Pros :
- Sporty exterior profile.
- Class-leading interior.
- Healthy amount of torque.
- Much better chassis.
- Improved handling.
Cons :
- Uneven front-end design.
- Only comes with a four-speed auto gearbox.
- Some cheap interior fitments.
- Not as tossable as a Mazda 6.
- Terribly heavy.
Interior :
Press Coverage :
The Mitsubishi Galant has always been the underdog of the midsize sedan market, both in ability and in image. The all-new 2004 Galant aims to change all that. A much larger exterior combined with class-leading interior space makes it one of the larger entries in the midsize market. It is also generous in the engine department, with decent power and massive torque figures from a larger long-stroke V6 engine. The daring Maxima-like exterior features a corporate grille and tame-looking headlights at the front, and funky tail-lights at the rear, which are also colorless on the sporty GTS model.
The spacious interior has fairly supportive front bucket seats with wide cushions and large side bolstering, while the rear bench seat has more legroom than the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Mazda 6 and VW Passat, and almost as much as the bloated Toyota Camry, even though the Galant's wheelbase is smaller than any of those cars. The misleading coupe-like profile actually has more rear headroom than any of its above-mentioned competitors. The GTS is fully loaded with the usual interior luxuries such as leather seats, sunroof, Infinity CD stereo, auto climate control, cruise control and power everything. The rear seat has a center armrest passthrough leading to the large trunk. Safety features include front and side airbags.
The large 3.8L V6 produces 230 hp, which is more than the Camry and Mazda 6, but less than the Altima and Accord. Where it shines is in its torque output - 250 lb-ft, which is more than any of the other cars mentioned here, and beaten only by the likes of the new upscale Nissan Maxima and the supercharged Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. Acceleration from 0 to 60 mph is around the seven seconds, but the automanual transmission only has four speeds, with no true manual offered. Aiding the driver are the latest in automotive gadgetry - ABS with electronic brake-force distribution and traction control. More traditional sporty upgrades include fog lights, rear spoiler, fully independent sport suspension with front and rear stabilizer bars, 17 inch alloy wheels with speed-rated 215/55VR17 tires and all-round disc brakes. Combined with the all-new stiff chassis that is shared with the critically-acclaimed Endeavour SUV, the new 2004 Galant is a tight handler.
ModernRacer.com
The new Galant is a bigger car than its predecessor, longer, wider and a smidge taller, with a longer wheelbase. Mitsubishi makes good use of the larger external dimensions with a larger interior. The 2004 Galant is expected to be among the roomiest of the mid-size sedans.
Those, of course, are the oatbran reasons for buying a car, and they're good and good for you. But the new Galant has its chocolate cake, too. Starting with the icing, the contours of the Galant are anything but generic health food, looking more like a sports car than a family sedan. They've stretched the spandex tighter over that hardbody and, with looks like that, this will be no wallflower. Mitsubishi has refined the well-worn wedge profile with a new fluid rendition starting with the brand's split grille. The roofline forms a continuous arch, tapering into the rear deck and giving this four-door sedan a coupe-like look. The rear end is neatly chiseled with large taillights.
Driving the new Galant should be a lot more fun than a bowl of crunchy breakfast cereal. The standard four-cylinder engine is more powerful than last year's and its V6 claims to be the biggest in the class. Mitsubishi claims the Galant's new chassis is more rigid and uses more high-tensile strength steel than before.
Inside, the new Galant has a silver-colored center stack with large, easy-to-understand controls for the HVAC and audio. Uplevel models have readouts in a liquid crystal display at the top of the stack so a driver's eyes don't have to wander far from the road. The instrument panel features three overlapping circles with bright silver trim. Dash illumination is, in Mitsubishi's terms, a cool ice blue.
Nctd.com
The front manual buckets are shaped for long-distance support; the rear bench is jacked high off the floor and scalloped and padded for comfort. Even with a capacity crew aboard, the cabin feels as spacious as Elton John’s costume closet. One rear-seat passenger actually crossed her legs on the trip across town.
Thieves may break into the Galant mistaking the center console’s metalized finish, huge knurled knobs, and blue twinkling lights for a Crutchfield boombox. The sparkling dash, the silver-ringed and blue-back-lit gauges, and the precisely sliding gear selector with its palm-friendly golf-ball-shaped handle are natty upgrades over the government-issue gloom of the previous Galant. They also contrast sharply with the rest of the new Galant’s cockpit, which has been thoroughly snipped by cost cutters. A primer-gray-fuzz headliner merges with hard, deep-grain black plastic on the roof pillars and rear door panels, where exposed screw heads shine forth from the bottom of the handgrips.
There’s no PRNDL display in the instrument cluster and no door to hide the center console’s molded-in cup holders. Fossilized coffee spills will become part of the décor. Mitsubishi wouldn’t even spring for an extra rear coat hook, much less a retracting one. The single hook is on the driver’s side, planted rigidly to the ceiling. That’s small spuds compared with this egregious goof: The Galant does not offer folding rear seatbacks. The Project Americans decided the space behind the bench was better used for a structural X-brace, so any timber hauls must be small enough to squeeze into a pass-through about the size of this magazine page. It’s hidden behind the center armrest. Not surprisingly, the passenger front seat doesn’t fold flat, either.
The extra steel and other stiffeners at least contribute to the Galant’s commendable body rigidity and cabin isolation. Normal road chatter and casual impacts knock around in the struts-and-multilink suspension rather than jiggling up the seats and steering column. Through a corner the big Galant scribes its arc with a steady course, the nose pinned to your desired compass heading by precise rack-and-pinion steering that transparently varies the boost to suit the speed.
Caranddriver.com
History:
1999-2003 Mitsubishi Galant GTZ
2,972 cc / 195 hp / 205 lb-ft / 3296 lbs / 0-60 mph 9.0 sec.
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