1) the evo is nothing like the ralliart and double the price. The rallifart offers 1/4 the performance the EVO.

2) People dont buy the evo for being a Econobox, But the evo with a good tune will get decent gas milage, if you can control your right foot.

 

It's all kind of funny if you ask me. If the WRX were only available with an auto, nobody would buy one

They could be lot more competetive in their price too if they offered the manual

 

There's still no word on the RalliArt ever getting a manual tranny. Time is running out for me. I've narrowed it to the Sportback RalliArt, new WRX and Audi A3 Quattro s-line. The Audi doens't feel sporty enough but the look is okay. The Subby feels great and has a 6 gears manual tranny (jackpot!) but doesn't look that great. The RalliArt looks really good and feels good to drive too... but they still won't let me choose to have a real manual tranny in it.

As things stand as of today, I'm getting a WRX. Mitsubishi had all the time they needed to announce that they'll now offer a real manual transmission on their car (and take at least 1000$ off the price of the car as a result). Now that it seems they won't, I'm getting what I want first and foremost: A manual car. And it looks like it's gonna be the WRX. I'll just have to try and have it look a bit better, that's all. Once I get that grill replaced with a fully-meshed one, the tails tinted red and a set of wheels on, the car should look quite okay. On the other hand, there's nothing I could do to replace the tranny if I got the RalliArt. That's where Mitsubishi fails IMO.

So that about sums it up for me. And altough SST fanboys would like to hear otherwise, I'm sad to say that a lot more people will make the same choice. It's a shame really because they already have a good manual tranny and they just have to frackin' put it in the car!

 

Are you looking at an STi because the regular WRX is only available with a 5 speed manual transmission.

 

Hmmm... you're probably right then. I test drove the two of them (WRX and STI) plus the Audi on the same day. So it was the A3 with the 6 speed then? In any case, I'd rather have a 5 speed tranny than having the car shift for me any day.

I know my Mitsubishis more than any other brands of cars... and I'd actually stick to it too if only Mitsubishi would let me.

That STI is kinda mad BTW... not my kind of car. It's like it's beyond my driving skills to extract the full potential out of the car. I don't know if I'm making any sense here? And also, it didn't even feel as refined as the EVO... which is also a bit over the top for a daily driver in the first place.

I don't dream of driving a rocket... just a well planted, nicely performing car. You know, basic sporty driving... and for me, that actually includes changing gears myself... you know, the actual feel, not the engineering concept.

One thing that is also a big factor for me: I made the (sensible) choice of getting an Outlander (while I was buiding the house and all that). But I've always driven manual cars... and two years on I can't wait to drive one again. That manu-matic thingy is driving me MAD! More so since my previous car was the '04 RalliArt... and we all know the only truly great thing about that car was it's EVO-derived tranny. Of course I know the SST is not the same as the automatic in the Outlander. It feels much sportier, no contest. But I still don't enjoy it the way I enjoy actually changing gears myself. I still don't know if I'm making any sense to anyone here... LOL

 

There is a great article in motor trend that points out that the difference in cost between a performance car and a regular sedan is the same as the cost of a cup of Starbucks coffee once a week.

 

Hmm, I'm not sure how accurate that is. I commute 40 miles a day in a pretty average car which gets 26 mpg on regular fuel. I did the math and the Ralliart would cost me about $28 more per month at current gas prices (~$2.90 for premium) and $35 when premium gets back to $4/gal. That's an $8.00 cup of coffee and I haven't even included the additional insurance cost which would be a significantly larger monthy cost increase for most people.

 

I'm very skeptical about this as well. And most sport(ier) cars run on premium too, which costs more and we all know you don't get it all back in mileage. So yeah, unless you drink VERY expensive coffee...

But this is getting off topic fast. If anyone happens to stumble on any official info about the RalliArt tranny, please post it. Either to confirm that they've decided there won't ever be a manual on this generation of RalliArt... or that they would introduce it for next model year. Honestly, they're not so good at marketing. I'm such a loyal Mitsubishi owner that if they told me I could buy a manual RalliArt next year, I would probably old off and buy one from them next year. But since they don't say anything, I'm forced to conclude they won't do it... and so there's nothing for me to wait for.

