Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X test drive since 2008 sedan

Revolution of Ju

Japu is Japanese ten. It sounds, perhaps, more convincing than Kyu (nine), khachi (eight) and even more Sichi (seven). If only because the name of the famous boxer-champion is very consonant, and other Japanese numerals mentioned in Russian are by no means winning associations. But is the case with the tenth -generation Lancer charged?
 
Well, a brief excursion into the practice of using the Japanese language in Russia is only for seeding. The main thing is that we all, of course, know: the sun used to be brighter, the grass is greener, and cabbage soup is more. And the water was blowing. The same with cars. Every now and then comes from all sides: yes, there were cars in our time not that the current tribe and now hear? Bach! Babah !! Tarars !!! These are strict zealots of the acid-base balance and invariability in habits and the design of religious sportsmen to carry the latest Lancer Evolution to the puffs. Here, of course, if, having caught the conjuncture, to darken and attach your voice to this slender choir of the exposure, to impress the same all -knowing professor and a cool rider, and indeed it is inconceivable to exalt their ego, ruthlessly stabbing a new four -wheeled victim with his feet
But something, right, does not want to become another professor of sour cabbage soup and even more so to write something in spite of his own feelings and opinion. And it, this opinion is this: the car turned out to be a wonderful, although, indeed, largely fundamentally different in comparison with the Cults of Evo predecessors. For me, this is all the more obvious that for a long period I exploited EVO VIII, and even earlier I spent quite a lot of time driving Evo Vi Tommy Makkinen Edition. There was already a big difference between these two cars: the nominal six was much more rigid and unbridledly acute, wild, much closer along the habits to a real rally car than a later eight. And even then, devoted adherents of the model for this reason sprinkled the head of the ashes of the tires burned in the old days
And now the same thing, and the first thing you pay attention to dozens at the wheel (although the model is not officially called Lancer Evo X, but simply Lancer Evolution) is the disappearance of a classic dental grab when the turbine is turned on. Yes, no matter how naive it is, but to a great extent exactly the kindergarten that caused kindergarten, the wild acceleration from about 3000 rpm made this car so desired and adored. And although the new hot Lancer is more powerful and accelerates faster (or only slightly slower in the version with an automatic transmission) than the previous ones, it seems subjectively less hot. The trend, however.
 
