This Car is About Tenths of Seconds on the Race Track and Heart

8/6/2019 This Car is About Tenths of Seconds on the Race Track and Heart

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hards and long time fans be worried; has Mitsubishi's hero car lost it's "go hard or go home"attitude?

There's only one way to find out, and I'm happy to report that such a method involves fanging thething into the ground - come rain, hail or shine. Check it out:

Make: MitsubishiModel: Evolution IXPrice: $56,789Transmission: 6-speed manualEngine: 2.0-litre, inline 4-cylinder turbo, petrolSeats: 5Safety: 2 airbags (driver and passenger airbags), ABS, EBD, S-AYC

for detailed specs on the Evolution IX .

Drive: 4.5/5



The first thing I noted about thenew Evo after picking it up fromMitsubishi's high tech PR fortresswas the car's improved interior."Wow, it's got carpet," an

incredulous Peter Maniatis blurtedout, a fellow Motoring Channelwriter. Truly, it¶s a much nicer looking cabin than before, andthough there was great satisfactionto be gained from the bare-bonesinteriors of Evos past (particularlywhen passengers would complain atthe cheapness, only to be stunnedinto silence by the car's utterlyterrifying performance limits), the

improvements made within are notunwelcome.

The car comes with a 6-speedmanual transmission, presumably toimprove fuel efficiency with the 6thratio for highway cruising, and Imust say that it handles itself around the city and in the suburbs alot better than past models. It's afairly practical car for something sofreakishly quick, with four doors,five seats, a decent boot, electricwindows, a 6-stack CD player andwho could forget intercooler water spray?

The thunderous bangs that used tomake their way into the cabin in previous variants are slightly lessoffensive now, and though it doesride roughshod over bumps and lumps and can be rather jarring for all occupants at times, it's probably the most compliant Evo model ever released. It¶s a lot easier to live with than pastmodels, yet feels as though its performance parameters have been altered (for the better). I guessthat's progress for you.

Indeed, slight damping changes to the suspension have worked wonders with the car's everydaydrivability, though it pays to be aware of the low body kit, which can scrape on driveways andspeed bumps. I liked the ultra-direct steering too - even in traffic it is a boon, and compared to

The Evo IX is arguably the quickest car through a corner that we've ever tested onthe Motor Channel - to be sure, this thingis the dogs bollocks and the ducks guts



past model it's clear that the ride has been softened. Not to the point where body roll is impingingon grip levels, but in general it feels a little more supple in everyday driving conditions.

This is a good thing, even I can admit that, but this car was not built for commuting. No. It was built to challenge the laws of physics, to scare the crap out of your passengers and to propel its

driver to ludicrous speeds through corners. And I'm happy to report that it does so with one hellof a raw turbo kick, which has become a signature quirk of Evo over the decades.

There's no doubting this car's performance potential - it's tremendously fast. It may not be able tokeep up with an Italian exotic beyond 200km/h, but through a corner, there'd be few cars that canmatch its stunning pace, and there's a few reasons why.

As soon as you tip the Evo IX into a corner, the car's myriad electronic chassis aids begin doingstrange things, most of which you'll never consciously feel, but they are there and they providethe little Mitsubishi with incredible cornering grip, the likes of which I am yet to see bested. Thecar's AWD nature combines with these aids, and through them 206kW of power is channelled,

courtesy of the 2.0-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. But the more important figure is the355Nm of torque - this is the stuff that forcefully pushes you into the comfy Recaro seats, andgives the rally-bred car a real pit-bull attitude.

Speaking of the Recaro seats, it is my belief that they are one of the of the things that makes theEvo IX so easy to drive hard (which I'll get to in a second). The seating position suited my 6 footframe without too many problems, even though the seats aren¶t very adjustable; they only slideforward and back and the upright section tilts. But the good part is that when you bring the seatforward to a certain level, the bottoms of your shoulders are resting just where the bolsters jutout, so when you grip the wheel you get a nice 'pushing forward' feeling.

