Next Magna super sizes

IT IS a well-worn maxim but Mitsubishi Australia is intent on using it – it’s not size that counts but how you use it.

That is the rationale behind the PS41 Magna replacement, which is almost certain to be called Galant when it goes on sale in October.

At the latest PS41 media briefing held in South Australia last week, Mitsubishi chose the cavernous Adelaide Entertainment Centre to drive home the fact the new car is bigger outside and inside than the car it will replace.

With a wheelbase of 2750mm, PS41 has a slightly shorter wheelbase than the best-selling Holden Commodore.

It has an overall length of 4835mm, width of 1840mm and height of 1479mm, with a front and rear track of 1570mm.

Although based on the Galant V6 sold in the United States, Mitsubishi Australia’s market and product strategy manager, Derek McIlroy, emphasised that 70 per cent of PS41 had been redesigned from the US donor car.

"A lot of that comes in the way the interior has been redesigned, if you like," he said. "The new design improves interior space and also improves the feeling of interior space."To test its claims, Mitsubishi presented the PS41 to 300 consumers in a ‘styling clinic’ in Sydney last July and asked them to rate PS41 for size. According to Mr McIlroy, three quarters of them believed it was "just right" for a large Australian car.

"PS41 is a large car," he said. "It’s also a big statement for us because in the past people have said Mitsubishi doesn’t really have a large car. Well, with the new PS41 we certainly do.

"It’s now up with the big boys, up with the Commodores and Falcons. So no longer are we the wannabe large car. We are a large car on the outside."He also insisted the car was large on the inside and that space utilisation made the Australian-built PS41 roomier than the US car.

"Numbers are one thing but the physical experience is another," he said.

GoAuto was able to test the claims by piling four adults into a disguised PS41 last week, as well as the current TL Magna.

Unlike the TL, there was a surfeit of rear legroom in the new car, while rear headroom was acceptable. It also offered excellent rear access.

Other points noted from the mid-range PS41 we sampled were that it had side airbags supplementing the dual front airbags, comfortable and supportive front leather seats, an electric driver’s seat (with three-position memory) and a sequential manual mode on the automatic.

It also had faux brush aluminium interior doorhandles, dual door seals and a ski hatch.

The charts below show how close PS41 is in size to the Falcon and Commodore with the outgoing Magna used as a reference point.

Mr McIlroy said the Magna had not been "too bad" for rear headroom, with differences between the Falcon and Commodore rear headroom stemming from their individual design.

"In the Commodore you’re sitting almost on the floor," he said.

"In the Falcon you’re sitting up higher. It’s probably a bit more biased towards comfort."In PS41, Mitsubishi had struck a balance between comfort and a sporty feeling, he said.

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Car	Front	Rear	Front	Rear	Front	Rear
	legroom (mm)	legroom (mm)	headroom (mm)	headroom (mm)	shoulder room (mm)	shoulder room (mm)
Magna	850	510	1006	947	1420	1427
Commodore	949	481	1023	970	1480	1517
Falcon	890	549	957	932	1511	1492
PS41	891	566	1008	937	1455	1446

Note: Figures supplied and calculated by Mitsubishi Motors Australia.