Hi guys,

I have noticed some of the 96+ Galant VR-4s are comparable in price to a KJ series Verada.

What are peoples opinion on this and which would they choose?
The VR4 being twin turbo AWD is tempting... but everything else the Verada seems like a better bet (newer, cheaper parts, not as abused, parts from wreckers, comfort etc).

Depends what you're after...

VR4 offers performance, option of manual transmission, interior and features are much the same, aftermarket performance options are much better.
Verada is automatic only, front-wheel-drive, servicing is cheaper, insurance is cheaper, is locally built.

To be honest I am looking at a car to get from A to B in comfort. The VR4 just has the bonus of being fun, fast, etc.
Logically I know I should stick to a KJ... but two turbos and AWD is quite the temptation...

If you can afford the extra cost in servicing, insurance, and fuel (95ron minimum), go for it. You're not exactly losing anything, only gaining.

It's a 16 year old car. If you want simple A-B motoring, this is not a wise choice. Sure, they are reliable but the upkeep on a car like this of this age is pretty high I would imagine. Go for the Verada.

It's a 16 year old car. If you want simple A-B motoring, this is not a wise choice. Sure, they are reliable but the upkeep on a car like this of this age is pretty high I would imagine. Go for the Verada.

The EC5A stopped production in 2003. If the OP is looking at KH/KJ Series Verada's there is high chance it'll be the same age.

The EC5A stopped production in 2003. If the OP is looking at KH/KJ Series Verada's there is high chance it'll be the same age.

But hes looking at a 1996 VR4 which is comparable price to a KJ you moron

But hes looking at a 1996 VR4 which is comparable price to a KJ you moron

Are you blind? 96+ aka EC5A, most of which for sale atm are 1999-2000 era.

It's a 16 year old car. If you want simple A-B motoring, this is not a wise choice. Sure, they are reliable but the upkeep on a car like this of this age is pretty high I would imagine. Go for the Verada.

:stoopid:

I'd recommend the Verada instead as well. Personally, I love the galants - its a confortable 4 door car with a really good chassis that handles very well and equiped with a pretty decent engine. Quite advanced car for its time too with the AYC. I've seen galants being used for racing and the handling is fantastic - that AYC is a good system and pretty ingenuitive. That being said - all of them in Australia are pure grey imports and only a fairly small handful were ever imported. The parts for them, especially at this age is expensive and getting that incredibly cramped & tight twin turbo engine bay would be very difficult to get access too and therefore labour charges would be high. Plus good luck finding a affordable mechanic who is both willing and able to touch it. To give you an idea of price for parts - the rear diff for a AYC equipped model is near $6000 - just ask Mal who actually asked Mitsubishi.You also have to consider that being both an import and a "performance" car means insurance would be expensive as well. Although it isn't "that" quick (0-100 in 6.5secs or so) its considered a sportscar and therefore a much higher risk of you having an accident, negating the fact that it is awd and has plenty of safety features, and any accident would be very expensive for the insurance company. Also - it is probably a bit of a theif magnet to anyone who knows a thing or two about them.

I personally do want to get a galant in a few years when insurance is more bareable but that would be for a weekend track car. I would never use it as a daily but rather stiffen it up and maybe upgrade a few bits in the engine to make a nice weekend evo killer or at least competitor :P

Get the verada. Easy on insurnace, comfortable to drive, parts a plenty, mechanical knowledge is widespread (you could easily service the car yourself) and its still a really nice to drive. If you got a awd on lpg then you'd end up with a really good handling car that wouldn't cost too much to run either. Its a wise choice for a daily driver. I'd try and get a well kept Xi from some old folks. What a sweet cruiser that would be!

and P.S. - Dave and Dean - you guys need a room.

I disagree with the lot of you :)

My KF was just written off that i have had and loved for the last five years. Straight after that happened i started looking into replacements, being the mitsubishi lover i am aswell as i have fallen in love with the windy roads the VR4 was the choice for me! Although more expensive if you actually have a drive of them i think you will find you will be hooked. I loved the handling after all the work was done on the KF but the galant was another thing altogether, and that was a legnum i drove! Interior is pretty much the same, AWD, twin turbo, factory manual with AYC is of course very tempting aswell. Easy to tune and very easy to get more power out of safely and next to no turbo lag either with the way its setup OEM. Really have to figure out what you want, they are very safe and very very comfortable cars also providing you dont go chopping the springs lol Will use more fuel but meh, if i wanted a efficient car i would not have bought the KF anyway! Not to mention they are sexy looking cars even from stock lol

After weighing everything up i decided to import one, which i have. Its taken 2-3 months but i got exactly the one i was after, VERY low k's, good price, immaculate, no rust etc

So yeah pick her up from melbourne this weekend or the next :)

VR4 definately. I would love one but I cant part with my vr-x to get one. wish I could they are awesome cars

The galant is nice and fun but they are a bit old and can be a bit of a service nightmare.