With a small leather Momo sports steering wheel, a pleasingly stiff-but-sure gear change and a brilliant seating position, the Evo IX has all the hallmarks of a true performance car, and having punted the thing pretty much right across the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, let metell you that this machine is hard to top for sheer driving thrills. Though the Evo VI TommiMäkinen had more torque, the manic turbo power delivery is still here in the Evo IX, wrackingyour body with increased G-forces as the tacho needle passes 3000rpm, torque levels spiking --yet this astonishing level of acceleration is tempered by the chassis aids.

These include a front helical limited-slip differential, plus a switchable Active CentreDifferential and a rear differential with Super Active Yaw Control, or S-AYC in Mitsu speak.These combine with the full-time 4WD system to give the Evo IX the kind of mid-corner gripthat is almost indescribable. Even with two tapes full of my drive impressions, I find it hard toconvey into words what it's like hammering through a tight corner with your foot to the floor.Most cars need to be coaxed with a measure of cautiousness through a corner, but the Evo isdifferent. It just grips and guns, and in turn you're washed with both lateral and frontal G-forcesat the same time, pushed into the seat and the side bolsters at the same time. Such an effectresults in the kind of driving enjoyment that's hard to qualify: it's sort of like a mixture betweensheer fright and unadulterated joy as the Evo just slams you from corner to corner, the turbowhining and popping the whole way.



I've driven a fair number of sporty automobiles in my time, but few, if any, stir the soul and pamper the ego like this obnoxious little go-getter. It's impeccable grip levels inspire whoppinglevels of confidence and as you turn into a corner, adding a touch of throttle to keep the turbo on boost, it simply sits on its outside wheels and flies ahead as the inside two wheels do a bit of pulling as well.

The steering, too, is perfectly suited for hard driving. A small Momo steering wheel combineswith a quick steering ratio (but an appalling 11.8 metre turning circle, kerb to kerb) requiring just2.1 turns from lock to lock, so that even the smallest turn of the tiller results in the car turning itsnose quite noticeably. Ultimately, this means that even when a razor sharp corner looms and youneed the car to turn sharply, you don't get all crossed up. Feedback through the steering wheel isdecent,which is quite something when you consider the heavy-duty 4WD system that underpinsthe car's chassis, but it has a very stiff and heavy feel that those with weak forearms won'tappreciate.

The car has been on a rather expensive diet, dropping a good 60kg of weight compared to the

Evo VIII thanks to various weight savings, including an aluminium roof that helps lower itscentre of gravity in addition. The car's body is stiffer too, with an extra 200 spot-weldsincreasing torsional rigidity.

In another user friendly upgrade, it's not as difficult to extract maximum performance ascompared to previous models either, as unlike past generations of the Mitsubishi Evolution -where the electronic chassis aids wouldn't activate under strong brake applications (the super-ABS got priority) - the S-AYC remains active at all times.

I remember a few instances where at the last minute I realised I had shot into a corner too hot andtoo deep, and with almost maximum brake input I locked up the front outside wheel but

somehow the car still tracked round the corner as I had envisioned, managing to hold on to it'sline, where most cars would straighten up considerably and you'd end up on the wrong side of the road. It's not a failsafe system, more a failsoft system, but at the end of the day it gives youmore confidence to push the car harder and faster. Because it's like a very clever rear LSD, it alsomeans that understeer isn't a problem.

With a top speed well beyond 200km/h and a cornering limit that puts many super cars on notice,the running gear must be up to the task of handling big G-forces, but this car is close to bullet proof. Tell a lie - as I remember the model we tested was delayed, as was this review becauseanother journo shagged the gearbox, and the Ralliart crew had to replace sixth gear. But evenwith 10,000+ kilometres on the odometer it felt very rugged and very strong. I pushed the car toits limits time and again yet the engine felt really strong at all times. All aspects of the drivelineand chassis did, and I suppose that's why many rallying privateer teams take the Evolutionmodels as a base point to create their competition cars - they're built to withstand plenty of punishment.

Other features of the chassis come together to make the Evo IX an astonishingly stable car inalmost any situation, such as the Bilstein shock absorbers, the quick ratio power steering and the brilliant Brembo brake system, which is comprised of 320mm discs up front clamped by 4-piston



callipers, and 300mm discs at the rear, bitten by 2-pot callipers. These Brembo brakes haveincredible stopping power, and a really good feel to boot.

