Please Consider, A New Hero

Newcastle Herald

Saturday January 21, 2006

Brent Davison

YOU all know the story: Mitsubishi's Magna was well past its use-by date and the company desperately needed a saviour, a hero car to galvanise buyer interest and push it back to its rightful position on the national sales charts (fourth spot behind Ford, not fifth and almost 5000 units behind Mazda in total 2005 sales).

The three diamonds needed an ace and that ace was 380, Magna replacement and all-new Aussie big car launched publicly to great fanfare late last year and starting its working life with one national motoring award for Best Large Car in the combined auto clubs' annual Best Cars awards.

Long story short? Just as Holden did with many of its Commodores, Mitsubishi "borrowed" from another in the corporate family, in this case the American Galant.

Armed with a $600 million cash reserve the South Australian-based company re-engineered and/or redesigned about 70 per cent of the package and all of it upspecced over the outgoing Magna.

The body structure was stiffened (twice the bending and torsional stiffness of Magna, they say and partially achieved by using one-piece body side pressings), an impressive brake package was added (294mm front discs with twin-pot calipers and 284mm, single-pot rear plus anti-lock and electronic brakeforce distribution).

Motivation? A 3.8-litre, single overhead camshaft (per cylinder bank), 24-valve V6 good for 175 kilowatts of power and 343 newton metres of torque.

Power and torque outputs more or less place the engine halfway between Holden's 3.6-litre V6 and Ford's 4.0-litre, inline six. The base Holden engine makes 175 kilowatts and 320 newton metres while the Ford donk is good for 190 kilowatts and 383 newton metres.

A five-speed transmission (manual on some, automatic on others) puts power to the ground through the front wheels.

380 comes in a five-model spread entry-level 380, sporty VRX, mid-range LS, upper-level LX and sports/luxury GT all using the same engine/suspension package and all available only in sedan guise.

Our VRX test car is the car Mitsubishi hopes potential Falcon XR6 and Commodore SV6 buyers will look at.

Compared to the entry-level (and $4000 cheaper) 380, VRX adds traction control, slightly tighter "sports" suspension complete with front strut brace and bigger (17x7-inch) wheels with the obligatory sports rubber.

Front and rear bumpers get a "sports" annotation (and fog lights in the front panel) and lights front and rear get dark silver bezels. There are black mesh radiator grilles (above and below the front bumper) for that cool look and a body-coloured rear lip spoiler to set off the chrome-tipped, oval-shaped exhaust.

Inside? Sports-style front seats, leather on steering wheel, handbrake lever and shifter, a "sports" instrument panel and a six-disc, eight-speaker audio.

Inside, 380 is very different to Magna. The instrument layout and centre stack are leaner and cleaner, minimalist in an upmarket, trendy way with big, rotary air-con controls and big audio buttons that are easy to see and use.

Instruments are clear and easy to see and the gear positions for the automatic transmission are marked in a vertical line to the right of the panel.

The seats are comfortable front and back and rear leg space generous. The rear seat does not fold but there is a ski port through the centre armrest for those times when long loads must be carried.

It has to be said though that the interior feels a little close, a feeling engendered by the prominent dashboard and centre console as well as the fairly modest side glass and not helped, in our test car, by the dark interior. Happily, it is all the stuff of optical illusion but worth remembering.

The interior is remarkably quiet though and probably the quietest Australian big car, our tester free from wind noise and excessive mechanical and road noise, a pleasant surprise given the sporty nature of the VRX's low-profile tyres.

When it comes to the mechanical package the new 6G75 engine is competent rather than inspiring. Its power and torque outputs are good but not exactly awe-inspiring although the five-speed auto fitted to our test car helped make up for any performance deficiencies with a good spread of ratios which, according to the federal government testing procedure, actually deliver better fuel consumption figures than the five-speed manual (10.8 l/100km compared to 11.4 l/100km).

In real life we managed 12.75 l/100km from our VRX tester. Not bad, but we would have expected a fraction better.

In many cases good cars are let down by ordinary suspensions giving average ride and so-so handling qualities. Not 380, I am happy to say.

Using the same basic layout as Magna (independent all-round with MacPherson front struts and rear multi-links) but recalibrated for the newcomer, it gives 380 a very good ride/handling balance helped by steering which is surprisingly light but retaining plenty of feel.

What that means is that 380 is a car that can be hustled along fairly quickly, even on poorer quality roads, without too much nervous energy on the part of the driver and without raising the feathers of sensitive passengers. Nice one, Mitsubishi.

Just as good is the fact the car's relative nimbleness makes up for any perceived power deficiencies.

Overall? The auto clubs were not wrong. The 380 is an extremely good package and one that should find friends simply because it does not make promises it cannot keep.

The sad thing is that this is the car Mitsubishi should have had on the ground two or three years back rather than trying to wring the last drops of life from the old and tired Magna. Now it has to put in twice the effort to make what is an essentially good car work. Make that a very good car because 380 demonstrates that not only did Mitsubishi Australia spend its 600 million wisely, it also managed to ditch every vestige of Magna while making a worthy big car contender in the process.

The 380 is an extremely good package and one that should find friends simply because it does not make promises it cannot keep.

MITSUBISHI

380 VRX

PRICE

$39,990 (not including dealer or

government charges)

DIMENSIONS

Length:.....................................4855mm

Width:.......................................1840mm

Height: .....................................1480mm

Tracks (f/r): ..............1570mm/1570mm

Ground clearance: .................... 162mm

Wheelbase:..............................2750mm

Weight:........................................1670kg

MECHANICAL

Fuel-injected, 3.8litre V6 with single

overhead camshafts per cylinder bank,

four valves per cylinder. 175kilowatts at

5250rpm, 343newton metres of torque at

4000rpm. Five-speed automatic.

CHASSIS

Front, transverse engine, front-wheel

drive, power-assisted rack and pinion

steering, power-assisted four-wheel

disc brakes with anti-lock and electronic

brakeforce distribution, 17x7-inch alloy

wheels, 215/55R17 tyres.

SUSPENSION

Front: independent MacPherson struts

with lower A-arms, coil springs, telescopic

dampers and anti-roll bar.

Rear: independent multi-links, upper and

lower control arms, coil springs, telescopic

dampers and anti-roll bar.

FUEL TYPE/CAPACITY

91RON/67litres

FUEL ECONOMY

10.8l/100kmh (ADR81)

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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