I totally agree! haha.. He geeks out over the weirdest stuff and I do the same, like that little insignificant chrome piece that 99% of people could care less about, love it! lol
EuroAsain Bob (and friend of Tyler Hoover/Hoovie Garage) found this first. Bob and CarWizard have already gone over it. I'm assuming its the same one. Bob bought it from deceased estate. Im guessing it recently made its way to Cali.
Not to mention these videos are 100x more interesting than the latest luxury performance suv or one off super cars that are all very similar to each other
These are my favorite videos because often there aren’t any other detailed reviews or explorations of these cars. There are always tons of other videos of the latest luxury & sports cars.
My mom bought one of these brand new in red in 1990, and we still have it today, its been driven for the last 30 odd years by various memebers of my family and it has been to a garage only twice in that time. These japanese cars from this era are really overlooked and are the most reliable i have seen. Ours is still going strong and i hope the last few that are out there survive.
Agreed with other commenters - these are my fave videos. Old, weird, obscure cars from the past. One misstep here is his misunderstanding of the indicators on the gear shift lever. I don't think they are arrows pointing to nutral, but rather arrows indicating the direction of travel of vehicle when that gear is selected. It isn't up or down to neutral, but rather forward or reverse by gear.
Yes exactly, I was about to write the same thing about the gear indicators; the arrows indicate the direction of the gear (or lack thereof, in neutral and park).
Either he is purposefully obtuse or he (most likely) grew up as a kid with parents who drove Volvos, Benzs and European luxury cars. He just comes off as someone who has never experienced basic stuff. “Wow, this seat doesn’t have 7 way adjustment. That was so common at the time!”
These are my favorite type of videos. The below average, the obscure and slightly interesting. Everyone will do the new golf R. Only Doug will do the Mitsubishi sigma. My first car was a Diamante wagon and I swear that car had the most comfortable seats and had enough cargo space for me and my awful emo band to load up all our gear and do small tours across the Midwest. It also had the strangest color. No one could agree on what it was. It looked purple at night and gold during the daylight. This car reminded me of that. Good times.
Not True. This is the second sigma video in few days I have been suggested and watched. First was car wizard's one. th-cam.com/video/A79Qhmw19kc/w-d-xo.html
Those Diamante wagons were made in Adelaide Australia at the old chrysler Valiant plant and exported to the USA. Im not sure the quality was up to Japanese.
The gear selector was meant to signify what the car's reaction/direction would be, P is a square because the car is static, R is a backwards arrow because it is going to make the car go backward, D 2 L is a forward arrow because those all correspond to the car's forward motion, and N is a square but since the car is not static, but is disconnected from the engine and is free to move according to what the road surface causes so it is green I guess
@Jhonson Teo, I hadn't actually thought of it that way. I had an 86 Galant as my first car with the same shifter, and my theory was that the arrows signify which way you were able to push the lever without pressing the button side button, which I would do on occasion.
The “weird old car” is so much more interesting personally too me than the fancy million dollar cars. I like these because it’s a piece of cool history and it would slide right under your nose if you didn’t know what you’re looking at. Thanks Doug for telling a cool story about a legit fascinating and awesome quirky car that everyone forgot!
Thank you Doug for staying true and covering cars like this Sigma. It's honestly why I started watching you ages ago, and still do, enthusiastically too!
The triangles obviously aren’t “pointing towards neutral”- they’re pointing forward and backward… as in the direction the car will go in that gear. Then park and neutral are rectangles because they don’t make the car go either way.
4:50 The arrows indicate which way the car moves in each gear. Park and Neutral are rectangles since they don't move the car, Reverse points backwards and the 3 Drive gears point forward.
Doug is always embarrassing. That's what makes him entertaining. He sounds like someone trying to explain things he doesn't really understand. Guess the Jokes on us. I work hard every day for $50k a year while Doughboy makes millions being a buffoon. @@Kamina1703
Mits was killing it in the '80s, their interiors were second to none in '80s aesthetic for affordable vehicles. PLEASE do a Starion/ Conquest review. Please!
I had one of these!! One of my favorite cars! It is underpowered by today's standard, but at the time it was great. One of the things Doug didn't mention is that the front seat backs split basically in half. The top portion would come forward and you able to actually lean back into the seat, so comfortable!!
I believe the “bragging” of having a 4 speed auto was a jab at companies like Buick, who during this period offered 3 speed autos on their luxury cars, like my 92 Century.
I know the big supercars primarily pay Doug's bills, but dammit I love I obscure cars being covered like this. Please never stop covering quirky cars, Doug, we love them.
I absolutely love these 80's boxy Japanese cars with those huge taillights. I grew up in the 80s and remember seeing cars like this everywhere. I wish auto makers would bring back those huge taillights, as I think taillights and brake lights have become way too small in recent years.
Well I think they were only "big" because they needed to put a big enough light bulb to illuminate enough. Now with LED lighting they don't need to be so big
@@aayonce4 One of the main reasons for taillights getting smaller is the trunk openings getting larger. On old cars, you had the trunk lid with the taillights under it. On most cars nowadays, the trunk opening is expanded all the way to the rear bumper to allow easier loading and unloading, leaving less room for the taillights. I would gladly trade trunk space for bigger taillights, as larger taillights increase visibility to other drivers from a greater distance at night.
A month ago Car Wizard had this car in his shop and i was like Wow, never heard of it. Then i wondered if Doug would review on of these and here we are. THIS IS THE SIGMA!!!
Haha! I wanted to see how far I would need to scroll through the comments before seeing that the car wizard had it in his shop. I didn't have to scroll far.
My dad had one. It really was very cool for it's time. It had speed sensitive wipers, height adjustable suspension (which was always problematic), reclining rear seats, and automatic climate control. Pretty cool for its time.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE OBSCURE WEIRD CARS YOU FIND. I like these videos SOOO much better than brand new Porsches and Maseratis. They’re so entertaining and it’s so fascinating to see old cars in pristine shape. And no, I had never heard of the Sigma.
4:44 - The arrows aren't pointing to Neutral. The down arrow is supposed to replicate back, meaning reverse. The up arrows are supposed to replicate forward, meaning the forward drive gears.
6:43 To move the seat up or down you first extend the "wand" by pulling the knob on the handle OUT/UP THEN youve got the leverage you need to adjust the height of the drivers seat without hopping up and down like a crazy person.😆
I'm aghast that he didn't note that as one of the many quirks. I was waiting. You can even see the exact moment when he ALMOST figured it out! (But then he's like "uh oh, I almost broke it, I'll just push that back where it was and keep my mouth shut.")
Bought a white, 88 model at auction way back in 97. The best car I ever owned while in college. Comfy with the plush brown seats, buttons upon buttons on the dash panel, and a fantastic engine. On long trips, the car always delivered. Wish they were still around.
I remember this car being that I'm 44. One of my classmates' father owned one. I thought it was different from the mainstream, with its unique level of flair and plushness. However, the 1st generation Diamante was my favorite Mitsu sedan. It was muscular looking but sophisticated. It kind of reminded me of a BMW, with the rounded reflectors in the halogen headlamp unit. And the grill split also reminded me of the BMW as well. It also added more of the plushness the Sigma had. I used to love the sound of the V6 ! I enjoyed this review Doug!👍🏾
18:06 actually, it’s the reviews of these quirky cars brought me to this channel. I’m fascinated how car companies have experimented with various approaches to deliver a car that would reflect the zeitgeist
My mom had an ‘86 Galant and this is certainly very similar. Doug, the handle to raise the driver’s seat has a rod that extends to make it easier (i.e. leverage) to use that feature. The Galant had a really cool luxury feature that this car is missing. In the center armrest of the rear seat was a handle. Pull up on it and the rear cushion would recline about 10-15 degrees.
mitsubishi has so many cars nobody knows about. the galant amg, the mirage asti rx and many criminally underrated cars like the starion, the fto and others. i hope doug gets to review more mitsubishi products
@@aubreyseaweed7182 GM? Mitsubishi made stuff and Chrysler badge engineered and sold it, there was a little development together but not much. Where are you getting General Motors from?
