(first posted 11/16/2017) It seemed like Mitsubishi was channeling Pontiac for a while there in the 90s and early 00s. Both had somewhat of a sporty image due to their high-performance offerings. With its third-generation Eclipse, Mitsubishi started to dabble in cladding. The twin-nostril grilles on Mitsubishis also became more pronounced. So did the body kits, as evidenced by this Magna Ralliart.
The story of the 1996 Mitsubishi Magna and Verada is one I will soon tell, but this Ralliart edition is a mere paragraph. In Australia, the Magna was a humble, mainstream family sedan here with no near-luxury aspirations, unlike the related Diamanté in Asia and North America.
Sporty, six-cylinder sedans had long been popular here and Mitsubishi’s Magna Sports and VR-X had done a decent trade—consider them the Pontiac Grand Prix GT and GT-Ps of Mitsubishi’s Aussie lineup. But the V8-powered Ford Falcon XR8 and Holden Commodore SS had a much cooler, sportier image, leaving Mitsubishi in a bind—how could they make the Magna cooler?
Unlike the Pontiac G6 Street Edition that rivals the Ralliart for sheer tastelessness, the Magna Ralliart actually had some meaningful performance improvements. Alas, there was no V8 engine under the hood, nor any turbochargers or all-wheel-drive. Instead, mechanical changes were limited to the addition of a limited slip differential (in manual models only), bigger brakes, a higher compression ratio, a modified camshaft and cylinder heads, among other tweaks to the engine, exhaust and suspension. These modifications bumped horsepower up by 22 horses to 241 hp at 5500 rpm and torque by 12 ft-lbs up to 245 ft-lbs at 4000 rpm. Those who didn’t want to row their own gears could opt for Mitsubishi’s excellent five-speed Tiptronic auto, gaining traction control but losing the LSD and about 0.4 seconds in the 0-60 sprint (at around 7.2).
Alas, the extra power further pushed the Magna to the limits of its front-wheel-drive layout. Torque steer was noticeable, as you would imagine. Once you got past that, though, the Ralliart Magna handled well for a large, front-wheel-drive sedan. Then again, so did a regular Magna Sports or VR-X, and it cost $AUD10k less…
The cheaper sporty Magnas were cheaper and also looked better. The Ralliart’s Lancer Evolution-inspired rear wing was over-the-top. Worse was the front spoiler, which would inevitably run afoul of curbs and driveways. Ford and Holden, even in their wildest HSV and FPV models, tended to avoid such outrageous gimmicks.
The Ralliart’s interior also received some tweaks, some appealing – more contoured seats, a Momo leather-wrapped steering wheel – and some almost as gauche as the exterior, like the red-faced gauges.
Mitsubishi Australia did introduce an all-wheel-drive Magna shortly after the Ralliart’s arrival, but sadly they never utilized the drivetrain to its full potential and the 3.5 V6 actually had to be detuned for the AWD models.
Kudos to Mitsubishi for trying on a limited budget to make a sport sedan out of the Magna, a car becoming increasingly popular with older buyers and fleets. But Mitsubishi was at a huge disadvantage going up against the Holden/Ford sport sedan duopoly, and it didn’t help that the Ralliart landed right as Ford was launching one of the hottest six-cylinder sedans in Aussie history: the 320-horsepower 2002 BA Falcon XR6 Turbo.
This is one of just 500 Ralliart Magnas and one of only 4 units painted in Wasp Yellow. While the Ralliart made the Australian automotive scene even more colorful – literally and figuratively – I’m left wondering who would have spent the extra $10k over the already quite capable and powerful Magna VR-X, especially considering that money could have bought you a Falcon XR6 Turbo or a Commodore SS. I have a lot of respect for these ’96-04 Magnas and their smooth V6s and surprisingly good handling – I almost bought one, several years ago – but the Ralliart was overpriced, even if it wasn’t a bad car.
That wing, though. Even Pontiac spoilers never towered that high…
Related Reading:
Curbside Capsule: 1985-91 Mitsubishi Magna – Mitsubishi’s Taurus
COAL Capsule #13: 1997 Mitsubishi Diamante LS – Rough, But No Diamond
I’m pretty sure that the Ralliart models were only available as Lancers in the US, nothing larger. Leveraging off the Evo’s reputation, I assumed they were trim packages only. They sold quite well, it often seems like half the Lancers I see (not many) are Ralliart, or maybe Ralliart clones. There was also an OZ edition, presumably as in Oztralia, not Dorothy and the Wizard.
