Thursday 12th June 2014

Mitsubishi Galant VR-4: You Know You Want To

Japanese turbo saloons a bit too in yer face? Fly under the radar with a 280hp Galant

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Whole features could be dedicated to the curios of the Japanese domestic market that made it to Britain, let alone those that have remained in their homeland. Think Honda Beat, Nissan Cube, Toyota Sera and so on. Here there's another, the last generation of Mitsubishi Galant VR-4.

Mmm, Japanesey

The first iterations of VR-4 were rally specials, competing in the early years of Group A against the Subaru Legacy, Sierra Cosworth and the all conquering Delta Integrales. In fact the success of the Lancia forced a change in approach from the others manufacturers as they began to realise their existing cars were just too damn big. So Legacy became Impreza, Sierra became Escort and Galant became Lancer. Then Tommi Makinen got in one.

With the Galant's rallying role usurped, its remit changed from uncompromising all terrain weapon to a more refined four door express. Hence the switch from four cylinder to a twin-turbo V6 and styling so ordinary it could pass as the Carisma's minicabbing big brother all too easily. Never particularly overt, the fastest Galant could now slip under all but the most alert of geek radars.

And that sort of gives it a bit of Q-car cool now. It really would take the very best of British anorak to clock the Galant, and who doesn't like surprising more conspicuous performance machinery from time to time?

Looks like a minicab, goes quite fast

Being a Japanese import, one can't exactly be choosy about spec on a VR-4 Fortunately this car is nearly spot-on, though some may of course prefer an estate. There's not a modification to the car, right down to the single exhaust pipe and tacked on foglight. For rallying and that. The interior retains its 90s Japanese naffness too. It's a very rare manual, the mileage is low and there is 12 months' MOT. You would imagine the seller has some service history also.

But what if this isn't the visually uninspiring, 280hp 4WD manual JDM saloon for you? Well wouldn't you know it, the PH classifieds has another option. This Legacy B4 has more miles than the Galant but is a fair bit cheaper. Looks are probably best decided by the individual.

So there we are. If the obvious Japanese saloons don't float your boat, there are alternatives. Just don't bother attempting to explain either.

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MITSUBISHI GALANT VR-4
Price: £4,995
Why you should: A less obvious Evo with a V6
Why you shouldn't: Perhaps a little too dull for £5K?

See the original advert here.

[giblet]

First an article on the XJR and now this? Explains the text I just got from my brother asking if I was running PH today!

Edited by giblet on Thursday 12th June 17:20

[giblet]

It's missing the much loved and rather rare Recaro interior plus the momo wheel and a few other bits. I'm typing this whilst taking a break from inspecting the spark plugs on my VR4. If anyone is remotely interested in owning one then check out Club VR4 as there is a wealth of knowledge in there and a load of friendly folk to help you out. I'm on my third VR4 and the community really makes ownership a whole lot better!

[Bladedancer]

A very interesting car. A little on the heavy side, but nice to drive. Thirsty from what I've heard.
I've driven VR4 and B4 and I'd have VR4. There is a nasty no-boost zone between 1st and 2nd turbo in the B4. And as someone mentioned some VR4s came with lovely Recaro interior and Momo steering wheel.
Don't get me wrong they're both great cars but I'd have the VR4 even if it is less tunable than B4

5k is IMO a bit steep for this car.

Edited by Bladedancer on Friday 13th June 12:01

[ally_f]

Beautifully understated and underrated car, I lusted after one for years (while I had my boggo 2.0 GLS version) and it still looks good ten years on!

[hadescerb]

I have the legnum estate VR4 Type S equivelant. Since September it has done 4,000 miles with no problems, and I am shortly off to the 'ring & Spa on a dual venue trip with it. Mine is the faclift 52 plate model, an auto, but that does not detract from the driving experience at all. Pick up in the first two gears is impressive, and my performance meter tels me that 6.2 seconds to 60 and 16.1 to a hundred are consistently achievable. It does like a drink though as a recent 'spirited' run down to a Sunday service at Goodwood returned 17.0 mpg, though the doodle back on motorways and A roads returned a more manageable 27 mpg. My other car is a TVR Cerbera, and the pair compliment each other very well. as the artical alludes to, it really is a bit of a Q car, with few knowing that a 2.5 litres DOHC 24 Valve Twin Turbo resides under the bonnet, or that 4 wheel drive and active yaw control are present to keep things under control. A great buy, and highly recommended.