Equalizers are so very 80's-90's. Every cool stereo on the sales floor had one, be it an inexpensive all-in-one system, boombox, or hi-fi component system had one. They usually also had plenty of indicator lights, flashy LEDs for the VU meter, and intricate vacuum fluorescent displays. Automakers got in on the trend too.
I think it was the Mistubishi Eclipse! (I just found Doug and I've been combing through his "Weird" playlist). I guess Mitsubishi was especially into equalizers.
Wow! What a cream puff! I hope the next owner takes good care of it. I remember finding a galant sigma at the junkyard and thought it was cool. I remember seeing it had electronic magnetic controlled suspension
These are honestly the only type of Doug's vids that I actually watch. I simply don't find any of the new and recent cars interesting, they are all the same. These old cars are so much more entertaining .
4:34 While many Japanese cars from 1990 may have 4 speed auto transmission as the new standard it was still uncommon for the normal person to see. They were still not available on some base models and this being a top of the range, bragging that it has 4 speed automatic transmission IS a BIG DEAL. A great majority of the automatic cars still running (from 60's, 70's and 80's) were only 3 speed. Also many base model cars sold in the early 90's still had 3 speed automatics example 1990 Ford laser also sold as 1990 Mazda 323, Ford Falcon etc.
The arrows on the base of the gear selector aren't pointing to neutral. They are pointing in the direction that the gear you select takes you. Reverse is pointing behind, and all the other front facing arrows are for forward gears. The parking and neutral are stationary selections, so they got rectangles.
I appreciate the effort to explore this obscure car. They sold plenty in Australia but I can't remember the last time. I saw one. A real trip down memory lane...
These were sold under the Magna brand name. I owned a similar one with the inferior astron engine that would blow a head gasket seemingly every week. Very nice to drive though. Used to deliver pizzas in one of these bad boys....
I remember as a kid, Chrysler & Mitsubishi Sigma's were everywhere. Can't count how many people I knew who owned one back in the early 90s. One of my mates had one in early 2000s as his first car, was far from quick with the Astron 2 litre and 3 speed auto but the thing was a tank.
The 1988 version which I had actually I'd say was WAY quirkier than this with massive amounts of analog buttons, the steering column and center area was very different and strange. It also had an option which you could get to alter suspension as well. The turn signal stalk was extremely odd. I felt it was oddly overpowered, at least the 88 version felt that way. It had a 3.0 Chrysler V6 and it HAULED. So quick for what it was. The 88 also had a sigma logo instead of it being written out. I hope I can find one again because I think Doug would love to see how strange it was in contrast to this one. What a weird car.
My grandfather had an 89 and it was a super quirky car. I can definitely back up the claim that the V6 in this car was awesome and it even had a digital dashboard for the time.
The gears in the transmission are designed that way to understand where the car is going. P and N are squares since you aren't going anywhere, R is pointing to the rear of the car while the rest go foward, since they are on drive.
I'm impressed by how nice this car is, especially the interior. There are aspects that look really good even by today's standards. Compared to the Altima that Doug recently reviewed, I think I'd rather have this car... if this was the 90s of course.
Today’s standards optimized for cheap production and sell it for high prices. Look at all the interior details and materials it’s amazing compare to today’s luxury with “eco leather” and hard plastics
mitsubishi in the 90s was truly innovative geniuses, although their tech doesn't seem to last in these 90s cars, it was still ahead of the time, like the 1990-1993 3000gt active aero, if I'm not mistaken they did active aero before active aero was cool
They offered it until something like 96 too. They also had 4 wheel steering, and electronic suspension and exhaust. Also don’t forget things like active yaw control on the evo. Amazing tech for the time.
These type of videos are why I'm into cars! Doug, please keep making these for those of us into weird, obscure, and otherwise "boring" cars! Also, the world is lucky I don't have $10k to drop on this, because it's just my style 😅
The arrows for the gears on the shifter undoubtedly indicate which way you can shift the selector without having to press in the button. You can always go to the path of least resistance easily, but going between important stuff (P>N, N>P, N>R, etc) require the button
Thank you for reviewing this amazing survivor! A Sigma recently came up for sale in one of my car groups and until that point I had never heard of it. I'm a pretty big 80's car buff, so I was shocked to see something that looked so normal (not a specialty car) that I had no idea ever existed in America. Great video Doug!
I had one for years and years , my dad had the sigma before me. The most lux car in the 80's i ever saw was the Sigma Super Saloon that had the most comfy front and rear seats all with individual night lighting that was adjustable with curtains in the back lol. Sadly Magna auto gear boxes partly brought about it's downfall.
The Sigma name dates from 1979, it's what antipodean Galants were called, up until 1985 when Australian engineers created the world's first wide body car when they widened the Japanese Galant by some 4 inches to make the Magna. Toyota eventually did the same to the Camry. Diamante is an Australian Verada, the luxe version of the Magna.
When I was a young lad in the 1990s I purchased a 1984 sigma (I live in New Zealand) just like the galant in the USA It had a digital dash, the climate control display was in the dash along with speed and Revs as a bar graph. I miss that car, it was cool.
I owned this car, except it was the 1988 version. I always expected to see this car here. What a weird experience it was and yet simultaneously cool too
Doug, to get an insight into how the US Galant and Sigma came about, look up our Australian 1985 TM Mitsubishi Magna. Up until then the US and Japanese Sigma had been a narrow body car. Mitsu Australia realised when they killed local manufacture of our Australian Valiant that the Sigma we were making and selling here needed to be wider. So they took the Japanese spec car and literally grafted several inches of width into the car. Overnight this changed the medium sized sedan market here in Australia and sent GM, Toyota, Nissan and Ford local designers back to the drawing board. Out Oz TM Magna was literally responsible for the dimensions of the Diamantes you and the Japanese and UK markets got later - in fact they were manufactured here in LHD form and exported to those markets.
I had one w 2.4 liter 4G64, auto-leveling air suspension, dark blue plush seats and a bit different switches on the dashboard but basically the same, and here in Europe it was the "Mitsubishi Sapporo" despite it had nothing similar with earlier 2-door Sapporo Coupe just the name. And yes, it was a rare, lovable, easy-to-drive and pretty comfy car in the 90s, I loved it.
My parents had a 1978 sigma in New Zealand and when the automatic transmission died the only country selling a brand new replacement was south Africa and it took 3 months to arrive 🤣🤣🤣
My parents bought a diamante off the showroom floor back in 92 with mmc badging on it.Mitsubishi made great cars back then, wish doug would do a review on a diamante
Before i even started with the video I said this is the car we owned in the early 90's to mid 90. It was called Mitsubishi gallant in the middle east lot of quirks especially the digital display , cruise control, and the card style indicators. Thank you Doug, this video got back a lot of childhood memories..
Galant is a different car. I live in the Middle East and I bought a Galant brand new back then. There was a Sigma and a Galant in the showroom and I still have brochures for both of them.
Being from Bahrain, i recall the Sigma being sold alongside the Galant over here but maybe different markets, different names? I know that the Sigma was eventually replaced by the Magna which was built in Australia.
I love how Doug can remember even an obscure car like this from his childhood and relate it to a specific time in his life. I can barely remember what my own parents drove.
@@jwalster9412 They probably don't have a license or they don't want to drive after they've been in a car accident. Some people don't want to drive, even if they have a license.
Until today my father's Mazda 929 Limited was the only car I had ever seen with a factory EQ. The stereo in that car was amazing, stainless steel, EQ and the only car I can think of that had an upright tape deck like a home stereo.