OH, so we’re half-way there?
This Magna is one of those cars that looks “reasonably” attractive…in isolation. But as this write-up points out, Mitsubishi has always seemed to have the bad luck of having a pretty decent product….just as their competition debuts a superior product.
I drove a 2004 Lancer Ralliart a few years ago, for a car with nearly 140,000 miles on the odometer, it drove pretty decently. As far as I was concerned, it was akin to a 90s Nissan Sentra SE-R, but with the advantage of having a much larger trunk. So why didn’t I buy it? The used car dealership selling it wanted an outrageous price for it…well, the price was okay it’s just that I didn’t want to pay an additional $800 for what amounted to a wash job of the outside.
I thought this was about a Lancer Ralliart until I really glanced at it, then realized it was the larger Magna/Galant.
I don’t think that yellow works at all on this car. But curiously, i find it works extremely well on the same year Audi S4 and the shade is very similar as well. Dat wing though! It too is just much on that car. But again, curiously, an even larger wing works on the Mercedes 190E2.5-16EVO2 whose wing was even taller but more than a decade older…
So I don’t know what my issue is with it…And I don’t even dislike the basic car. It’s a good find though, William, and extra special being that it’s above ground (albeit still next to a parking structure).
Hahahahaha.
I think Tatra87 may have taken over from me as resident CC parking structure mole…
Aren’t you the same person? I can’t tell who travels more.
i can’t work out who wrote this post, but thankyou for the share as nearly 500 of these awesome cars were ever built, even though the enkei ralliart wheels are more common than you think, but just don’t confuse them with the evo7 rims. identical only with a deeper centre. look tougher than the magna ones, and bolt on the same. now, i too thought that the yellow was ‘wasp yellow’ for all these years, but there is in fact an actual difference. say for example vr-x yellow is definitely wasp, and in the gtv-i, but in the ralliart version, the yellow was experimental, and had no actual code besides xx. a very solid magna guy of whom i trust very highly taught me that fact. there is actually a slight tone difference that made me think that his yellow ralliart was weathered, however not
I’ve still never been able to wrap my head around Mitsubishi’s intended mission in the late-1990s/early-2000s, at least for the North American market. They were never going to be a Honda or Toyota, so trying to carve out their own niche was definitely the goal. But what niche(s) they were trying to carve out always perplexed me.
In the U.S., the Diamante was clearly positioned as a more premium offering, somewhat of budget Acura Legend so to speak in the beginning. As the 1990s went on, that market dwindled though and the Diamante sort of got lost. It’s price undercut that of the Toyota Avalon and Mazda Millenia, the latter probably its nearest competitor.
Later Diamantes did boast sportier, less luxury-looking styling, but that only seemed to cloud the Diamante’s mission even further.
I do like those seats in the Ralliart though!
They were in the car business and got squashed by bigger competitors who didn’t do a bad job and make themselves vulnerable. It’s the coffin corner.
The V6 on these sounds great and is quite peppy. It will smoke the front tyres if not treated with care.
Gauche indeed. I would say rather outre, even ?
Very nice find William! I can only imagine the small numbers these were built in. I saw a purple-ish VRX awd recently, I don’t think it was a factory colour.
It was really Mitsubishi’s version of a HSV, although it cost the same as an SS Commodore or XR6 Turbo with luxury pack to match the leather etc.
Regarding the torque steer, I’d expect it was only due to wheelspin rather than driveshaft/steering related, as in the 380, traction control in 2002 wasn’t up to dealing with it in a worthwhile way though.
Prior to Ford coming out with the XR6 Turbo this would have made a lot more sense – it was faster than all of the other 6-cyl cars including the supercharged V6 Commodore. The bodykit was obviously over the top, but not without precedent. The 3rd edition of the FTE TE/TS50 had lower clearance than Ford’s internal standards, and more recent HSV/FPV’s are pretty bad in this regard. You could also compare it to the Commodore Group A Walkinshaw that had a detachable lower front lip.
The Magna wasn’t pitched at near-luxury, but the Verada was exported as a Diamante.
