Colt Ralliart (Z27AG) daily maintenance

This page is mostly about my favourite (and only, as of now) 4-wheeled motorised vehicle. The Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart Version. R 'Shizuku'.

It's not one of the shiny new cars. I bought it used at somewhere around 129000 km, and it's in rather good condition. Of course this is a lot better than some of the cars you might see on the will it run sorts of videos, but an old car needs more love than a new one, generally.

Luckily, my Z27AG belongs to the generation when cars were decently digitised but yet to suffer from the planned obsolescence philosophy that is plaguing most industries right now. What that means is it's built to last while having all the necessary electronics to make it even a tad smarter.

Engine

The Z27AG is powered by a 1.5L turbocharged 4G15 inline-4 petrol engine. 4G15 has a relatively long bloodline and this version features the MIVEC (Mitsubishi variable valve something something) that is capable of altering valve timings over around 3000 RPM. Also I believe being the last and latest 4G15, it has direct fuel injection. This is half confirmed because the tacho is capped at 6500 normal / 8000 red, which is a mathematical norm for direct injection engines.

Engine oil

Manual specs are 10W-30 and I have been using that for a couple of seasons. However some older generations of 4G15 (e.g. 1996 Mirage) in the UK seem to be capable of running 5W-30, so I might try that out later.

Performance brands like HKS actually suggest using something like 10W-40 or even 10W-50 for racing specs. I appreciate that but there's always a compromise between performance and fuel economy.