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The four-wheel disc brakes with standard ABS provide a good stopping power to this new VR. The brake feel is much better than the Camry or the Accord (the former has rear drum brakes, the last time I drove it, the later one had a spongy feel), and perhaps its in the same league as the Cefiro's. Which means it has feel and confidence, which is rather right for the sudden stop-go traffic situation we have here in the Philippines. The ride of the new VR is quite similar to the one on, basically because they are riding on the same platform. Though this car has the famed multi-link suspension on both front and back, it still cannot match the ride quality of the Honda Accord, which uses a double wishbone / 5-link combination. Nonetheless, the ride is firm but gentle. Too gentle in fact, that it betrays its unique history of being rally bred racers. The steer-in, though precise, is on the slow side. Understeer is pretty much hampers this Galant's great sporty nature. Going to away from the oily bits, I can now start to focus on the styling of this new VR. To put things short, the new Galant, overall, is quite handsome. It's styling is a lot better than anything Toyota, Nissan or Honda could put out. The aggressive grille and light clusters as well as the heavily chiseled appearance has very much a BMW-feel to it. Though some styling cues may have been borrowed from the Bavarian propeller, the Galant still retains some of its distinguishing marks such as the simplistic front grille with the swooping chrome finish and wide headlights which have always been a Galant design cue ever since 1988. However, problems with the styling come out with a closer inspection with the details. For instance, the Bridgestone Potenza RE88s are betrayed by the mags rather mundane looks. Though the mesh-grille type wheel design is another copy from the BMW 316i, it was best to place, say sporty 5-spoke mags instead. The mesh-grille mag already looks butt ugly on the 316i, why copy a proven flawed design? Maybe they were copying too blindly. Hmmmm... The door handles of the VR came from the Mitsubishi Lancer. Though this maybe the result of cost cutting, it wouldn't do harm if Mitsubishi would at least give the handles a better feel. C'mon, you're paying for a PHP 1,300,000.00 car, I'd be expecting more! Coming inside the VR, things get rather ugly. Yes, the controls and switches are all in ergonomically reachable positions (a Galant strength ever since), but they are made from econobox plastics! The power window controls for instance, have more of a Lancer feel to them rather than a proper luxury car's such as the Cefiro (even the Nissan Sentra has a better switch feel than the Galant!). The standard beige leather seating on the VR provides a livelier cabin than most other leather-clad cars such as the Accord (dark gray) or the Cefiro (black). However, the grade of the cowhide is again, below norm for a luxury car. The leather on the seats feels as if it was synthetic (but it isn't), the airbag fitted-steering wheel feels as if it was hard plastic (but it isn't). Same treatment goes for the wood grain paneling (or should I say, plastic wood-alike paneling), which already borders on the cheesy side, but thankfully doesn't cross it. It looks too shiny and too curvy to be real wood (Mitsu guys should have known better). All in all, the interior doesn't fit the description of a Galant, but rather, a Lancer on steroids. |
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