The DSM, Diamond Star Motors, cars were a collaboration between Mitsubishi, Chrysler, and Eagle (still Chrysler).  Most were manufactured in Normal, IL, and originally include the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Chrysler Laser, and Mitsubishi Galant.   The line grays as to being truly DSM cars, but the second generation (2G) Eclipses and Talons shared a platform with the Dodge Avenger and the Chrysler Sebring.

These cars have been immensely popular to the point that Mitsubishi proclaimed the Eclipse America's number one selling import sports car.  There is a very strong following in the racer/tuner community for the turbo equipped cars, mainly because they are very easy to modify cheaply.  Keep this in mind when you go to purchase a car... some have been raced.  Regardless, all of the DSMs were very popular with the general public. 

I have found several interesting numbers about the cars.  In the TELs (Talon, Eclipse, Lasers), less than 3% were sold with the turbo all-wheel-drive option.  Over 70% of TELs were painted red or white.  The horse power of the 1G and 2G turbo cars were the same, but the flow of the cylinder head was greatly diminished on the 2G cars to facilitate better emissions... therefore the 1G cars are a better engine to modify.

First and foremost, the cars did have problems.  Computers (ECUs) go bad in these cars (and most Mitsubishis) because of a simple substandard solder of a capacitor on the main board.  Used ECUs run about $100-250 and they can exchanged for refurbs for about the same price.  Next, the automatic transmissions go out quite frequently.  The synchros in the manual transmissions are very week as well.  Usually the small clutches protect the gears, but modified cars commonly run better clutches, thus increasing the chance of gear damage.  Keep this in mind when looking at cars... if it looks like a race car, the transmission has probably seen its share of abuse.  Finally, the engines do have some problems - some factory issues, some with user abuse.  Engines can run as high as $1200 for a 2G turbo model.  These cars were susceptible to crank walk in the mid years.  As for the AWDs, the early 1G cars has transfer case seal leaks that could cause complete failure and even flip the car on the interstate if at high speeds!!!

When looking for a car, high miles could mean problems.  Check for hesitation and hard shifting in the automatics.  Synchro grind going in to gear should be avoided in manual transmissions.  Bottom end knock and/or smoke if of course bad for the engines.  Please note, many of these cars had lifter "ticks" coming from the top of the engines that were not problems - just annoyances.  Of course, check oil color and levels, condition of body and interior.  If a person doesn't keep there car clean, they don't take care of the engine either!  When looking at turbo cars, remember modded means raced, and raced means abuse.  For a builder race car, preference should be given to the 92-94 AWDs.  They had less transfer case issues, better harmonic balancers (the old ones can come apart and ruin a head), and 4-bold rear ends (much stronger).  The heads flow better than the 2Gs, the cars are cheaper, and you can actually find "recipes" on the internet showing how to make them faster cheap.  The wheels will interchange on all the TELs regardless of year, the Galants had a 4-bolt odd pattern.  Most engine and transmission parts will interchange in similar years.  The only big difference is the suspensions, since the Galant VR4s were all-wheel steer like the 3000GTs and Stealths, which BTW are pretty much DSM cars, and most of issues are the same.

Hope this helps.  I have been a DSM fan since I purchased my first one in 92.  Try DSM.org for more info.

Scott Carter - www.hwy79auto.com