The following is from 0-60 magazine. It was a really detailed, lengthy, in-depth article, but a very good one. I thought I'd share it. These are the last three paragraphs in the article:

"The new Evo, compared to the old, feels a little slow. Up and down shifts are done via column-mounted paddles, and despite the varoius forces at work shoveling all that grunt to the road, the shifts are impressively smooth. Try to beat the system by down-changing too early and there's a warning beep, but it rarely happens: the engine loves reves, and the SST is generally happy to allow them. Lancer Evos have always felt super tough; this new transmission has clearly been engineeered to cope with big loads.
There's also a new five-speed manual gearbox, whose brutal shift action actually suites the character of the car better than the automated manual. Like the steering (rack and pinion with hydraulic power assistance), it has a terrifically tactile feel to it. You really can feel the cogs doing their thing.
Long-term Evo fans might accuse this latest version of being a sell-out; it's more comfortable, and its huge performance and handling envelope is even more accessible than before. But despite the high-tech whiz-bangery, it's actually enjoyably old-fashioned in a lot of ways. It's a machine, focused and driving seriously. Leave all the various gizmos switched on and they'll look after you. Turn them off and the chassis's raw genius is apparent. Better than its predecessors? As an all-rounder, this is the best Evo ever." - Jason Barlow (0-60 magazine)

Lets hear your thoughts .

 

I text a friend of mine the other night (Gaulrich2003) telling him this very thing! It was a very detailed write up. The best thing I noted was the author was not a "fanboy" of the EVO. It was almost as objective as it could have been.

 

i read it too at the store...if i remember correctly, it said that the 4b11tc has more boost stock than the 4g63 (but didnt provide a hard #)

 

Yeah I was looking for that "more boost" number myself but it wasn't published anywhere in the article. Even more intriguing to me was Martin's (AMS) take on the new 4B11TC.

 

I posted that too .

 

The statement that I like the most in this article is this:

"There's also a new five-speed manual gearbox, whose brutal shift action actually suites the character of the car better than the automated manual."

Makes me want to drive one really bad...Manual FTW .

 

Did they test Jap spec or US spec Evos? I still have this lingering fear in my head that this is all based on the stripped down versions they let the media drive in Japan.

 

Good question. It states in the chief editor's prologue that Jason Barlow went to Japan to test the Evo, but it doesn't say that it was JDM or USDM spec. What is interesting is the pictures that are shown in the magazine are of a left-hand drive, USDM spec Evo MR shown in Silver. I don't know where the pictures were taken or if the pics are of the car that he drove, because they aren't pics of him driving the car, just staged pics (could have been taken anywhere). My guess is that if it was driven in Japan, it would be JDM...but couldn't tell you for sure .

 

If it was driven in Japan, it was probably the JDM spec. This article seems to have just come out later than all the others. But, maybe they did drive as USDM spec.

The pics most likely came from Mitsu's PR dept. During the test drive sessions over in Japan, each editor/test-driver would have gotten a full packet of information and a DVD with images.

 

Eh, i dunno. The pics were credited to Tony Harmer of 0-60 magazine. I had never seen them before either, so I doubt they came from straight from Mitsubishi PR dept.

 

I guess I'm wrong on that one. Aint the first time and wont be the last

 

i actually know the editors and that the car, Jason Barlow, drove was a JDM spec Evo, but they shot a USDM Evo that was not ready for testing. US cars are launched in mid December.