Ahhhh, thanks for bringing this up top again.



Car #7

1996 Galant S 5 speed.

day of purchase:


so far:


Night shot because I've been working almost every day this week and I have to capitalize on the time I clean my car & take pictures. 7 damn hours on a detail not even half way done.

I swear to God, Sam, if you say "polishing a turd" I'm gonna.. put TYPE R stickers ALL OVER your Cobalt!


(jk, but seriously :p)

the Galant was just never my cup of rice, er, tea...
yes, I know, there was a Galant VR4 and all that... it's just I'm not a four door guy.
what happened to your decklid?

The two trucks I have now are the only vehicles I've ever owned, my suped up 95' Astro CL and my 07' Dodge Ram 1500.

Posted by Samurai the Galant was just never my cup of rice, er, tea...

Heh... we had a Mitsubishi training day at the local road course (Shannonville) on Monday, and one of the cars we had to play with was an '09 Galant RalliArt with 400 km on the clock.

...after demonstrating several "Rockford" turns, purposely losing control on the skidpad a bunch of times, amongst other vehicular foolishness, I'm pretty sure we bitched the tranny. About halfway back to the shop, the 1st to 2nd shift was just fucking RUDE, and then locked itself in 3rd for limp home mode.

Pretty sure we MAY have done some damage to that one.

I do have to say, training kids how to drive on a race track who have no to very little experience driving on the road was an interesting experience. My favourite was the girl who asked which pedal was which when she got in the AUTOMATIC GALANT.

I don't get paid enough...

I do have to say that ripping around Shannonville in the 2009 Lancer Evolution X was freaking awesome though. Very impressive car.

Galant automatics have always been weaksauce, but the older 5 speeds have been rock solid for the vast majority of owners. I'm glad I got one of those!

Sam, I don't get your hatred of Japanese cars. Rice? there's not one thing rice about this car, boy!

Posted by 944kid Sam, I don't get your hatred of Japanese cars. Rice? there's not one thing rice about this car, boy!

i never said i disliked
for one, it has 2 too many doors for me, is not a GM and is not a car that I would even consider buying or driving...

Posted by Samurai i never said i disliked for one, it has 2 too many doors for me, is not a GM and is not a car that I would even consider buying or driving...

What I'm trying to spit out is, you have an air of unmistakable disrespect for anything not what you like, whether you say you don't or not. Sorry, but I'm in a "call it as I see it" kinda mood tonight.

galant is weak sauce manual or automatic end of discussion

Posted by 944kid What I'm trying to spit out is, you have an air of unmistakable disrespect for anything not what you like, whether you say you don't or not. Sorry, but I'm in a "call it as I see it" kinda mood tonight.

ok... you want the truth, coming as a mechanic that I once was.
With some exceptions, Mitsubishis suck ass. They are unreliable and in extreme climates, their engines and transmissions do not hold up. While living in Tennessee, you'd see Galants, Eclipses and those horrible Mirages with engines fogging oil at 70,000 miles. Or, better yet, the 3000's/Stealth's with dead transmissions sitting on lawns because people couldn't afford to fix them...

What's funny is this; Car guys are the most opinionated bastards on the planet. I myself am no exception. I have always had domestics and I will always have domestics as they work. they hold together. they are what i require. I don't like most imports and the imports I do like were built and sold before you were probably born. Have you ever seen a 75 Corolla SR5 hatchback? Or an old Datsun 510? (outside of wikipedia of course). Can you remember when Subarus weren't AWD? When was the last time you saw a Brat? Hell, have you ever heard of an Merkur XR4Ti? My friend Eric had an 82 Corolla SR5 that was indestructible! Rotted to fuck, but mechanically indestructible right to 185,000 miles when the body finally broke in half.

I try to be nice, but in the end, i'm not nice. I am a creature of experience... I've got over 20 years of experience to bring to the subject and I base my opinions off of that. You guys laugh at domestics, but i'll tell you this, you don't live in the Adirondacks, most of you don't have a clue what our cars go through up here and honestly, the imports, outside of the Subarus and the Yotas do not hold up.

Posted by Samurai ok... you want the truth, coming as a mechanic that I once was. With some exceptions, Mitsubishis suck ass. They are unreliable and in extreme climates, their engines and transmissions do not hold up. While living in Tennessee, you'd see Galants, Eclipses and those horrible Mirages with engines fogging oil at 70,000 miles. Or, better yet, the 3000's/Stealth's with dead transmissions sitting on lawns because people couldn't afford to fix them... What's funny is this; Car guys are the most opinionated bastards on the planet. I myself am no exception. I have always had domestics and I will always have domestics as they work. they hold together. they are what i require. I don't like most imports and the imports I do like were built and sold before you were probably born. Have you ever seen a 75 Corolla SR5 hatchback? Or an old Datsun 510? (outside of wikipedia of course). Can you remember when Subarus weren't AWD? When was the last time you saw a Brat? Hell, have you ever heard of an Merkur XR4Ti? My friend Eric had an 82 Corolla SR5 that was indestructible! Rotted to fuck, but mechanically indestructible right to 185,000 miles when the body finally broke in half. I try to be nice, but in the end, i'm not nice. I am a creature of experience... I've got over 20 years of experience to bring to the subject and I base my opinions off of that. You guys laugh at domestics, but i'll tell you this, you don't live in the Adirondacks, most of you don't have a clue what our cars go through up here and honestly, the imports, outside of the Subarus and the Yotas do not hold up.

Datsun 510- in person
75 corolla- I'd be scared.
I remember when subarus were AWD optional into the early 90s, IIRC
I've seen several XR4Tis around here.


