Just read this in the March 2006 issure of Automobile Mag "Rally Over for Mitsubishi".....Financially troubled Mitsubishi Motors has suspended its participation in the World Rally Championship effective immediately. The company says, it HOPES to return in 2008, when its "Reitalization Plan" has been completed. Mitsubishi follows Peugeot and Citroen, which both have announced they're sitting out for the 2006 season".

Now, being a rally fan, and a fan of a rally based street legal machine, there must be some street credit given for the EVO 8-9 (which is all USA was lucky to get) for which they were based and raced in the WRC curuit for years. I just feel lucky to own this rally bred car, vs. the up and coming X which seems to shy away from rally roots and is using the namesake to bring in new customers by decreasing Rallyness and adding comfort and pizazz to tackle a broader market. Personlly, I like the roughness of the EVO, and the fact of its true heritage of being a WRC race car. Something the X can never say, maybee in later years, but you can't say the X was developed for WRC as was the earlier versions of the EVO. Anyway, anyone interested in having an actual street version of the actual WRC car better get one this year, because unless you looking for a Lexus like EVO and can afford about 40-50K consider the IX the last true Street Legal Rally EVO we will ever see.

 

it's going to be a crapy arss WRC season. which competitive team are left to race? ford and subaru? oh well, it's not going to be air on speed tv any ways.

 

This is old news.

While there's no works team, the WRC 's are still running and doing very well. Ford and Subaru are still works teams, and Loeb is running the non-works WRC Citroen.

There's plenty of competition, and it's still very exciting and worth watching, even if it means you have to download the videos off the net.

 

No it's not! The same guys are still and mostly the same cars too. Actually it has become more interesting since the teams are more competetive against each other. Now even Mitsubishi drivers have a chance, just check rally Sweden results!. And honestly, do you really think that Kronos Citroen is there with Loeb without any factory support?

You forget group N where Mitsubishi is still the best car there is. And eventhough factory quit WRC, it is still backing privateer teams driving the group N. So dont worry mate, the Evo still is and will continue being a base for real rally car! Actually the VI was last Evo used as a base for factory car, then under rules of group A. After that they moved to WRC regulations.

Here's one prime example of grn Evo IX.

http://hkoski.pp.fi/evo/evo9grn3.jpg

 

Another great example of group N IX's

 

i also am hesitant about the direction that mitsubishi is taking with the evo X, it sounds expensive and heavy, i dont know how well thats gonna pan out, but only time will tell. Hopefully they tweak the concept's looks and make the performance bad a$$ like they should, but i have a feeling this wont be the case. It will be interesting to see how subaru responds to the change in the evo.

 

dont worry about the 10.. the street going evo is more of a track car then a rally car anyone.. and the X will be a better track car. Wider stance, lower center of gravity.. better awd and engine.. just what exactly are you scared about? Cars rarely go backwards in performance.. the trend is for eveyrthing to get faster, i.e. look at the new vette.

 

Mitsubishi has a track record to screw up perfectly good car to 'please' american ,
look at last gen eclipse

wider , longer , bigger enginer , sucker

Direction of Concept X is too Americanized than JDM

 

Yeah, Mitsus are still running. Gigi Galli, the Italian Driver who likes punching his co-driver, did very well in Sweden.

I think the EVO X will be less "raw" than the IX. As sad as that is, it'll help mitsu to survive. If they introduce the X as a EVO, I think they should spur off another line for the driving enthusiasts in the spirit of the current EVOs. Maybe production versions of the WRC Mitsus. That would be so sweet.

I wonder who they sell the homologation models to anyways...

 

some car really gone backwards... remember the original golf GTI?
it got worse and worse every year up until the 2006 comes.

 

GTI Mk III was horrible
Mk IV wasnt good until 180HP 1.8T 205 HP VR6 R32 250HP

 

sad news

 

• MITSUBISHI Concept-X specifications
Overall length (mm) 4530
Overall width (mm) 1830
Overall height (mm) 1470
Wheelbase (mm) 2650
Track: F/R (mm) 1565 / 1565

Mitsubishi Evo IX:
Overall length (mm) 4533
Overall width (mm) 1770
Overall height (mm) 1450
Wheelbase (mm) 2623
Track: F/R (mm) 1513 / 1513

Okay, the X is getting wider and a smidge taller, but that's about it. And the height might not really be there once the real car is riding on the likely 17/18's instead of the 20's of the show car.

So where is the "big and heavy" stuff coming from? The dimensions of the show car aren't that much bigger, and they are claiming to use aluminum wherever they can to save weight, including the block.

As far as the Concept X not being suitable for rally, I bet if the only picture you ever saw of an Evo was an VIII/IX with a 1.5" drop, you might say the same thing.

The expensive part might be dead-on though.

 

I've been watching the 06 WRC with a friend, its still a lot of fun ... The cars are stilling running but they are fully backed by the factory.

 

Mitsu is going to ****ed up with X...apparentyl they are trying to move the EVO in a bit more "upscale" market ( dont know which ), and i think by doing this the "rawness" of the car that we all love, is going to dissapeared.