By Alastair Sloane
It's called speed reading, the way fans of performance cars search a story for vital power and torque figures before anything else.
The figures are sometimes misleading, indicating on paper a lickety-split vehicle that can turn out to be ho-hum on the road.
But mostly they are reasonably accurate and
inevitably lead to instant comparisons. Take the latest performance product from Mitsubishi, for example.
It's the Gallant VR4, a car Mitsubishi hails as "every bit as exciting" as the Lancer Evolution VI.
This is a serious claim. The latest Evo can demand the utmost concentration - that its driver first put his or her brain into gear, reconciling speed with time and distance - before even getting into the car.
Surely the Gallant, a mainstream model at best, couldn't be compared with the Evo VI, voted for the money the most complete performance car in the world?
But the figures are there for all to see.
The turbocharged 2-litre engine in the Evo VI develops 205kW at 6500 rpm and 375Nm of pulling power at 3000 rpm from its two-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged engine.
This means a top speed of about 240 km/h and zero to 100 km/h time of just over four seconds.
The 2.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 engine in the Gallant VR4 produces 205kW at 5500 rpm and 363Nm of torque at 4000 rpm, significant speed figures on their own and certainly similar to the Evo VI.
But that's where the performance comparison ends. For a start, the Gallant is considerably heavier than the Evo VI and its manual/automatic INVECS II gearbox will blunt acceleration through the range.
Acceleration figures were not available for the Gallant but it is nevertheless certainly in the lickety-split category.
"It is a great car and I'm sure drivers of existing sports sedans will want to test drive it," said Mike Alexander, Mitsubishi's marketing chief.
The VR4 costs $59,900 and comes with the Evo's four-wheel-drive system and its active yaw control, an electronic differential which helps to keep the car balanced at speed through corners.
Standard safety equipment includes dual airbags and antilock brakes.
Inside, the sports sedan is equipped with leather seats, a CD system and air-conditioning. Outside, it boasts a lower front air dam, dual driving lights and a boot-mounted spoiler. The Gallant VR4 rides on 16-inch wheels.
