Welcome

foldto the

The new Lancer Sportback

Ralliart looks like a younger

sibling to its Evolution big

brother. But what exactly is it?

Words: DaveG and Mrk

Photography: DaveG and Mitsubishi Motors

When the Evo 8 260 was launchedit was met with both derision andconfusion by many Evo owners,especially those who thought it wasn’t a proper Evo and it tarnished the Evo image. Eventhough it was a budget Evo, it hassince proven itself to be just ascapable and also a very wise buyfor those looking to achieve thebest bang for their buck.

Mitsubishi have just launched a new performance Lancer basedon Evo X technology and at a significantly lower price point, but is it another budget Evo?

Interestingly, even though therelationship with the Evo X isclear, sharing a lot of the samelooks, turbo-charged engine and afour wheel system, it’s not beinglabelled as an Evo, but instead

called the Lancer Sportback Ralliart. Why Sportback? The Ralliart Lancer comes in hatch-back form only, further separatingit from the Evo to broaden its appeal and to compete in the hot-hatch market.

The Lancer Sportback Ralliartuses the same Evo X 4B11 turbocharged engine producing 237bhpand 252lb/ft. It’s four wheel drive

Mitsubishi have just launched a new performanceLancer based on Evo X technology and at a significantlylower price point, but is it another budget Evo?

and uses the same SST transmis-sion as introduced on the Evo X.In base form, it also costs nearly£8,000 less than the entry Evo XFQ-300. On paper, it looks like alot of car for the money and onethat might temp anyone wantingto modify it to Evo levels of performance on a budget.

So, is it really a budget Evo orsomething different? We’ve takena close look at the Lancer Sport-back Ralliart and found there aresome interesting differences….

EngineThe Sportback’s engine producesa healthy 237bhp, but noticeablypeak torque of 252lb/ft occurs atjust 2,500rpm. It makes the carfeel very responsive from as littleas 2,000rpm and very easy todrive, but after 5,000rpm it doesfeel like it’s running out of steam.Closer inspection discovers thatit’s using a substantially smallerunit than an Evo’s.

The turbo is designated as aTD04HL-15T-7 unit, quite a smallturbo and a different family to theTD05 turbos fitted to all Evos. The TD04 will spool earlier andproduce more torque, but only capable of around 300bhp at apush. Coupled with the differentturbo are likely to be differentcams and possibly injectors.

In the engine bay are severalother noticeable differences. The battery is mounted here in-stead of in the boot on the Evo Xand the intercooler is dramaticallysmaller appearing to be about halfthe size of an Evo intercooler. The exhaust system looks thesame as a factory Evo X system.

TransmissionAll Sportback’s use the SST automated manual transmission, A manual Sportback is rumouredin Japan at some point in the future, but nothing official hasbeen released yet.

One omission from the Sportback’s SST transmission isthe Super Sport mode, meaningthe very fastest gear changes are not available, but this is notsomething that will make a hugeamount of difference in the real world.

One major difference in the 4wheel drive system is the lack ofan AYC driven rear differential, the Sportback is fitted with a mechanical LSD. For some drivers, this will be seen as a plus allowing for a purer drive and also a stronger differential.Despite the mechanical rear LSD,an active centre differential (ACD)is fitted as standard.

it’s clear there are some major differences with the handling of a

Sportback compared to an Evo

HandlingAfter driving the Sportback, it’sclear there are some major differ-ences with the handling of aSportback compared to an Evo.

Firstly, it uses completely differ-ent suspension that feels a lotsofter than an Evo, although theride comfort is better as a result.The suspension units are Mitsubishi’s own and the anti rollbars appear smaller.

Secondly, the Sportback usesnarrower and lower performancetyres than the Evo X fitted withYokohama A10 215/45R18 tyres.

Thirdly, the Sportback is fittedwith quite different front and rearsub-frames, arms and drop links.All suspension arms are also steelwhereas the Evo X is fitted withalloy arms. One other plus point isthe much smaller turning circle ofthe Sportback.

BrakesAll Evo X’s are fitted with aBrembo braking system, but noton the Sportback. It uses Mitsubishi’s own smaller calipers.They did, however, feel very effec-tive for road use if a little over as-sisted, although durability mayprove to be their real Achilles heel.

