Come October, today's 1996-vintage Magna will look a lot like America's new mid-sized Galant - a model with which Mitsubishi's vital Magna replacement will share both both its name and platform - previewed at the 2004 New York show. Larger, stronger and roomier, the front-drive 2005 sedan-only Magna/Galant will be powered by a 180kW 3.8 V6 and five-speed auto.

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Mitsubishi will deliver what's supposed to be Australia's first homegrown all-wheel drive sports sedan (discounting HSV's limited-build Coupe4 two-door due on sale in July) when it launches the Magna VR-X AWD. Priced at $42,490, it lacks the 2WD VR-X's manual gearbox, 17-inch wheels and 163kW.

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Mitsubishi launches an updated Magna all-wheel drive family in late September, just months after it first went on sale. Mitsu's second take on AWD inherits the wide-eyed looks and equipment upgrades the TL Magna/KL Verada revealed in July, but there are few other changes to the three-model AWD range.

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