evo_soul

Lancer FINALLLLLLLLY gets an all wheel drive option.

Some well say its been a long time coming. Its something that I begged for, among other things for about 4 years now. But the all wheel drive version will finally arrive next year. Japan and a few markets have been blessed with this option as standard since the inception of the latest platform.

Yoichi Yokozawa, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America, recently confirmed to Automotive News that a new Lancer SE will be arriving this fall as a 2012 model. The SE will feature the all-wheel drive of the Ralliartand Evolution models, but will be paired with the naturally aspirated engine found in the current DE, ES (pictured) and GTS trims. (Source: Auto Blog) http://gadgets.autoblog.com/2011/08/...eup-this-fall/

That said, there have been rumors and then internal leaked buzz about this for sometime. The latest question are about the potential for LSD’s and engine performance tweaks to offset the additional weight of an all wheel drive system. The future of the 2.4L platform will be decided soon. In Canada the 2.4L lancer has been phased out for the 2011 model year.

-Evosoul

9SecSLC

iTrader: (10)

interesting.

Newuser213

fill me in why a AWD is better?

evo_soul

Well, All wheel drive will be better in the sense of bad weather and snow. Something welcomed for Canada.

Unfortunately the number one trade off will be. Weight. Making a porky car even heavier. CVT owners will likely suffer from reduced 0-60 numbers. It would be wiser to standardize the 4B12 engine across the entire lancer platform or optimize the 4B11 to make more power with timing and internals updates.

timmiii

iTrader: (3)

That's great news.

An AWD Lancer has the potential to compete with a Subaru Impreza for that particular market share. The biggest turn off for the Lance IMO was that it was only FWD, but now with the potential for an AWD version things are looking pretty good.

Newuser213, why isn't AWD better? It would be great to use as a true DD in all weather conditions and for those that just want a basic Lancer with no turbo the option is there. With the economy the way it is and erratic weather patterns around the east coast its definitely a plus. Besides, it will probably perform better than the FWD versions anyway.

Newuser213

I live in LA and its always sunshine and normal weather.... So if the car is heavier but the power is the same, wouldn't it be slower? I mean the AWD wouldn't benefit me in any way right? I wouldn't mind the AWD but I was hoping it had more benefit other than for bad weather....or getting stuck. Seriously the Lancer got to lose some weight, cars good looking but too slow.

Piro Fyre

iTrader: (23)

As others said, it's mainly for bad weather and would mainly be advertised around areas that have winter. Around where I live, it can get really bad. This was last year and the neighborhood stopped and watched me get out and park the car in the garage...

Now imagine spending the next 6 hours digging it out. I just dug out the alley way and whatever was behind the car. If this was just a FWD, I would've never gotten out, even with snow tires. My neighbor thought I was crazy to half dig the snow out and thought it was going to stay there for a few days but luckily, I got it out, mostly thanks to the AWD.

Ben Chow

now that gts is totally gone...my 09 gts just leveled up and maybe even got a higher trade in value

roversix

I've been hearing about this through the grapevine.

I, for one, am happy that mitsu has decided to put down a naturally aspirated AWD Lancer. I have no idea why they never did that in the past; Subies have been getting the sweet deal of AWD of all their lineups for forever.

I read somewhere too about this SE version and that the top of the line will have Recaro's, HID's, and Brembo front brakes....

If that's true, allow me to be a hater and be at the fact that Ralliarts werent even considered for stock Brembo brakes.

Hopefully it gets the GTS engine... kinda curious as to how it's going to look on its final iteration too.

Green_Bandit

iTrader: (25)

Very nice! They mentioned they were making tweaks to the engine to offset the weight. Nice move for Mitsubishi.

Ben Chow

i doubt the se will come with all these goodies seeing how each of them is pricey...i mean, even the ralliart didn't come with those, why would they now be equipped just on a se? unless they are putting these out as a premium package that is gonna cost like another 5K extra or something lol

roversix

lol, you're right. Hopefully an article will come out soon of the actual final specs/options and an actual picture of the form of the exterior appearance.

I may have a RA but damn, I'm happy Mitsu showed some ***** and is releasing this.

Veronica

iTrader: (2)

Is there really a niche between GTS and RalliArt? For the additional drivetrain losses and weight - you would want a turbo to compensate. And the price would be almost to a RA as well... [shrug]

roversix

^You're absolutely right that Lancers are a pig of a car and you would want the turbo to compesate.

I do think there is a demographic that would be served by this platform though, or else regular Subie Imprezas wouldn't even sell.

Remember that although almost everyone in this forum and people around us are interested in speed and performance, our crowd is still dwarfed by the "I just need to get a car from point A to point B" demographic. That's why Corollas and Civics are making Toyota and Honda a success in the U.S.

Should those people need a car with AWD and hate the unstable acceleration of a turbo (i.e. parents buying for teens in snowed areas, Grandpa with back problems) and know how prehistoric Subaru's automatic tranny is... they might give this car a look.

Of course, I'm not holding my breath for this platform to be a break out sucess... Mitsu's marketing has never been that great in the U.S. market anyways.

Defcon5Es

iTrader: (5)

it's an option people. Mitsubishi won't incorporate their AWD as standard. so chill out.