ExteriorIt’s here that we have the mostnoticeable difference between theEvo and the Sportback, which is

the rear end. As mentioned above,the Sportback is a hatchback andwhilst it might not be the prettiesthatchback on the market andloses the appeal of the Evo saloonshape and spoiler, it is practicaland that will suit many buyers.

Exterior dimensions do varyfrom the Evo X, with the Sportbackbeing slightly longer, narrower andhigher. The wheelbase on theSportback is also 15mm shorter.The rest of the shell is basicallythe same as the Evo with fairlysubtle changes; the Sportback isfitted with chrome surrounding thefront grille, which definitely willnot appeal to all tastes. It alsohas front fog lights in the lowerbumper, Mitsubishi’s own 18”wheels and discreet Ralliart badg-ing on the front grille and tailgate.

It loses the grilles at the back ofthe front wings on the Evo and thefront wings may not be so flaredon the Sportback. The front num-ber plate also moves to the centreof the bumper where radiatorgrilles are on the Evo.

The Sportback does have thesame bonnet vents that are one ofthe strongest styling associationwith the Evo and making mostpeople asked think it was an Evo.

The Sportback is available in 5different colours, Lightning Blue,Santorino Orange, Orient Red,Frost White and Amethyst Black.

Running CostsAs a lower performance car you’dexpect the running costs to belower than an Evo, but we foundwith fuel costs we were stillachieving a similar MPG as you’dexpect from an Evo and the Sport-back still needs Super Unleaded.

Service intervals are the sameas the Evo X and costs are notlikely to vary much, if at all. Emissions hardly vary between the Sportback and Evo X and bothare in the highest car tax band.

The Sportback is in a slightlylower insurance group though-group 17.

InteriorThe dash is almost identical to anEvo X, with the only styling differ-ence being the insert in the dashand around the doors which haschanged to a black and white‘fishnet’ design.

Functionally, there is the addition of cruise control to thesteering wheel.

The seats are not the Recaroitems fitted to the Evo X, but replaced with Mitsubishi’s ownand available as heated andleather in GSR trim. They do lack a lot of the Recaro support,but are comfortable.

Existing Evo tuners willbe able to transfer

their skills and knowledge quite

easily...

Sportback's MIVEC engine has smaller TD04 turbo and retains battery location under the bonnet

No Bilstein suspension or alloy arms for the Sportback

Mitsubishi haven’t labelled this anEvo and are keen to differentiatethe Lancer Sportback Ralliart fromthe Evo range, hence only import-ing the 5 door version.

To the layman this may not bethe case however as the visual aspects and Ralliart associationbring a strong relationship between the two, but from a performance and technology point of view the difference is significant.

Using a turbo charged 4B11 engine and 4 wheel drive, the ex-pectation was the Lancer Sport-back Ralliart could have beenanother budget Evo, but we were

surprised by the number of differences which actually makesthe Evo look the better value car ifyou were to consider the cost ofupgrading all the parts necessaryto take the Sportback to Evo levelsof performance.

This car has been developed tocompete with models from othermanufacturers in the hot hatchmarket, drawing on the Evo her-itage to promote sales. This mar-ket sector is highly competitive,but the Sportback does have fourwheel drive and SST in its favour.

One market that will potentiallybenefit from the Sportback is thetuning market. Existing Evo

tuners will be able to transfer theirskills and knowledge quite easilyand tuning parts are already start-ing to appear in Japan and the US.

Only time will tell how well theSportback will sell, but the lowercost, practicality and Europeanapproval can only help. As for Evoowners, this car will dilute thebrand most feel separates themfrom the rest of the Mitsubishi vehicle line up, but it doesn’t takeanything away from the cars theyalready own and any increase inthe amount of owners that sharesome of their Evo technology canonly benefit them.

DaveG

Conclusion...

Tailgate and split folding seats mean enough room to carry your Colt Ralliart - almost!

Steering wheel also features Cruise Control

The Lancer Sportback Ralliart atfirst smacks you with hope. It hasthe Ralliart name in the badging,the aggressive Evo-esque frontend, the flanks and pretty muchthe same engine covered with theidentical bonnet and vents, albeitthe engine is 63bhp down – at astill credible 237bhp - from thebase model Evo FQ-300. And asmentioned in the overview of thecar the Sportback Ralliart has asstandard the excellent fast shiftingdual clutch SST gearbox althoughminus, but not lacking the SuperSport option. So this car being£8000 cheaper than the base Evo,with some of the Evo’s DNA shouldmake an exciting buy?