The car we tested was shod with non-standard Pirelli P Zero Rosso tyres (235/45 R17 aspectratio), and these things give the Evo an uncanny amount of mid-corner adhesion, but take longer

than your more standard tyre to warm up, so if you plant the foot coming out of a corner beforeyou've scrubbed them, the rear tends to snap free, which can be heaps of fun, but also quitedangerous.

On the whole, I have nothing but praise for the way the Evo IX rewards the driver with itsscintillating straight line and cornering performance, but I must make mention of a few things Iencountered during my travel. This could be another trait of the Pirelli¶s, but I noticed that theEvo tended to snap back quite abruptly out of power-down corners, almost wanting to kick in theother direction. Granted, this was usually when I straightened the car up quite quickly out of acorner, but it wouldn't have hurt to have slightly more progressive damping levels in the shock absorbers. On the flip side, it will teach you to drive a lot smoother coming out of corners, or else

be faced with a potential slingshot/highside.

The car's Active Centre Differential gives the car a whole new level of performance, as I quicklydiscovered. In the dry, the car is a demi-god with unimaginable power, that much should be clear by now, but in the wet? This thing is also manically quick. Never before have I been so stunned by a car's ability to grip the road in such low friction conditions. I shit you not when I say that I pushed the car to 7/10ths in the wet - maybe even a little bit more. And not just damp roads - I'mtalking pouring rain, wipers on full-bore.

It's got to be experienced to be believed, but the best I can do is to tell you that this car is reallyquite mad. You just whack the ACD to 'Gravel' mode (which is for gravel and wet bitumen), and

the torque distribution changes slightly and the thing just grips and goes - dry, wet, whatever. Idrove the Evo for an entire afternoon in wet weather, and though tentative at first, I found myself testing the limits of adhesion until I was driving the car almost like it was on a dry surface.Truly, I was shocked, amazed and flabbergastered by this car's tenacious levels of grip.

It borders on silly, it really does. Even with pouring rain, once the tyres build heat it¶s amazinglycontrollable and able to run very quickly without losing traction. The Subaru WRX STI mayhave its infinitely variable ACCD, but this system is more user friendly in my book. Threemodes, no fuss, thankyou very much.

The ultimate question you need to ask yourself is this: are your nerves up to the intense level of cornering grip the Evo IX offers? Its adhesion is just stupendous (with the Pirellis) and it'ssometimes terrifying thinking how hard you can push it. In conclusion, I can report that the newEvo IX is both easier to live with on a daily basis, yet just as manic when driven hard - if notmore so - than the models it supersedes.

Engine: 4/5



Not just powerful, but forceful - the 2.0-litreengine in the Evo IX is a real piece of work,and something that just keeps on revving,delivering huge levels of shunt right until thealmost-7500rpm rev limiter. The manufacturer

reckons the car hits 100km/h in 5.7 seconds,which is pretty good for something that tips thescales at 1410kg, while the 80-120km/h roll onsprint takes just 6.6 seconds - plenty quick.

The engine is supposed to have 355Nm of torque, but on the road it feels much stronger than this. This could be due to the inclusion of a high performance version of variable valvetiming and lift, or Mitsubishi Innovative Valvetiming and lift Electronic Control (MIVEC) to

quote the manufacturer. This system raises peak power to 206kW (Australian spec Evo'sused to output much less than this) and though peak torque is 355Nm, a good deal of this isspread across a wider band, making the car much punchier when shooting out of corners.

The 6-speed manual gearbox can also take a bitof the credit for making the Evo IX a faster feeling vehicle, and though I found it a littletroublesome to make super-rapid gear changes from first to second, consecutive changes in theother ratios - such as second to third - take to being manhandled quickly and violently much better. And on the road, the second-third (and third-fourth) gear changes are much more commonthan first-second shifts, so it's not something that tarnishes the Evolution IX's otherwise rock solid drivetrain. The clutch is quite heavy, but this is to be expected of a vehicle that has such a big torque thump.

