If you keep your hands on the wheel, it shouldn't be an issue.

I'm more concerned about having to take my hand off the wheel mid turn for a downshift more than anything.

 

As I was saying, during a "hard turn", in other words when you're near or at full lock. Even with the Evo's steering rate it would become problematic to hit the shifter without having to contort yourself. On anything else it is pretty much impossible to keep both hands on the wheel at all times - I watched my wife try, though. 10 and 2 is great for large radius turns and straights. Doesn't work so good for sharp turns. When the upshift paddle is suddenly on the other side of the wheel it is possible to lose track of which one to hit for up/down shifts .. maybe not for guys with your innate driving talent, but to an average Joe like me, it's easy to get confused.

l8r)

 

Lol, you noticed! Thanks j/k

Anyways.. Maybe that's why they opted for column-mounted paddles. For every one of us, who would learn how to drive it with wheel-mounted paddles, there will probably be 5 people who buy the Evo for it's "Fast N' Furious" image and have no intention of improving themselves.

 

Ferrari's F360 & F430 has the paddles mounted on the steering column, not the steering wheel itself. I'm sure this is done for a reason.

 

Since I own a DSG based car, I am somewhat apprehensive of how will choose to tune their DSG-style tranny. The Audi tranny is ultra conservative on downshifts and would be a PITA to drive on a track with long straights leading into low-speed corners. Manual tranny for me all the way.

l8r)

 

This is precisely why I think the manual X and the DSG X will be neck and neck on the track. The DSG will run up through the gears faster, but the manual can better select the gear for the corners, whereas the DSG has to go sequentially down through the gears. Additionally, I hear that a DSG downshift can be in theneighborhood of .8 seconds. A good driver can downshift a manual that fast, or even faster, with the added benefit, again, being that the driver can go directly to the wanted gear.

 

For anything short of a professional driver, the difference in shift times will be a non-issue. Until you get to a point where you can run consistent lap-times to within a few 10ths of a second it's a wash.

The main advantage of paddle-shifters on a road course is that it allows you to focus more on driving, since both hands can stay on the wheel. By eliminating the clutch pedal, you can also work on left-foot braking. Not sure if a DSG will allow you to brake boost, though ... haven't tried that yet in the A3.

l8r)

 

Not if the paddles are on the column!

But we're far enough OT at this point.

To make an addendum to my OP, It appears that the model of Lancer I was looking at was the lowest end. The mid and high end GTS do have the folding rear seats. So hopefully the Evo will have them too. I doubt they'll add much weight, but they'll make it more practical for a DD and maybe even make it easier to install a rear tower brace.

 

Why would it be a warranty disaster? Dodge, Scion, Toyota, and Subaru all offer add-on turbo/supercharger packages. (I think there are some other makes but I can't remember them all. I think mazda does too but again, im not sure )

 

I saw one at my local dealer as well it looks a lot better than the last generation

 

I checked out a mid level earlier this week. Well, I put my name on the list for an Evo X It did look slightly different in person (the beltline seems a bit high), but still looked nice. I was picturing it in Evo form and I think it will be sweet. hopefully we get some fender flares!

 

The new lancer just feels and looks like a more compact sportier galant.

 

Its crazy to see the overwhelming acceptance compared to when they first revealed the prototypes. Some of you are band wagon flip floppers lol

I love the new look and it almost pisses me off that I bought my Evo a year ago. Oh...and everyone in the honda community was pissed off when they went from the B series engines to the K series and look how much that engines progressed. I think mitsu may have just saved their ***, cuz i want to buy one.

 

nice review