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2007 Mitsubishi Galant Ralliart Road Test

The Lancer Ralliart was a car that made me a believer in Mitsubishi,and a believer in the Ralliart name. Since getting a test drive in a Dakar-spec Pajero was about as likely as my ability to traverse that journey on the back of a mule, and they haven't had any Lancer Evolutions available in my area so I had to settle. But I didn't have to settle too much, not that the Lancer Ralliart is in any way shape or form as good as an Evolution. Though its larger engine had more power than the stock Lancer, horsepower wasn't its particular forte, with many of the cars in the compact arena out-pacing it easily, but it made for a very decent 'warm' compact car. The Evo-sourced gearshift was fantastic, and the sound of the 2.4-liter inline-four was peachy. The other thing that Ralliart did was make the simple and almost overly basic Lancer take to corners as if it had rare earth magnets embedded into its tires (ideal if iron, nickel, or cobalt is embedded into the roadway - Ed.) thanks to a fine-tuned combination of reworked spring rates, anti-roll bars and a nice big strut tower brace for extra rigidity. Now comes the Galant Ralliart, and with it a question: what should we expect?

The sportiest Galant, a car that in GTS trim already out-handles most of its classmates, is a mean looking machine. The regular Galant isa distinctive car, but the Ralliart adds the

The mark of Ralliart. Grille's unusual pattern makes it look custom made. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

right sporting touches that transform it into a cool, street-savvy cruiser. Stuff like the grille, which is exclusive to this car, looks custom made. The 18-inch polished gunmetal alloy wheels pinched from the Eclipse look great, as do the “squircle” headlamp and tail lamp bezels, which live under clear lenses in black-painted housings. All 2007 Galants have been mildly revised with cleaner looking bumpers and toned down side cladding, but indeed, the Galant Ralliart is the best looking of the bunch. I'm no Star Wars fan, but the blacked out appearance and the shape of the hood and grille give a distinct resemblance to a certain intergalactic evildoer. And thus, the Kalapana Black Galant Ralliart was named with affection, Darth Midsize.

Besides being asked what it was, the most frequent questionposed to us was, “What'll it do?” Darth Midsize will jet to 60 mph in a little over six and a half seconds, and if placed on a long, straight road free of law enforcement

"Lancer, I am your father..." (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

agents, the top-tier Galant will run out of steam at a speed well worthy of serious jail time, 134 mph. But it's a completely different sort of car than the Lancer, or any other performance Mitsubishi of the past. There are undertones of American-ness in the way that the Galant puts its power to the road. The V6 is unusually large, still dwarfing the likes of the Altima, Camry and Passat. Their bore and stroke become Lilliputian in comparison, but that means that the competitors can rev higher and harder than the 3.8-liter in the Galant. However, the Galant has its advantages, namely torque. There's no real tradeoff to be made with the car's three-phase variable valve timing system, which twists out 220 lb-ft of torque from 2,000 rpm; from there on in there isn't a peak or valley in sight with the curve steadily climbing up to max at 258 lb-ft of torque. For the record, the pony to torque ratio is 1:1. In the end, Mitsubishi's V6 doesn't produce much more power or torque than Ford's new 3.5-liter, or GM's new 3.6-liter, and it uses more fuel. Though it's got the technology, the way it goes about its business makes it feel a touch old fashioned.

V6 engine is powerful, but it functions as its displacement suggests. Torquey. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

The engine's firepower exits through a single, hefty three-inch chrome pipe thatwouldn't be out of place firing mortars. Instead, it blasts out the engine's deep note, but it's tuned not to be too intrusive. It's more civilized than in the Eclipse, belching and gurgling less at the low end. When hammering the Eclipse, the 3.8's baritone bellow turns heads. In the Galant it doesn't seem to have the same effect, which is appropriate since it is a midsize sedan not a hooligan's coupe. In a way, it adds to the inconspicuous, stealthy nature of the Ralliart. Blitzing by traffic, the Galant quietly sneaks around instead of informing the world that it's coming through. It's so smooth that it's easy to find yourself traveling much faster than you otherwise would suspect. The Eagle RS-A tires provide decent grip as long as the ground isn't too wet or covered in snow, at which point they make a bee-line for the widest circle possible. Turn the traction control off (what stability control?), and a heavy foot will more than oblige in turning the front gumballs into plumes of smoke and itty bitty specks of rubber.

For what Mitsubishi's engineers had to work with, a family sedan with a heavy

Ellipsoids, or as Ford would call them, "squircles", are everywhere on the Galant. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

V6 engineover the front wheels, the Galant Ralliart is more than acceptable. The ride is firmer than before, with uprated springs and dampers, but the bushings that hold everything together haven't been swapped as they usually are when a car goes through the tuning process. Mitsubishi's testers felt that they were stiff enough already, so the bushings stayed. A 0.83-inch thick rear stabilizer does its job to keep the back end following the front end as tightly as possible. Aside from dialing back the understeer even more – a task that's too difficult and too costly to deal with given the number of vehicles expected to be sold – there's something else the Ralliart team could have done to raise its standings in my book. The helm feels numb and communicates in a rather monosyllabic manner; it doesn't really let you know what's happening, unlike the ride or the strong brakes, which besides having ABS and brakeforce distribution, possess exceptional pedal feel.