Yeah, evolutionary fans already have something to fall into complete prostration, and then let me, Evo has an automatic machine ??? Yes, now also an automatic, or rather, a robotic transmission with two clutches as a sacrilegious alternative to traditional mechanics for EVO. Yes, what is there, representatives of Mitsubishi openly declare their betrayal of the Evo-fans in the declaration, which can be given to renounce the old world and which in a brief presentation sounds like this: we do not see the point in releasing the same for decades A product that repeats itself in everything, as if frozen in development.
Therefore, Down with Rutin! We built a completely new car, and our goal is equally new positioning and a new, much wider circle of customers. We say goodbye to the boyish community of street raises and eternal court rivalry with Subaru WRX STI. Our new guidelines are the BMW M3 and Audi RS4. Accordingly, our new sports car is not another routine EVO with the X index, but a revolutionary and more respectable Lancer Evolution. In short, I gave rise to you, I will kill you.
No more, no less. But if the eternal competitors, in the person of Subaru, went to the people through the giving market version of the basic version of Impreza, while trying to keep the nature of the charged version as much as possible, then Mitsubishi marketers decided to put an end to the situation in which the base model Lancer became more and more fresh and versions and versions EVO is increasingly wild and have nothing but a primitive salon, common with each other. Therefore, the basic version of the new generation Lancer gave initially a more aggressive and sports, extraordinary appearance, made it much more comfortable, richly equipped and refined and obviously, even during development, provided for the creation of a full -fledged sportsar on its basis.
Well, the application is very serious, and you understand this already in one appearance of the new Evolution. Firstly, the compact sedan has become noticeably larger due to an increase in the base by 25, the size of the track and height by 30 and the width by 40 mm. Secondly, indeed, the flesh from the flesh of the basic version, the charged Lancer looks much more attractive and convincing than the previous one, including thanks to the trapezoidal mouth of the front air intake, a kind of paraffer on the topic of modern Audi.
While in the geometry of the stern, something between Lexus and Alfa Romeo is quite clearly recognized. And giving additional visual power and aggressiveness, air duct deflectors on the hood and beyond the front wheels (there is almost direct quoting Mazda RX-8), the front spoiler and the rear anti-wing look much more organically, stylish and noble than earlier. Let us leave the conscience of Mitsubishi designers conscious or unintentional borrowing on the principle of the world on the poor shirt, and we admit that as a result, the car came out surprisingly holistic, okay, beautiful and acquired a more expensive and spectacular look.
This impression intensifies when you find yourself inside: there is no trace of the previous one, I am not afraid of this word, wretched design. Now, sitting in the salon of the new Evolution, you feel like in a well -maintained apartment with a European -renovation, and not in an orphan room of a student hostel with stools instead of armchairs. By the way, the new RECARO sports seats, unlike the previous ones, provide a much more convenient, cockpit landing. Everything in the salon pleases the eye even in the basic configuration of GSR. And the leather finish with contrasting thaw, the Rockford Fosgate premium audio system with 9 speakers (including a 25-centimeter subwoofer) and an amplifier with a capacity of 650 W, a 7-inch LCD display and a built-in hard-controlled control system, a built-in Bluetooth device and a built-in control device and a built-in hardware. The non-sucking system of unlocking doors and starting the engine is the equipment that is not conceivable before EVO versions, but now available in the top complexing MR (in which the new car was provided for the test), gives sensations when driving on the Lancer Evolution qualitatively different, incomparably higher level.
Nevertheless, the main advantages of this car should still be its running qualities, and they could be checked in full. Fortunately, the test organized in Spain for Russian journalists by the Mitsubishi Motors distributor in Russia, Rolf Import provided for both highway and a much more rare autodromic component. Already the first kilometers behind the wheel of a new charged Lancer are convinced: in relation to use on ordinary roads, his behavior is a significant step forward. Not at all lost in abuse, the sedan became softer, more politically correct in its habits and provides an even more intuitive level of management.
Behind the visible ease with which the new Evolution holds the required trajectory even in the most difficult turns, is the work of the most difficult intellectual system of the full-wheel drive Super All Wheel Control (S-AWC), already familiar in the eighth and ninth generation EVO, but significantly improved. Fundamental to this system of the function of automatic control of an active central differential (ADC) and counteraction to rotation around the vertical axis (AYC) were supplemented by the sensor of the degree of mentioned rotation and the brake force regulator, which allows the car to more accurately guess the intentions of the driver and more efficiently prevent its errors, especially when moving to The facets of departure.
