Chevrolet Malibu SS vs. Mitsubishi Galant Ralliart vs. Nissan Altima SE-R vs. Toyota Camry SE Engine & Performance

All Malibus get a new front fascia this year, and this one, with its foglights and black trim, looks better than the previous car's chrome upper lip. Handsome 18-inch wheels and dual exhausts further amp up the looks, and the interior is a businesslike combo of leather, cloth, and faux-alloy trim. The SS swaps the standard numb-feeling electric steering for a better hydraulic system and also gets spring/shock/anti-roll bar upgrades. It's by far the least expensive player in this test, at $25,610 out the door.

Nissan's current Altima has been around since 2002, but we had to wait until just last year to get an SE-R version of it. Too bad, because it's a well-done piece, and the one most committed to the "sport" side of the "sport sedan" equation. At $31,565, it's also the most expensive among this group, but the value is in the hardware: Forged 18-inch alloy wheels wearing performance-rated summer rubber, HID Xenon headlamps, ancillary gauge cluster, leather sport seats, and upgraded brakes go beyond what the other players offer. The SE-R gets more aggressive fascias and rocker panels, beefier suspension bits, and a five-speed automatic with a gated manual mode or a six-speed manual. The 3.5-liter V-6's warbling dual-exhaust system and other minor mods give it just a 10-pony increase over the stock Altima, but as it has 250 to begin with, there's no shortness of punch.

Never before would you put "sporty" and "Camry" in the same sentence (or paragraph, or story, perhaps). That has so changed. America's best-selling car is new-from-scratch for 2007, and Toyota's cooked up an SE version of it worthy of attention. Besides a roomier, structurally stiffer platform, the Camry SE boasts a 3.5-liter DOHC V-6 that cranks out 268 horsepower--the most powerful player here, if only by a bit. It's backed by this comparison's only six-speed automatic transmission, too. The rest mimics the others: sport-tuned suspension, blackout grille, fascia, and rocker-panel extensions, a "Sport Leather" interior trim package, and--get this--dual exhausts. Pipes--on a Camry! Even though the tires are of summer (versus all-season) spec, they're the narrowest and smallest on the bunch, and Toyota is the only one to equip its sportster with 17-inch wheels, which look too small for the car.

Enough pieces and parts. We hit the test track, city streets, mountain roads, and a few not-so-favorite freeways to see how each stacked up as commuter sedan/performance machine blend. The surprises began showing up immediately.

Don't faint, but the dragster of the bunch is the Toyota. Okay, it only nipped the SE-R by a tenth from 0-to-60 mph (6.1 versus 6.2 seconds). But a Camry winning any acceleration contest is worthy of a press release. Chalk it up to it having most horsepower and the close ratios of the six-speed transmission keeping the V-6 on boil throughout the run. Next up was the Galant at 6.4 seconds; it's as powerful as the others, but about 250 pounds heavier than the rest, so that's where the 2/10ths might have gone. The SS, with the least horsepower and the fewest gears in its tranny housing, brought up the rear at seven seconds flat. The rpm drop-off during 1-2 shifts was huge, which cost it some accelerative performance.