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Good Japanese cars come so rare these days.  In fact, nowadays, great Japanese cars are either rally-derived super cars such as the Subaru Impreza or high-performance track stars such as the Honda NSX or Nissan Skyline.  Whatever happened to the ordinary man’s sports sedan?  Well, sure the Lexus IS200 is there, but who in the world can cough up 1,500,000 easily?  I guess only a former president can do that in a jiffy.  What the Japanese are currently lacking (well, at least in the Philippine market) is a truly affordable 4-door sports sedan that’s quite able to deliver the performance without sacrificing practicality.  Years ago, one company was in the right track with a car that was designed to become a legend…the Mitsubishi Galant GTi. 

Everyone remembers the GTi as the kick ass family sedan of Mitsubishi that was never again matched or even closely matched.  During this time, Mitsubishi was employing the use of the Galant for its WRC challenge and it its heyday, won races.  Although it never won a championship, it was respected for sweeping the tremendously difficult Thousand Lakes Rally in Finland. 

The VR4 soon found itself on the road.  Based on the rally car, this top-of the line Galant during that time had all the accessories one could ever think off: a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4 engine that’s good for 205 bhp, four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, four-wheel drive with four-wheel steering and electronically adjustable ride height and shocks.  Of course, we Filipinos could only drool with the VR4 as it never made it here.

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