If you want to save money and get a nicer/crusier/comfortable car I would honestly buy a 380.


You will save in the long run and its a far comfortabler car.

The galant is nice and fun but they are a bit old and can be a bit of a service nightmare.

If you want to save money and get a nicer/crusier/comfortable car I would honestly buy a 380.

You will save in the long run and its a far comfortabler car.

Comfortabler :|

The Galant is definatly the sportier option and over in NZ are very cheap most have been modified but you still find the odd granny driven 1. I had a 99 galant 4wd with the GDI engine and handling was pretty good but not alot of difference compared to my TL wagon I replaced it with. The ride is alot more comfy in the TL, less squeeks and road noise etc the TL in more fuel efficient (and my Galant was a 2.4 the V6 & turbo setups are much worse). Have to say 4WD is great at the lights but you pay for it in fuel. If you want an A-B car go the Magna if you want a future EVO Killer Look at the VR4 and if you wanna go further though a few years older have a look at a GTO 3ltr twin turbo and very cheap now especially when they were 70K+ when new. Myself iam so much happier with my TL than with my Galant

The galant is nice and fun but they are a bit old and can be a bit of a service nightmare.

If you want to save money and get a nicer/crusier/comfortable car I would honestly buy a 380.


You will save in the long run and its a far comfortabler car.

Im with this. and Trent has a legnum, the things fast. but inside they are... average

To clarify, my budget is expected to be around the 7K range, so I would be searching for a 2002 or so KJ 5 speed auto, preferably Xi.
In contrast, the VR4 would need to fall into that price range making it a 96 or so, and also putting that vehicle into the "cheapest on the market" range. Which of course makes me think it is the cheapest for a reason.

Not all VR4s came with AYC and presumably the 7K ones won't have this.

Wow 7K for a VR4 over here they are so cheep.... check out trademe.co.nz for an idea of our prices.... but I could of picked up a 96-98 for between 2500-3500 sort of money very easily

yeah mate we do have it good over here for imports. in relation to your gdi did you run it on 98? they need premium . i would not touch a gdi.

in relation to your gdi did you run it on 98? they need premium .

Reminds me of..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dceB3SKBw9w

To clarify, my budget is expected to be around the 7K range, so I would be searching for a 2002 or so KJ 5 speed auto, preferably Xi.
In contrast, the VR4 would need to fall into that price range making it a 96 or so, and also putting that vehicle into the "cheapest on the market" range. Which of course makes me think it is the cheapest for a reason.

Not all VR4s came with AYC and presumably the 7K ones won't have this.

I think you'll find it hard to get a 5sp KJ Xi for 7k. These were a $50,000 car less than 10 years ago. The 5sp verada's are somewhat rare and the Xi's even more so. They do hold their value well - I'd stretch towards 9k+ if you want a good condition 5sp Xi.

If you've only got 7k to spend then definetely don't get the VR4, unless you've got 1000's spare to pay for repairs and servicing. They would be cheap for a reason. If you were clever - you could probably import a decent condition one for that price. And honestly - if you don't get AYC and manual then I don't see the point of buying this car. Like I said, they are great cars with really impressive handling and good power but they are very costly to run. Real owners of these cars would not care at all about the cost to run them as they are interested and attached to the car. You'd also need to find a mechanic who is able and willing to touch them. They have shoehorned a twin turbo setup in a moderate sized bay in a usual horizonatal fashion. It is very hard to get to anything and most mechanics wouldn't dare because they wouldn't know how too. You then need to look at performance mechanics and workshops who charge good money for their knowledge and skill.

yeah mate we do have it good over here for imports. in relation to your gdi did you run it on 98? they need premium . i would not touch a gdi.

Yeah used 98 as much as I could if I couldn't find it I would use caltex 95.. Yeah they are designed for a low sulpher 100 octane fuel which we just cant get here. But as you said I wouldn't touch another GDI nobody knows anything about them here...

