UK Ralliart VR-4 vs. Jap VR-4

[GalantOnly]

Does anyone know what do exactly UK Ralliart did to our cars?

As far as I can see there's some badges, stickers and removed WIND DEFLECTORS!!!

Momos? Recaros?

[Paul Beazer]

Nothing major, IIRC
speedo converter (km to miles)
rear lights replaced with UK spec ones
full body underseal
there may be other bits n bobs, but cant remember the rest.

[Nick Mann]

rear lights replaced with UK spec ones

Nope. Most had a hole cut in the bumper for an aftermarket foglight.

Ralliart did nothing important. They took a cold climate VR4, undersealed it and SVA'd it. Even the manual was still Japanese!
Most did come with optional extras, like leather or recaros rather than normal cloth seats. Most leggies had roof bars. Fundamentally, there is nothing on a Ralliart import that you couldn't get on a Japanese import that you undersealed.

[ANTHONY]

i thought all vr4's were ralliart being the grey imported ones were built by ralliart japan

[HMG1K]

Ralliart was / is the UK motorsport brand of Mitsubishi - it began life as Ralliart as an independent firm before the Colt Car Company bought it out... its owners went on to form Xtreme.

[ANTHONY]

Ralliart was / is the UK motorsport brand of Mitsubishi - it began life as Ralliart as an independent firm before the Colt Car Company bought it out... its owners went on to form Xtreme.

i think you will find that ralliart uk went onto become Xtream but RALLIART is a world wide concern

[GalantOnly]

Honestly, I hate almost everything what they did to the car...

Only carbon panels inside is quite cool (is it a Ralliart thing at all?). Delimiter is also ok, but the speedo "MPH" sticker sucks...

Stickers on the sunscreens looks just awfull - japanese is much more stylish...who read them anyway?... Sticker in glowbox looks like it was made by 10 years old boy... Rear fog is just...sorry, I have no words to describe how ugly it is... Rear fog switch made exactly as solid as rear fog is ugly... Undersealing? Wheel arches is white and rusty inside...
BUT WHY THE **** DID THEY REMOVED WIND DEFLECTORS FROM THE DOORS?! They could at least give us the radiator cap instead...

[Robotnik123]

Are you sure that is all they did? What about chipping them for more horsepower? Cars sold outside of Japan would not have needed to comply with the 280PS restriction, I bet they could have tweaked the UK cars a bit if they wanted to.

[GalantOnly]

Are you sure that is all they did? What about chipping them for more horsepower? Cars sold outside of Japan would not have needed to comply with the 280PS restriction, I bet they could have tweaked the UK cars a bit if they wanted to.

Not sure... Hope there's someting more......

[Kieran]

Are you sure that is all they did? What about chipping them for more horsepower? Cars sold outside of Japan would not have needed to comply with the 280PS restriction, I bet they could have tweaked the UK cars a bit if they wanted to.

They could have, but they didn't.

Regarding the wind deflectors... These were not factory items - They were an accessory, but a very popular one.

[Nick Mann]

There were rumours that the UK VR4's were modded for UK fuel, but I have never seen any evidence to support that. They were certainly not modified for extra power.

GalantOnly - wind deflectors were an extra, no-one removed them, they just didn't put them on. I'mnot sure what you mean with the statement that you don't like what they did to the car - they did almost nothing? You can convert the speedo back to kmph and remove the sticker. Delimiting can be done in other ways if you are worried about that... The hole in the bumper is a bit more difficult to cover, but the foglight can be done in other ways. The stickers are only warnings about airbags, IIRC? The carbon effect is another option - I think it was standard with facelift cloth/recaro interiors.

[HMG1K]

i think you will find that ralliart uk went onto become Xtream but RALLIART is a world wide concern

I stand corrected!

[Roadrunner]

Nope. Most had a hole cut in the bumper for an aftermarket foglight.

Ralliart did nothing important. They took a cold climate VR4, undersealed it and SVA'd it. Even the manual was still Japanese!
Most did come with optional extras, like leather or recaros rather than normal cloth seats. Most leggies had roof bars. Fundamentally, there is nothing on a Ralliart import that you couldn't get on a Japanese import that you undersealed.

I have the rear fogs integrated with the rear light cluster (mine is September 2000) and I have a VR-4 handbook in English

Only thing I'm not sure about is I was told by the guy who did the laser alignment on my previous VR-4 (grey import) that the later (Ralliart) ones had greater adjustment in the rear suspension (for castor, camber, toe-in/out) but I've not checked to see if that's correct.

[Nick Mann]

Brian - that could just be facelift/prefacelift minor design change.

You have an English VR4 manual from a Mitsubishi Dealer? My Ralliart came with a UK Galant manual and a Japanese VR4 manual. Not a UK VR4 manual! The only ones I've seen of those are from ebay. It was a 2001 and had the same bumper foglight as every other Mitsy import I have seen. Are you sure the previous owner didn't do the handbook/foglight things?

[DickBarton]

its owners went on to form Xtreme.

- not a great claim to fame as most of their music was awful...

[HMG1K]

Guess their name was More Than Words...!

I'll get my coat!

[elnevio]

I'll get my coat!

Too right!

[ANTHONY]

I stand corrected!

i could be wrong

[Jimbo]

Oh Tony! And to think you sounded so convincing earlier.

I'll just add also that the earlier UK Galants were not undersealed particularly well, or pehaps even at all. I formed this opinion after seeing the stark difference between my '99 and '00 cars and also seeing other '99 EOU cars. Chalk and cheese!

By the way - I still have an English language VR4 supplement manual (possibly similar to the one Brian mentioned) if anybody would like it. Beer token donations accepted

[Roadrunner]

Brian - that could just be facelift/prefacelift minor design change.

You have an English VR4 manual from a Mitsubishi Dealer? My Ralliart came with a UK Galant manual and a Japanese VR4 manual. Not a UK VR4 manual! The only ones I've seen of those are from ebay. It was a 2001 and had the same bumper foglight as every other Mitsy import I have seen. Are you sure the previous owner didn't do the handbook/foglight things?

Previous car was a facelift version too and rear suspension didn't have the adjustment that the technician mentioned, so not a pre-/post- facelift issue. Current car was first registered in the UK so is an official Ralliart car. I've seen a few without the bumper cut-out; I've also seen variations on where the VR-4 badge and Ralliart badge are located on the bootlid. No explanation for the fog light - perhaps different engineers doing the work in the UK. Badges, and likely manuals, would be a dealer thing which would explain the differences (I had the same when I had a Mazda 626 - ABS badges were stuck wherever the mechanic thought it should go )