At first glance and being an Evoaficionado I was not that excitedabout putting the car through itspaces but then I realised I wasbeing overly hard on the car, andto be honest a bit prejudiced too.So I removed my blinkers andbegan to see this car as a stronglooking bridge between the nor-mal Lancer and the Evolutionmodels, a Focus ST or Golf GTicompetitor. As a result this carthen starts to make sense and puta smile on your face.

It is a nice place to sit as Evo Xowners will attest and has a re-markably similar interior, reason-ably supportive seats that areaimed at comfort more than sportand the same quiet refined drive.While getting used to the car itcorners flatly at first with a softwell damped ride, nice feel in thesteering and the brakes have goodbite with decent modulation,

which is a relief as the gearboxhas virtually no engine brakingeven compared to the FQ-300’svariant. It is also even slower to move off from standstill, but it’s as smooth, jerk free and user friendly.

When building speed to start putting in some laps on the MLR’s test track, the chassis immediately lends itself towardsundersteer on both fast and slowbends when you are wishing topress on immediately displayingthe lower tech suspension. But ithas the same quick and accuratesteering from the Evo and thesame sensations communicatingthrough to you from all four corners. These signals are grate-fully received from the rear whichoffers you the opportunity to lift to quash the forward slip andmove the tail progressively andsure-footedly around, resulting ina tightening line for you to thenuse the full potential of the fourwheel drive and the very smooth MIVEC engine.

The engine is so free of lag andswift to respond in the mid rangedue to its smaller turbo that youwould be fooled into thinking thatit was in fact naturally breathingair. Although it’s lost without theextra power of the FQ-300, and ithas no urge above 5000rpm. Even flicking down a gear to near its peak power point providesno discernable improvement in acceleration; you are better offstaying in the middle rev band and using the torque present. You are also handicapped with the

standard fit 215/45/R18 YokohamaA10 tyres which lose width andgrip from the Evo models. Thatcoupled with the pronounced body roll results in your corneringoccurring at a much slower speed,which is at least 10mph down tothat of the FQ-300 - but also andthis is where I began to enjoy myself, you can really have somefun throwing the car about with no concern of spinning off into thehedgerow. You can also drive thecar - not the electronics - you arethe master that uses the very pre-cise and strong brakes (not greatat resisting fade though, 2 lapsand they were spent) combinedwith the sharp steering, thefriendly lift-off oversteer and thepunchy engine to get the corner asright, smooth and fast as possible.

You have less to work with inthe Sportback Ralliart and thus thedrive when attacking the trackscorners is challenging and as a result I thoroughly enjoyed mytime in the car, it just lent itself toyou to explore its intricaciesdeeper and try harder to gain thatextra speed or perfect your line. Ican also see myself having morelegal fun out on the country roadsas the limits are that much lower.Tied together with a comfortableride and pleasant place to sit inand around town and you have agood all round package dressed inclothing reminiscent of the Evo X’sand a more practical and goodlooking hatchback to boot.

Mark Ahlin

Second Opinion...

I can also see myselfhaving more legal funout on the countryroads as the limits arethat much lower

Evo heritage is clear inside and out!

MLR On-Line Feature MLR On-Line Feature MLR On-Line Feature MLR On-Line Feature

On the RollersAt 238bhp, the Sportback falls inthe region of 60bhp short of astandard Evo. It has a smallerturbo that feels quite urgent at lowRPM, but suffers at the high end ofthe rev range.

Thanks to Surrey Rolling Road,we ran the Sportback on theirrollers to see how the engine per-forms. Peak power was 184.1bhpat the wheels and the Dyno Dy-namics rolling road softwareagreed that it translated to 238bhpengine power. There was plenty oflow down pull with 50% of peaktorque occurring at just 2,000rpmand rising to a peak torque of250ft/lb at 3,500rpm.

One nice characteristic is thealmost flat torque curve the Sport-back produces from 3,500rpm to4,750rpm. Not quite the 2,500rpm4,500rpm flat curve Mitsubishiclaim, although our runs were allperformed in 3rd gear. This doesmake the mid range feel very re-sponsive although you notice thetail off of power over 5,000rpm asshown on the rolling road.

