Test Drive Impressions of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V

In August 1998 I had the opportunity (chance) to drive one of the 16 left hand drive Mitsubishi Carismas RS Evolution V which were imported in Europe and not converted to racing specs (pictures here). The car is owned by Fons Rademakers (check out his website here) and was delivered to him by Ralliart Europe in their headquarters in Ruesselsheim Germany. My first visual contact with the car was unforgettable. It looks no meaner than an Escort RS Cosworth and rather resembles an everyday family saloon. Even the wide track or aerodynamic appendices are not as aggressive looking as those on the Cosworth or on other homologation specials. I was amazed to note that the wheel arches were not actually made out of one piece of steel. They had wideners "strapped" on them in order to allow the extra wide tracks to fit. This fact denotes Mitsubishi's hurry to produce the new spec car and get it homologated for WRC rallying. The rear wing is extremely impressive. It is made of aluminum and the wing itself is not painted. The effect is very "high-tech".

Behind the wheel the driver gets the impression that the car is weightless. Compared to other 4 wheel drive turbocharged rally cars this one feels very neutral when cornering. There is, overall, very little inertia associated with the amazingly rigid (and big by the way) chassis. The steering is very direct (2.25 turns lock to lock) and probably a bit too assisted. Turn-in is one of the fastest in any production car. You basically point the car to where you want it to go and leave the complex machinery do the rest. The multilink aluminum rear suspension layout is simply amazing from an efficiency standpoint. I could feel no change in suspension geometry even when cornering quite hard. I noticed that, like in most 4WD cars, when entering a long radius corner a bit too fast and lifting the right foot the car displayed a clear tendency to oversteer.

This street version of the Evolution V had a "weird" ratio gearbox. The first 4 gears were extremely close while the fifth is replaced by Ralliart Europe and will go up to 250 Km/h for obvious commodity reasons. This took a bit off the sheer driving pleasure the car is able to deliver. Another small criticism is concerning the brake pedal feel. While there is absolutely no brake fade (the brakes and calipers are simply huge) the pedal is too soft to produce any real feeling allowing a precise dosage of braking power. The absence of ABS is a definite plus. The shocks and suspension were not too harsh yet allowed for perfect chassis control. The gear lever travel and precision are optimal. The no-frills approach is evident all over the cabin. No power windows, central locking, alarm, courtesy mirror, radio, nothing. This is a car for the car loving driver.

The turbo's hiss is omni-present. You can distinctly hear the turbo hissing anywhere from 2500RPM up to the 6000RPM line I would allow myself to reach the car being practically brand new with only 1800Km on the odo. Even so the capacity of the car to extract itself from tight corners was more than evident and frankly impressive. I had the feeling this car was much more powerful than the Mitsubishi spec suggests (280BHp). There was very little turbo lag as long as the rev counter was kept above the 2500RPM line. Another small criticism here about the factory fitted tires. The Bridgestone Expedia S-01 (225/45-17) were completely overwhelmed by the power and torque of this amazing Japanese machinery. I guess that if I allowed myself to push a bit further towards the red line a few more criticisms would have risen but all in all, and for a "standard spec" car, it somehow made me wonder whether it was worth the pain (and money) to modify my Ford Escort RS Cosworth to what it is today...My car is certainly faster than the "standard spec" Evolution V but at what cost. Additionally it takes a lot more effort and concentration to drive the Cosworth fast than it takes to drive the Evolution V.

After the drive there were absolutely no more questions in my mind as to why this car is simply unbeatable in GroupN spec. One can even consider buying one, fitting it with a roll cage and competition seats and driving to the next rally with real hopes of winning the GroupN*...But seriously overall the Lancer Evolution V is a very accomplished and capable car.

Only Japanese manufacturers are able to produce such a civilized, high performance car that anyone can to drive to work and back with no problems and at the same time is able to cover A to B distances much quicker than any other commercially available vehicle. European counterparts can be as quick, or quicker, if they are adequately upgraded from the stock spec but the price of the upgrade is to be considered seriously given the Lancer sells in Japan for 25'000 US...

*Note that to compete in GroupN one has to fit a 32mm turbo restrictor which will bring the engine output to something more like 250Bhp