Sorry I’ve been gone so long…

There comes a time in every car’s life where it either needs to be brought up to date or moved on for something newer. As I’m still enjoying driving and looking at my Galant, and due to the fact that there’s nothing really comparable for the money, the updating option was obviously the one to go for.

So with that in mind, the dated-in-1997 combination of technicolour trim and fake wood had to go, along with the stop-gap Chinese touch screen head unit.

Firstly, in came a 2000 model dark grey/light grey Legnum interior. This came with the added benefit of a split/fold rear seat (first Galant in Australia to have this) and rear door cards with speaker grilles.

Secondly, the woodgrain dash was wrapped in 3M Di-Noc carbon-look vinyl. There was a bit of trial & error going on here, but the end result is good I think. Much better than the stock “carbon” dash option. I also added a Ralliart gearknob and pedals.

Finally, the stereo came in for some love. Starting with the Pioneer touch screen head unit, I then threw in 2 amps, a pair of speakers for the rear doors and a 12 inch sub for the boot. These team with a pair of aftermarket 6 inch splits in the front and the stock rear speakers (for now) to sound far better than a collection of leftovers installed by an idiot (me) should sound. And most importantly, it’s more or less invisible which keeps the “factory option” theme alive.

It all adds up to make the car a bit more comfortable, a bit more up to date, and a bit more fun to be in. Still to come is a reversing camera (if it ever arrives in the mail…), and it obviously still needs a new steering wheel but despite my best efforts (2 trips to the other side of Melbourne after being told by a certain workshop that they had what I was looking for, only to find no one there the first time, and no steering wheels there the second time) I haven’t been able to source one yet. It’ll come.

Stage 2 of the “Ralliart Edition VR4” upgrades is coming very soon.