Almost all jdm luxury models had floating roofs in 80s and early 90s. My dad had nissan laurel he imported from Japan and it was the coolest thing ever. Roll all the windows down and you feel almost like in a convertable.
For the seat height adjustment, if you extend the telescopic handle you would have more leverage to adjust the height, another quirk was the interior temperature sensor in the headliner behind the sunroof. Also, I believe the rear seats are adjustable to move up or down thus the split in the seat cushions.
These came out in australia in 1987 and was called the magna. Interestingly, it replaced an outgoing model called the sigma which we had from the late 70s (around the time that mitsubishi took over chrysler in australia). The luxury model was called the magna elite. Mitsubishi ended up doing a luxury model later on called the verada
TM Magna came out in 1985 featuring a widened body. Certain 1990s era Mitsubishi Diamante models sold in the US were built in South Australia, perhaps the last export until the 2003 Pontiac GTO.
Ahh the good ole Aussie Magna. A decent car for it's time. I also remember the Sigmas, and they were known a bloody good cars, in terms of reliability, back in the day. If I recall, the 2.6L was the engine of choice. A shame the auto trans had a plastic spring that was known to fail eventually, requiring an expensive repair to retrofit a metal one, in later models. The one Doug is showing looks similar to the Magna GLX (top spec IIRC) from that era.
I was scanning the comments to see if anyone had posted this. I'm old enough to remember that the Mitsubishi Sigma we got here started life as the Chrysler Sigma. The Magna became a really good car, and I remember when I first saw it's replacement (the 380), thinking Mitsubishi were done. And sadly, it proved to be, with them shutting down their local manufacturing not long after.
@@Neilios1000 a real shame too IMO, as to me the 380 was a decent competitor for the other big 6s at the time, Commodore, Falcon, and V6 Camry. Watching this video takes me back to my HSC year, and loving that boxy look of the Magna and R32 Skyline of that time, yes even the bog standard Skyline.
My first car was a 1980 "Chrysler" Sigma GH SE purchased in 1990, with a 4cyl 2 litre engine. Had that for 8 years. Had velour seats and a great "sports" steering wheel.
Doug: "This video probably won't get many views." Me: "Another supercar video, meh... What's this? An old Mitsubishi I've never heard of? Tell me more!" Really, these videos about regular cars from the 1980s and 90s are some of my favorites.
imo supercars are kinda boring, and all about the same nowadays. 4 liter twin turbos in everything. blah blah infotainment screens blah blah launch control. blah blah last gas powered model by such and such.. i want more obscure oddball cars!
Surprised at now damn NICE that interior looks, love that leather. Although the rest of the car kind of looks dated for 1990, if this had came out in 1982/83 it would have been a space ship. Think about how sleek the 1992 Lexus ES300 was, or the 1991 Acura Legend. Even the boxy 190e or 300e Benz cars had a lot more style than this thing(I know they were A LOT more $$$)
6:15 That's definitely a quartz clock. Quartz timepieces are as cheap as they come, and very accurate too. Basically all digital clocks are quartz.That cheap clock is probably more accurate than the mechanical clock in a Rolls Royce.
I remember the Mitsubishi Sigma being very popular here in New Zealand in the early 1980s - I imagine they were locally assembled - though I never realised it was a variant of the Galant (I do remember the Galant being available during the 80s and 90s as well, perhaps as imported used JDM cars). Intriguingly, there was also a variant made by Chrysler Australia known as the Chrysler Sigma.
They aren't pointing at neutral position, they refer to movement direction, d , 2 and 1 are obviously about moving the car forward and r stands for reverse direction.
The direction of the arrows on the gear selector means the direction in which the shifter can be moved without pressing the button on the gear lever. So you can move the gear lever from reverse into neutral by just pulling down on the shifter without pressing the button. And you can move the gear lever from first right through second and drive up into neutral by pushing up on the gear lever without pressing the button on the gear lever.
Cars like this are the reason i keep coming back to your channel! New cars are boring to me and i really appreciate you reviewing cars that we grew up around and showing their features. Great vid!
For real. Just go to the Doug score and see what car is the best. That system that was tedious at first then became a whole encyclopedia for almost every car and what the benefits and downfalls are
@@theironemald8779 it’s a pretty dumb system lol he measures every car based on its practicality and fun levels. So the best SUV in the world is going to score low because it’s not fun for joyriding, and the best hypercar in the world will score lower because you can’t take it grocery shopping. A fun gimmick but by no way actually measures the quality of vehicles lol
of course the buttons would beep, it's not a tactile button so you can't feel a click to confirm if the button responded to the press, you would have to hear the confirmation.
I’d do new cars too if I kept getting offered promo cars. It’s great info for consumers, if you’re willing to pay today’s exorbitant prices, you’d better be buying that Goldilocks car and Doug will clue you in on what’s too hot or too cold without some dealer trying to force-feed you under-cooked porridge that’s way above MSRP.
It’s so great seeing Doug do more old, weird, quirky, and unknown cars. I know they don’t get a ton of views, but I love seeing these oddities that I’ve never heard of, and it’s incredible fun seeing how much Doug loves these cars.
These kinds of videos are always my favorite. When Doug gets to show a car that is just kinda "normal", but at the same time so rare you very well may never actually see this car out on the road for the rest of your life.
Doug really rushing through these... 1) The seat heigh adjustment is on a telescoping handle that allows you to smoothly set the height without really having to throw your weight. 2) No mention of the weird placement of the Brake booster and reservoir under the hood -- obviously done because of its original location in right hand drive models 3) The gear position indicators are in triangles to point in the "direction of travel" - I don't think they really indicate a homage to the neutral position. 4) No mention of the driver's side airbag - which would've been a rare item in a Japanese car like this in the early 90s.
Yeah I was surprised he didn't mention the airbag. Most Japanese cars didn't have one until a couple years after this. Always surprised me that Chrysler was the brand to pretty much pioneer having a standard driver airbag throughout most of their lineup in 1990, even being an option in a couple of their late-1980's cars. Had to be an expensive undertaking back then.
Doug, the Sigma was an Australian built car in the 1980's originally manufactured at Clovelly Park in South Australia. I had the inopportune pleasure of owning one. What 'you' actually have is a Magna. And blessed be the soft piston rings... for they did make the car run. And make blue smoke.
I remember other drivers of the time being most horrified if you managed to get caught behind one of them at the lights or up a hill! The good old 2.6 Litre ASTRON through that 4 speed trans was truly gutless, and yes the blue smoke from having to wring it's neck constantly to get moving!!
They didn't have the Magna in the USA . The Sigma was the Magna in USA before it was replaced by the Diamonte which was our Verada. The US sigma is not exactly the same as the Aussie Magna though in design. The rear quarter panel area was altered for the US as he said to make it look more coupe like. Still very close at first glance though. We also didn't have the 6 cylinder in that shaped Magna that was only in the Verada shape. Only New Zealand had the 6 cylinder in this square shape.
I love seeing videos of obscure cars that I haven't even heard of... makes me feel like there are so many things still left to know and learn about... it won't be successful videos, but nonetheless it's entertaining to watch.. when you think about Mitsubishi, an eclipse, starion, talon, lancer evolution, 3000 GT/GTO, Pajero/Montero .... but I didn't even know such a model existed..
The arrows on the gear selector are pointing the way that the car will move when placed into said gear. Hence the reason the R is pointing backwards, and all the other forward gears are pointing forward.
The Mitsubishi Galant was called the Magna and this Sigma version was known as the Elante (later Verada) in Australia. The Sigma name was used for the earlier Chrysler/Mitsubishi version in the late 70s/early 80s here also.
I remember a car called a Sigma in Australia as a small basic sedan (like a Colt sedan). Side note: the Magna was built in Adelaide and we were very proud that they got exported to the US.