And like many Evolution powerplants of times gone by, the engine is a bit of a late bloomer. I'ma huge fan of the particular way this engine develops its power (but it won't be everyone's cup of tea) as your brain anticipates the massive shunt that's approaching as you stir it up. It's similar indelivery to a high performance two-stroke motorcycle, where low down the power is meagre, butas soon as it reaches its power band, it's party time. Ergo, below 2500rpm the car feels a tadlethargic, but as soon as the tachometer needle passes this, the car lurches forward with avehemence I've seldom encountered. The engine tends to revolve rather slowly below 3000rpm, but as soon as the twin scroll turbocharger spools up the engine spins exponentially faster, and asyou row through the gears, keeping the revs above 3000rpm, the engine becomes an altogether different beast, propelling the 4WD Lancer along at a heady clip.

Though I mention that the engine feels lethargic below 2500rpm, this is when you treat theengine and clutch with respect. As it turns out, if you disrespect the powertrain you can buildmore torque much earlier by revving the engine and dumping the clutch, which means you don't

Engine: 4G63 2.0-litre Inline 4-cylinder

The transversely mounted inline 4-cylinder engine has a 2.0-litre (1997cc) capacity, whoseengine block is cast from iron, while thecylinder head is aluminium and features dualoverhead camshafts (DOHC) that actuate a totalof 16-valves (4-valves per cylinder). Variablevalve timing and lift is also part of the 4G63'srepertoire.

The cars high power and torque come from theaddition of a turbocharger and air-to-air intercooler (with water spray) and the petrol- powered, fuel injected engine has a low 8.8:1compression ratio as a result, and will onlyaccept 98 RON unleaded petrol when filling the55 litre fuel tank.

Max Power: 206kW @ 6000rpmMax Torque: 355Nm @ 3000rpmTop Speed: 250km/h0-100km/h: 5.7 seconds



have to wait until 3000rpm for the turbo to engage. And if you fancy yourself as a bit of a trafficlight duellist, you'll love the intercooler's triple nozzle water spray, which can be set to manual or auto mode and helps cool down the air hitting the intercooler (which is front mounted, and moreeffective than a top mounted intercooler, as the air slams straight into it instead of being routedfrom horizontal to vertical).

The note from the engine isn¶t particularly soul stirring in my opinion, but it does have a certain presence about it that suggests very strongly that this ain't your garden variety 2.0-litre engine.Further to this, the car also benefits from a lightweight aluminium bonnet, which reduces weightat the front end and also features a large mesh-covered air outlet, allowing thermal energy todissipate, that would otherwise be trapped in the engine bay and cause it overheat and catch onfire. Because the turbocharger is tuned to deliver a high level of boost pressure (roughly 20psi or 1.39bar), the engine compartment gets intensely hot (you can actually see the headers glow redhot), and this is one of the more practical solutions.

It can drink a bit a petrol when pushed, but if you're willing to spend $60k on a Lancer, you

probably won't be too concerned about frugality. Even so, in 6th gear on the highway the car willcruise at 100km/h doing 2500rpm, which isn't too shabby, and if you drive it softly the car willreturn quite decent fuel efficiency figures. Expect figures between 10 and 12L/100km.

Exterior: 4/5

The Evolution IX is based on the Mitsubishi Lancer, but as you can tell from the photos it's quitedifferent externally. Just like the upgraded engine, suspension, brakes and so forth that stir thesoul, the exterior gets a serious make over that stirs the ego. And though it does look a little plastic fantastic, much of the flair is actually very necessary. That huge rear carbon composite

spoiler, for example, was condemned as an eyesore by the majority of people who wanted to giveus their opinion on the car, with one admirer calling it an "dumb chunk of plastic that I would break if you weren't here". Ahem. We're all entitled to our opinions, but without it the rear wouldlack a considerable amount of downforce, and seeing as the weight distribution is 60:40front:rear, the rear end would feel loose and woolly without it.

