2012 Mitsubishi Galant vs. Its Competition

Martin Padgett Editorial Director

The Galant faces some particularly tough competition, not only from the perennial sales leaders from Toyota and Honda, but from a string of new or updated vehicles that have brought more shoppers back into sedans.

The Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima are exciting designs, with available turbo and hybrid drivetrains, and new this year, either a telematics system like OnStar in the Sonata or voice control for audio and phone functions in the Optima.

The Nissan Altima and Ford Fusion have been favorites for families seeking good handling and great reliability.

But to gauge how far the Galant is behind the pack, you'd have to compare it to something like the Chrysler 200, the rebodied Sebring that got new styling and new features for the 2011 model year.

The 200 is only moderately new and still falls short of the others in its class, but compared to the Galant, it's much better looking, with a far richer interior and better performance with its V-6 option, and better crash-test scores, too.