I remember when I was younger working in smash repairs in the early 90's in Australia... Sigma's were called Pigma's because of how much of a pig they were to work on.
I had a 2001 Mitsubishi Sigma here in New Zealand it was a Japanese import with four-wheel steer all the luxury items you could imagine and it was the best car I ever had. And also I had a 1985 Mitsubishi Sigma the same shape as that one but a GLX and they had in the torious fault the front seat driver side always snapped at the reclining hinge all Mitsubishi sigma/ gallant cars did that apparently. And in New Zealand the glant was actually marketed is the Sigma and it's luxury brand was the V3000 the Sigma was a huge success in New Zealand and it was number one for 4 years and then the diamante came out and yes I brought one in 2005.
The diamante is an excellent car, I reckon. Although, I'll always hang on to a Galant. On to my third after having one as my first car in the South Island. Mitsubishi sure had a few gems.
My grandmother owned the successor to this car that was mentioned in the video, a (not sure of exact year) 2nd generation Diamante, I would estimate somewhere between 1997 and 2000. It was very well put together for what it was, just a shame that Mitsubishi really seemed to have lost their way not long after that car was produced.
My dad had a silver Diamante with the windows all blacked out he bought it brand new back in 2001. Used it to take my sister and I to all of our sporting events. Even though my mom had a 2000 Suburban with probably triple the space to carry the sports equipment we still took the Diamante because it was so much more comfortable. I miss that car I remember the day it died.
Awesome review! A friend had one when I was in HS. It's a bummer the US didn't get MMC's flagship in Japan, the Debonair, which was also built by Hyundai and sold as the Grandeur!
I grew up in Australia in the 90s. Sigmas were definitely part of my childhood and very common at that time. There was also a station wagon version that was very popular!
I think this car was imported from Australia... The Magna definitely was and it's quite funny that these cars were marketed as luxury when in Australia, they were just family cars...
@@MartinJones123 They were just run of the mill cars there, designed to compete with the Falcon and Commodore of the time. The Diamante/Magna were built in Australia but the American market Sigma has a J VIN #
I worked with someone who bought one of these new back in the day. He was one of those people who was very adamant about his opinions (he also wrote his memos and, later, emails in ALL CAPS to emphasize the importance of what he was saying). He drove a couple of us to get lunch one day shortly after he purchased it and we all got to hear ALL about his fancy new car on the way - so much so that I already knew most of the quirks and features that Doug talked about from that one ride thirty some years ago
My fave type of Doug vids are these obscure awesome gems that I didn’t even know about
I totally agree! haha.. He geeks out over the weirdest stuff and I do the same, like that little insignificant chrome piece that 99% of people could care less about, love it! lol
EuroAsain Bob (and friend of Tyler Hoover/Hoovie Garage) found this first. Bob and CarWizard have already gone over it. I'm assuming its the same one. Bob bought it from deceased estate. Im guessing it recently made its way to Cali.
hey what are you doing here :D
Why haven't they given you a checkmark yet?
Want obscure look up the Australian Sigma turbo, RWD 2.6l inline 4 Turbo SOHC RWD.
Even if videos like this don’t blow up, I appreciate Doug making them as a sort of contribution to obscure automotive history. 🙂
These are my favorite ones! :)
Agree! Doug’s enthusiasm is definitely on the highest setting when he reviews a weird car and I live for it.
Not to mention these videos are 100x more interesting than the latest luxury performance suv or one off super cars that are all very similar to each other
Yessss
These are my favorite videos because often there aren’t any other detailed reviews or explorations of these cars. There are always tons of other videos of the latest luxury & sports cars.
My mom bought one of these brand new in red in 1990, and we still have it today, its been driven for the last 30 odd years by various memebers of my family and it has been to a garage only twice in that time. These japanese cars from this era are really overlooked and are the most reliable i have seen. Ours is still going strong and i hope the last few that are out there survive.
Feel like you've lived my life. Amazing how many other people have. These are amazing lifetime cars.
Agreed with other commenters - these are my fave videos. Old, weird, obscure cars from the past.
One misstep here is his misunderstanding of the indicators on the gear shift lever. I don't think they are arrows pointing to nutral, but rather arrows indicating the direction of travel of vehicle when that gear is selected. It isn't up or down to neutral, but rather forward or reverse by gear.
Yes exactly, I was about to write the same thing about the gear indicators; the arrows indicate the direction of the gear (or lack thereof, in neutral and park).
It was obviously a joke by Doug u nerdy garden dwarf
Either he is purposefully obtuse or he (most likely) grew up as a kid with parents who drove Volvos, Benzs and European luxury cars. He just comes off as someone who has never experienced basic stuff. “Wow, this seat doesn’t have 7 way adjustment. That was so common at the time!”
Doug often struggles with wrapping his brain around automobile engineering and design decisions that predate, say, 2005? It is rather amusing.
Timestamp 4:45
These are my favorite type of videos. The below average, the obscure and slightly interesting. Everyone will do the new golf R. Only Doug will do the Mitsubishi sigma.
My first car was a Diamante wagon and I swear that car had the most comfortable seats and had enough cargo space for me and my awful emo band to load up all our gear and do small tours across the Midwest. It also had the strangest color. No one could agree on what it was. It looked purple at night and gold during the daylight. This car reminded me of that. Good times.
Totally agree.
Not True.
This is the second sigma video in few days I have been suggested and watched. First was car wizard's one.
th-cam.com/video/A79Qhmw19kc/w-d-xo.html
Wait....Emo band? You weren't in the Sadistic Kids were you?
Those Diamante wagons were made in Adelaide Australia at the old chrysler Valiant plant and exported to the USA. Im not sure the quality was up to Japanese.
😂
The gear selector was meant to signify what the car's reaction/direction would be, P is a square because the car is static, R is a backwards arrow because it is going to make the car go backward, D 2 L is a forward arrow because those all correspond to the car's forward motion, and N is a square but since the car is not static, but is disconnected from the engine and is free to move according to what the road surface causes so it is green I guess
Thanks for helping Doug see the forest through the trees on this one. I was going to do the same if I didn’t see someone else had.
Happy I wasn't the only one that actually didn't even have to think about the reasoning there...
@Jhonson Teo, I hadn't actually thought of it that way. I had an 86 Galant as my first car with the same shifter, and my theory was that the arrows signify which way you were able to push the lever without pressing the button side button, which I would do on occasion.
He's such a big annoying Goober. Love his videos though.
True :)
The Sigma Mitsubishi Grindset
Ayo sup im subscribed to u
Didn't know you watched Doug DeMuro!
standard issue sigma car
Better than the Mitsubishi Ligma.
@@bwofficial1776 Funny...
The “weird old car” is so much more interesting personally too me than the fancy million dollar cars. I like these because it’s a piece of cool history and it would slide right under your nose if you didn’t know what you’re looking at.
Thanks Doug for telling a cool story about a legit fascinating and awesome quirky car that everyone forgot!
i agree
Not only that, but the fact this car is in such amazing shape. My favorite cars are the forgotten ones that someone has spent a lifetime maintaining.
@Nomen Clature I bet you also don't care about the McLaren F1?
They look better than most overblown supercars anyway. Probably also as you know you could have afforded such a car lol
The best thing about these kind of videos is that Doug is the right guy to do these reviews. His attention tl details and quirky things are amazing.
Thank you Doug for staying true and covering cars like this Sigma. It's honestly why I started watching you ages ago, and still do, enthusiastically too!
The triangles obviously aren’t “pointing towards neutral”- they’re pointing forward and backward… as in the direction the car will go in that gear. Then park and neutral are rectangles because they don’t make the car go either way.
Exactly.
you must be new to dougs videos my guy
@@RuffianSoldier I've watched him for 5 years and I do point out all his mistakes.
