madfast

just got back from the NYIAS and looked at the RA real close. this is what i found. not facts per se but my personal opinion/speculation/thoughts/etc... take it for what it is. please no flames or speculation is stupid responses. i'm excited about the car and want to talk about it aight?

1.) the car looks GREAT. the orange is a bit much but the car is WAY better styled than the GTS and only slightly understyled vs the evo.

2.) the wheels are very much powder coated/painted and lacks the luster of a real gunmetal wheel like the gorgeous MR BBS wheels. it does have metallic paint though and a glossy clearcoat so it may appear like luster in the right light, but it is NOT "metallic looking" like on the BBS MR wheels. i like the darker color, but don't like that they "cut corners" and just powder coated/painted the thing.

side note, the tires were the crappy dunlops. i swear i remember reading that the car might come with better rubber or optional summer rubber. advans maybe? somebody chime in on what article i think i read about this...

3.) rear seats do NOT fold down. at least with the recaros. my speculation is that they simply took the seats from the GSR and put them in the RA. the rear folding seats from the GTS is not the same color/quality as the cloth seats from the GSR. perhaps that's why folding seats are listed as an option on the RA? they have to reupholster the GTS seats to match the recaros?

4.) the rear lights of the RA were blacked out!!! i didn't bring a camera and didn't think to use the crappy camera on my phone. but the car show ends this sun. somebody has got to have a pic of these lights somewhere. if u going to the show, take a pic of these rears!!! anyways, they look SICK imo. i didn't notice it right away, but once i saw the back of the RA i thought WOW. this car is NICE!!! i can see people either redding out the GTS/evo rears or buying some blacked out RA rears. sweet!

as a side note, look at the pics of the RA from detroit auto show. no blacked out rears. Hmmm... now i KNOW i saw blacked out rears. did they change something between shows? a more production ready model? wasn't there a blue RA at the chicago auto show? and now back to the orange at the NY show? did they use the time to update the rears? am i going crazy? i made sure to look at the rears of the MR, GTS, and RA to make 100% sure it wasn't lighting. someone please take a pic of these rears for my own sanity

5.) not quite sure if they are the same as the evo, but the dual exhaust tips of the RA were really nice. most likely the same tips, but IMO they stand out a lot more on this car than on the EVO. perhaps they stick out a lil more than on the evo where the tips kinda peek out from the rear diffuser? on the RA they look more prominent and have a very nice brushed/polished metal look, not bling bling chrome. could just be the lighting but very nice from what i saw.

6.) looked at the wheel wells with a keychain light in hand. no red eibach springs that i can see, so definitely GTS suspension. doesn't surprise anybody, nothing new. but i had to "confirm" it for myself.

7.) FWIW the guy i spoke to said no leather option for recaros. no brembos as an option. we know for a fact the canadian RA gets the MR leather/alcantara seats as part of the premium package. will it make it to the US? who knows.

hope some of this info was entertaining. looking at the car in person and sitting in it for a brief time (thanks mitsu car show guy ) it makes me wonder if i should get this car and forget the MR which is gonna be at least 10k more expensive. is S-Sport and S-AWC/AYC really worth it? the brembos? the BBS wheels? i don't know!!!

Markley02

Are you sure the RA doesn't have S-Sport?

aestival

Everything from Mitsubishi has said "summer" tires so far, but wouldn't Dunlop make summer tires too? I'd never buy a car based on the installed tires, anyway, since you can always buy much better than they'd put on any car in this price range... and the tires are definitely a big part of the drive in any car.

desperado-c

Depends what you want it for since both are great values. Do you want to own one of the best performing cars made, or a performance-oriented daily driver? Do you want to be able track the car knowing that your driving abilities will be the only limiting factor? Or are you happy taking the occasional fast drive through the countryside or autocross?

I still say if you can afford it, the choice is easy. Don't decide based on the wheels or tires. As noted, you can change those. If you can't afford to, you can't afford the MR, anyway.

Option

I have a sinking suspicion that the Recaro seat package removes the folding rear seat. That's a serious bummer for me since I really want the Recaro package but no folding rear seats is a deal-breaker for me.

Guess I really will have to hope/wait for the Ralliart Sportback.

madfast

99% sure. all press releases mention normal and sport modes. if available they would surely mention S-Sport as well, as it is a great feature.

madfast

yep you're right. couldn't quite make out the tread. so i assumed it was the same dunlops. for show purposes only? who knows.

and i slightly disagree. the better the stock tires are the less money i need to spend to upgrade.

madfast

i can comfortably afford the MR but the question i struggle with is do i want to? being in NY i'm miles and miles away from any good roads to drive on. besides that, there's nothing worse than punkasses that vandalize cars that they will never own. my friends have personally seen people vandalize ONLY BMWs and MBs at a mall parking lot. WTF!!!

the money saved i can invest it or use it to upgrade the RA to a beastly daily driver... ah decisions...

EzeE1o

nice insight...bummer about the folding seats, hopefully it can be ordered with the recaro...and as for the black tails, i read on the pdf mitsu release about it but never seen a pic of it

all this is moot for me if mitsu doesnt release it in stick tho

ekizenbe

iTrader: (14)

just saw it today, i really loved the car, nothing to crazy but when it goes on sale its gonna fly

madfast

just looked at those pdfs again and that's where i saw it. it clearly says summer advan tires. so those dunlops most likely were just for the show car.

also one of the pdfs does list the blacked out rears. i'm not crazy!

this car is gonna rock. besides the evo, most people gravitated towards this car.

tsitwone

[IMG]<a href="http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e371/Tsitwone/?action=view&current=Photo_032708_001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e371/Tsitwone/Photo_032708_001.jpg" border="0" alt="09 Lancer Rally Art"></a>[/IMG]

I was at the autoshow today also i was pissed that all the lancers and evo doors were locked i upload a pic of RA

tsitwone

i got it on photobucket but i aint sure how 2 show the pic on here

tsitwone

tsitwone

i took it with my crappy phone bcuz by the time i found the mitsubishi cars downstairs my batteries had died on my camera and I am lovin that orange color