INSIDE & OUT
 
    Can it be an accident that the chrome wheels and very thin sidewall tires make the VR4 look like one of those imitation Hot Wheels cars from China? Indeed, with its exaggerated wing, numerous air scoops, and masquerade-ball headlights, the VR4 very much resembles innumerable cars drawn in the margins of one's notebook during sixth grade, when one was supposed to be watching Mrs. Kloos diagram sentences.
 
    Almost everything on this car is standard. Power windows with auto down, cruise control, CD and cassette player, air conditioning, power sunroof, HomeLink transmitter.
 
    The interior of our green test VR4 is tan with leather. Light tan maps, darker brownish carpets part way up the doors to a medium brown plastic with tan leather inserts, however the whole dash is black, and the center console is black and the inserts around the door handles are black. "Not the most elegant impression left by the variety of snap together molding pieces throughout the interior of the car," sniffed the Splendid Co-Driver. On the other hand, the SC-D liked "the hooded, compact-looking dash. The center console is simple and uncluttered, which is nice."
 
    At night, the 3000 GT's instruments light up beige, and are quite easy to see. On the left, a 9000-rpm tachometer redlined at 7000; a small fuel gauge, centered at the top; on the right, a 180-mile-per-hour speedometer, all set into a hooded binnacle. In the center, three smaller gauges, inset deeply and oriented toward the driver the way they used to in sports cars, showing water temperature, oil pressure and turbo boost up to 14 psi. Under that are vents, climate controls, (of the sort where you set the temperature and forget it), and the radio.
 
    Between the seats are the master switch for cruise control, a 12-volt socket marked 'socket 12 volt' and well-placed for radar detector use, and a very small indentation for change or some such. Behind that is the shifter. Behind that, an ash tray and a lighter socket filled with a plug that says American Cancer Society and has the no smoking symbol. Then the control for lumbar and wing adjustment for both front seats; a seat-side switch handles fore and aft adjustment and rakes the seat bottom. Finally in the center, a flip-top armrest compartment, the only place to put things within reach.
 
    Window controls live on the driver's door, but the mirror joystick is just below and to the left of the instrument panel. It joins a fog light switch, rear wiper actuator, and the instrument panel brightness adjustment in being hidden behind the steering wheel. The cruise control master, by contrast, is hidden behind the parking brake lever. And if you think the rear wiper switch is hard to find behind the steering wheel, try it at night.
 
    The 3000 GT's steering wheel moves vertically through an arc, but not fore and aft. At 5'11", my head hits the ceiling when I'm sitting at what my normal rake, which is pretty far back. Lowering it further made the steering wheel farther away without adjustment to bring it any closer. And I still hit the ceiling on bumps. Resting my knee in a typical position actuated the right-side window, on a regular basis. All in all, ergonomic excellence is not the 3000 GT's long suit.

    It's visually tight, too. Even with the seat up high, the hood blisters intrude on the forward view, and that big basket-handle wing takes up a lot of your mirror. Thick C pillars restrict the rear-quarter view. Large side mirrors help somewhat.

    The audio system is a Mitsubishi/Infinity, with a slot to play a single CD without opening the optional trunk-mounted 10-disc changer. Radio controls are conveniently in the bottom of the center of the steering wheel.

    The Visiting Brother points out that this is a good car for people with problems with driving kibitzers, as the dials -- with the exception of the tachometer and fuel gauge -- are positioned such that they cannot be seen from the passenger's seat. He consoled himself by playing with the center-mounted driver's seat positioning controls until I was compelled to tweak his nose.
 
    The glove box opens in two steps, the first just enough to dig something out, then a harder pull opens it to full access.
 
    Her Splendidness reports from the back seat: "There isn't much of one." (The Corvette, on the other hand, doesn't have one at all.) "The buckets of the back seats are certainly highly contoured, fine for taking people who absolutely have to be taken some place, but not really intended for serious use. The thing that I find I'm missing immediately is something on which to rest my arm; there's a little bit of a triangular indentation in the plastic side molding that you can rest your outer arm on if you must be in the back seat, but there's just not a heck of a lot of room back here. Not a lot of head room either; I'm a short person and I was nearly hitting my head."
 
    No golfers, we, but the shallow trunk would make stowing clubs a challenge. It did hold a week's groceries, though. And the bagboy loved the car.
 
    The SC-D's main impression of the exterior styling was that the 3000 GT was leering at her. I knew better than to ask. Just for the record, I don't like the rather gaudy look of the bright chrome wheels. Or the big wing. But everybody else does. It gets a Full Linda Blair, and that's not easy for a car that's changed little in appearance for seven years.
 
 
ON THE ROAD

    Getting the VR4 into reverse seems at first a black art. Move the shift lever all the way across to the right, then a little forward, then back solves the puzzle.

    Acceleration? Wha ha ha. That's where the VR4 excels. The car starts off with normal, good V-6 power. Then, at 2500 rpm, the turbo comes in and the Mitsu just takes off, four-wheel grabbing in every gear. Work on your speed shifting; you have to be fast to keep up with this thing. Who needs a V-8? If you want to pull away from somebody at all light or just anywhere, this vehicle will do it. Just tip into the turbo a little bit, and the car surges out from under you. It isn't sudden, pin you back in your seat acceleration, but a steady, growing Niagara of thrust.
 
    The 3000 GT VR4 is a very impatient car. You're going well above the legal limit before you even begin to realize it. "It goes zoom," explains the Visiting Brother.
 
    Is it nimble? No. Nimble is not what this car is about; it has too long a wheelbase for that sort of thing, and too much contact patch. But there's almost no question of deceleration in this car. You turn in, and it just sticks and sticks and sticks, which is what happens when you have tires the size of Stonehenge, or some better simile. It's not as solid or quite as vacuumed to the road as the Nissan 300ZX; on the other hand, but you can still buy the 3000 GT, which is a significant advantage.
 
    As you'd expect, the VR4 is very, very neutral. There is maybe the tiniest hint of understeer, but with all four wheels pulling, life is smooth and without surprises, even if you drop throttle mid-turn.
 
    Yes, sometimes you find yourself using sixth gear just because it's there. The shifter could be smoother, but doesn't bind. Two strong turbochargers are a significant compensation for selecting too high a gear. They just squeeze down on those pistons. It's almost like having an automatic transmission. All that power and 20 mpg in local hard driving (the EPA says 18 and 24.) The VR4 takes premium unleaded only.
 
    The 245x40 R18 ZR Yokohama A028s give a tremendous amount of tramlining. On a fairly normal superhighway, with small ruts, the VR4 just wants to run from one side of the groove to the other, but not anywhere out of it. It steers for you on this kind of road. There's also considerable tire noise, particularly from the rear. And admiring looks from a car full of fellows in a smoked window Bonneville.
 
    You do feel every little ripple and seam in the pavement in the VR4. And you hear it in the structure, too, which isn't too great. Doors vibrate in their frames, in a vehicle with 1000 miles on it.
 
 
SUMMING UP

    There's no question that the 3000 GT VR4 is a superb technical package, with performance out the gazoo. Structurally and ergonomically, though, its age shows. And the new Corvette -- about the same price -- highlights how dated the 3000 GT's styling is.
 
    And then a passing young man goes almost apoplectic about it: "Nice car, man!" So, maybe we don't know from anything.
 

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