formerRX8owner

Has anyone driven the new 2012 Lancer SE which has the 2.4L 168 hp 167 torque engine and CVT and AWD.....any impressions......comments......JW

dldjros69

Sounds like a great car! Whats the base msrp? Holy cow is the section dead

formerRX8owner

$20990 is base price for AWD Lancer SE with heated seats and CVT.

crawlgsx

Only had mine a few days but initial impressions on my 2012 Lancer SE AWD:

AWD is awesome. So much fun with cornering and wet terrain. can't wait to have it in the snow. (and the primary reason I bought this car, best looking/feature set car for close to 20k with AWD, hands down)

Power with the CVT is very meh. The initial acceleration was super disappointing, I expected bad due to Automatic but I bought it not knowing much about CVT. Once it starts going the power is very respectable for a 4cyl ~170hp engine, just the initial start-off is very laggy/delayed. Worse than a normal automatic in my opinion (on the initial) and maybe slightly better after. But I did not buy this car expecting it to be fast by any means and it has plenty of power for passing/hill climbing etc... My own personal best timed 0-60 so far was 8.5 seconds (with a passenger doing the timer).

The heated seats function very well, very quickly. It's much too warm at the moment to really use them but I had to check em out so I turned em on and they heated up real quick.

I don't know if its all Lancers but my single only other complaint about the car is the Sun Visors, I think I could've made more quality feeling visors out of cardboard and duck tape.

Overall the interior is very nice. Very well layed out, while a lot of plastic they did a nice job off setting the tones and the plastic looks/feels quality. The seats are very comfortable to me. I love the height adjustment on the drivers seat, very nice.

Gas mileage so far (I don't have many miles on the car, less than 100 in fact) has been good, 25-30. Highest I have seen yet is 31 for a brief point and the lowest I have seen yet was 16 hammering on it during first test. I'll be reporting back more on fuel later.

formerRX8owner

Crawl, how is the SE doing now that you have had it for a few weeks.

crawlgsx

So far so good! I will start with the negatives, then the positives.

With only hundreds of miles it has already formed some lifter tick. My last 4 cars (Kia, Hyundai, Chevy and Scion) all did the same thing so I guess it is the new 4 cylinder norm, but I personally find it annoying. I am not surprised, I was just hoping the engine would be quieter for a bit longer. Road noise is also a little louder than I would've expected (especially driving in rain).

This car has to have used one of the cheesiest sun visors in any car I have ever sat in. They seriously feel like thinly carpeted cardboard. They don't adjust smoothly at all ("lock" in random positions and just feels terrible to adjust), and every time I pull it down I feel like I am going to snap them in half. Everything else in the interior feels very well made and robust, but apparently Mitsubishi failed to see the need for even average quality when it came to the sun visors. I know I mentioned this before but I just really feel it is sad to see they failed on such a small, but useful, piece.

I really hate CVT! . I was hoping I would get used to it but in after having it a few weeks that is the one thing that I could definitely live with out. A regular 3-6 speed automatic would've been a big upgrade in my opinion, sure you can feel it shift but at least it doesn't waste gas and have ungodly amounts of acceleration lag. I was ok with not having a manual (all but 3 of my previous 31 vehicles have been manuals) as the car is far from performance anyway so automatic is fine, but CVT is garbage in my opinion I knew that was a risk when I bought the car, and again I am not surprised to find I dislike it, but it IS even more annoying than I had imagined.

Those complaints aside though, I really do enjoy the car. I did not expect perfection when I purchased an AWD car for ~21k . Overall it is a very fun car to drive. Rain/roundabouts/cornering/etc all a blast. Accelerating not so much due to the CVT (personally opinion of course) but it does accelerate at a good speed once you get going (from a stop is meh) and passes with no problems.

I find the stock seats very comfortable, with better than average lumbar support. The height adjustment is also a nice bonus that I have not had in a single one of my previous vehicles. I still feel like the interior is very nicely laid out with everything positioned where it is convenient.

Gas mileage has been better than I expected, ~28mpg (speeds mostly being in the 25-40mph area) but that is only a 2 tank average so we will see how it goes over some more time.

It handles nicely, cornering is lots of fun and it doesn't feel the bumps too bad either (which is relatively important being that I live in Maine and the roads are terrible).

Overall I am very satisfied with my purchase and enjoy the riding experience. I Still look forward to seeing how it does this winter compared to my previous AWD vehicles. I have a sneaky suspicion that I am going to have a lot of fun with this car during snow storms before the plow trucks make it out

Jeffredo

I noticed that ticking in the engine almost immediately on my 2010 Lancer, but it got no worse and actually seems a bit quieter now that it has about 6K miles on it (or I just got used to it!). I had similar feelings about the CVT initially, but I actually like it now. Its very smooth and preforms well compared to the old four speed auto in my Mazda Protege. You just have to get used to the absence of shifts (which I have). The interior plastics are pretty low rent as well. My 2002 Protege had better looking plastics on the dash and doors than the new Mitsu. Kind of sad. The front seats of the Lancer are very supportive and comfortable though - best of any car I've owned.

Ian0611

iTrader: (41)

Too bad it only comes with the CVT. Sounds like this car could be a lot of fun with a 5 speed.

crawlgsx

Agreed. If they ever come out with a 5 speed version I will be trading mine in very quickly

Maybe some day the CVT will stop annoying me or I will get used to it, but so far I am not a huge fan.

Newuser213

I've never driven a manual before but the CVT was okay with me, I actually liked it more than the regular automatic because I wouldn't have that shifting feeling where it kind of jerks and lag a bit. The CVT was smooth, I had the GTS so I go to play with the sport mode too. If I get a 2012 I would change the air filter and add a sprint booster. =)

Rix

This car is one of the best bang for the buck
You get a 2.4L engine, AWD, well equipped for a great price !
The only downside IMO is the absolutely awful sound and performance of the CVT