I disagree with the lot of you :)

My KF was just written off that i have had and loved for the last five years. Straight after that happened i started looking into replacements, being the mitsubishi lover i am aswell as i have fallen in love with the windy roads the VR4 was the choice for me! Although more expensive if you actually have a drive of them i think you will find you will be hooked. I loved the handling after all the work was done on the KF but the galant was another thing altogether, and that was a legnum i drove! Interior is pretty much the same, AWD, twin turbo, factory manual with AYC is of course very tempting aswell. Easy to tune and very easy to get more power out of safely and next to no turbo lag either with the way its setup OEM. Really have to figure out what you want, they are very safe and very very comfortable cars also providing you dont go chopping the springs lol Will use more fuel but meh, if i wanted a efficient car i would not have bought the KF anyway! Not to mention they are sexy looking cars even from stock lol

After weighing everything up i decided to import one, which i have. Its taken 2-3 months but i got exactly the one i was after, VERY low k's, good price, immaculate, no rust etc

So yeah pick her up from melbourne this weekend or the next :)

Never mind, was just informed by my importer that my car was one of 3 out of 25 to be written off by that huge hail storm in melbourne :( Certainly not waiting another 2 months for another import :(

Lots of misconceptions about the VR-4 in this thread.

There's a pretty good review and summary of the VR-4 here:

http://motorv8me.com/car-reviews/mitsubishi-galant-ec5a-and-legnum-vr-4-ec5w-1996-to-2002/

To clean up the misconceptions:

Fuel is minimum 98RON, not 95RON. You may be able to get away with 95RON on light loads on the highway but if you are a car enthusiast and you like to give it a bootful, nothing less than 98RON will do.

The VR-4 is not an Evo killer. The Evo is the better performance car. You only need to look at the fact that Mitsu omitted Brembos from the VR-4 to know what its target market is. The VR-4 is intended to be a grown up Evo. It's when you want most of the performance of the Evo, but you want something more comfortable, refined, and less boy racer. Think luxury express that you can use every day.

For a performance car, they are not prohibitively expensive to run. Major timing belt, spark plug and clutch service aside (as this is an expensive service on a lot of Magnas too), the "normal" services require nothing more than about $50 in synthetic engine oil and a $12 Ryco oil filter.

Performance is more than quick enough for a car of its age and even for a lot of cars today. 0-100 in flat 6 seconds and quarter in high 13's to low 14's is not hanging around. Then there's the handling from the AWD and AYC.

It is not designed as a weekend track car. As mentioned, it is a softer and civilised car than an Evo, so makes a perfect performance daily. It is a car in the vein of the Liberty GT, Mazda MPS6 etc.

I suggest you go and test drive one as that should make up your mind pretty quick!

Can I just say: AWD does not = handling. AWD = grip. Grip does not = handling. Two very different things.

Can I just say: AWD does not = handling. AWD = grip. Grip does not = handling. Two very different things.

need facebook like button for this post!

Bloody oath!

Can I just say: AWD does not = handling. AWD = grip. Grip does not = handling. Two very different things.


^this needed to be said.

Silly Austrailians, a Galant VR4 is not a VR4. It has far too many doors and few too many cylinders. Lol

Although very pretty, the Verada/Magna is ten times the car then a shoddy Galant. Yes, they are rare and neat but at the end of the day its still an old little car and I'd frankly rather drive home in my big comfortable car than something that may fall to pieces at any moment. What I'm trying to say I suppose is everyone is right, the Galant VR4 is more likely to be beat on because of what it is. And trust me on this one, I know VR4 platforms better than I should.

Silly Austrailians, a Galant VR4 is not a VR4. It has far too many doors and few too many cylinders. Lol

Although very pretty, the Verada/Magna is ten times the car then a shoddy Galant. Yes, they are rare and neat but at the end of the day its still an old little car and I'd frankly rather drive home in my big comfortable car than something that may fall to pieces at any moment. What I'm trying to say I suppose is everyone is right, the Galant VR4 is more likely to be beat on because of what it is. And trust me on this one, I know VR4 platforms better than I should.

Im confuzzled by this post. How many cylinders does YOUR galant VR4 have? The aussie grey import VR4 here already has 6 and two turbos to boot. Please explain...

Think he might be referring to the earlier 4G63T VR4's?

Think he might be referring to the earlier 4G63T VR4's?

Aaaah the really old one! I dont get the "too many doors" comment though...?

3000GT VR4? 6G72 Twin Turbo 2 Door AWD.