I just can’t believe doug did not notice that
@@piuthemagicman well they aren’t mistakes. He does this on purpose so idiots like you will comment. More comments = better for Doug.
The perfect Sigma Grindset car doesn’t exi-
Doug: *are you sure about that*
4:50 The arrows indicate which way the car moves in each gear. Park and Neutral are rectangles since they don't move the car, Reverse points backwards and the 3 Drive gears point forward.
pretty remarkable that Doug couldn't figure that out
Doug is always embarrassing. That's what makes him entertaining. He sounds like someone trying to explain things he doesn't really understand. Guess the Jokes on us. I work hard every day for $50k a year while Doughboy makes millions being a buffoon. @@Kamina1703
these are the types of videos i love the most
obscure older cars with a lot of unique elements to them
Weird concept cars as well
To truly appreciate quirks and features.
Only reason I keep subscribed to Doug, for when he has obscure automotive content.
Right. These videos are more interesting then seeing a Ferrari video imo
Mits was killing it in the '80s, their interiors were second to none in '80s aesthetic for affordable vehicles.
PLEASE do a Starion/ Conquest review. Please!
Depends on what you mean by killing it. I sold Toyota's and Honda's back then that were really killing it sales wise and still are.
YES A STARION WOULD BE AWESOME
I had one of these!! One of my favorite cars! It is underpowered by today's standard, but at the time it was great. One of the things Doug didn't mention is that the front seat backs split basically in half. The top portion would come forward and you able to actually lean back into the seat, so comfortable!!
I believe the “bragging” of having a 4 speed auto was a jab at companies like Buick, who during this period offered 3 speed autos on their luxury cars, like my 92 Century.
Yep. Not everyone had 4 speed transmissions.
Also this is 1990. But the signa came out in 85 86.
Did you just call a Buick century a luxury car?
Yeah Mercedes had 4 speed automatics for awhile before then too
3 on the tree was still a thing in the late 80s for American and some Eurpean cars.
I know the big supercars primarily pay Doug's bills, but dammit I love I obscure cars being covered like this. Please never stop covering quirky cars, Doug, we love them.
Nor supercars, EVs, unfortunately
I absolutely love these 80's boxy Japanese cars with those huge taillights. I grew up in the 80s and remember seeing cars like this everywhere. I wish auto makers would bring back those huge taillights, as I think taillights and brake lights have become way too small in recent years.
Well I think they were only "big" because they needed to put a big enough light bulb to illuminate enough. Now with LED lighting they don't need to be so big
@@aayonce4 One of the main reasons for taillights getting smaller is the trunk openings getting larger. On old cars, you had the trunk lid with the taillights under it. On most cars nowadays, the trunk opening is expanded all the way to the rear bumper to allow easier loading and unloading, leaving less room for the taillights. I would gladly trade trunk space for bigger taillights, as larger taillights increase visibility to other drivers from a greater distance at night.
@@thefirebirdguy2512 hadn't thought about that.. I wasnt born in the 80's grew up in the early 2000's
I agree, I like the angular look of those cars.
Agreed! Big tail lights are dope!
A month ago Car Wizard had this car in his shop and i was like Wow, never heard of it. Then i wondered if Doug would review on of these and here we are. THIS IS THE SIGMA!!!
Same lol, had to double check it wasn't the same car somehow
Haha! I wanted to see how far I would need to scroll through the comments before seeing that the car wizard had it in his shop. I didn't have to scroll far.
Oh that's where I saw it. I thought Doug already reviewed it for some reason.
Not the same. The Wizard's had 27K miles. This one shows 49K miles.
I realize that it isn't the same one. Same type of car.
My dad had one. It really was very cool for it's time. It had speed sensitive wipers, height adjustable suspension (which was always problematic), reclining rear seats, and automatic climate control. Pretty cool for its time.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE OBSCURE WEIRD CARS YOU FIND. I like these videos SOOO much better than brand new Porsches and Maseratis. They’re so entertaining and it’s so fascinating to see old cars in pristine shape. And no, I had never heard of the Sigma.
4:44 - The arrows aren't pointing to Neutral. The down arrow is supposed to replicate back, meaning reverse. The up arrows are supposed to replicate forward, meaning the forward drive gears.
.
I'm so glad you pointed this out I was like come on Doug you know must know this
6:43 To move the seat up or down you first extend the "wand" by pulling the knob on the handle OUT/UP THEN youve got the leverage you need to adjust the height of the drivers seat without hopping up and down like a crazy person.😆
I'm aghast that he didn't note that as one of the many quirks. I was waiting. You can even see the exact moment when he ALMOST figured it out! (But then he's like "uh oh, I almost broke it, I'll just push that back where it was and keep my mouth shut.")
yes yes yes!!
Doug, thats one of the most immaculate cars I've ever seen, especially the interior! That's amazing to see on a car over 30 years old!!!
Agree
You must really love exclamation marks!!!
@@simplesimon8255 i really love your sister!!!!
@@JGL98 wasn't talking to you!!!
Lol doug is on the sigma grindset
@Harumy shhhhhhh
Bought a white, 88 model at auction way back in 97. The best car I ever owned while in college. Comfy with the plush brown seats, buttons upon buttons on the dash panel, and a fantastic engine. On long trips, the car always delivered. Wish they were still around.
I remember this car being that I'm 44. One of my classmates' father owned one. I thought it was different from the mainstream, with its unique level of flair and plushness. However, the 1st generation Diamante was my favorite Mitsu sedan. It was muscular looking but sophisticated. It kind of reminded me of a BMW, with the rounded reflectors in the halogen headlamp unit. And the grill split also reminded me of the BMW as well. It also added more of the plushness the Sigma had. I used to love the sound of the V6 ! I enjoyed this review Doug!👍🏾
18:06 actually, it’s the reviews of these quirky cars brought me to this channel. I’m fascinated how car companies have experimented with various approaches to deliver a car that would reflect the zeitgeist
Doug on that Sigma GrindsetTM
My mom had an ‘86 Galant and this is certainly very similar. Doug, the handle to raise the driver’s seat has a rod that extends to make it easier (i.e. leverage) to use that feature. The Galant had a really cool luxury feature that this car is missing. In the center armrest of the rear seat was a handle. Pull up on it and the rear cushion would recline about 10-15 degrees.
Huge respect to previous owner(s) for preserving the car in such shape, especially the interior
mitsubishi has so many cars nobody knows about. the galant amg, the mirage asti rx and many criminally underrated cars like the starion, the fto and others. i hope doug gets to review more mitsubishi products
The Legnum VR-4 and FTO are my favorite, too bad we didn't get either in the States
Vr4 galant 😍😍
@@aaronmcconkey1062 the galant wagon (Legnum) vr-4 especially. I love wagons, especially sporty ones, I have a Volvo V70R
@@aubreyseaweed7182 GM? Mitsubishi made stuff and Chrysler badge engineered and sold it, there was a little development together but not much. Where are you getting General Motors from?
I'd love to see him get his hands on a Pajero Evo or Galant VR4
The dashboard. Those dashboards cracked up after a few years...and that one looked PERFECT. Amazing find & a true survivor.
A car truly fit for a sigma male
lol
Alrightyy
Get "Grindset" for a vanity plate
Harumy and celine got that grindset
Actually came here to look for this. Found it.
I really love the evolution of Doug. Few years ago he had a video (don't remember which one) where he didn't know what was an equalizer was
I thought the exact same thing. He didn't even know what it was called.
Equalizers are so very 80's-90's. Every cool stereo on the sales floor had one, be it an inexpensive all-in-one system, boombox, or hi-fi component system had one. They usually also had plenty of indicator lights, flashy LEDs for the VU meter, and intricate vacuum fluorescent displays. Automakers got in on the trend too.
