This is part two of my previous post, "Drove RA Sportback"

Well the 05s (RA sedans) are in and so are the 5 speeds! Waaay more fun to drive then the automatic.
The engine and exhaust sound great, very audible and yet not annoying.

Power was good and you can feel the MIVEC switching cam profiles. Neat.

The car is amazing. Handling is very good, for a factory setup and ride qaulity is excellent. I love the looks of the car too.

The clutch has very short travel as does the gear shifter (I mean short thorws) with narrow gates. Overall I'd give the transmission a A. I still find Hondas to be the absolute best.

For the money I don't think you could buy a faster car. Might have to try to get one in my garage next year.

 

so can u please draw some comparisons fo us mitsu drivers as fara asthe dif between 04/05 ralliart? because all i am to undertand is that the clutch and shiftig both have small distances? but i don't know in comparison........didn't know o5s were out....

 

The clutch and shifter for the 04 and 05 are probably the same. The RA Sportback he drove previously was an AT, as they all are.

I'd guess that the only differences will be minor cosmetic stuff.

 

I don't know what Honda could have a better shifter, all of the ones I have driven were cable shifted under the car. Even with a short shifter the shifting was sloppy at best.

Tell us more about the 05's...what is MSRP and options?

 

Can't help ya there......as your in the US and I am in Canada. There are the obvious price difference and some equipment or options are sometimes a bit different.

They do have great rates though. I think it was 2.9% for a 48 month lease.
Salesman again mentioned the 6psi turbo that would be a dealer option late this year.....so we'll have to see I guess.

 

I really want to see more info on this turbo for the RA...I would find this to be a miracle if it came, and who knows it just might.

 

all I have to say is why even buy a honda unless you want to be left behind.

 

some people want to have a good warranty and general car experience, and Mitsubishi certainly hasn't done a good job with either

 

maybe he likes the shifter up in the dash like in the SiR or whatever.

 

My RA (evo) shifter kicks the crap out of my old del sol shifter. I'd go with the mitsu one.

 

I have to clarfiy the transmission comment. My Dads 02 Civic has a very good shifter--much better then 96-00.

Still the Ralliarts is better. But when I said transmission--I meant clutch in there too.A tiny bit of low speed jerk in the RA (clutch engaged, paring lot speeds)

Just gettting on the gas I found it very sensitive to jerking. But maybe I need some more time to perfect my skills.

 

My 1986 prelude transmission was 10x better than my 2003 US OZ...

 

Maybe I'm just used to crappy transmissions. I had 3 DSMs before buying the RA, and to me, the RA shifts nice.

In a DSM with over 200k miles on it, you're lucky if you can get it in gear without a grind or a clunk. Even when I bought it @ 20k, it didn't shift all that great. That tranny died @ 214k (car now has 230k on it), and I replaced it with another one with about 60k on it. It shifts better, but still not like my RA.