Another oversized aspect of the car's exterior is the exhaust pipe - it's huge! It integrates wellwith the pronounced rear diffuser, the latter of which works in tandem with the big rear wing tohelp tie the rear end down to the road a bit better. Overall, I like the look of the Evolution IX. If it looks like a tarted-up Lancer, then I like tarty Lancers. The mesh covered bonnet adds streetcred, and the bodykit gives the car a ground-hugging stance and the 17-inch OZ alloy wheels arethe business.



This front end may look similar tothe Evo VIII, but in fact features anall new front apron and includes anumber of changes to improve performance, such as the larger

lower air dam, which "raises enginecooling efficiency" according toMitsubishi. All told, I think theextroverted look suits the car quitewell, and communicates its performance capabilities to one andall. There will be some who steer clear of the vehicle for this reasonalone, but when your inside the car you kind of forget about it,especially when that manic turbo

works its mechanical magic.

Interior: 3.5/5

Mitsubishi has listened to customer feedback and given the Evo IX a more pliant ride, but ithasn't forgotten the interior either, which has been tizzied up significantly, adding features likeleather seats front and rear, a 6-stack CD stereo with 6-speakers and auto air conditioning.However, because it's based on a $20,000 car, it inherits the Lancer's average dash plastics, tightrear seat room and cheap-looking switchgear. But really, if you wanted something that was goingto impress your mother-in-law, you'd probably spend your moola on something with a 'luxury' or 'prestige' tag.

But it's saving grace has to be the Recaro seats. They are fantastic. Featuring a combination of leather and suede, they are comfy, supportive,they feel luxurious and have a motor sports coolabout them. The side bolsters are extreme, and thankfully so, keeping you relatively snug as youhammer through corner after corner. There's a bit of graphite carbon on the dash and the alloy pedals look nice, but I found them a little bit thin for my freakish clobhoppers at times.

It also has just two airbags, no cruise control and a space-saver spare wheel. There is, however,microdot marking, and another useful anti-theft device in the form of a vehicle tracking androadside assistance program, which helps lower insurance costs.

And while certain aspects of the interior are a bit naff, such as the dash plastics and the hard-to-read instrument cluster, items like the aforementioned Recaro sports seats and the leather Momosteering wheel, gear shifter and handbrake add sparkle and a pleasant tactility where its neededmost, and as a result the interior comes across as much nicer place to be than past Evolutionmodels.

The Evolution IX has a decent

interior that's let down by dash plastics and few cheap fixtures



Overall: 4/5

Though the Evolution IX has edged closer to becoming amainstream car, what with its softer ride and spruced up interior,

the essence of the banzai warrior is still there in spades, from theway it hacks through corners with scant regard for the laws of physics to the way it's engine builds torque. And it's all so incredibly addictive. I'd love to own one of these things, but for nowI'll have to stick to my worked CBR 600.

If you're after an small 4WD super sports sedan with a luxury bent, you'd be better off looking atthe Audi S4, but that costs more than twice as much, and this thing is quicker than the Audi in allareas. It just lacks a bit of interior polish.

But this can be forgiven in my book, because the way the torque hits the wheels, and how it gripsaround corners under full throttle is just utterly captivating. You can accelerate hard through a

corner as long as you¶re looking at the exit on the apex off in the distance, it¶ll just follow your line of sight around and then you do it all again. You don¶t need to think about where the nose is pointing so much - it responds with such alacrity it's often scary.

When I think about how to describe the car, I can't help but reel off the superlatives: unparalleledgrip, awesome traction, unimaginable acceleration, and the list goes on. If you like the feeling of your body being squeezed into the seat backs like you're in a giant centrifuge, you'd be welladvised to test drive this car, as it has an incredible performance threshold.

And with it's new $56,789 price tag, the Evo IX is even better value than before, with staggering bang for your buck and it's also a permanent member of the Mitsubishi range. There's not much

more left to say. The Evolution IX is an pearler of a performance car, and save for the WRX STI,it will run rings around pretty much anything else in its price range.

In a word: awesome.

Pros: Cons:

y Righteous Engine y Direct Steering y Stunning Grip

y Exterior Style y Value for Money

y No Cruise Control y Unforgiving Ride y Turning Circle

This Car is About Tenths of Seconds on the Race Track and Heart

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