Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X

GENERATION X
The tenth generation of the iconic Mitsubishi Lancer Evo rally replica isn’t an evolution at all. It’s revolutionary. Andy Enright reports

Your hands fly fast, grabbing at gears frantically, the rough-house turbocharged engine blaring tunelessly while sending the thin dashboard plastics twittering. The steering bucks and weaves neurotically as the scenery explodes through the windows, the rain pinging off the roof and road grit performing a staccato rat-a-tat form the wheel arches. The tiny wipers bat valiantly back and forth but before you’ve reached the end of the deserted Welsh hillside road, you’re giddily aware that the car has more to come. Much more.

You, on the other hand are spent, a sweating, gibbering wreck with eyeballs on stalks and hands shaking due to the body furiously dumping adrenaline through your system. That was my first Lancer Evo experience, ten years or so ago and was also the first time I’d driven a properly fast car, in that case an Evo VI RS Sprint. Much has changed since then but Mitsubishi thinks it has progressed still faster with its latest rally replica.
The previous nine generations of Mitsubishi Lancer Evo were just the warm-up acts. Yes, there have been some great cars – the Evo VI Tommi Makinen edition and the Evo VIII FQ-340 stand out for me – but never in the history of this iconic all-wheel drive turbo sports saloon has there been a step change quite as massive as the shift from generation nine to iteration ten. Although the ethos remains much the same, the hardware has been radically altered, and while industry observers mutter that Mitsubishi has got it right and Subaru has dropped a weapons-grade clanger with their latest hatch-based Impreza, the full result of that head to head clash will ultimately be determined by sales figures.

One recurrent Evo theme is that each subsequent generation has become bigger, heavier and more complex. The Evo X continues in that vein but the end result is much the same. The word that springs to mind when at the wheel of an Evo X, and it’s probably not the word you’d expect beforehand, is polish. All of the controls feel that little bit better resolved, without the rather uncouth feel of previous generation cars. The onset of the turbo is less of a wrecking ball to the back of the head and more of an F-22 on afterburner take-off. Of course it’s still monstrously quick, the 276bhp (but more like an actual 300bhp) Japanese domestic market test car stopped the Racelogic VBOX at 4.3 seconds to 60mph and with a quoted top speed of 155mph.

"The Mitsubishi Evo X feels a more refined, cleverer car than its predecessors"

The Lancer Evo was never a car that was defined by its straight line sprinting ability though. Instead it amazed with its astonishing grip and cornering agility and the Evo X is no exception there. The Super All Wheel Control (S-AWC) system features an Active Centre Differential (ACD) and Active Yaw Control (AYC) which is not dissimilar to the Evo IX, but the latest car adds Advanced Stability Control (ASC). With this riot of acronyms weighing the Evo X down, it would take a very special kind of idiot to punt one into the scenery. ASC features a middle setting between fully on and fully off that permits a degree of driftability but intervenes if it thinks you have relinquished control of your vehicle.

Perhaps the most interesting design feature is a technical one. Alongside a standard five-speed manual gearbox, Mitsubishi is also offering a six-speed SST Sports Shift Transmission. This is a sequential twin-clutch manual gearbox using similar technology to Audi’s acclaimed DSG system. The SST system can be marshalled via a fore/aft gearlever or wheel-mounted paddles or it can be left to do its own thing, holding gears through corners and blipping the throttle on downshifts as you brake. Truth be told, the software seems quite a bit smarter than Volkswagen/Audi fare, and although it might sound heretic to leave an Evo in automatic, it’s still devastatingly effective.

The exterior lines of the Evo are bang on message for the target market. The blackened maw of the front grille and intercooler are flanked by slit-eyed headlamps. Walk round the side and the rising waist line of the car shouts aggression. The detail features are slicker but they don’t scream originality, the vents on the trailing edge of the front wheel arches and the big rear diffuser both owing a debt to the Renault Clio 197. Certain Evo trademarks continue, however, the three-box silhouette, big rear wing and gently blistered wheel arches all signalling the Mitsubishi’s intent.

The Lancer Evo X opens at £27,499 for the FQ-300 model in GS trim. If you want the twin clutch SST gearbox you’ll need £31,999 for the FQ-300 in the higher GSR trim level. The more powerful FQ-330 starts at £30,499 and the top Evo X derivative is the FQ-360 GSR for £37,999. The standard specification gives you 18" alloy wheels, Bi-Xenon headlamps with the Adaptive Front Lighting System, Recaro seats, Bluetooth compatibility, automatic headlamps and wipers and remote central locking.

If you upgrade to the GSR model, the Evo X starts to feel quite luxurious. Satellite navigation, a 30GB hard drive to store your favourite music and an upgraded Rockford Fosgate 650watt stereo system to play it on are all included, as is an advanced vehicle data system incorporating a trip computer and numerous other features. In many ways, the less gear you put inside your Evo, the more sense it makes. Even though the latest generation car is a good deal more mature, with a few rough edges chamfered off, it’s still no smoothie like an Audi A5. It is what it is.

Expect very little change in terms of running costs which will remain crippling. Very short service intervals, a prodigious appetite for 98RON fuel and insurance premiums that read like telephone numbers are all part of the Mitsubishi Evo ownership experience. This might come as a surprise to some who expect supercar slaying capability on the cheap, but Evos have always been extremely high maintenance cars.
Depreciation for this next generation model will be a good deal less than for the Evo IX, which was very much seen as a swansong model, little changed from the VIII. It’s a decent bet that the Evo will also hold its value better than a directly comparable Subaru Impreza.

The market for the Mitsubishi Evo is a strange one. Almost exclusively working class male, the Evo is the poster child for a generation who would once have goggled through dealer windows at Ford Sierra Cosworths and before that Opel Manta 400s. The Mitsubishi Evo X feels a more refined, cleverer car than its predecessors, but it’s still going to reward its owner with the adulation of teenage boys and a neurotic awareness of flashing blue lights. By any measure it’s a towering achievement and a devastatingly effective performance car.

One can’t help but wonder if how a car achieves its ends is a nobler preoccupation than how fast it does so. It’s illuminating to see how Evo owners graduate to Porsches and BMWs and never return. The Evo X tries to imbue the Lancer with some of the balance and tactility of these cars without detracting from its uniquely Oriental feel and largely succeeds. The best Evo yet? The jury’s still out.