Hi All,

I have two questions.

1) Has anyone heard anything regarding a true manual transmission for the 2010 Ralliart? I'm completely enamored with the car, love everything about it, but can't deal with the Sportronic Paddle shifter. I found the following on edmunds:

"If you want a regular five-speed manual transmission in your Ralliart, forget about it. We're told the U.S. product planning staff really wanted to offer one to appease the hard-core fringe, but was overruled by product planners in Japan. There's still a chance we might get one down the road, but for '09, all Ralliarts have the TC-SST. "

Say it ain't so...

2) Since I'm sure 90% of the answers I'm going to get will be "buy an evo," I'm wondering if anyone knows what kind of fuel economy the Cobb MCU flash "fuel economy mode" can get? I do some commuting to work, and can't deal with the stock Evo gas mileage (hence my interest in the Ralliart). I found a datasheet online, but it didn't get specific enough.

Thanks in advance.

 

i remember reading in several articles that Mitsu will offer the SST, and a conventional CVT (with paddles) in their 2010 Lancer Sportback, and the RA Sportback.... so my guess is, that the regular RA will also offer the SST and CVT, not a normal 5speed... whatever it is, i just hope the RA doesnt end up with a CVT

but if Mitsu has any hope of selling any RA's, or even Evo X MR's, until they figure out how to make a good automated manual, they better start offering a standard 5sp (and 6sp).
not saying its an easy task, afterall, it took even BMW years to make a good SMG, but from RA & EvoMR owners' feedback, and from almost every magazine review, the current SST is subpar to say the least

 

I emailed cobb about an accessport for the Ralliart and the answer was "no we are not going to offer one yet" I suppose 1500 cars for NA consumption is not a big enough market.

I've yet to read a bad review of the SST, I like mine, although I'd still prefer a stick-personal preference. It makes the car an excellent daily driver. True it has shown some issues but IMHO I think it's a better trans than the SMG or (especially) the DSG.

 

Did it seem like they would offer one once the 2010 ralliarts hit the market? And there are more cars out there. Or were they basically saying dont count on an AP at all for the RA. If the latter that is sad. I cant imagine it being all that hard to release one since im pretty sure its the same computer as the EVO. So all the hardware is the same, just need to play with an RA for a bit to come up with some maps.

 

SST is RA and MR only. The CVT will be put in the Sportback model yes, but the Ralliart Sportback model no. Also the mitsu SST, i've heard, is much better then BMWs SMG. I love the SST, and its starting to hold higher then expected power. Not sure what magazines said it was 'subpar' because most i've read absolutely loved the transmission.

 

Let me stop you there. Your spreading information that is completely made up and not true. Show the magazine reviews that say its subpar, because every single review ive seen for the MR and RA have stated the cars have a few shortcomings, but all of them raved about the SST. Some said they would prefer a manual, due to PERSONAL preference, but none made any kind of claim that it was subpar.

On to my personal opinion. And ive driven most of the dual clutch transmissions out there, from the original SMG, SMG II, DSG, and Ferrari's F1 box, i can safely say the SST is easily on par, if not very much ahead of the ones mentioned.

 

From What I've read through conjecture and rumours on the internet(gotta be true right) is that Cobb has gone through a period of downsizing, so maybe they don't have the time to deal with the RA.
I'm going to say until mitsu has their bottleneck for the RA sst solved (thats why NA only got 1500 cars -getrag needs to start pumping out more transmissions) theres not really going to be a huge stampede of aftermarket stuff (but there is some good stuff out there though).

It would be nice to have a representative from Cobb chime in and tell everyone offically what they are going to do about the Ralliart.

 

Road&Track - Nov. 2008

QUOTE: "Shifting the TC-SST gearbox is merely a flick of the fingers away via the large, steering-column-mounted paddle shifters, and this system is both one of the car's strong and weak points. "The SST works really well when you're attacking a back road, but it's a bit clunky around town," said Senior Technical Editor Patrick Hong. Even in full automatic mode, the twin clutches aren't very smooth in stop-and-go traffic, and the occasional expensive-sounding thunk! when manually shifting from 1st to 2nd gear is disconcerting. "

....but good thing u stopped me right there cause i was gonna show u more articles

 

No twin clutch gearbox will act like an automatic, period. It acts exactly like a manual transmission. I know exactly what those guys are talking about and there are several ways, once you learn how to drive it, to avoid the 'expensive clunks' haha. But to say its 'subpar' because it acts and behaves like a manual is like saying your Evo's tranny is subpar. Test drive either the RA or MR and you'll see it's not a POS tranny. It's actually quite fun to drive, don't miss my M/T at all.

 

I've never had a thunk from 1st to 2nd, only complaints I've heard is that it goes into protection mode when the trans temp rises (which can be remedied) and that is only when it is pushed hard.

I have a lot of trouble beliving everything that I read, I try to figure things out on my own, you should take one for a ride and flog it.

 

they say a lot more than just "it has a loud clunk". did u actually read the whole comment, or just the first sentence, and then jumped to replying right away??

 

I read what YOU chose to point out. If i was supposed to read more post a link next time. Better yet, go drive one. Quit pretending like you know what you're talking about.

 

^ i never said i personally do. thats why i refer u to magazines, which probably do

and for the second time, READ the whole comment, WHICH I POSTED.

 

But to be fair, just from what you posted the reason they dont like the transmission is mostly its around town behavior, but admit it works very well when aggresively using it. To me this is whats really important, if they had said the transmission was sluggish on the track and couldnt keep up in curvy roads i would agree mitsubishi got it wrong. But they didnt, its main purpose is to be a performance transmission.

Labeling the transmission as subpar because its not as smooth around town is a little skewed as thats not its main purpose. Sure you can drive a porsche 911 GT3RS on the street, but its meant for the track. Would you label that car as subpar if a review said the car is amazing on track but around town its a little rough. Sure its a big exaguration but the point is the same, its not fair to call the whole entitiy a failure because one part, which isnt even its main intention. The main intention was to put a sporty transmission in the car to match its performance oriented goals. And with that they suceeded.

So please, post more articles you find where the review says the transmission was subpar compared to other dual clutch boxes. This hardly counts IMO. THey even said it was a strong point of the car. Just depends on what you personally want out of it. All dual clutches with the exception of the new M-DCT are a little sluggish in slow moving traffic. The DSG imo being even worse than the SST.

 

^ i agree that perhaps it was more tuned for the track, but for most people this will be a DD.
people who are serious about track will usually go for the Evo altogether. Mitsu made this a 'bargain performance sedan', so they are appealing to people who dont own 4 cars (one for every activity). so, since this will be the only vehicle, chances are, its a DD.

i also agree that this may have been just one article, hence one opinion... so here is another... MotorTrend March 2009 - "... the double-clutch transmission was abrupt in its machinations, coming to a stop in automatic mode."

look, perhaps i was too harsh. i dont mean that its the worst thing ever. not at all. its probably a better first attempt than any other company. but what im saying is that it can still be greatly improved... both in terms of feel, smoothness, and even reliability

oh, and my wife's jetta (she gave back last year) with the DSG was a gem. she never once felt the gear shifts in the 2 years she had the car.