The Mitsubishi Starion and Chrysler conquest are super rad and rebadged
The Mitsubishi Starion — and its Chrysler Conquest sibling — is among the most overlooked sports cars of the 1980s. Featuring standard turbo power, available widebody drama, and high-tech (for the time) features, the Starion deserves more recognition for helping to pioneer the brand’s high-performance portfolio throughout the decade. But it dwells in the shadow of popular models from Nissan, Mazda, and Toyota that managed to outlive the Mitsubishi, projecting their power into the 1990s.
Here’s a look at everything you need to know about the car they call the Starquest.
Mitsubishi Starion: What’s in a name?
The Starion takes its name from the “Star of Arion,” a horse from Greek mythology that belonged to the king of Argos and itself counting the mystical lineage of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Demeter, the harvest goddess, as its parents. Mitsubishi has a long history of naming cars after horses, and the Starion made prominent use of equine imagery in its early advertising.
Photo: Getty Images
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The Starion was sold with 4 different badges on the hood
When the Starion arrived in 1982, it exclusively populated Mitsubishi dealerships. It wasn’t long, however, before the handsome hatchback coupe began to adopt multiple personalities in a bid to better appeal to American enthusiasts.
Starting in 1984, the Starion was rebadged as both the Dodge and the Plymouth Conquest, changing only the badges and logos found on the vehicle while retaining everything else Mitsubishi. In 1987 the strategy changed again, with Chrysler taking over on the “domestic” side of the equation, an arrangement that resulted in the Chrysler Conquest being produced until 1989. Today, the car is commonly referred to as a “Starquest” to reflect its mixed branding heritage.
American models featured a big 4-cylinder turbo
In the United States, the Mitsubishi Starion and its Conquest companions were all outfitted with the same 2.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine running 7.5 pounds of boost (with bursts of up to 10 psi). The automaker was an early pioneer of engineering balance shafts for large four-cylinder designs — a technology it licensed out to Porsche for the 944 of the same era — and the 2.6-liter unit was seen as desirable for American drivers used to more off-the-line torque in their sports cars.
Output for the 2.6-liter was originally rated at 145 hp and 185 lb-ft of twist, numbers that compared favorably with rivals like the Mazda RX-7 and the Toyota Celica Supra. A five-speed manual gearbox was standard equipment for the rear-wheel-drive hatchback, but a four-speed automatic was also available.
Japanese and European models swapped in a familiar powerplant
Outside of North America, the Starion featured an engine design that would eventually become quite familiar to fans of Japanese performance. Sensitive to higher taxation rates in Japanese and European markets for large-displacement engines — and understanding that these customers typically enjoyed a higher-revving powerplant — non-American Starions featured the 4G63B four-cylinder. This engine later evolved into the unit found under the hood of the popular Mitsubishi Eclipse and related Diamond-Star Motors cars later in the decade.
The 4G63B was offered up in a variety of versions over the first few years of production, including a naturally aspirated unit (just over 100 hp), a non-intercooled turbo (143 hp) and an intercooled turbo (173 hp). Starting in 1984, power increased to 197 horses from the 2.0-liter engine, with the 2.6-liter finally coming online in Japan by 1987.
Narrow body cars arrived first, but box flares soon followed
The first few years of Starion production featured sleek lines that matched its wedge shape and pop-up headlights. For the 1986 model year, however, a new widebody look arrived for certain models that grafted box flares onto the front and rear wheelwells. The Conquest also received this upgrade, intended to match what Mitsubishi was doing with the Starion in motorsports.
Starion ESI-R and Conquest TSi models turned up the wick
The widebody look was unique to the Starion ESI-R and Conquest TSi editions of the coupe, which also featured staggered-width 16-inch wheels. These models had more than just an appearance package, however; thanks to an intercooler, North American Starquests now benefited from 176 hp, a number that grew to 188 horses in 1988 when the engine’s ECU was upgraded. Torque was up, too, with 223 lb-ft now available (and eventually 234 lb-ft).
Later models featured advanced suspension options
1988 didn’t just bring with it more advanced computer controls for the Starion’s engine package. It also included the Sport Handling package on the options sheet. Checking this box added an extra inch of width to the vehicle’s wheels, but more importantly, it introduced a front and rear suspension system that featured eight-way adjustable shock absorbers.
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The Starion competed in WRC and Touring Car Racing
Mitsubishi campaigned the Starion in several racing series. Specifically, the car was competitive in World Rally Championship and British, Japanese and SCCA touring car racing throughout almost the entire decade, winning its first race in 1984 and capping it off with an SCCA championship in 1990.
A radically redesigned version of the car was developed for competition in Group B World Rally Championship competition, but the company was unable to certify it in time. Instead, this four-wheel-drive model won the Experimental class in the 1983 Paris-Dakar rally and competed in France, China and the Middle East before Mitsubishi moved on from Group B. Private entries continued to keep this version of the Starion on the starting grid of various rally races until the end of 1988.
The Mitsubishi Starion is a rare hunk of ’80s Japanese metal
By the end of the ‘80s, Mitsubishi was a company with a lot of sport compact irons in the fire. A profitable partnership with Chrysler — the previously mentioned Diamond-Star Motors, or DSM — was paying major dividends as customers lapped up Lasers, Eclipses, Talons and Mirages. In their shadow, the relatively slow-selling Starion was cut loose and never saw a second-generation model get developed.
As a result, the Starquest remains a relatively uncommon car compared to its contemporaries. Fewer than 75,000 examples were exported to America across its entire production run, with the rarest being the 1989 Mitsubishi model with just 159 sold. Generally, the Conquest is easier to find, though Starion production pushed past its domestic twin for the 1985 model year, and the first two years saw no Conquests built at all.
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Photo: Getty Images
Never Forget the Mitsubishi Starion and Chrysler Conquest
- The Starion was sold with four different badges on the hood
- American models featured a big four-cylinder turbo
- Japanese and European models swapped in a familiar powerplant
- Narrow-body cars arrived first, but box flares soon followed
- ESI-R and TSi models turned up the performance
- Later models featured advanced suspension options
- The Starion competed in WRC and touring car racing
- The Starion is a rare hunk of ’80s Japanese metal
1989 Chrysler Conquest TSi interior.
1988 Mitsubishi Starion TSi side view.
LS1-swapped 1988 Mitsubishi Starion fromSuper Street.
1988 Mitsubishi Starion TSi tan interior.
1989 Chrysler Conquest TSi front.
Photos by Getty Images, MotorTrend Archive and Mecum Auctions. Illustrations by Ryan Lugo.
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