Diamante badge goes back to the early 90s in JDM form 2.5 V6 engines, the traffic police in NZ used V3000 V6 Mitsubishis as patrol cars in the early 90s fast in a straight line but iffy handling and short engine life spans.
The strange ideas companies have. Mitsubishi had a higher proportion of private new buyers than Holden or Ford, for whom something in excess of 80% of sales were fleets. Fleets got them at a huge discount. Private buyers then bought those in big numbers at two and three years old for little less than that discount. (In fact, if govt and Aus companies still had strict buy Aus policies, we’d probably still have an industry. Not sure if these “internal tariffs” were negotiated away in the various so-called FTA’s we’ve signed. Whether or not the whole conga model was sensible economically is something else, and I am digressing). Those private Mitsu buyers were more conservative or “non car” people, who appreciated the fact that this model Magna was more rigid, smoother and better built than the Commodore and Falcon, and usually cheaper. Likely didn’t own a jetski. They were pretty unlikely to have any interest in the $2 kit car effect that the other two perfected for their sportos (for people who likely did have jetskis) and sure weren’t going to spend $10k of their own hard-earned on it. These things didn’t sell. I know for a fact they were still on lots in ’04, hugely discounted, and still unsellable. Probably a decent drive, though the steering would need much improvement from standard, but, jeez, just look at the outfit she’s wearing. Halo car where they put the halo over the wrong Saint.
Btw, in Melbourne, this poor bastard would be hailed as a taxi in that colour.
Good find.
This post brings back several memories.
First off, the US actually had a VR-X Diamante in a slightly different form, in 2002. Only in silver or a somewhat orange/red, with all black leather and aluminum interior trim. Can’t remember if the suspension got any upgrades, but the engine was the the same. Essentially it was a sporty decor package here (like wheel arch extensions, etc.).
Secondly, my best childhood friend had her pearl white MN-12 Cougar bite the dust. She needed a car, and light blue Diamane in the area seemed a good fit. We went to the dealer, she drove it, and absolutely loved it. Then the salesman started the games once he knew the sale would be full cash. Peace out. She ended up buying a used newer MN-12 Cougar thanks to his ignorance.
Brochure shot of the VR-X:
The US Diamanté VR-X was an attractive car to me, but like all sporty Mitsus of that era bar the Evo, it was an appearance package that also didn’t fit too well with the flagship image. The more mainstream Galant GTZ could have done nicer with most of these visual upgrades (they only got white faced gauges and a large spoiler/color coded grill)
Also the Ralliart was a package on the Lancer sedan and Sportbak wagon, another car I liked.
The US Diamante VR-X and the Australian Magna VR-X or Ralliart (and, indeed, the Verada GTV) are fundamentally different specs.
In the US, Mitsubishi Motors Australia only sent what is effectively a Verada (Australian luxury model) with Magna Sports bits (the base Sports model, below VR-X and Ralliart).
Australian VR-X, GTV and Ralliart had 5-speed tiptronic transmissions and 17-inch alloy wheels, with the first two having 163kW of power and Ralliart up to 180kW. The Sports was a VR-X without the full bodykit and with 16-inch wheels just like the American VR-X. But the American VR-X only had a 4-speed automatic transmission and standard engine output same to the rest of the range. The GTV was a Sports in Verada trim level.
Ralliart was the pinnacle with a more aggressive bodykit and a front LSD in manual format. The automatic had the same Sports/VR-X/GTV 5-speed automatic Traction Control System. American and US cars close, but no cigars.
Also, America never received any AWD and the Australian VR-X of that had lower engine output, plus only 16 inch wheels.
Mitsubishi’s Magna/Verada range was absolutely bewildering by this point. So many incrementally different sporty models on offer, and then there was the AWD. Even as a Mitsubishi owner, I couldn’t keep track of what was going on! The Ralliart was so rare I’d forgotten it even existed. Sort of the Evo of the Magna range – unfortunately in the public mind it lacked the credibility to pull off the Evo thing.
The basic Magna was an enormously capable family car, much nicer to drive than the equivalent Toyota, and offering more usable space that the slightly larger RWD Holden and Ford. Unfortunately many buyers looked elsewhere because of transmission failures in the early Magnas. Mitsubishi never seemed able to recover from that botched start all those years ago.