chicagotribune.com's view

The 1988 Galant Sigma is a honey of a car and a worthy, if unknown, rival to the Toyota Cressida and Nissan Maxima.

But soon the Galant Sigma no longer will be.

In May, Mitsubishi brings out the new 1989 Galant, which will be slightly smaller than the Galant Sigma. At that time, the Galant Sigma becomes the 1989 Sigma and will represent the top-of-the-line from Mitsubishi.

Under the new game plan, Sigma competes with Cressida and Maxima and Galant with Toyota Camry and Nissan Stanza.

Mitsubishi also brings out its new subcompact 1989 Mirage in May. You got a peek at the car if you visited the Chicago Auto Show this year and saw the Summit from the Jeep/Eagle division of Mitsubishi`s partner, Chrysler Corp. Summit is the new Mirage and vice versa. Mirage will appear in two-door hatchback and four-door sedan.

You also may have spotted the Chrysler and Mitsubishi X2S prototypes at the show. Those are the sport coupes that will be built at the joint venture Diamond-Star plant late this fall. The X2S is an offshoot of the new Mitsubishi Cordia coming out this fall.

If not totally confused by now, you could try figuring out how many LeBaron models Chrysler offers. But we digress.

The 1988 Galant Sigma is built on a 102.4-inch wheelbase and is 185.8 inches long overall. There`s lots of interior room and comfort. The wheelbase is about the same as a Pontiac Grand Am, the length about that of a Chevy Celebrity.

With the shorter wheelbase but extended length, you enjoy a better ride in the Galant Sigma because you sit further from the wheels and thus are removed from potential road harshness. Ford Motor Co. will employ the same tactic on the Thunderbird and Cougar in 1989 and the Escort in 1990.

Styling borrows from the rounded aero look of a Mercury Sable or Audi 5000. The halogen headlamps are flush with the body and an air dam is integrated in the bumper. Chrysler should have Mitsubishi stylists take a stab at designing some freshness into its cars.

The four-door Galant Sigma sedan is powered by the same 3-liter V-6 engine that Mitsubishi sells to Chrysler for its vans and New Yorker. The 3- liter V-6 is teamed with 5-speed manual or automatic transmission as a no- cost option. The car we drove had the automatic. The V-6 is peppier in the lighter Galant Sigma than in the heavier Chrysler New Yorker.

The Galant Sigma features independent four-wheel suspension, power brakes and speed sensitive power steering, in which effort increases at higher speeds. It means comfortable ride with good wheel response. And to top it off, antilock brakes are available as an option, which means sure stops regardless of the road surface.

The Galant Sigma also features a push-button selector to choose from normal to extra effort sport steering, and an optional electronically controlled suspension, which regulates suspens ion characteristics and ride height according to road conditions and speed.

You can select a firm setting for better handling or softer for smoother ride or touch automatic and let it adjust on its own. We found the best setting was normal for steering and soft for suspension.

Standard equipment includes wipers that change speed as vehicle speed changes, air conditioning, electronic AM-FM stereo with cassette and six speakers, power antenna, power door locks-windows-brakes-steering, dual remote power mirrors with electric defrosters, digital quartz clock, rear window defroster, steel-belted radials, folding rear seats that allow access to the trunk and cruise control.

With a $225 freight charge our test car listed for $20,411, which compares with a base price before options and freight of $20,650 on the Cressida and $17,449 to $17,699 on the Maxima.