I think it was the Mistubishi Eclipse! (I just found Doug and I've been combing through his "Weird" playlist). I guess Mitsubishi was especially into equalizers.
6:16 Doug dishes out this strange poetry every so often and it's probably one of the main reasons why I enjoy these videos as much as I do.
Wow! What a cream puff! I hope the next owner takes good care of it. I remember finding a galant sigma at the junkyard and thought it was cool. I remember seeing it had electronic magnetic controlled suspension
This and that Audi 5000 Treser are two cars of genuinely never heard of before. Good job Doug!
and suv Saab in cars and bids
@@Apxumekmop_1 I'm a big fan of the last few years of Saab. They may have just been rebody to GMS but they were really beautiful.
These are honestly the only type of Doug's vids that I actually watch. I simply don't find any of the new and recent cars interesting, they are all the same. These old cars are so much more entertaining .
I prefer the Mitsubishi Ligma
What's Ligma?
Ligma balls 🗿
@@robertpeddicord4722 I heard Joe has it
@@dhillaz Who's joe?
@@robertpeddicord4722 Joe is the guy who does a lot of updog
4:34 While many Japanese cars from 1990 may have 4 speed auto transmission as the new standard it was still uncommon for the normal person to see.
They were still not available on some base models and this being a top of the range, bragging that it has 4 speed automatic transmission IS a BIG DEAL.
A great majority of the automatic cars still running (from 60's, 70's and 80's) were only 3 speed.
Also many base model cars sold in the early 90's still had 3 speed automatics example 1990 Ford laser also sold as 1990 Mazda 323, Ford Falcon etc.
I also believe the 1995 Dodge/Plymouth Neons debuted with a 3-sp automatic as well.
Yeah, I remember back in the day, some cars even said “fuel injection” on the back to show it off lol
Also they knew their demographic bought a car and kept it for decades.
The arrows on the base of the gear selector aren't pointing to neutral. They are pointing in the direction that the gear you select takes you. Reverse is pointing behind, and all the other front facing arrows are for forward gears. The parking and neutral are stationary selections, so they got rectangles.
I appreciate the effort to explore this obscure car. They sold plenty in Australia but I can't remember the last time. I saw one. A real trip down memory lane...
These were sold under the Magna brand name. I owned a similar one with the inferior astron engine that would blow a head gasket seemingly every week. Very nice to drive though. Used to deliver pizzas in one of these bad boys....
@@Fanta.... 2.6 4 cylinder yes?
Wasnt the mitsubishi diamante/ sigma sucessor built in Australia?
@@CRAPO2011 yes it was...3 generations actually..
I remember as a kid, Chrysler & Mitsubishi Sigma's were everywhere. Can't count how many people I knew who owned one back in the early 90s. One of my mates had one in early 2000s as his first car, was far from quick with the Astron 2 litre and 3 speed auto but the thing was a tank.
The variety on this channel is really impressive. Thanks Mr DeMuro
The 1988 version which I had actually I'd say was WAY quirkier than this with massive amounts of analog buttons, the steering column and center area was very different and strange. It also had an option which you could get to alter suspension as well. The turn signal stalk was extremely odd. I felt it was oddly overpowered, at least the 88 version felt that way. It had a 3.0 Chrysler V6 and it HAULED. So quick for what it was. The 88 also had a sigma logo instead of it being written out. I hope I can find one again because I think Doug would love to see how strange it was in contrast to this one. What a weird car.
…
That's cool I'd love to see an 88 version
I think I had an 88
Man I totally forgot about those model cars. The Sigma must have been like a new Lexus at the time
My grandfather had an 89 and it was a super quirky car. I can definitely back up the claim that the V6 in this car was awesome and it even had a digital dashboard for the time.
The gears in the transmission are designed that way to understand where the car is going. P and N are squares since you aren't going anywhere, R is pointing to the rear of the car while the rest go foward, since they are on drive.
I'm impressed by how nice this car is, especially the interior. There are aspects that look really good even by today's standards. Compared to the Altima that Doug recently reviewed, I think I'd rather have this car... if this was the 90s of course.
Today’s standards optimized for cheap production and sell it for high prices. Look at all the interior details and materials it’s amazing compare to today’s luxury with “eco leather” and hard plastics
I don´t see an Altima review.
@@SvenQ45 sorry, I meant Maxima
Have you seen the styles targeted at teens nowadays? It might as well be:p
@@soopersam1995 Ah ok. Well the Maxima wasn´t the flagship Nissan had just in the US.
mitsubishi in the 90s was truly innovative geniuses, although their tech doesn't seem to last in these 90s cars, it was still ahead of the time, like the 1990-1993 3000gt active aero, if I'm not mistaken they did active aero before active aero was cool
yeah the next car that had active aero came out like 20 years later
The R31 Skyline had active aero in '85
In 1988 the Volkswagen Corrado had active aero
They offered it until something like 96 too. They also had 4 wheel steering, and electronic suspension and exhaust. Also don’t forget things like active yaw control on the evo. Amazing tech for the time.
@@__Lento__ ehhh
Dough I really do appreciate these videos of older vehicles more than the new models you review. Thank you!
1 view, 30 seconds. Man, REALLY loving these new Sunday uploads.
These type of videos are why I'm into cars! Doug, please keep making these for those of us into weird, obscure, and otherwise "boring" cars! Also, the world is lucky I don't have $10k to drop on this, because it's just my style 😅
The arrows for the gears on the shifter undoubtedly indicate which way you can shift the selector without having to press in the button. You can always go to the path of least resistance easily, but going between important stuff (P>N, N>P, N>R, etc) require the button
Thank you for reviewing this amazing survivor! A Sigma recently came up for sale in one of my car groups and until that point I had never heard of it. I'm a pretty big 80's car buff, so I was shocked to see something that looked so normal (not a specialty car) that I had no idea ever existed in America. Great video Doug!
Sigmas we’re legendary in Australia. They morphed into the Mitsubishi Magna which was known to be as reliable and long-lasting as a Camry.
I had one for years and years , my dad had the sigma before me. The most lux car in the 80's i ever saw was the Sigma Super Saloon that had the most comfy front and rear seats all with individual night lighting that was adjustable with curtains in the back lol. Sadly Magna auto gear boxes partly brought about it's downfall.
Up the magna!
Up the mighty magna
@@IGDZILLA and the broken belt didn’t cause catastrophic engine failure ?
The Sigma name dates from 1979, it's what antipodean Galants were called, up until 1985 when Australian engineers created the world's first wide body car when they widened the Japanese Galant by some 4 inches to make the Magna.
Toyota eventually did the same to the Camry.
Diamante is an Australian Verada, the luxe version of the Magna.
When I was a young lad in the 1990s I purchased a 1984 sigma (I live in New Zealand) just like the galant in the USA
It had a digital dash, the climate control display was in the dash along with speed and Revs as a bar graph. I miss that car, it was cool.
0:01 intro
2:08 Interior
8:52 back seat
10:42 boot
13:23 engine
14:18 exterior
15:20 driving
18:28 conclusion
Thanks
@Safiyugly no
I owned this car, except it was the 1988 version. I always expected to see this car here. What a weird experience it was and yet simultaneously cool too
88 was the best IMO👌🏾
Doug, to get an insight into how the US Galant and Sigma came about, look up our Australian 1985 TM Mitsubishi Magna. Up until then the US and Japanese Sigma had been a narrow body car. Mitsu Australia realised when they killed local manufacture of our Australian Valiant that the Sigma we were making and selling here needed to be wider. So they took the Japanese spec car and literally grafted several inches of width into the car. Overnight this changed the medium sized sedan market here in Australia and sent GM, Toyota, Nissan and Ford local designers back to the drawing board. Out Oz TM Magna was literally responsible for the dimensions of the Diamantes you and the Japanese and UK markets got later - in fact they were manufactured here in LHD form and exported to those markets.