As before, for example, if you get into a quick turn too optimistic, the S-AWC system will ahead of your attempt to straighten the insufficient rotation on your own and add a torque loaded to the outer wheel. But now he is also branded if the force on the pedals is insufficient, the inner front wheel, helping the car safely fit into the turn. Moreover, from now on, an active ASC stabilization system has been added to all this, which, however, can be completely disconnected. Of course, a reasonable question arises: how exciting to travel on such a computer on wheels, which decides almost everything and does the driver? It depends on what is meant by exciting. If the opportunity to do nothing to be worn, burning rubber, in a drunk driving along a certain common area isolated from public roads, then not too much. Although those who buy a very expensive car just for this can be counted on the fingers. If we are talking about the possibility of experiencing a very magical feeling that you can do what to do at the wheel of this car, it would seem impossible, and at the same time to enjoy its comfort, it is very fascinating. And people who want exactly this one hundred times more. In addition, all auxiliary systems work correctly, inaccessible, without creating in the driver to be with kicks under the ass of the sensation of intervention in the driving.
It is also linearly, but very assertively working now and the 295-horsepower double-sized turbo engine of the same architecture as the base Lancer, but fundamentally modified. Built, like the car itself, on the global platform developed by Mitsubishi together with Chrysler, it has nothing to do with (except for the volume and availability of an electronic control system of the MIVEC gas distribution phases) with the unit that was equipped with all previous versions of EVO. Its main difference is the aluminum block instead of a cast -iron. In general, the motor became stronger, its energy transfer was increased, and at the same time significantly, the weight of 12 kg is reduced by 10 mm of the center of gravity, which, in turn, improved the weight and handling of the car. A flat and powerful thrust in almost the entire speed range allows you to change the rhythm of movement at any time and use the gas pedal as a very thin control tool.
A logical couple of a new motor was a new transmission. A new generation of a new generation of Twin Clutch SST (Sport Shift Transmission), in its principle of action, is similar to the DSG system, which is used in VW/Audi models. In Normal mode, the robot switches the programs, saving fuel, early and with smoothness, not inferior to the best automatic transmission, and it is a pleasure to go in this mode in the conditions of urban movement. You turn on the Sport mode and the electronics holds the transmission longer, while accelerating the process of switching itself. The S-SPORT mode, which makes sense only when driving at a racing pace, exacerbates the result to an even greater extent, as close as possible to the switching algorithm to skillful manual. You can switch the gears and manually both the selector’s handle and the special charm and solidity to the car with steering wheel petals finished with aluminum. Fans of even more interactive management will, however, will be able to purchase Lancer Evolution and with a 5-speed manual transmission from the classical for it. And she, as the Japanese assure, embodied in herself all the experience of the brand in car racing. The new mechanical transmission provides the transmission of a larger moment due to the wider gears of gears without increasing the external sizes of the box. Moreover, such compactness was achieved due to the abandonment of the gear of the rear gear! But this does not mean at all that Lancer Evolution with a manual transmission is now able to ride only forward. Innovative (and, as the representatives of Mitsubishi say, today is unprecedented), the decision provides for the simultaneous connection of gears of the 1st and 3rd programs to ensure the rear. The programs from the 1st to the 4th have converged numbers, the number of the 1st transmission is reduced, which contributes to a more confident start from the place, and the number of the 5th, on the contrary, is increased, which provides more comfortable movement at high speed.
In defense of the robotic transmission, it is worth noting that although to hundreds it disperses the new Evolution for almost a second more slowly, but with overtaking acceleration from 60 to 100 km/h, on the contrary, it turns out to be more quickly 1.7 seconds (3.4 versus 5, one)! Mitsubishi and suspension did not go unnoticed. Its design is still the same McPherson's inverted racks in front and multi -link behind, but its geometry is revised and key nodes are reinforced. The new Lancer has properly hard, but not wooden for the entire test route of a couple of hundred kilometers and the next day on the Avtomdrom Guadis north of Granada and back the slightest feeling of discomfort did not occur. Only a feeling of pleasure. And sometimes horror!
 
