Car Gazing
Rock the house, then rock the babies
New Galant offers 360-watt stereo, top safety rating
By Derek Price
When you're trying to sell a four-door family sedan, it's not easy to make your car stand out.
You could float a barge full of money to the TV networks to buy advertising time, but that's probably not the best idea because profit margins on family cars are almost zilch.
You could try to convince the big car magazines to write about your new Blandmobile GT, but, honestly, when was the last time you saw "Rear-Seat Legroom Shootout" or "Best Cars for Baby Seats" on the cover of Motor Trend? That wouldn't work.
So you're forced to keep your fingers crossed and let your product do the talking. That's worked beautifully for the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, but they had to spend 20 years leaving their competition in the dust, quality-wise, to earn their reputation today. Ford and Hyundai are following the same path with the Fusion and Sonata, but they've got an uphill battle to change the public's perception that they build crappy cars.
And if you're Mitsubishi, you build a fun, safe, comfortable car with a stereo you could hear from the moon.
The new Galant has all that, and while it's not as well rounded as the Accord and Camry, it does stand out in some areas.
For starters, it has the perfect mix of performance and comfort. The suspension is tuned to provide a very balanced, predictable feel in corners, with an almost sports-sedan-like precision. It's also remarkably smooth over long stretches of highway.
The overall personality of this car falls somewhere between the hard-edged Accord and the mushy Camry. It's the kind of car a lot of people would enjoy driving.
It's also among the highest-rated cars on the road for crash safety. It got an impressive five-star score – the highest possible – for both front and side crashes.
Really, though, the part of this car that will make your jaw drop is its sound system. Even the base Galant has a 140-watt stereo that, if you turn it up to full blast, would make old codgers call their senator in disgust.
As if that's not enough volume, the performance-oriented Galant Ralliart comes with a Rockford Acoustic Design sound system that makes an eardrum-busting 360 watts of power. Yes, it's complete overkill, but I like it, sort of how I like itty-bitty cars with 600 horsepower and off-road SUVs that can crush Miatas. Overkill is wonderful.
Inside, you won't find too much that impresses. It's just a normal family car with a reasonably comfortable cabin, although some of the materials aren't up to par with its competitors. The Accord, Camry, Fusion and Sonata all feel more upscale than the Galant, which – even on the high-end packages – seems like it has a Tupperware dashboard and Payless leather seats.
That's OK, though, because the Galant is cheaper than its competitors. It starts under $20,000 and tops out around $27,000, plus options.
If you want a car that's fun, safe, comfortable and comes with a stereo that's loud enough to cause internal bleeding, then take a close look at the Galant.
But if you want something as refined as a Honda or Toyota, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.
(Derek Price is a newspaper editor and freelance writer living in Texas.
Contact him at dprice@cargazingonline.com)
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