Man, I'd love for doug to review a 3rd gen magna, what a car
I absolutely adore Doug’s videos on older quirky cars! Thank you for making them.
I had one w 2.4 liter 4G64, auto-leveling air suspension, dark blue plush seats and a bit different switches on the dashboard but basically the same, and here in Europe it was the "Mitsubishi Sapporo" despite it had nothing similar with earlier 2-door Sapporo Coupe just the name. And yes, it was a rare, lovable, easy-to-drive and pretty comfy car in the 90s, I loved it.
..
That's cool!
My parents had a 1978 sigma in New Zealand and when the automatic transmission died the only country selling a brand new replacement was south Africa and it took 3 months to arrive 🤣🤣🤣
Mine was an 88 and it had the lower ability as well
I had a Sapporo, cool little car, handled really well with Bilsteins and urathane bushings
My parents bought a diamante off the showroom floor back in 92 with mmc badging on it.Mitsubishi made great cars back then, wish doug would do a review on a diamante
Before i even started with the video I said this is the car we owned in the early 90's to mid 90. It was called Mitsubishi gallant in the middle east lot of quirks especially the digital display , cruise control, and the card style indicators. Thank you Doug, this video got back a lot of childhood memories..
That's the Mitsubishi galant? Their quite common in the UK. (well, they aren't rare, per SE. Like I thought this sigma would be)
Galant is a different car. I live in the Middle East and I bought a Galant brand new back then. There was a Sigma and a Galant in the showroom and I still have brochures for both of them.
They even did a diesel turbo version
Being from Bahrain, i recall the Sigma being sold alongside the Galant over here but maybe different markets, different names? I know that the Sigma was eventually replaced by the Magna which was built in Australia.
I love how Doug can remember even an obscure car like this from his childhood and relate it to a specific time in his life. I can barely remember what my own parents drove.
My parents don't drive.. 😐 so Doug is just an extremely luck person.. good memory..
@@jwalster9412 They probably don't have a license or they don't want to drive after they've been in a car accident.
Some people don't want to drive, even if they have a license.
@@automation7295 he's luck, and has good memory.
The Australian version the Mitsubishi Magna Elite was pretty cool car with heaps of toys in its day!
Until today my father's Mazda 929 Limited was the only car I had ever seen with a factory EQ. The stereo in that car was amazing, stainless steel, EQ and the only car I can think of that had an upright tape deck like a home stereo.
My Mazda 929 coupe had the upright tape deck too and everything was sloped towards the driver. It even had electronic suspension back in 1985.
Not just any stereo, but AM Stereo!
Firs i saw with adjustable eq was the 1984 nissan maxima
Wonderful car, I love it. Especially the gear selector. Maybe I'm old but i'd rather have this than swipe on a screen to switch into reverse.
You are not old. You are sensible & practical.
13:05 it's pretty cool to see the Gallant with the floating roof long before most modern cars adopted/copied it
Almost all jdm luxury models had floating roofs in 80s and early 90s. My dad had nissan laurel he imported from Japan and it was the coolest thing ever. Roll all the windows down and you feel almost like in a convertable.
For the seat height adjustment, if you extend the telescopic handle you would have more leverage to adjust the height, another quirk was the interior temperature sensor in the headliner behind the sunroof. Also, I believe the rear seats are adjustable to move up or down thus the split in the seat cushions.
These came out in australia in 1987 and was called the magna. Interestingly, it replaced an outgoing model called the sigma which we had from the late 70s (around the time that mitsubishi took over chrysler in australia). The luxury model was called the magna elite. Mitsubishi ended up doing a luxury model later on called the verada
TM Magna came out in 1985 featuring a widened body. Certain 1990s era Mitsubishi Diamante models sold in the US were built in South Australia, perhaps the last export until the 2003 Pontiac GTO.
Ahh the good ole Aussie Magna. A decent car for it's time. I also remember the Sigmas, and they were known a bloody good cars, in terms of reliability, back in the day. If I recall, the 2.6L was the engine of choice. A shame the auto trans had a plastic spring that was known to fail eventually, requiring an expensive repair to retrofit a metal one, in later models. The one Doug is showing looks similar to the Magna GLX (top spec IIRC) from that era.
I was scanning the comments to see if anyone had posted this. I'm old enough to remember that the Mitsubishi Sigma we got here started life as the Chrysler Sigma. The Magna became a really good car, and I remember when I first saw it's replacement (the 380), thinking Mitsubishi were done. And sadly, it proved to be, with them shutting down their local manufacturing not long after.
@@Neilios1000 a real shame too IMO, as to me the 380 was a decent competitor for the other big 6s at the time, Commodore, Falcon, and V6 Camry. Watching this video takes me back to my HSC year, and loving that boxy look of the Magna and R32 Skyline of that time, yes even the bog standard Skyline.
My first car was a 1980 "Chrysler" Sigma GH SE purchased in 1990, with a 4cyl 2 litre engine. Had that for 8 years. Had velour seats and a great "sports" steering wheel.
Doug: "This video probably won't get many views."
Me: "Another supercar video, meh... What's this? An old Mitsubishi I've never heard of? Tell me more!"
Really, these videos about regular cars from the 1980s and 90s are some of my favorites.
Me too, haha. Though sadly our kind of thought process seems to be in the minority of car viewers
imo supercars are kinda boring, and all about the same nowadays. 4 liter twin turbos in everything. blah blah infotainment screens blah blah launch control. blah blah last gas powered model by such and such.. i want more obscure oddball cars!
People will click just cuz the car is called sigma
Surprised at now damn NICE that interior looks, love that leather. Although the rest of the car kind of looks dated for 1990, if this had came out in 1982/83 it would have been a space ship. Think about how sleek the 1992 Lexus ES300 was, or the 1991 Acura Legend. Even the boxy 190e or 300e Benz cars had a lot more style than this thing(I know they were A LOT more $$$)
The old Legends were such an awesome car with the sweetest V6 in them . It's sad we don't see cars like that now.
6:15 That's definitely a quartz clock. Quartz timepieces are as cheap as they come, and very accurate too. Basically all digital clocks are quartz.That cheap clock is probably more accurate than the mechanical clock in a Rolls Royce.
amazing the things doug has no idea about
Doug really the type of guy to release quality content at a very consistent rate :)
I remember the Mitsubishi Sigma being very popular here in New Zealand in the early 1980s - I imagine they were locally assembled - though I never realised it was a variant of the Galant (I do remember the Galant being available during the 80s and 90s as well, perhaps as imported used JDM cars). Intriguingly, there was also a variant made by Chrysler Australia known as the Chrysler Sigma.
They aren't pointing at neutral position, they refer to movement direction, d , 2 and 1 are obviously about moving the car forward and r stands for reverse direction.
The direction of the arrows on the gear selector means the direction in which the shifter can be moved without pressing the button on the gear lever.
So you can move the gear lever from reverse into neutral by just pulling down on the shifter without pressing the button. And you can move the gear lever from first right through second and drive up into neutral by pushing up on the gear lever without pressing the button on the gear lever.
Doug is a type of guy who can't understand that gear selector arrows show towards the direction of movement (and not to the GOD neutral)
LOL, yes, I was thinking, "They are pointing in the direction they move the car, Doug"
Cars like this are the reason i keep coming back to your channel! New cars are boring to me and i really appreciate you reviewing cars that we grew up around and showing their features. Great vid!
Loving these old Japanese cars reviews Dougster! Keep them coming!
Doug can pretty much buy any car he wants from talking about cars.
For real. Just go to the Doug score and see what car is the best. That system that was tedious at first then became a whole encyclopedia for almost every car and what the benefits and downfalls are
Living the dream.