Everyone who knows how and loves to ride quickly knows that when you transplant from a driver’s chair to a passenger, such riding sometimes turns out of pleasure into an outright torture with a gag effect. Therefore, not experiencing the slightest desire to expose myself to such torment on the segments of the route on which the partner will be driving, I prudently chose the company of desperate colleagues-lodgers, the company of absolutely unsuccessful for all this from a glossy male magazine in the calculation of a serene vacation in a passenger armchair . And he miscalculated.
Not knowing anything about excessive or insufficient rotation, as well as about the adjusting movements of the steering wheel and steering by the accelerator pedal, my partner simply trusted the cunning electronics of the car, and while I was dying with horror on the passenger seat, the girl boldly crushed the gas pedal and safely passed at such speeds of the snow -covered mountain serpentine (yes, while in Granad there was +22 s, a nearby Sierra ski resort. -Nevada literally drowned in the snow!) Moreover, she passed without the slightest tension and with such equanimity as if she had been doing this all her life, although ten minutes earlier, being a passenger herself, begged me to deliver her to the place of appointment alive and unharmed. And this is the main argument in favor of such a car that has become Lancer Evolution and which allows you to enjoy fast driving people without special skills, performing a fair part of the work for them and instantly correcting their mistakes.
But even the smartest and safest car has its own, albeit very high limits of the possible that you need to feel. And to determine these limits experimentally, it is still safer not on public mountain roads, but on the highway of the Avtodrome with wide gravel traps. And here it is, the Avtodrom. There is a feeling of more freedom in interaction with the machine, and the level of reasonable fear that controls the driving along the edge of the mountain gorge is more effective than any electronic system, here, on the contrary, is reduced to minimal.
Brief instruction of the Japanese guru, a couple of questions participating in the test to the professional racer Boris Schulmeister (whose car assessment, by the way, coincides with the author), a couple of introductory circles behind the security machine, as if before the start of the race on the move, and gas to the floor, shower Out of the body! Not quite, of course, just your soul merges together with the soul of a car (even electronic), and the stronger this merger, the more confident it absorbs kilometers of the track. And again, the same sensation arises, but only even brighter and more stunning: you understand that if you do not have a sufficient extent of the skills of a professional rider, it is simply impossible to go through a turn at such a speed, but evolution goes in an incomprehensible way!
The stability and tenacity of the machine is phenomenal on the track that you feel the most acute. The chassis is like a monolith thanks to 39% tough for twisting and 64% for stretching (due to this, EVO began to weigh more, which in many ways and the additional power of the motor has gone). But if you turn off the stabilization system, relying on your own ability to go through either along an ideal trajectory or a herald with a rear axle, the machine gains special liveliness. True, since its controllability is much closer to neutral than the previous versions, in order to send the stern in the displacement, quite sharp actions are required. But the relationship of your arms and legs through the steering wheel and pedals with wheels, albeit through the protective electronic laying of the S-AWC, seems to be just metaphysical. And most importantly: according to Mitsubishi representatives, even though it is not ahead of Evo IX in direct weight, but in the turns is much faster, and due to this, it brings the predecessor from a circle with a length of 2.4 km as many as 2 seconds! As they say, the comments of the excessive Lancer Evolution of the tenth generation will be proposed in two versions of the basic GSR and luxury, but also a more extreme MR. Enkei alloy alloy, brake mechanisms Brembo with ventilated discs, bixenon headlights with rotary light elements of the AFS adaptive frontal lighting system, rain and light sensors and nine pillows/safety curtains/curtains of safety curtains.
Additional, providing better adhesion of wheels with the highway, severity of steering and exchange rate, especially in corners, high -speed package (High Performance Package) for the more expensive version of MR provides for the installation of Bilstein shock absorbers and EIBACH springs, BREMBO front brake discs and forged aluminum discs BBS (which significantly reduces unsprit masses), as well as high -speed tires with more rigid sides and improved clutch. Of course, all this costs money. And the price of the new Evolution will be much more than the same, probably, about 70 thousand dollars. What will become a significant weight that can outweigh the desire to possess such a car. And will those who have such money want to spend them on a Mitsubishi car, and not BMW or Audi? Everything necessary in order for this to happen, in the tenth EVO there is a bright character, a spectacular appearance, increased comfort, a proper level of respectability. People who do not suffer from pathological snobbery should take such a step, at least in order to dignily stand out from the crowd. So the new products have the chances of success, and not bad. The car, created as before, would be doomed to slow dying. It is characteristic that while the volumes of sales of sports models of cars in Europe over the past 10 years increased by 1600% (!), EVO sales were steadily reduced and only 2.5 thousand cars amounted to the year before last. And no matter what Orthodox grumble under his breath, but Lancer Evolution is still good and even became better on the racing highway. Now he has also become incomparably more comfortable and pleasant in everything else, much more adapted to the conditions of the city, utilitarian movement, not excluding traffic races (which will no longer be exhausted as in the case of the previous versions of EVO with their famous turbine underwent ). This is also a sound calculation of the manufacturer. So, apparently, the era of the previous Evo and isolated, torn from real life of a handful of their fans simply inevitably passed. And the new Lancer Evolution in terms of marketing and common sense is an unconditional hit in the top ten.
 
Boris Muradov
   
 

Source: Motor magazine [June 2008]