 

Well, I don't think you'll have to wait much longer for the 2010 model specs but I highly doubt it will have a manual option. Of all the rumors floating around I haven't found ANY that suggest a manual in the ralliart. Also, from a marketing standpoint, they'd cannibalize GSR sales if they did.

On a side note, someone changed the sportback preview icon on the bottom of mitsubishi's website. It used to be a similar pic but with a grey sportback and a black backround.

 

They're probably doing some maintenance on the site in preparation for the aforementionned 2010 model year updates.

And you're right: The publication of the final 2010 specs is my deadline. Once it's final and I'm sure they won't pull one on me later on this year, I will be able to make a decision towards either the WRX or the RalliArt. I have no illusion of course... but I want to be sure. Look at the 2009 WRX update: It took everyone by surprise (including Mitsubishi). So there's still an outside chance that Mitsubishi are secretly preparing a response... one that would include a new tune and a M/T option. If they were working on that, I'm quite sure they would be intelligent enough to keep this under wraps and wait until Subaru makes their move and publish their own specs. An eye for an eye...

 

You make a good point. The WRX was traditionally announced earlier (late spring if IIRC) but for the 2009 model they waited till early July which could be explained by the significant improvements the 2009 model received (more time was required for development).

Mitsubishi has now followed the same pattern by delaying the new lancer product info past the usual late-spring announcement. Since they are following the same pattern as Subaru, maybe they are doing it for the same reasons (significant improvements for the new model). It would also help explain why we're the only market that hasn't gotten the Sportback yet (waiting for the updated specs to help add some excitement to the launch of the new model variant).

Of course, we may have been last to get the sportback simply because the US has traditionally been a poor market for hatchbacks and the 2010 Lancer launch delay could be due to something as simple as allowing more time for dealers to move the 2009 models off the lot. But why should common sense stand in the way of our conspiracy theories!

 

[Homer Simpson's voice] Hmmmmm, conspiracies!



I like them conspiracies! [runs off to put tinfoil on his head]




But yeah, I think they would be well advised to put a new tune on the thing ASAP. And that's quite easily done too. So the chances are good that the 2010 RA will gain back a few HP. But as far as the tranny is concerned, I don't think this is gonna happen though. While the new tune could even be applied retroactively to cars already produced, the tranny installs would have had to have been done at the factory some months ago... and that's quite another thing to pull off (especially in complete secret). So I guess chances are almost nil...

But the clear result of this is that the numbers will stay in favor of the WRX because we know the TC-SST thingy is quite a problem when launching the car. Everytime journalists have compared a RA to a WRX or an EVO to an STI, 0 to 60 times have been poor on the part of the Mitsubishi product because of their gadget tranny. Only the EVO with a proper mechanical tranny can compare on that level. That's a very good reason why Mitsubishi should have produced a limited number of manual RAs. Official numbers for the RA would have looked much better. And let's not kid ourselves here, numbers sell cars much more than anything else. Hell, Chrysler could sell thousands of those turbo Neons because numbers looked so good...

Of course, me being me, if they were ever to announce a limited quantity of M/T RalliArt, I would be at the dealer the next morning to order one... just to be sure to get one.

 

Just wanted to point out that I got some online quotes and a sporty car such as the Ralliart or WRX was only $5-10 more per month for me to insure when compared to the regular GTS or Impreza.

 

sorry to say but you're obviously a fool for saying that.

1/4 of the performance of the EVO X would be 25%. That would be a LANCER ES (on a bad day)

I would say the 09+ Ralliart(s) provide about 60%+ of the EVOs performance, and I'm being conservative here. Evos are better, yes, but not 75% better....I mean, what you said was a LONG SHOT....
on the other hand, I agree with you on the controlling the right foot for better MPG bit...


WorkZ : Dude can you wait for Mitsubishi Owners Day (July 11). I got a feeling they will anounce their 2010 specs and changes for their Evos and Ralliarts, and if not, I will try to extract that info for us though I have the SST -09 ralliart and love it, hehe.

 

i dont understand y u guys spend all this money on piggy back tuners and stuff when you have opensource ecu tuning software. learn to tune urself or pay a tuner to do it instead of running these generalized programs from Cobb and the like. its over priced and gives crappy performance compared to a custom tune. and my opinion of sst is it is way better than SMG and DSG i loved it. and i am a hardcore 5 spd guy but i almost went for it lol ALMOST