Lift-off oversteer is surprising, but it's even more surprising to find in a car of this size. On its own, the standard Galant is so surefooted that the chance of it being endowed with this particularly hair-raising attribute, normally only expected of smaller, lighter cars, never crossed my mind. But then again, the Ralliart

They looked great on the Eclipse, and they look just as great on the Galant. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

is not your usual midsize sedan. Ralliart also tuned the steering rack on the Galant, giving it a slicier, dicier feel through the bends, a sensation that's familiar to sports car drivers. It makes taking those sudden dives to the apex easy to catch and easy to control.

Driven at six or seven tenths the bigger Ralliart is quite enjoyable, but the key is not to push it too hard or else it starts to unravel. The big V6 is by no means light. The heads might be painted red like those on a Ferrari, but the block is hardly as lightweight as anything under the crystal clear glass engine cover of an F430. Rather, it's a heavy-duty cast iron lump, which severely impacts the way that the big Mitsubishi goes around corners. Push too hard and the front tires eclipse their maximum grip levels, scrubbing and washing wide in understeer, but at least the progression is subtle and the line forward is easily walked. On a more practical note, the car's extremely wide turning circle is a large pain in the butt; three-point turns quickly become seven-point turns. At parking lot speeds, the Galant feels as if it could be out-maneuvered by a minivan.

It's the usual sort of performance-minded alterations when it comes to theGalant's interior. The sport seats are trimmed in jet-black leather, with the perforation dots outlined in red for visual contrast. They look good, but the bolsters are too shallow

Interior is dressed to be sporty, but seats could do with a redesign. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

and don't provide enough lateral support, and the headrests are angled too far back, making them useless for support unless the seatbacks are reclined all the way, putting you more in the mood for a nap than a spirited drive. Though the power adjustable seat helps, finding the perfect driving position is difficult to say the least. The large steering wheel adjusts for rake, but not reach, meaning long-legged folks won't be too comfortable. Tall drivers won't like the fact that the low roofline puts their head close to the liner either. To add fuel to the fire, the Galant's visibility could be improved; thick rear pillars and a high trunk lid make it difficult to judge where the car ends, while the side-view mirrors have a slim design that's not conducive to easy lane changes. On the plus side, the interior's detailing is nice, with aluminum pedals featuring rubber inserts, colorful stitching on the leather-wrapped steering wheel, silver “micro-delta” dashboard trim and bright blue instruments. One thing I noticed was that the outer ring on right most dial, the one with the fuel, temperature and gearshift selector lights, does not illuminate like the speedometer or the tach. At first I thought it had merely burnt out on this car, but others have this issue as well. Not bothering to light up offsets its symmetry and leaves it looking unfinished.

Kudos go to Mitsubishi for filling the trip computer screen with an actual DVD navigationsystem. It's easy to use with touchscreen functionality

The center stack on the Galant is modern looking, and the nav system is functional. Rockford Fosgate rocks. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

and it operates much like the systems found in Acuras, Hondas and Mazdas, with daily life planners that even boast alarms. Punch in your dentist appointment, a memo to pick up your clothes at the cleaners and a note to pick up something for dinner on the way home, and the car will remind you. The Ralliart also knows when it needs maintenance. It'll roughly tell you when the brakes or the coolant should be changed. Mitsu did go a little scientific with the whole trip computer thing. The system also has a barometer, an altimeter and will even graph out a scatter plot of the day's temperature if the need arises. The stereo attached to the nav system is made by Rockford Fosgate, and features DSP and an eight-channel amp. It's not as powerful or visually dramatic as the system featured in the Eclipse, with its Punch sub, but it's a system that can take whatever you dish at it. Silk domed tweeters ensure that high pitched sounds aren't drowned out by the thumping bass, while the ability to play AM/FM/CD-MP3s is nice to have. There's no aux-in jack for your iPod, which is odd given the cutting edge look of the integrated head unit.

Fully loaded is the only way that one can purchase the Galant Ralliart; there are no options, merely a choice of colors. Normally, I don't object to this methodology, as it's an easy way of streamlining production. Besides, who am I to object to a power glass sunroof, heated seats or digital climate control? But the one standard feature I wish was an option is the automatic gearbox. It's disappointing to see that the take rate for a manual transmission in

Darth, in action. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press)

a sporty sedan like this is so marginal that Mitsubishi decided it best not to offer one, despite the fact that the Galant uses components from the same parts bin as the Eclipse, which incidentally offers a manual. On the positive, for '07, all V6 Galants receive a five-speed automatic instead of the insufficient four-speeder. What's more, the manual mode will hold the revs at redline, which is both unusual and gratifying. There's nothing worse that hovering your hand over the gearshift lever, or fingertips over a paddle, only to have the car shift by itself as the needle swings closer and closer to redline. With this, it's all on you, though the car won't over-rev thereby preventing undesirable powertrain warranty claims (a warranty that just happens to last for 10 years or 100,000 miles).

In the end, the Galant might share the same Ralliart name as the old Lancer, but the two vehicles couldn't be more different in character. The car I was hoping for, a bigger, more powerful Lancer, isn't what Mitsubishi delivered. Instead, this is a much more relaxed vehicle, a car that owners of tuned Lancers might consider once they've settled down and had kids. Good visual attitude without the punishment of harshness and noise from performance.

Though it has the power and the looks, the Galant Ralliart isn't a dramatically better sports sedan than the Fusion, Altima or Accord, but then again, it has much more going for it. Unlike these mass-market sedans, the Galant Ralliart brims with character, and you're unlikely to park next to one when you go shopping. It's just a good, sporty sedan, with an added dose of personality. It's yet another easy way to put a smile on your face.

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