Road Test
The template for the successful mid-size family sedan is pretty well cured in concrete. Give the buyer 50-something cubic feet up front, 40-something cubic feet in back, a trunk large enough to swallow next week's groceries, and the choice of a frugal four-cylinder or a smooth-ticking six. Squirt it into a shell that is tall enough for Grandma to wear her hat, narrow enough to thread between the garbage cans and lawn mower, and styled to slip into the Wal-Mart parking-lot parade without raising eyebrows.
Tamper with that template, and sales turn to jelly. No question, none of the previous four generations of Galants marketed in the U.S. really fit. They were too small, too dull, or too weird. At one time you could order a Galant with a turbocharger, four-wheel drive, and a stick. Eyebrows over at the Wal-Mart furrowed like coiled snakes.
Don't get us wrong. We liked the earlier Galants. The outgoing model drove well enough to win our September 1999 dogfight of mid-size sedans ("Cabaret de Cicada"), gunning down the previous generation of both the Accord and Camry. Of course, Galant sales jumped the following year by 29 percent to 96,452 units. Do we have influence, or what?
Still, that was just over one Galant for every three Accord sedans and three Camry sedans sold. The Galant's high-water mark wasn't much higher: 97,343 out the door in 2002. Hence, Mitsubishi is making the Galant more powerful, plumper, and plusher for 2004 in an effort to chase the template. It's a move that is sure to spur younger enthusiasts to change channels. That's okay with Mitsubishi's product planners. The company is already Adam's apple deep in youth with an average buyer age of 38, the lowest of any automaker offering a full product range from coupes to SUVs.
Mitsubishi's platoon of MBAs says the Galant should step up a demographic notch, maybe into the mid-40s where there are more sedan buyers, the paychecks are a little fatter, and the credit reports are a little cleaner. They note that Honda and Toyota-youth projects such as the Element and Scion notwithstanding-still get most of their calories from baby-boomer dough, and they want a taste.
"We cannot turn our back on the older market," says a planner. "This is our first serious run at the Camry and Accord, and we want to aim right at the heart of their market."
Project America is what Mitsubishi calls the pile of suspension and chassis parts that underpin the 2004 Galant. Maybe they call it that because of the platform's can-do attitude-it's the basis for three distinct vehicles: the '04 Endeavor SUV, the Galant, and the forthcoming Eclipse coupe and convertible replacements. The Galant is also bolted together by UAW brothers and sisters in Normal, Illinois. What's more Yankee Doodle than that?
Then again, Project America may be an oblique reference to the Galant's expanded girth. Mitsubishi has wedged an additional 4.6 inches between the Galant's axles and pulled the bumpers apart by 2.8 inches. There are 3.9 more inches side to side, and the back seat is 45 cubic feet of sprawl space, in line with all the import competitors in its price class. The trunklid tilts past vertical on compound hinges to reveal an opening Waldo Pepper could fly through.
Mitsubishi first scheduled a Galant GTS for us, a model that comes standard porked up with power leather seats; a multicolored LCD console; 17-inch wheels on a stiffer suspension; and the 230-hp, 3.8-liter SOHC 24-valve V-6. We protested: The GTS will trade for about $27,500, and only five percent of Galant buyers want it.
So Mitsu freighted our way a plebeian ES with cloth seats the color of crushed lead and a 160-hp, 2.4-liter SOHC 16-valve four-cylinder. Mitsubishi expects 65 percent of its buyers to choose the circa-$19,600 ES.
With options, including ABS, a sunroof, and the Diamond package (alloy wheels, a six-CD changer, silver interior accents) ours came to about $22,400, although Mitsubishi had not yet set final pricing.
We immediately assigned butts to every seat. 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.
