front. This is a car that you need to consider

05:38It is even lowered like this. A lot of times I'll get lowered cars and it's like

05:45It's a pain. It's it's so much anguish that you go through

05:49Everything about this car feels really good even lowered

05:52I would probably tighten up the suspension a little bit more

05:55But like you said, it's been six months and he's done this so it's not just that the car feels good

06:01It's the idea that you're really if you're looking for something really

06:05unique that is gonna stand out that people are gonna get excited about but we drove up in this car and

06:11We're in a kind of a backroad area

06:13So we're not doing too much with it from the standpoint of having a lot of audience

06:18But we already had somebody that drove by and was like wow check that car out

06:22The two things about is the people who know cars

06:26Know this car and the people who don't know this car don't know this car

06:31You get those magical moments of like is this is this a big car?

06:35Is it what is it? Where'd it come from? What is doing and then with the wide-body kit on it?

06:39It just and it seems it feels very stock. It feels this is the way it would feel when you drive it over there

06:46So yeah, that's the thing I'm gonna be excited about is to kind of go over the cost aspects of this

06:51I mean having it be something that you guys can pick up and and drive yourself because I am it's it's definitely

06:58Selling me right off the bat and here comes the truck behind me. He's not driving faster than me

07:04I got a nice sporty Mitsubishi FTO a gauge is easy to read got temp fuel

07:11speed a

07:13lot of that stuff has to be upgraded I think for the US spec or because we're about to ready to pull back into

07:19Function automotive so that we can discuss the car, but that's one of the big problems is is getting parts for this car

07:24we did a little bit of research before we drove the car to kind of see what was up and

07:29That we had a lot of difficulty finding stuff that would fit for this car

07:35So there's a lot of positives and negatives

07:37But if you're looking for like a project that you go, hey, I want it to be unique

07:41I want it to be a project and you want something that's challenging

07:46This thing is screaming at you and that's the beauty. I have function automotive on speed dial

07:51So they probably hate me, but uh, but that's thing is I have somebody that can work on it, too

07:56So we're gonna pull it into the spot over here

07:59And we're gonna feature this. Okay guys, so what was it like to drive?

08:04Everything I'd imagined and even more I couldn't believe that

08:08This is a car that was not made for American streets

08:12We actually took it on a road that had a couple of but you know me

08:14I'm gonna take it on the worst road possible to kind of find out where the Kings were

08:18But today was a little gentle on it because I knew it was very rare car

08:22So I didn't want to take one of the few rare wasn't break them

08:24So he took him on a nice little road out here next to function automotive and took it on a nice little ride to see

08:30How it felt and I was really impressed with how it felt now

08:34There's some little adjustment issues that I probably do a little bit different on the coils

08:37But for the most part, I mean, it's not been around for a long time

08:41So there's a lot of different details that are going to be done to this car later

08:43So we hope to come back to this next year and really show you all the things that have been done to it

08:48but as a whole

08:50This is probably one of the top 10 cars

08:52I've ever driven and easily like in in the upper echelon even with the limited power that it had it felt really nice now

09:00Remember a lot of times when we talk about stuff

09:01I'm not talking about cars that we're gonna take on tracks

09:04If you want to you can throw in something like a 4g 6-3 like the old Eclipse engines do a lot of other things

09:10He's gonna be adding a turbo to it

09:12So I'm a hundred percent sure that down the road this power is gonna go up and I'm sure that's gonna change a little

09:19Bit with the drive dynamics, but as a whole

09:23Just sitting the way it was I would happily own this car

09:26It would also be something I would easily daily drive

09:30Anytime I want even if you put the turbo in it and made anywhere up to 300 horsepower

09:35Easily would be a car. I'd be happy to have in my driveway would be happy to drive it. It's so smooth

09:40It's so easy to drive. I this is something that I was saying during the drive that I'm gonna repeat again

09:46I'm amazed that this car never made it over here because it's just an amazing car if it had sold over here

09:53I'm sure it would probably something that would might even be still selling today

09:57But again, very nice car wide body kit perfect rims

10:02Excellent paint. This car is a winner. Okay. So what is it like to own your own Mitsubishi FTO?

10:09Well, it's gonna be kind of hard to find one. There's different areas

10:12I really can't suggest any specific website to go find something because the cars just not offered in the United States

10:19So the first thing you're gonna have to do is find somebody who's an importer who will import the vehicle

10:24The beauty of these is they're older cars. They weren't as well

10:27I guess they they weren't as well loved not as cycled out. They were a very

10:32Heavily gray market exchange vehicle

10:34so the beauty of it is is there should be a lot of vehicles out there to choose from but you really want to be

10:40Very selective about what car you get. So this one right here was around $3,000 the import

10:47The things that have to be done to the vehicle tariffs taxes

10:51Everything down to making it legal in the United States was about

10:54$7,000 now then we get into the fun stuff

10:57So let's say wide body rims

11:00Coils a lot of other things go into this car to make it look as nice as it is and those

11:06Total $12,000 that may not be your experience with this. So you may be able to find stuff that's

11:12Easier to get or you know different ways of doing it your way that may not be as much as this

11:17But the thing is is I don't want you to cut yourself short and say hey

11:21I'm only gonna spend enough to make it legalized

11:24The idea that you have to consider here is there's a lot of parts of this car or have never made it into the u.s

11:30There's a lot of unique things about this car and those things like a lot of things that he

11:35Did he had to import through the UK to get them here to even do any work on the car?