@@theironemald8779 it’s a pretty dumb system lol he measures every car based on its practicality and fun levels. So the best SUV in the world is going to score low because it’s not fun for joyriding, and the best hypercar in the world will score lower because you can’t take it grocery shopping. A fun gimmick but by no way actually measures the quality of vehicles lol
Dude does some serious research though, and delivers it well
of course the buttons would beep, it's not a tactile button so you can't feel a click to confirm if the button responded to the press, you would have to hear the confirmation.
Now that Doug has Cars and Bids he can finally do fun quirky weird old car reviews that won't bring huge view numbers. Love it!
I dont think this is the case, he still does mostly new cars
I’d do new cars too if I kept getting offered promo cars. It’s great info for consumers, if you’re willing to pay today’s exorbitant prices, you’d better be buying that Goldilocks car and Doug will clue you in on what’s too hot or too cold without some dealer trying to force-feed you under-cooked porridge that’s way above MSRP.
Hey Doug
I love your videos, they are great. Keep up the great work man! I know a guy that has a late 90s Mitshubishi Eclipse convertible
It’s so great seeing Doug do more old, weird, quirky, and unknown cars. I know they don’t get a ton of views, but I love seeing these oddities that I’ve never heard of, and it’s incredible fun seeing how much Doug loves these cars.
These kinds of videos are always my favorite. When Doug gets to show a car that is just kinda "normal", but at the same time so rare you very well may never actually see this car out on the road for the rest of your life.
Doug really rushing through these...
1) The seat heigh adjustment is on a telescoping handle that allows you to smoothly set the height without really having to throw your weight.
2) No mention of the weird placement of the Brake booster and reservoir under the hood -- obviously done because of its original location in right hand drive models
3) The gear position indicators are in triangles to point in the "direction of travel" - I don't think they really indicate a homage to the neutral position.
4) No mention of the driver's side airbag - which would've been a rare item in a Japanese car like this in the early 90s.
Yeah I was surprised he didn't mention the airbag. Most Japanese cars didn't have one until a couple years after this. Always surprised me that Chrysler was the brand to pretty much pioneer having a standard driver airbag throughout most of their lineup in 1990, even being an option in a couple of their late-1980's cars. Had to be an expensive undertaking back then.
Any idea what the Power/Eco button did mechanically? Hard to imagine what it could do without a computer controlling the shift points....
Is this the Sigma that was just on the Car Wizards channel? If not, that's 2 Sigmas in great shape on TH-cam in the same week.
Doug, the Sigma was an Australian built car in the 1980's originally manufactured at Clovelly Park in South Australia. I had the inopportune pleasure of owning one. What 'you' actually have is a Magna.
And blessed be the soft piston rings... for they did make the car run. And make blue smoke.
I remember other drivers of the time being most horrified if you managed to get caught behind one of them at the lights or up a hill!
The good old 2.6 Litre ASTRON through that 4 speed trans was truly gutless, and yes the blue smoke from having to wring it's neck constantly to get moving!!
They didn't have the Magna in the USA . The Sigma was the Magna in USA before it was replaced by the Diamonte which was our Verada. The US sigma is not exactly the same as the Aussie Magna though in design. The rear quarter panel area was altered for the US as he said to make it look more coupe like. Still very close at first glance though. We also didn't have the 6 cylinder in that shaped Magna that was only in the Verada shape. Only New Zealand had the 6 cylinder in this square shape.
I love seeing videos of obscure cars that I haven't even heard of... makes me feel like there are so many things still left to know and learn about... it won't be successful videos, but nonetheless it's entertaining to watch..
when you think about Mitsubishi, an eclipse, starion, talon, lancer evolution, 3000 GT/GTO, Pajero/Montero .... but I didn't even know such a model existed..
Talon and Eclipse are basically the same car, just re-engineered.
The arrows on the gear selector are pointing the way that the car will move when placed into said gear. Hence the reason the R is pointing backwards, and all the other forward gears are pointing forward.
The Mitsubishi Galant was called the Magna and this Sigma version was known as the Elante (later Verada) in Australia. The Sigma name was used for the earlier Chrysler/Mitsubishi version in the late 70s/early 80s here also.
I remember a car called a Sigma in Australia as a small basic sedan (like a Colt sedan). Side note: the Magna was built in Adelaide and we were very proud that they got exported to the US.
I remember when I was younger working in smash repairs in the early 90's in Australia... Sigma's were called Pigma's because of how much of a pig they were to work on.
I love it when Doug does obscure car videos. They're my favorite and it's much more interesting to me than all the modern car vids he does.
Great video. Sigmas were everywhere when I grew up in NZ but I haven’t seen one or thought about one for decades. They just vanished.
I had a 2001 Mitsubishi Sigma here in New Zealand it was a Japanese import with four-wheel steer all the luxury items you could imagine and it was the best car I ever had. And also I had a 1985 Mitsubishi Sigma the same shape as that one but a GLX and they had in the torious fault the front seat driver side always snapped at the reclining hinge all Mitsubishi sigma/ gallant cars did that apparently. And in New Zealand the glant was actually marketed is the Sigma and it's luxury brand was the V3000 the Sigma was a huge success in New Zealand and it was number one for 4 years and then the diamante came out and yes I brought one in 2005.
The diamante is an excellent car, I reckon. Although, I'll always hang on to a Galant. On to my third after having one as my first car in the South Island. Mitsubishi sure had a few gems.
My grandmother owned the successor to this car that was mentioned in the video, a (not sure of exact year) 2nd generation Diamante, I would estimate somewhere between 1997 and 2000. It was very well put together for what it was, just a shame that Mitsubishi really seemed to have lost their way not long after that car was produced.
My dad had a silver Diamante with the windows all blacked out he bought it brand new back in 2001. Used it to take my sister and I to all of our sporting events. Even though my mom had a 2000 Suburban with probably triple the space to carry the sports equipment we still took the Diamante because it was so much more comfortable. I miss that car I remember the day it died.
I truly enjoy your old car videos.
It's crazy that the Car Wizard just had one of these in his shop a few days ago that Euro Asian Bob purchased. 🤔
And EAB's find that Wizard showed was also a garage queen and time capsule.
@@talon262 maybe it is the same car. Doug films a lot of Videos months earlier
🧙♂️
@@grunkohlaktionar7474 I agree, I think it's the same car.
Crazy! Not same. Mine has half the mileage and no sunroof.
And the weird relic car reviews continues…Go Doug 😉
@CELINEe-33💎🗡️ nobody asked
Jesus Christ the bots are out of control
@@nathanjoseph4284 😂
Awesome review! A friend had one when I was in HS. It's a bummer the US didn't get MMC's flagship in Japan, the Debonair, which was also built by Hyundai and sold as the Grandeur!
I love how you can hear the leather squeaking while Doug is in the car. Truly a staple of 80s-90s luxury cars
I grew up in Australia in the 90s. Sigmas were definitely part of my childhood and very common at that time. There was also a station wagon version that was very popular!
I did too and my grandparents in Victoria had a Sigma wagon with the manual
I think this car was imported from Australia... The Magna definitely was and it's quite funny that these cars were marketed as luxury when in Australia, they were just family cars...
@@MartinJones123 They were just run of the mill cars there, designed to compete with the Falcon and Commodore of the time.
The Diamante/Magna were built in Australia but the American market Sigma has a J VIN #
@@ryanglass2778 Didn't Australia start using the Magna name by this time?
This model was never sold in Australia.
I worked with someone who bought one of these new back in the day. He was one of those people who was very adamant about his opinions (he also wrote his memos and, later, emails in ALL CAPS to emphasize the importance of what he was saying). He drove a couple of us to get lunch one day shortly after he purchased it and we all got to hear ALL about his fancy new car on the way - so much so that I already knew most of the quirks and features that Doug talked about from that one ride thirty some years ago
Actually I have heard about it. The Car Wizard had one in his shop a few weeks ago.