Mitsubishi Magna Ralliart 2002 Review

Despite the boy racer dress ups, which had throngs of yoofs uttering "maaate" and pawing the bright red paintwork, the Magna Ralliart is a seriously good piece of kit. It is in fact a significant achievement to make a normally aspirated V6 cast such a predatory shadow over the sacred V8 cattle so beloved of fair dinkum Australians everywhere - and Mitsubishi Australia deserves a well earned pat on the back for doing it.

My first few kilometres with the red beast had me looking in the mirror far more than usual for white Commodores with coloured lights; this car just screams "Look at me!" Subtle it ain't. Inside, the Ralliart seats are nice and comfortable and hold you in place with plenty of support for the lower back, while your view throughout the car is good and clear with little in the way of obstructions to make reversing difficult.

With the exception of the two red faced dials in the dash which remind me of my Uncle David after his vasectomy, the interior is quite tasteful. Fit and finish is what you'd expect from a car priced at fifty thousand dollars. Everything is where you'd want it to be, refreshingly simple and thankfully devoid of unnecessary price pumping accessories. Interior cabin noise is well managed but not so vacuum-sealed quiet that you can't hear what the engine is doing.

POWER IN THE HOUSE
Which brings us to the engine. Careful massaging in the form of better breathing, higher compression, cams and surprisingly melodious exhaust has transformed the caravan pulling 3.5 litre V6 Magna engine into a head punching power pack that delivers 180kW @ 5500 rpm and 333Nm @ 4000 rpm. More than enough to shuffle the car's 1500 kg off the line with big grin inducing rapidity!

However, should you feel the need to crack a grin or two and launch off the line with youthful vigour, be prepared for the steering to go super light and the car to take an unnatural interest in occupying the lane next to you.

Once you do get up and going with the thing pointing in the desired direction, the five speed manual box is a joy. Short acting, and sweet shifting it lets you really savour the mid range fire power and the accompanying aural rev music emanating from the exhaust. 

This car is all about fat mid range response. Whether you're lining up to pass a truck the length of a city block, or powering up hills, the throttle response is completely intoxicating. Second and third gear corners are particularly rewarding as the Magna's prodiugious front end grip lets you get on the gas early, the fat Pirellis biting hard and deep into the bitumen, and firing you out from the apex. And all without any bodyroll worth a comment.

Of course like most front loaders you can provoke the thing to understeer if you play with the throttle mid corner, or are just plain insensitive, but for the most part the steering is light, tight and accurate.

SPRINGS AND THINGS
To allow the go department to do all that good stuff, like barrelling into and slingshotting out of corners, the Magna comes with suspension by renowned spring benders Koni. The result is not just a top sedan ride but also excellent feedback and control over most surfaces. That is until things get bush country bumpy.

Even though whoever did the work of choosing the suspension spring and damping rates did a fine job, the emphasis has clearly been on the ride side of the equation rather than the sporting. Braking hard into chopped up downhill corners had the front spoiler bouncing its chin on the bitumen, which just shouldn't happen. It's as if the springs are initially too soft or there's not enough compression damping. Admittedly if the car didn't have the party clothes there wouldn't be a problem, but it does and it does, if you see what I mean.

So what about the brakes? Well with a pair of 294 mm ventilated discs up front gripped by twin piston calipers and 284 mm discs at the back you'd expect them to be pretty good, and they are. There's plenty of power at the pedal and a high degree of feel translating back from the tyres. Nice, very nice.

SUMMING UP
Having established that the Ralliart Magna is a lot of car and a whole lot more fun to drive, are there any down-sides? Well, drive it like you mean it and it'll suck the ULP down at about 6.5 km/l (15.8l/100km). It's going to attract every Con, Brett, Shane and Constable Jane with a WRX wheel in their hands for some sort of confrontation, and in all likelihood its going to attract every scumbag thief as well.

However, forget all that because for a price of just over $50,000 you can get behind the wheel of a serious Australian-built muscle car with V8-pummelling pretentions, and that is an indisputable up-side in my book. In anyone's book.