They say that while Americans will look at a new car first in profile, the Japanese walk to the front of a vehicle to see its face. From that angle, the 3000GT VR-4 is a howling banshee. The radiator opening is a gaping maw. This mouth is flanked by a pair of functional inlets that feed twin intercoolers. Projector beam headlamps peer out from clear blistered lenses like multiple eyes. Turn signals bulge out like insect eyes. All the better to watch you with, my dear.From the American angle, there's a low hood sweeping up to a passenger compartment arched like the cockpit of a fighter plane. It's an appropriate shape, what with that huge wing mounted on the rear deck that, with the end plates, looks like the tail of a P-38. The chrome 18-inch wheels are flashy; measuring 8.5-inches wide, they are mounted with Z-rated 245/40 Yokohama A-028 tires that are all business. The scoops in front of the rear wheels are phony but the contours break up what would otherwise be a plain surface. The VR-4 is the top of the 3000GT line, which includes a 161-horsepower base model that retails for $25,450, and an 218-horsepower SL model that retails for $33,400. The SL, which stands for "sport luxury," is well equipped and the only option is a 10-disc CD changer. The 3000GT and 3000GT SL models are both front-wheel-drive machines. They come with a choice of 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic. The 3000GT VR-4, however, is four-wheel drive. And it needs all the traction it can get: A twin-turbocharged, twin-intercooled V6 with dual overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder spins out 320 horsepower at 6000 rpm. Even more impressive is that it produces 315 foot-pounds of torque at just 2500 rpm. All VR-4s come with a German-designed and North Carolina-built Getrag 6-speed manual gearbox. MacPherson struts up front employ negative offset steering geometry for better braking stability. The VR-4's rear suspension is a double wishbone arrangement. The VR-4 also has 4-wheel steering. Toe-control links in the rear suspension induce toe-in for greater stability when cornering and under hard braking and acceleration. It does this by adjusting the toe, or alignment, up to 1.5 degrees, steering the rear wheels in the same direction as the front wheels. (This only occurs at 31 mph or faster.) Big four-wheel vented disc brakes slow the VR-4 down. ABS is standard. The four-wheel-drive system consists of a center differential with a limited-slip viscous coupling; the rear differential also uses a viscous coupling. The normal torque split front/rear is 45/55 respectively so that the VR-4 has rear-drive bias under normal conditions. If slip occurs, torque is sent to the tires with greater traction.
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