11:40So you got to think about parts you got to think about a lot of other things

11:45Think of this purchase as the long game. So don't just think about buying this car

11:49You got to think about

11:50Where you're gonna be at the end of this a lot of guys don't like to plan and when you do stuff like that you put

11:55Yourself in a position where you buy a car and then you're sitting on it for months and months on in and we don't want

12:00You to do that. We want you to know exactly what it takes to get into this vehicle

12:04Six months this car is already driving down the road and feeling like a dream and we want to make sure that if you do

12:09The same thing you end up the same way. Okay. So what is maintenance like on a Mitsubishi FTO now whether you do this car?

12:16You do any kind of gray market car?

12:19Yes, all changes and things of that nature are just part of life. So that is effectively going to be easy

12:26I can get oil but you're gonna have to think about where to get an oil filter

12:32Very unique little things that you probably don't think about in your own vehicle because there's so much access to it

12:38May not be easily accessible here lug nuts

12:41brakes

12:43Oil changes all that stuff like you can get oil you can probably get pads

12:47They are Mitsubishi

12:48So I'm sure you'll be able to have a little bit easier time with that

12:51but all of that thing that I just said there comes with the asterisks that you may not be able to that may be a

12:58Lot of struggle to be able to find the stuff that you need to do some of the regular maintenance items

13:03So you're gonna have to think about that

13:04But as a whole how much you're going to drive it

13:08So if it's going to be a three month to seven month oil change today with synthetics

13:12Most people only do their oil change once a year

13:15It'll be something about how you kind of plan that out

13:18But maintenance should always be part of that planning equation and at the end of the day

13:23You shouldn't have too many problems or anything. That's hidden ghosts or anything of that nature

13:28I've never heard of anything with the FTO

13:31But again, if I haven't heard it doesn't mean it it doesn't exist. This has a four and a six-cylinder

13:36This is actually the six-cylinder

13:37so you want to look into all the different things and problems and things that happen for each engine and just be aware of them be

13:44Ahead of them so that if you expect them, you know, it's it's you call your friend and say hey

13:50I got a connection or I got something a lot of this is going to be word-of-mouth

13:54forums different areas people talking and remember if there's only four cars out there

13:58There's not going to be a lot of people you can go out and go. Hey

14:01I need an oil filter. So have your planning ahead of time

14:05That's the big thing. I think if we can take any way from this is

14:08Have the planning part of it done with the car. I think the driving part of it

14:13That's the weird thing most of the times I would test drive a car drive a car and I'll say

14:17Okay, a lot of this has to do with how it drives or how it feels and you know all this other stuff

14:23But when it comes to these the black in planning is all the stuff that you don't see that is so important

14:30and I mean

14:30It's something that we want to be a part of

14:32Leading edge coming down the pipe so that we can be able to offer stuff like this and have you access to it

14:37So, you know people that are going to do it

14:39But that's the thing is is it's definitely keeping your head open keeping your head up

14:44Having your ears to the grindstone and making sure you know that when you get this

14:48This is what it is that you're not getting blindsided. Okay. So what's our final words in a Mitsubishi FTO?

14:54Huge score and the thing is for a gray market vehicle. I

14:58Really I kind of expected it to be honest. I know the build quality these cars

15:03I've done a lot of research on the past

15:05the only thing I was waiting for was kind of that 25 year mark so I could jump into something and

15:10Have it available and I got to thank Dave for really bringing this out man

15:15It just the work that he's put into it has been incredible

15:19So so if you guys want to follow him on Instagram American underscore FTO

15:23it's going to be right below here so you guys can follow that and

15:26Take a look at it and follow his build process because he's done

15:30Amazing work in such a short amount of time and has done and it was just so much of a joy

15:36We can't thank him enough for letting us drive this car. I mean even five feet

15:40I don't know if I'd be able to let somebody drive my FTO if I had one

15:43But you know what? I gotta say I appreciate him for letting us join

15:46So I hope you guys get an opportunity at some point to drive one of the what you know

15:50A couple FTOs that are in the United States and I hope you will down the road consider gray market vehicles

15:55It's not like it used to be there's a lot of exporters out there now that provide this service for you

16:01so it shouldn't be hard to be able to consider a gray market vehicle of your own even if you don't consider an FTO if

16:07You consider a Supra or a skyline. These things are becoming more and more readily available

16:11We know exactly what we need to do to get them legalized and it's just something of being having a piece of history

16:17That nobody else has even if it's a common car being able to drive on the right side

16:22All this stuff is just a joy

16:24It's a unique experience to bring something new to the table every time so I don't go in and talk for an hour

16:30But you know what guys go out look for yourself and tell us what you think in the comments below

16:34I want to thank you guys for tuning in

16:37This has been a great video has been a joy to have we cannot wait to continue our search

16:41For the next vehicle the next cool ride and show you guys

16:46What it's like to drive?

16:52You

Grey Market Vehicles - Mitsubishi FTO - The Automotive Experience

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