Point is, you don't have to hold a grudge against certain cars. Around here, some 150 miles south, my import is king, and shares the throne with many other imports. Doesn't mean I hate on domestics, but the only people you see driving them are the "American or nothing" inbreds who can't afford to move out of the motel.

I love Tauruses, I think there is occasionally a time and place for an F-150 or Silverado, and of course, there is always a day when you wish you drove the rolling barcolounger Cadillac.

There are also Vipers and Corvettes, which are for men with small packages, and Dodge Ram 1500s with 20" alloys for 5' 6" guys with a superiority complex.

I try to be the car guy who can appreciate all makes. I stopped [completely] hating on Hyundai around the new millenium, and Kia a few years after that. I guess, I wish you could appreciate all cars, like I sometimes try and do, because the hate really destroys the atmosphere. It's one thing to poke each other in the ribs, but it's another to basically attack.

galant and taurus still suck, except the galant ZR-4.

Posted by 944kid Point is, you don't have to hold a grudge against certain cars. Around here, some 150 miles south, my import is king, and shares the throne with many other imports. Doesn't mean I hate on domestics, but the only people you see driving them are the "American or nothing" inbreds who can't afford to move out of the motel.

i don't hold a grudge. i just don't like them. that's not a grudge, that's me making an informed decision regarding a make of car based on a) it's observed reliability versus it's claimed reliability, b) the ease of maintenance, c)the ease of obtaining parts when the vehicle fails and d)the 'cool' factor, which is incredibly subjective.

Long Island is much further than 150 miles from here... try almost 275. It's a whole other universe and I know you were not talking about me, I take offense at the comment regarding individuals that are 'American or nothing'. That was even more of a cheap shot than I took at your Mitsubishi. The people I associate with that drive domestic cars are most certainly not inbred, most certainly do not live in a motel or trailer park and most certainly do not walk around sporting a sweet mullet.

in my experience as a mechanic, there are several truths about an import car. One, quality is hype. I have seen just as many imported pieces of shit as I have domestic. Second, warranties all hype.

As many of you know, I do agree with Samurai on this issue mostly; I tend to disagree the Japanese makes better 4 cylinder engines, but that's a long story that requires a pint of beer.

To back him up, I like to point out that when a foreign car does have an failure of some some sort, parts are much higher than over a domestic. I think Samarui's favorite example is Kia and BMW on that.

Posted by Agent Skelly To back him up, I like to point out that when a foreign car does have an failure of some some sort, parts are much higher than over a domestic. I think Samarui's favorite example is Kia and BMW on that.

See, I'd disagree on that, especially on the BMW thing... my Bimmers, although a few of them were shit, were some of the cheapest cars I've owned for parts. Try $35 for a front caliper for a '90 325i, or $20 for front pads. People always used to say "oooh BMW, that must be so expensive to fix!" but parts prices were comparable to those of my '86 Dodge Ram.

As for japanese 4 cylinder engines not lasting as long? The last engine in my tercel came out of the car at 488,000 km (still running but I wanted a twin cam), I had a '95 Tercel with 564,000 on the clock (at which point it burned an exhaust valve... which I fixed, car is still going today), and my girlfriend's Camry has 462,000... and running strong.

I meant that the Japanese make a superior 4 cylinder engine.

Posted by bandi See, I'd disagree on that, especially on the BMW thing... my Bimmers, although a few of them were shit, were some of the cheapest cars I've owned for parts. Try $35 for a front caliper for a '90 325i, or $20 for front pads. People always used to say "oooh BMW, that must be so expensive to fix!" but parts prices were comparable to those of my '86 Dodge Ram. As for japanese 4 cylinder engines not lasting as long? The last engine in my tercel came out of the car at 488,000 km (still running but I wanted a twin cam), I had a '95 Tercel with 564,000 on the clock (at which point it burned an exhaust valve... which I fixed, car is still going today), and my girlfriend's Camry has 462,000... and running strong.

it's interesting... I had this discussion over the weekend with a friend of mine's dad. I see all these people claiming uber miles on Corolla and Camry's and that's fine, but these are not cars you drive because they are fun to drive. They are appliances, anonymous people moves with four doors. Toyota tried to spruce up the Corolla with the Corolla S, but it looked like a toaster with a factory body kit.
i honestly think that's why these cars rack up miles like they do... Look at my 98 Lumina- 184,000 miles on it. Why? It's a people mover. I've looked at over 25 Luminas since August. Every single one of them was over 100,000 miles, five or six were over 200,000 miles and 2 had flipped 300,000 miles. Where's my 'ask somebody' commercial?

Yeah I had to make my own toyota sports car...

My family has not owned a car with less than 100k on the clock. In the fleet we have 4 volvo's (310k, 260k, 220k, 130k), 2 BMWs (135k, 233k), 1 GMC (180k), and one Ford (2XXk, odo broke and we stopped counting). The only car that shows its age is the GMC, but at least the motor still pulls hard.

..straight from the dash of my New Beetle TDI

click to view

Repairs have been limited to a battery, a steering rack, 3 glow plugs, 3 sets of ball joints, 4 sets of tires and 4 sets of brakes and a pair of front struts.

Exhaust, clutch, starter and alternator are all original.

Posted by 944kid There are also Vipers and Corvettes, which are for men with small packages, and Dodge Ram 1500s with 20" alloys for 5' 6" guys with a superiority complex.

hey I take offense to the dodge thing my ram has 20's stockf rom the factory and i am 5'5"