The original VR4's were a 4G63T 89-92 same as what went in the 1st EVO (they eventually spun them around) then 92-96 they went to a 2 litre v6 (was considered crap) then to the most recent 2.5l v6. http://specs.cars-directory.net/mitsubishi/galant/

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a176/DorminReese/utf-8BSU1BRzAzNTUuanBn.jpg

VR4.....s. and he is a she <<<

The original VR4's were a 4G63T 89-92 same as what went in the 1st EVO (they eventually spun them around) then 92-96 they went to a 2 litre v6 (was considered crap) then to the most recent 2.5l v6. http://specs.cars-directory.net/mitsubishi/galant/

3.0l v6 twin turbo producing 320awhp

Your GTO VR4 came out a year after the Galant VR4 But I have 2 agree a hell of a lot more car and I think retail was close to $90,000 NZD. Though they got cheaper once they started removing some of the expensive parts off the newer ones ie ajustable suspension and rear wing pop up lights etc

Your GTO VR4 came out a year after the Galant VR4 But I have 2 agree a hell of a lot more car and I think retail was close to $90,000 NZD. Though they got cheaper once they started removing some of the expensive parts off the newer ones ie ajustable suspension and rear wing pop up lights etc

It's funny because here in the states the pop up 91-93 models are the cheapest, and more common.

For reference this is the Galant I am referring to:
http://www.club4g.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=208834.0;attach=31 1092;image

The galant is nice and fun but they are a bit old and can be a bit of a service nightmare.

If you want to save money and get a nicer/crusier/comfortable car I would honestly buy a 380.


You will save in the long run and its a far comfortabler car.

Yes... this is very true.



Depends what you're after...

VR4 offers performance, option of manual transmission, interior and features are much the same, aftermarket performance options are much better.
Verada is automatic only, front-wheel-drive, servicing is cheaper, insurance is cheaper, is locally built.

I tend to disagree with the performance options. There isnt really much off-the-shelf stuff. All the rest is correct though



It's a 16 year old car. If you want simple A-B motoring, this is not a wise choice. Sure, they are reliable but the upkeep on a car like this of this age is pretty high I would imagine. Go for the Verada.

Right on the money... I've got a 2000 Galant - and realistically it's over 10 years old... and has the quirks of a 10 year old car. You must be prepared to spend money on it. Since owning mine, i've replaced timing belt, clutch, water pump.

there was also a recall program for Legnum/Galant - front ball joints collapse and the ebay replacements arent much better. OEM replacement is around ~$800 from Ralliart NZ for just the parts. (yet to do this, but i've got the rattle)



For a performance car, they are not prohibitively expensive to run. Major timing belt, spark plug and clutch service aside (as this is an expensive service on a lot of Magnas too), the "normal" services require nothing more than about $50 in synthetic engine oil and a $12 Ryco oil filter.

There more to it than just that... coming from someone who actually owns one... and then theres the fuel it uses.



Other things to note:

Parts aren't exactly cheap/easy to source compared to magna/verada.
When you go to look for parts like timing belts, the sprints/autopros/bursons of this world wont help you/put you in the too hard basket. Your best to get the parts from Ralliart NZ (OEM parts) or Meek (3rd party)
Automatics suffer wavespring owes
If you want a facelift galant in manual, you'll be hard pressed to find one with AYC.
AYC is tempremental is you dont look after it (there is a proper bleeding procedure for maintainance)
Auto legnums/galants are detuned i.e. lower power figure (definately for pre facelift, no-one has proven otherwise for FL)
later models use 7202 & 7203 based ECUs - can be reflashed for Aus fuel/conditions, earlier can be reflash but defs are crap.
none come with cruse control.
MMCS was an option, but be prepared to learn japanese to use your aircon ( + no aus maps)

Test drove another galant in adelaide the other day, have to say. . For the 10 grand price tag direct out of japan and i was not heaps impressed. For 5 grand less i got a much more fun and in my opinion better car! I do love the galant but i think they are hyped up to much. .

Yup its easy to forget just how good the 6G74 is. For a SOHC she loves a rev. I have lost count the number of times i took someone out in the magna when it was manual and gave it some. Most dont expect it to be so toey when you are on the revs over 2500rpm

I am leaning more towards the Verada again.
It is easy to lose sight of things, but all I want is a reliable, practical, comfortable car which isn't embarrassing to drive

Verada ftw!

Verada ftw!

This.

I love mine, and mine's only a 4Sp. But still gives a damn lot for what I paid. Mine's also only an EI.
It IS Sable though.
Honestly, I've just had some new tires, and minor service, plus auto trans flush, and it's currently on around 206,000kms. Not a low figure. But damn it still just keeps giving.

what do you guys have to say about this car GTO 3ltr twin turbo are they anygood http://www.tradecarview.com/used_car/japan%20car/mitsubishi/gto/9604032/