I was reading the manual this morning and came across a section that basically said "these vehicles have a great AWD system but are not designed to be used off road. Bumps could put a strain on the car and damage things."

I bet they just put that in there to cover their asses..

But, aren't these rally-bred cars?

 

um, no.

 

Be the guinea pig for us all and give it a try, and then let us know it works out for you........

 

If you want to turn a mitsu into a rally car, you can order a body in white (striped down version) from mitsu but its going to cost like 100 thousand to prep it for rally racing. But yea its been done. Im sure nobody around here has done it though lol

 

I don't mean I thought this is a rally car fit to compete against 100 grand RALLY cars. I suppose there is a difference between gravel and off road, and that's what I missed!

I've definitely had some fun with this thing off road but I guess it was just gravel if you break it down that way.

I remember reading a build thread about someone going all-out with one. Roll cage, weight reduction, gravel/rally suspension, etc.I think it was the WORKS team, they got one straight from mitsu to destroy. It was in fact a ralliart, used for rally. But again off road is different than gravel/rally I guess.

 

their are dirt and gravel roads you could try i think that still counts as on a road lol

 

haha yes I now see the difference between gravel and "off road". My question seems pretty stupid now!

 

I'm pretty sure there are a few RA's on here that drive in RallyX events. A blue RA from Canada comes immediately to mind

 

03chi have you taken your ralliart to autobahn in joliet? I see you're located in chicago.

 

They are definitely rally-bred. Its so that you don't destroy your car trying to hardcore off-r0ad. As much as they are rally-bred, they are still a car with a 5.5 inches of ground clearance. I think it's an off-road within reason. Hopefully most people that own R/A-Evos aren't total idiots haha

 

lol yeah after starting the thread I realized "off road" and "Gravel" are two different things

 

Unfortunately, no. I have not taken it out for any extended track time as of yet. Funding vs. cost is a bit prohibitive. Only drag and autox so far.

 

Yes, this. There is also a RASB in MI (SME? Lookin' at you ) that regularly does RallyX events. I believe he runs with a hefty aluminium skid plate, though. With proper undercarriage protection, you can reduce the risk of fatal damage. I wouldn't do any "off roading" without being weary of the exposed wires underneath .

 

Aside from the wheel sensors, I think there's a pretty exposed wire where the cat is.

Other than that, I've taken it down gravel and rooted roads before and the car's fine. Lost an ABS sensor once.

With a good set of Ralliarmor flaps, I don't even have any dings in the paint from flying gravel.

I wouldn't take the thing off-road but a standard rally course you can probably drive at slow speed and not do damage. I did take the car airborne on some back country tarmac though. It's like a ski jump, as long as you land with the terrain it's a very gentle landing.

 

i have put almost 8k miles on my RA since I bought it and about 1k of that has been on dirt and gravel roads. aside from a few scares and the now absence of a splash guard she handled herself remarkably well. as long as the roads are graded regularly there shouldn't be a problem with having a little fun in the dirt. keep in mind that though the car is resilient, it isn't impervious to any terrain to can dream of putting it through. be sensible, and you will be fine.

oh and p.s. don't let your foot off the gas in mud enjoy the pic