If the car world were an action film, Mitsubishi would be in the tenuous last five minutes of the last reel. The snake-headed alien space monkeys have beaten the hero to a bloody pulp. He's oozing from every pore and it looks like the space monkeys are about to turn the earth's population into food pellets. Will the hero suddenly find a last burst of strength, grab a Louisville Slugger and with a wry, "Batter up, space monkey," turn the aliens into primate piņatas? We don't know. The movie's not over yet.

But like John McClane running barefoot through broken glass, Mitsubishi isn't giving up without emptying all barrels and spraying some hot lead downrange. Case in point is the 2007 Mitsubishi Galant Ralliart.

For the record, Ralliart was the name of Mitsubishi's now defunct worldwide rallying effort. While the rooster-tail racing is gone, the name lives on as a performance umbrella under which future performance models will be launched. Think of it as the Mitsubishi version of AMG Mercedes-Benz. Any product with the Ralliart logo will be an indication to shoppers that this is a steroid-enhanced version with more power, better handling and unique visual cues. The hope, of course, is that if the standard model doesn't motivate you to consider the brand, maybe the buffed and flexed version will make you swoon.

Will disappear in a puff of tire smoke
On paper the Galant Ralliart has the sauce. Its 3.8-liter V6 engine is a great powerhouse, cranking out 258 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, enough grunt to propel it to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds, the quarter-mile in 15 seconds and a terminal velocity at the trap of 94.5 mph. These numbers are good enough to draw attention at an on-ramp and maybe even create a few converts. For the record, that 0-60-mph time is quicker than the last Nissan Altima SE-R we tested, which also had an automatic transmission.

In the Eclipse GT, the same engine produces 263 hp but due to exhaust changes it left a few horses on the shop floor when it was adopted by the Galant. The engine has a broad, flexible power curve due to the MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve Timing Electronic Control) system. The system alters valve timing and lift depending on engine speed and load and, like the industry-leading Honda VTEC system, operates seamlessly. At 2,000 rpm, it's already producing 220 lb-ft of torque and the curve stays fairly flat up to redline.

Tromping the right foot on the metal accelerator pedal produces noticeable, but not excessive, torque steer. If conditions are right and the traction control is switched off, the same tromping will produce a front-wheel-drive burnout worthy of an NHRA national event.

The MIVEC V6 is mated to a standard five-speed automatic with the Sportronic shift system. In testing we discovered that the transmission tended to short-shift in 2nd gear. We got the best times by manually holding 2nd gear to redline. Sadly, no manual transmission is offered despite the Eclipse's six-speed sitting in the parts bin.

Twists, turns and a nice surprise
As one would expect, the MacPherson front and multilink rear suspension shares almost everything with the standard Galant. The front bits are mounted on a subframe. Usually when upgrades are made to a suspension, the subframe mounting points get harder bushings to reduce flex and wobble. In this case, the bushings were apparently rigid enough not to need upgrading. The springs, however, are swapped out for higher-rated units and the dampers are also upgraded to provide better control. A 21mm stabilizer bar is added to the rear.

Also unique to the Ralliart are 235/45R18 all-season Goodyears mounted on seven-spoke alloy wheels. The development team apparently went out on a limb here and actually dialed up a noticeable but very controllable amount of oversteer. On the track, it ran the 600-foot slalom at an impressive 63.3 mph and was noted for its ability to counteract the tendency of nose-heavy front-drive cars to understeer their way into boredom and off our "must drive" list. This ability to rotate under trail braking into tight corners was easy to induce on the road as well.

The Normal, Illinois, development team also gave the Ralliart bigger front and rear brakes. All Galants get ABS with electronic brakeforce distribution as standard equipment. Although the track testers were a little disappointed with the longish 132-foot braking distance from 60 mph (the Altima SE-R stopped from 60 mph in 118 feet), on the plus side, we didn't experience any brake fade on hard, repeated braking on some of our favorite canyon roads. There was always plenty of pedal available and high-quality feedback.

Feedback from the steering wheel, on the other hand, was somewhat less than high-quality. At the limit and in quick transitions, the steering was sullen and numb. It wasn't anything that could get you in trouble, but you just didn't get that "connected to the road" sensation.

Loaded for bear
On the outside, the Ralliart gets a specific mesh grille, color-keyed side airdams, Ralliart badges and projector-style, four-bulb ellipsoid headlamps. The look is just aggressive enough to be interesting, but the overly large fender for tire clearance and single exhaust pipe are pure sabotage.

Inside, there are perforated leather seats with front-seat heaters, automatic climate control, power glass sunroof with a sunshade, a HomeLink transmitter, perforated aluminum pedals and something Mitsubishi calls Micro-delta accent interior panels.

Right now it looks as if the Galant Ralliart will only come one way: loaded. That means standard equipment will include a DVD navigation system and a Rockford Acoustic Design premium audio system. Neither of these items was fully sorted out on our test car so we'll hold our fire on those until we drive a Ralliart with fully functional units. For the record, the Rockford system will include AM/FM/CD/MP3 playback, a six-disc in-dash CD changer, an eight-channel amplifier with 360 watts of available power, silk-dome tweeters and Digital Signal Processing. According to Mitsubishi, the Ralliart is the first vehicle to feature the Rockford system. You also get the Sirius Satellite Radio hardware as well as a free six-month subscription to the Sirius service.

So the Galant Ralliart isn't a bad deal for less than $29,000. Plus, for '07, all Galant models get side curtain airbags to the already extant front and front-seat-mounted side airbags with occupant sensors.

A noble effort
The 2007 Mitsubishi Galant Ralliart is a noble effort and it's a hot round that hits closer to the bull's-eye than previous Galant incarnations. We're not sure it's got the ballistics to slay the opposition but it can at least keep their heads down while Mitsubishi chambers something a little newer and more refined. It's got the power, the looks and most of the handling needed to do battle. All that's really lacking is the killer instinct, the fine edge that separates the warrior from the rear echelon.