[TIGA84]

I had a 99 Ralliart Legnum with Recaros and the Momo wheel.

Stunning cars.

[Raddors]

Miss my old Galant (not a VR4 mind). the estate is infinitely cooler than the galoon IMO.

[SwissJonese]

My dad bought a brand new one which was possibly the last official imported one into the UK (had lots of money off as just wasn't in demand). It was an epic car, had all the toys and that beautiful twin turbo engine. Yes it was a wee bit heavy but had lots of 4 wheeled drive tech and was proper motorway beast.

Here is a pick:-

[BHC]

I remember these when they were new. I also remember that they bucked the Japanese car trend of looking st. They look quite nice.

[Prawnboy]

great looking cars, and in unmessed glory. still, it is a we bit steep isn't it?

[Axeboy]

Big fan, still miss my first one.

Still my favorite engine, im sure ill get slaughtered but I preferred the engine over the 335i (which I think uses the same turbos actually).

[dtrump]

Trigger Mauve Legnum VR4s are nice


edit....where the hell has that colour gone anyway?

Edited by dtrump on Thursday 12th June 18:46

[longbow]

Whoop whoop.... I miss mine soooooo much and would have another in a heartbeat but it would have to be manual and they are rare as hens teeth. Fuel economy is pretty tragic but to be fair my Evo is the same if not a tad worse.

[giblet]

Purity14 said:

I run a 2.5 v6 n/a sporty estate with a towbar as a daily/hack/tiprun vehicle - they are alright to be in(ish), but they do go rusty, mines an 03.

Manual vr4's are the ones to have though, the autoboxes are like ticking time bombs that rape your wallet for double what you think the worst price could be.

Id much sooner sacrifice the recaro interior, for a manual box, and retrofit the recaro seats + steering wheel at a later date

I agree with you on the rust. Autoboxes are not that bad, as long as they have been serviced with the correct fluid they can take the abuse. Using the wrong fluid will lead to an early death.

dtrump said:

Trigger Mauve Legnum VR4s are nice


edit....where the hell has that colour gone anyway?

Edited by dtrump on Thursday 12th June 18:46

Winning Purple! Not sure where it went but my last one was Trigger and so is my current one

longbow said:

Whoop whoop.... I miss mine soooooo much and would have another in a heartbeat but it would have to be manual and they are rare as hens teeth. Fuel economy is pretty tragic but to be fair my Evo is the same if not a tad worse.

I'm still annoyed at the way yours was destroyed, utter scum. Was a cracking looking example!

[Sway]

Had a 2l Galaxy estate as my first car - looked like darth vader's family wagon.

Loves that car, it unfortunately ended up being torched by scum in my work's car park one evening whilst I was away on business...

[Poopipe]

These are beautiful - if I wanted something big I'd be driving one now.

That does sound a bit steep though - you could get good fresh imports for that a couple of years back when I last looked

[Poopipe]

These are beautiful - if I wanted something big I'd be driving one now.

That does sound a bit steep though - you could get good fresh imports for that a couple of years back when I last looked

[MadDog1962]

I remember driving a less exciting but brand new 2.4 litre example of this generation Galant in New Zealand about 14 years ago. It was actually pretty impressive, and I am not a huge Mitsubishi fan. The VR4 was highly rated in Australia and NZ but didn't sell all that well. Today's Mitsubishis are rubbish by comparison.

[DSLiverpool]

I bought a new 99 mauve saloon from Ralliart in - 1999, had a big stereo fitted and loved it very much. Tiny tiny wheels and weird seats but it had a YAW thingy and I was impressed.
Cost £30k!

[loudlashadjuster]

Lovely cars. I prefer the look of the pre-facelift ones, and of course it has to be an estate. That sharknose looks great, even today.

A friend ran one for about 5 years, an auto but it never produced the expected huge bills. Not as quick as the headline BHP figure would suggest, especially if you'd just stepped out of a similarly-powered Lancer, but swift and refined enough for most.

Getting the AYC meter to stay on 3 a good challenge

After all that I doubt I'd take one on for £5k though...