We test the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR for Americas Best Handling Car comparison competition.
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 Back for another try at Best Handling Car Competition is Mitsubishi's Evo.
00:08 This is the 10th version.
00:09 Last year we had a 9th version.
00:11 All new for 2008, it has active yaw control, a new twin clutch SST transmission with multiple
00:17 driving modes.
00:18 You still have your tarmac, gravel and snow modes for the all-wheel drive system.
00:22 It's a stunning competitor.
00:23 We had one of these that we put up against the outgoing model and we kind of liked the
00:27 old one a little bit better in handling terms.
00:29 But that was a GSR, sort of the mainstream version, and this is the all-out MR version.
00:34 So we still think there might be a chance for this thing to take home the big prize.
00:37 Let's see how it does at Laguna Seca.
00:38 [Music]
01:08 Okay Randy, now we're moving to the all-wheel drive cars.
01:11 You just got out of the new Mitsubishi Evolution MR.
01:15 All-wheel drive as I mentioned, 291 horsepower, 300 pound-feet of torque.
01:18 How did it feel out there?
01:20 For an all-wheel drive car, that was extremely well balanced.
01:23 I had a great fun driving the car.
01:27 The power was excellent.
01:29 It wasn't mind-blowing.
01:31 But I think part of that may be due to the weight.
01:35 It's probably a heavier car than the Cobalt or the Mini as we work our way up here at Laguna.
01:40 It had a sense of really good balance on turn-in.
01:43 You could feel the tail moving around, which I like.
01:46 There was only one time, going into turn five, where something in the way I turned into the corner,
01:52 I left the weight forward a little bit longer.
01:54 I got a big rotation.
01:56 I had a big sideways moment, which was kind of fun.
02:00 But it surprised me because up until that point, I thought there might be some sort of control electronically working in the car that kept it from doing that.
02:10 But it appears that that's not the case.
02:12 The car just simply held its line well until you did something a little bit too far off.
02:17 And this is with all the controls turned off as much as we could turn them off.
02:21 Then when it got sideways, it really did.
02:24 But it was actually kind of fun in a four-wheel driveway.
02:27 What's the feeling of the steering to you now that we've got power distributed four ways instead of two?
02:32 I'll tell you, the steering to me felt a little bit lighter and actually a little bit less in terms of feel than the Mini or even the Cobalt.
02:41 It was pretty quick, though a pretty quick ratio, relatively quick ratio.
02:46 And the back of the car was moving enough I didn't have to turn as much.
02:50 So the steering response was measured more by the whole car, yaw, in other words.
02:56 Whereas the front-drive cars had a tendency to just go towards understeer,
02:59 the four-wheel-drive Mitsubishi Evo X had a tendency to rotate right at entry in a good way.
03:07 And I enjoyed that aspect.
03:09 The car continues to feel to me like other Evos, like it has a high center of gravity.
03:14 I don't know where that comes from, if it may be as simple as seating position or if it's ride height.
03:19 But there's a sense of tippiness in the car.
03:23 And also a tendency for the front tire to feel almost like it wants to roll under in the tighter corners and understeer a fair amount.
03:30 [MUSIC]
03:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]