LOOK past the outrageous front-end and you’ll find the familiar Mitsubishi Verada/Magna you’ve known and loved for more than seven years. The Verada was always a good car, and remains so, even if in many ways it’s facing fresher and more eager competition from both locally designed and Japanese-based product. The Xi version is the flagship model, intended to strike a blow at the likes of Fairmont Ghia and Holden Calais and it’s well-enough equipped to do just that, with just about every bell and whistle imaginable short of satellite-navigation. Two things weigh against it: its basic familiarity, and a radical frontal aspect that appears to alienate more people than it attracts.

Mitsubishi KJ Verada
Released: August 2000
Ended: June 2003
Family Tree: VeradaMitsubishi launched its current generation Verada as the KE model in October 1996. The latest KL Verada's most direct predecessor is the KJ Verada (pictured), launched in August 2002. KJ Verada Xi went on to be faclifted with the Series II version appearing in August 2002, when it received a five-speed auto among other improvements, but the most drastic cosmetic update was with the latest KL iteration tested here.
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