After talking to my insurance agent, I'm now left with no possibility of ever own an Evolution. I have no idea how anyone making less then 45k a year could own one (and that’s being single as well). Insurance would be $257 a month full coverage, that’s a freaken car payment. The STI is would also be around $240 a month.

The lady mentioned something interesting to me. Apparently the computers all have descriptions of car and what not. Any way, she simply suggested getting a Lancer and turbo charging it, at which it would be $117 a month!

I looked at Lancers when they first came out and was unimpressed with their low fuel economy, cheap cloth upholstery and woefully underpowered SOHC engine. It in fact reminds me of the one found in the 2.0 DSMs of long past. The after market is non-existent (yes yes, one of everything does exist) and the car has horrible resale value. The most recent nose update does nothing for me but confusing me into thinking it’s a Pontiac Sunfire.

Is there anything this car can do that the competition can't? Do I have any reason to waste time and money on one that could be spent else where? I would check out some modded ones in my area, but, well there are none. Also does anyone make an Evolution nose for this car, I know the OEM stuff doesn’t work.

Lastly, seeing the Outlander is just a beefed Lancer, would the drive train from the Outlander work on a 2.4 lancer? (ahem AWD?).

Lastly, any suggestions on engines, 2.0 or 2.4? Both seem weak and the 2.4 has even less support. Why is it 2.4 body panels don't fit on a 2.0 car? Lights et al?

Sorry if I'm coming off as a troll. I love Mitsubishi, there sedans and SUVs are some of the greatest, however I'm looking for a small tuner car, something to put the ***** to the wall. I don't like needless things like overpriced rims, lighting, audio/visual equipment et al, just straight up; bare minimal performance (would have gotten an RS). Money is to much a factor; I can't afford $800+ a month on a car.




(I moved it my self).

 

judging by your post, it seems to me, you should most likely look into a 98-99 2nd gen DSM [ 98-99 eclipse GSX, or 98 Talon TSi AWD ]

my .02

 

Ah, I longed for one while in Highschool. However after seriously looking at them, reading about them and driving them, its not for me. The cars are expensive second hand, expensive to work on and maintain and I'm just to tall, 6'5. My knees are in my chest. Also the build quality is rather poor, light cheap metal so forth. I really do love them though. One of the best looking coupes ever, right up there with the Corrado, Porsche 911 and RX-7 (FC).

 

If your in the market for a front wheel drive Mitsubishi car and want some power, look at the Ralli///Art.

The tires suck, but those are easily replacable.

The torque curve & power is awesome, and they get decent gas milage. Just test drive one, you'll see what I mean.

The ES, LS & OZ get much better gas milage, you trade milage for power. Plus they ride better, the RA is rather stiff since it has a suspension upgrade.

My wife's OZ gets over 35mpg on road trips, so I don't get what this meant:

Hate to break it to you, but you will not get 40+ MPG out of a car that makes decent power. Thats more like the hybrid car MPG range. Lots of luck getting one of those with more than 100 ponies under the hood.


Best of luck with your car shopping.

 

/\/\/\ Totally agree, if the Lancer had low gm then I would not have bought mine, but hope you find something you like man!

 

IIRC Consumer Report claimed they only saw a 19mpg in the City and 27 on the highway with a 2.0 auto. That isnt good, even more so in a car with only 115hp.

 

ahem, we can say "AWD" and we can also say "if you can't afford the payments on an Evo, you can't afford to pay a shop the kind for labor it's gonna take to make your FWD lancer AWD. And then you have to source the parts, to boot"
Before taxes licensing, etc, my OZ was 14K brand new (bought the 02 in 02) ..... when it was stock, it could do a hell of a lot more than other cars for the same price.


that aside, what makes the RA "powerful"? It's those more aggressive cam lobes. Chances are you'd just get an eManage to make the mivec shift point lower in the powerband anyway. So, buy a used OZ lancer and buy a more aggressive cam I say OZ because the aftermarket suspension stuff is geared more toward them than the ES.... and the LS is auto only, so I figure that's not what you're looking for.

BTW, I'm 6'5+ also and fit nicely into my OZ with a helmet on for AX days. and my MPG low for the past 6 months has been 24.3 and the high has been 34. None of my driving so far has been all highway.

 

Doing a cam upgrade on a lancer vs the mivec ralliart engine are two different things.
Cam swap will leave you with less tq down low, but more up top. The ralliart engine is a tq beast down low. Feels way different coming from a cam'd lancer to test driving a ralliart.
I'd say get the ralliart.

 

yup i wouls also say get the RA and boooooooost the beotch...

 

Sounds to me like you already have your mind set as far as what car to get. I think my montra for why I have this car is simply, "because it's not a Honda." Haha.

As for what you can do with this car... it is a great platform that with some simple mods you can make it very fun to drive.

Personally, I've put down about eight hundred bucks toward the car in proformace parts and I love driving my car.(I have suspension mods on the way) I also have put about 500 bucks into my sound system. I plan on lowering the car with springs come summer, getting a beefer sway bar, and getting better tires. After all that I'll have spent somewhere around the neighborhood of 500 more bucks. And someday I'll turbo the car. In the meantime I'm still having a blast working on it.

If you have enough for the Evo but not the insurance then you should be able to fully customize a Lancer to do whatever you want it to do. For me I'm working on suspension, then speed, then cosmetics. It's all about what you want to do. There is a guy here that is dropping an Evo VI engine into his car, someone correct me if I'm wrong. If you got the cash you can make it happen.

Just to let you know there are guys on these forums that have done some serious work to their Lancers. Our little car has much potential. Don't be so quick to over look it.

Fox

 

buy a ralliart... save for turbo enjoy your free maintnece while you have no turbo.... then when u have one blow the doors off an unsuspecting honda or nissan... iwn there souls.

 

ok...why don't you just save and pay off a used Evo VII up front...then you don't have to worry about full coverage. if you can't afford a car by saving up for it then you can't afford a car.

 

If you don't want to spend a lot of money, but want a fast car, try the SRT-4. If you can't afford a new one, try a used one (they sell for nothing used). It will give you near to the same power as an Evo, except front wheel drive. If you are bent on a Mitsubishi, I don't know what to tell you. I hope somehow you'll get an Evo or something you like.

 

114 for a turbo lancer insurence? where is this haha by me i have a 03 lancer es and im not sure how much a month but its like 3300 a year. evo would def kill me haha

 

I find people put far too much emphasis on HP and TQ numbers. If you want a really fast and cheap car, get an SRT-4, older camaro, corvette, trans am, or mustang. If you want a car thats fun to drive, has decent handling that can be made to be great, has decent power which can also be made better, get the lancer or ralliart.