I am kind of disappointed that Mitsubishi based the new Lancer Ralliart closer to the GTS than the Evolution X. I fear that many after-market companies will largely ignore the RA for the Evo, if they haven't already. The Ralliart may share the same 4B11 the Evo has, but relates closer to the GTS for the rest of the car. The sport-compact scene is now on the decline, even though it was rising before the Fast and Furious spike, it seems that it has hurt the import scene more than it helped.

A couple of years ago we would have seen major support for the RA by most of the bigger names of after-market parts. Now we will see lower quality parts at a even higher price, more focused being the first or the only that developed for a particular plat-form, which I have noticed since visiting the Evolutionm.net forums as far as the base Lancer and Ralliart is concerned.


The RA falls between the base Lancer and Evo, but designed far above the base (TC-SST, 4B11-T, AWD, etc) and even further below the top (5-speed, AYC, SS mode, suspension, brakes, etc.) the examples don't even begin to describe the huge differences the RA has between the two.

We all want to extract the best performance gains from our vehicles, but at what price are we willing to pay that others do not have to? Maybe Mitsubishi is finally listening to its customers and finally bring us a vehicle that finally fills the gap in its line that is between the Evolution and Eclipse. What I am looking for in the Ralliart is a the base version of the Evolution that the Evolution builds on rather than the opposite. We seem to of gotten a Frankenstein Lancer, that is not a Lancer at all.

 

The RA has just come out last fall and there are alot of companies in the R&D phases.

That being said with the economy slower stuff will also come out slower.

I don't think people want stuff rushed out to market without proper testing on brand new vehicles when it could void your warranty, so be patient stuff will come.

Otherwise you can go buy an EVO with all the aftermarket support you could ever want. I find the RA to be pretty good out of the box as an everyday car that is really fun to drive when you want to push it a bit on the streets.

For heavy track/autox you should have bought an EVO or have been willing to wait for aftermarket support. Vendors like AMS and TTP have alot of go fast mods for the car already to the tune of about 300HP which it pretty impressive.

 

I am sure the after-market support will increase in the months and years to come, that isn't the issue. We are entering the dark-age of import tuning, an age where power gains will reign supreme over suspension, handling, and brake quality becomes only necessary when power gains are too much for stock.

AMS seems to be giving an effort in tuning the RA properly. The ecomomy is an issue, but not the only thing to blame, it also the waning interest in import tuning overall.

I would like to see the same after-market support of the RA as with the Evo's or at least something close like the WRX and STi's. Mistusbishi should have taken the same ques from Suburu.

There are many reasons for going with the RA over the Evo is price and insurance. Like many other people who choose sport compacts/sedans Evo's and STi's are the cream of the crop. But for everyday grocery getting seems a little much for daily driver duties. The WRX and RA bridges that gap, but the RA is lacking the support that is found in the WRX that brings it closer to the its big brother. I am very happy in my decision in picking the RA, but in the future (like all people who like to add performance) the RA might not have it like its competitors.

 

I'm not sure what you really want. This is EVOLUTIONm.net, and the previous Lancers/Mirages haven't been that great of a car to begin with. The Turbo kits for the 4g64 engines only came out what? A few years ago?

If you wanted a cheaper EVO why not just buy a used EVO 9 GSR or RS? Even a 7 would probably be closer to what you want. Wouldn't taking the EVO 9 Chassis and giving it an updated engine w/e just be another EVO 9 at the same price point as the old?

I don't think we can have it both ways, and as CH said the Ralliart has only been available in the US since Q4 of 08. We should count our blessings that the current Ralliart is what it is, and not a appearance package for the GTS like the previous Ralliarts.

Also don't the WRX and STI share the same chassis?

 

I understand what your saying and if money wasn't an issue you should've bought a GSR... like others said if you wanted a track car off the lot you shouldn't expect it too much if you've driven an evo X or IX etc... This 'base GTS' with performance upgrades is all I expected for what I paid for... a whole lot less than an evo