In the 90’s Mitsubishi had a lot of unique cars in its line-up which are nowadays a very rare breed. The Emeraude and RVR Sportsgear are two perfect examples. Another model that you might not have heard of is the Galant Sports. The Galant has been one of Mitsubishi’s key models from the 70’s until the 00’s. The 7th generation came as a sedan variant only Japan while for Europe there was the choice for a sedan or hatchback. Lifestyle and adventure cars were a trend in the early 90’s in Japan so Mitsubishi came up with the creative idea to use the hatchback version of Galant and dress it up as a sporty and adventurous model for Japan. The result, the Galant Sports.
Compared to a regular export Galant hatchback, the Sports got a newly designed front bumper and side skirts were added. A pair of roof rails came as standard as well as a big rear wing on the hatch. This made opening the already big and heavy hatch require even more effort but gave the car a more robust appearance. Two grades were available, the Sports and the Sports GT. The Sports GT was bi-tone, with a silver bottom part of the car and the top being one of the three exterior colors; metallic dark green, metallic blue or metallic red. The Sports got the choice for same colors but the car was always monotone. Other differences between the two are the different design wheels and the Sports GT having a bullbar on the front.
In the interior both grades did not differ much. Except for the front map lamp and white meter cluster that the Sports GT got, both were the same. The contrasting design on the seats was specially for this car. Opening the hatch gave access to more than 600 liter of luggage space, with the seats folded down it became even more. The seats could be folded in a 60:40 split.
From drivetrain perspective, three different choices were available. The entry model was a 145 horsepower 2.0 liter normally aspirated V6 coupled with a 4 speed automatic gearbox. This version was front wheel drive only and it was the only available Sports grade. The engine code was 6A12. The same engine, although turbocharged, was the other possibility. Either as 5 speed manual or 4 speed automatic. Both were the Sports GT grade and came as four wheel drive only. This turbocharged engine produced 240 horsepower for the manual transmission and 215 horsepower for the automatic.
The Galant Sports was manufactured in Japan in Mitsubishi’s Okazaki plant. Sales started in 1994 and in a few years time 36131 units are said to be sold in total.
Click on the picture below to see all Galant Sports versions per year and detailed specifications such as weight, new price and equipment for each version in the Goo-net.com catalog.
Here is a link to a website which has a digital versions of the original sales brochure.