2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX - May 2005

2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX

Japanese love a good obento, which is a select assortment of traditional delicacies served in a bento box, a compartmentalized tray with high walls to prevent intermingling of foodstuffs. Perhaps that's why you can't buy the same feisty Mitsubishi Colt Turbo hatchback in both Europe and Japan, or the nifty six-passenger Mitsubishi Grandis wagon in the U.S. Intermingling has risky consequences. It's bad obento.

At least there's the Lancer Evolution, which Mitsubishi spreads like sinus-clearing wasabi across the world to spice up its lackluster image. For 2006, the Lancer Evolution's generational odometer rolls over from the current Evo VIII, on sale since 2003, to the Evo IX. Accordingly, this rigid, noisy, spartan, all-wheel-drive son-of-a-rally-car gets new front and rear bumpers, aero tweaks, nattier seats, and lighter alloy wheels. And along with that it gets a 10-hp boost to 286, mostly from a new-to-Evo variable-valve-timing system.

Timing is everything, as we discovered with our own test gear strapped onto a six-speed Evo IX MR at Mitsubishi's Okazaki track. It's a postage stamp of grass and asphalt ribbons enveloped by the dense suburbs near Nagoya, Japan, and home to Evo development since the Evo II in 1992. With the Evo IX MR, we saw 60 mph in 4.6 seconds and the quarter-mile in 13.4 seconds at 104 mph, the fleetest sprinting we've garnered from any stock Evo.

Oh, but you were expecting more than new bumpers and 10 added horses for the Evo IX? The name is "Evolution," after all, and it is indeed evolving toward an all-new Evo X set to arrive late in 2007. That would be shortly after the debut of a redesigned Lancer sedan on a new platform dubbed GS.

Meanwhile, be content with the same three Evo flavors as before-the trim-stripped RS and the base Evo, both with five-speed manuals, plus the six-speed Evo MR with Bilstein shocks and forged BBS wheels. We're told to expect a $500 bump of the current base prices (starting at $29,074 for the RS) when pricing is announced for the September on-sale date.

Inside are aluminum pedals (except in the RS) and redesigned seats. A faux-carbon-fiber panel adorns the dash. Cloth is gone; pseudo-suede center panels are now bordered by leather bolsters. All-leather seats are an option.

Outside, a new front bumper fights aerodynamic lift with an available chin spoiler that increases the low-pressure zone under the nose. Two oval nostrils in the bumper help the intercooler by ramming fresh air around its input and output pipes. In back, the carbon-fiber airfoil can be had with a Gurney flap, a thin wing extension that increases downforce to the rear.

It's about a more stable stance and better steering response above 90 mph, says Hiroshi Fujii, or "Dr. Evo," the leader of the 100-man Evo development team. The good doctor knows more than a few things. Around Okazaki's high-speed oval with its stomach-plunging 45-degree banks, the Evo indeed tracked securely with reliable helm control. The throttle responds more quickly, but the real fireworks still happen after the needle swings past 3000 rpm.

An old devil with one new horn is the iron-block turbocharged 2.0-liter DOHC 16-valve inline four known as the 4G63. Upstairs, the intake cam now spins with an adjuster that advances or retards the cam as needed for best power. Unlike MIVEC in the Galant, Outlander, and Lancer Ralliart, the Evo's system adjusts only valve timing, not lift. The Evo IX's larger turbo-impeller housing supplies an easier pathway for exhaust gas, shrinking turbo lag by five percent, claims the quick-smiling Dr. Evo. Peak boost pressures actually drop slightly even as torque rises from 286 pound-feet at 3500 rpm to 289. Other changes: new piston oil rings to cut oil burning by 10 percent and a stouter nylon-reinforced timing belt.

The Evo keeps its driveline, so U.S.-bound cars still churn all four wheels without the help of Japan's active-yaw differentials. New Enkei aluminum wheels shed 3.3 pounds each over the old rims, but the Evo's suspension and steering remain otherwise unchanged. Hence, expect skidpad performance to stay in the low-0.90-g range, steering feel and body control in the rapturous range.

Yes, there will be an Evo X, insist the company execs milling around at Okazaki, even though Mitsubishi Motors has lost almost $9 billion over the past five years and was hemorrhaging at the rate of $12.5 million per day back in February, according to Automotive News. Mitsubishi sold a piddling 12,500 Evos worldwide last year (4497 of them in the U.S.), but it's a profitable business, says Hideyuki Iwata, Mitsubishi's product manager for the Lancer line. Besides, he adds, Mitsubishi dealers routinely accept a Porsche or Mercedes in trade for an Evo. That's a brand polisher for a company chin-deep in tarnish.

But where will the Evolution evolve next? "A wider power range, a softer ride, and quieter. This is our direction," Iwata says. Then he points to a Mitsubishi-owned Volkswagen R32 fitted with VW's silky-shifting Direct Shift Gearbox and asks, "What do you think of this transmission? It is very interesting to us." To some people, an Evo with paddle shifters and a mellow ride, an Evo that doesn't explode forward at 3000 rpm but merely wafts to higher velocities like a piano pushed off a skyscraper-well, that's just no Evo at all.

But we'll worry about that later.

2006 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX MR
Vehicle type: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
Estimated price as tested: $35,700 (estimated base price: $35,700)
Engine type: turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, port fuel injection
Displacement: 122 cu in, 1997cc
Power (SAE net): 286 bhp @ 6500 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 289 lb-ft @ 3500 rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Wheelbase: 103.3 in
Length/width/height: 178.5/69.7/57.1 in
Curb weight: 3300 lb
Zero to 60 mph: 4.6 sec
Zero to 100 mph: .11.9 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 6.4 sec
Standing 1/4-mile: 13.4 sec @ 104 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 155 ft
EPA fuel economy, city driving: 19 mpg


Car and Driver Magazine - 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX - May 2005