New Car Update: Mitsubishi Galants, Old and New

I'm beginning month four with my new (okay, slightly used) red Mitsubishi Galant (named "Rusty").  It is slowly transitioning from my "new car" to just "my car."  That doesn't mean that I have the proper position figured out in the garage yet. I still occasionally have to start it up again, and skooch it up, so that the garage door doesn't wreck the back bumper.  I drove a Jeep Wrangler for nine years, after all, and it was significantly shorter in length than this car.

Anyway, my car is still new enough that I look for others like it when driving around. This is a fruitless endeavor, most days, as the Galant was not a huge seller.  And more often than not, I spy an edition that predates the redesign that my 2009 version got.  Each time I see one of the earlier Galants, I try to see the differences, to see what exact changes were made.  But doing so in traffic can lead to some unfortunate changes to my car, so I try not to get carried away.

Today while going shopping at Target, I happened to park right beside the earlier version (2004-2006).  So I got to take a good look, and boy did they improve my version.  That nose thing that Mitsubishi tried to make a "family look" on their vehicles in the early 2000s was a mistake.  Who were they trying to ape?  Oldsmobile? Pontiac? Saturn?  All dead.  So, while if I were the designer, I would've done something with the old-school headlamps, I for sure would have tweaked the grille. Good move. The lines of the hood are better too.  Still, it would have been way cooler for them to put the Lancer nose on this one.

In the rear, things are drastically improved. The rear window is bigger, the butt looks trimmer, and the taillights are much more modern.  Not that it matters, I suppose, since Mitsubishi Galants seem to sell about as well as. . .Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs and Saturns.  Oh well. I do like driving a car that doesn't have millions of twins out there.  And in case you're wondering, I still really, really like it.