Mitsubishi Evo X

At a test track in the hills high above the northern Japanese city of Obihiro, I've just thrashed seven shades of you-know-what out of Mitsubishi's new Lancer Evo X and I'm suffering techno-shock.

Crafty Mitsubishi has built a mini-Nordschleife at its home proving ground, and the Evo X will lap it about as quickly as any vehicle on the planet.

Keep your foot in and it'll blast through a thrilling sequence of left-right-left third-gear corners in a way that will have your jowls flapping as if you're strapped into one of those g-machines used to train astronauts.

Throttle off suddenly or give the car a quick 'Scandinavian flick' - even if it's not a very good one - and the back end suddenly becomes very mobile indeed. The steering and body control are both incredible.

And if you're very brave, talented or perhaps just heroically stupid, the Evo X can be coaxed into the most mammoth four-wheel drifts. This car is very fast, astoundingly well-engineered, and barking mad. It does exactly what you want it to do, and yet you have no real idea how it's doing it.

The car you see here develops around 276bhp (at 7,000rpm) and 311lb ft of torque (at 3,500rpm), a healthy baseline from which the real madness can begin.

If your last Evo experience happened to be in a car with 400bhp, then the new one clearly doesn't accelerate quite as explosively. But it's hardly tame. In fact - whisper it - it feels about optimum.

Which is the crux of the new car. Because, despite all the electro-wizardry, it's the basics that really matter and they're bang on. Perhaps it's the WRC DNA, or maybe there's a strong purist streak at work. Whatever it is, you just know this is a car you can do serious business in the moment you settle into the Recaro seats and place your hands on the wheel. It feels taut and tough. It's a driving machine, and nothing else.

Sequels are rarely as good as the first instalment, but number 10 in this long-running franchise is a corker.

 

I dig it

 

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