Peak torque is achieved with1.25bar of boost, but this it onlymomentarily held and it quicklydrops off and at peak power isonly holding 0.6bar. The AFR wasvery rich, reading below 10 whichwas in fact off the scale of the

rolling road software.Compared to a standard Evo,

the power curve is very similar inshape although peak figures arefar less with the Evo reaching238bhp. Interestingly, the turbodoes not actually spool as fast asthe Evo turbo except at low rpm.

On the TrackOn our test track at Chobham the Sportback managed a re-spectable lap time of 87.89secs,only 2.79 secs slower than an Evo X SST FQ-300.

Through the 1st fast corner andonto the main straight the Sport-back is consistently 10mph slowerthan the FQ-300 Evo as it strug-gles for high speed grip andpower. The same lack of grip isapparent in the 2nd high speedcorner, again losing 10mphthrough it.

The ‘Snake’ section shows thesame lack of cornering speed with the Sportback, although thedifference is much smaller in thisslower section of our lap.

Throughout the lap the Sport-back performs well under braking,only marginally slower than theBrembo shod Evo. However, it isbraking from lower speeds andwith multiple laps the smaller Mitsubishi brakes may have beenprone to fade.

The Sportback managed a respectable lap time of 87.89

secs, only 2.79secs slower than an Evo X SST FQ-300

MLR On-Line Feature MLR On-Line Feature MLR On-Line Feature MLR On-Line Feature

ENGINE / ELECTRICSEngine type 2.0 Litre 16-valve DOHC MIVECFuel system Multi-point injection (ECI-MULTI)Displacement cc 1998Bore/stroke mm 86.0 x 86.0Compression ratio 9.0Max. output kw (bhp) at rpm 177 (237) /6000Max. torque Nm (lb.ft) at rpm 343 (253) /2500~4750Alternator V/A 12v/130ABattery V/Ah 55D23L

PERFORMANCE / FUEL / CONSUMPTION / EMISSIONSMaximum speed mph (kph) 136 (220)Acceleration 0-62 mph secs 7.1Fuel type UnleadedUrban mode lts/100km (mpg) 13.9 (20.3)Extra urban mode lts/100km (mpg) 8.1 (34.9)Combined mode lts/100km (mpg) 10.2 (27.7)CO2 emissions g/km 243

SUSPENSION AND STEERINGFront axle McPherson strut and

coil suspensionRear axle Multi link sports tuned

suspensionFront Ventilated disc brakesRear Ventilated disc brakesSteering Power assisted rack

and pinionTyres 215/45R18Wheels 18" x 7.0JJ Alloy

TRANSMISSIONTransmission Automated ManualManual 6-speed AMTGear ratios 1st 3.655

2nd 2.3683rd 1.7544th 1.3225th 0.9836th 0.731

Reverse 4.011Final gear ratio 4.062

DIMENSIONSExterior:length x width x height mm 4585 x 1760 x 1515Ground clearance (unladen) mm 150Front mm 1530Rear mm 1530Wheelbase mm 2635

WEIGHTS / VOLUMESSeating capacity 5Fuel tank capacity lts (imp.galls) 55 (12.1)Gross vehicle weight kg (lbs) 2045 (4508)Kerb weight kg (lbs) 1595 (3516)Towing capacity, braked kg (lbs) 1400 (3086)

SERVICING / INSURANCEService intervals 10,000 miles/12 monthsInsurance group 17AVehicle Excise Duty (VED) band L

WARRANTY3 year unlimited mileage warranty12 year anti-corrosion perforation warranty3 year pan-European breakdown & recovery______________________________________________Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart GSR £24,149.00 List PriceLancer Sportback GS2 models available with M-ASTC (Mitsubishi Active Stability and Traction Control) for £400 extra

CAR WEIGHT AS TESTED (Full tank of fuel and driver included)

1631kg

FRONT RIGHT29%

REAR RIGHT21.0%

FRONT LEFT29.5%

REAR LEFT20.5%

Thanks to:

Mitsubishi Motors: www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/newlancer01285 655777

Surrey Rolling Road: www.surreyrollingroad.co.uk01276 686111

Performance Autoworks www.performance-autoworks.co.uk 01285 711733

------- Torque ______ BHP