2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart First Steer
October 24, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart First Steer
The hot hatch market has pretty much been a two horse race to date, Volkswagen’s iconic GTi or Subaru’s WRX – but enter the tough new kid on the block, the Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart, and that’s all changed.
- David Twomey
Now before everyone starts yelling, I know there are a lot of other players in this field, and we all have our favourites, but the fact is the GTi sells about 200 units a month and the WRX, about 150, so that puts them well in front of the pack in the popularity stakes.
Mitsubishi’s product planning guy, and the man responsible for getting its product to market, is Chris Maxted and he’s very confident the new Lancer Ralliart Sportback and Sedan will sell at least 150 a month, with supply constrained by the availability of the sensational dual clutch, SST gearbox.
So that put the Lancer Ralliart right up there with the main players and grabbing for glory so how good is this new kid on the block.
Well, after several hours driving it around a variety of twisty roads in New South Wales today we can say that it is very, very good indeed.
Mr Maxted did tell CarAdvice that the Lancer Ralliart is for “EVO wannabes” and by that he wasn’t trying to denigrate his own buyers, more put them in context.
You see, the Lancer Ralliart is just the car for the person who might want the thrill of an EVO X but either doesn’t want to drive something that hard edged or cannot justify the $60,000+ spend.
Fall into either of those categories and the Lancer Ralliart is probably for you.
Tags: Mitsubishi Lancer, Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart
What about the 0-100km time? Will a manual be offered further down the track? If you drove the car why did test driver not test the car for the 0-100 time? Is it because Mitsubishi asked not to reveal that figure ?
I love how objective CA is. Everything is so wonderful and rosie. Besides the cog jumping and some turbo lag this car is absolutely, 100% perfect, no flaws what so ever? Wow, sounds like Mitsubishi has allot to teach other car makers.
Salesman, you are an idiot.
This is essentially an EVO, for 15g less! It has the EVO IX drivetrain and a detuned EVO X engine… hell it beats the WRX on looks, beats the GTi on handling and finesse (I am sure), and comes with the SST gearbox standard? That is a bargain. Go Mitsubishi. On a winner with this one.
What is the objective of a first steer? How long does CA get to test the car?
The Salesman: Agreed. It is true about Caradvice at the moment. Surely there is no such thing as ‘the perfect car’. And with no flaws, wow that is amazing. Wake up CA. Please be a little more truthful in your reviews, as turbo lag can be a problem when turning across traffic.
Nick, first steers are done after a press launch, e.g. CA, along with other journalists, get invited to drive the cars at a special event, hence why it’s a first steer and not a review. We only have the cars for a few hours, as oppose to a week for the review.
Although, as far as hot hatches go, I have to agree with David (author), the Ralliart Lancer is as good as it’s going to get.
Nick and the Salesman are spot on. I found this article boring, and it sounds like a Mitsubishi PR guy wrote it. How does the bloody thing go? How does it stop, why is it so ugly, and why is it ok if the SST Gearbox has no clue what gear to be in. Also, 3000 RPM before it wants to go anywhere is not OK either.
With all due respect David, i dismissed this article as a gee up, as soon as i read WRX and Hot Hatch in the same sentence.
Well, I am going to trade my old WRX for one of these. not the Hatch ofcourse, the Sedan is by all means the better looker.
Alborz,
Thanks for clearing up the first steer issue. I still wonder whether the car is as good as the article describes it? I have heard that this car is really heavy so the acceleration is not great? I will wait till CA does a full review on Ralliart.
Nick, I can’t comment regarding how the car is, all I can say is, having spent the last 2 weeks in an EVO X, the SST gearbox is a delight to use, very similar in purpose to the DSG in the Golf, but a little slower at times.
As for the review, yes, that’s a good idea, we’ll have a full review of the car within a few weeks.
is it so hard to just have Xenon lights for an option atleast…
i mean, cummon. my dad works for ford, and when i saw the images of the Focus ST (before it came to AUS) i thought to myself “great, it has xenon lights, maybe when aus gets it it’ll have them standard or as an option (like the WRX)” but low and behold, it doesn’t, as with the Mondeo!
i think if the ‘aspire’ model (or whatever it’s called) has them, why not the Ralliart?!?! i kno theyre only lights, but i like them… lol.
either way – nice car. would rather the NEW gen GTi golf though, only coz its a german. no wait, thats kinda wrong. Gimme one of these in black with a sunroof, leather, xenons and that multimedia pack and im sold.
You are right there Twilight, even the $72,000 EVO X MR doesnt come with Xenons, now I don’t know about you, but if I was spending 72g I’d want Xenons!
The sedan is definately the go.
Twilight, Xenon’s are STANDARD on the WRX.
There is no opportunity with a First Steer to safely or properly conduct 0-100km/h times. Most manufacturers will not provide them!
We do this during a full review when we can perform the test safely
Also i said that at times the gearbox could become a little confused if there was a throttle change in the corner, it doesn’t know whether you are going to brake or accelerate, it is a minor operational issue with twin-clutch type gearboxes as they have to decide which gear to next prepare – up or down!
The turbo lag is not severe and only present from rest, it also means that the car is easier to drive in heavy traffic when it is trickling along under the turbo point.
You guys obviously didn’t read through all the tech stuff to get how it drives did you?
Personally I reckon this is the bargain of the century. I can’t wait to take one for a spin.
Don’t care how fast it is -it’s an ugly car!The WRX is better looking-and so far from overseas reviews,it has disappointed the testers.
If I were in the market to buy a turbo car,although I’m not a GTI fan,I would buy the Golf over this dated brick on wheels!
damn Mitsubishi… i couldn’t wait to get rid of my old Subaru Liberty in July…and this wasn’t out yet… so couldn’t compare it with the Golf. Pretty much for the same reasons as what Twilight and Charlieman said… it was the whole package of dual clutch, leather, nice interior and the bi-xenons… However, it’s still good to see the various carmakers trying to out do each other with the 195kw WRX… next time when i need to upgrade my Golf GTI, there’ll be lots of worthy cars to choose from!
Twilight, I am with you mate. All of these things should have Xenon as standard now. Looking at the pics here though, the first pic of the black Ralliart shows it with the standard non Xenon light unit (by the looks of it) but it definately shows the light coming from them to be Xenon in colour & nature. The pic is too dark to see if it has the pop up washers that Xenon equiped lights must have. Has this pic been touched up with photoshop….?
Joe, i know very well they are. i said: “STANDARD or as an option”.
sorry if that sounds like i’m yellin’, coz i’m not. haha
but yeh, Honda have xenons on their accords, subaru are doing it on their higher end models, toyota have it only on the aurion ‘presara’… and even mitsu have it on their top spec outlander and pajero – so whats the go with the ralliart mitsu?
Still, GTI outclasses it…
Bring on the new my09 wrx, with 195kw and proper manual gearbox and boxer engine. Should be a great comparison/battle between the two.. My money is on the wrx because of extra power and manual gbox…
No xenons is a let down they always make a car look better than it is and the non0xenon spec look cheap [aka omega commodore] Id still rather a new genesis coepe or a GTi
Its a awkward looking car thats for sure, the sportback, having said that so is the sedan with those back lights. The front end on both is very nice though.
Seems a bit limp compared to the 09 WRX doesn’t it? The Rex will be significantly faster with 190kw on tap, and will come with a manual transmission.
I’m not sure which would win the beauty contest, the MY09 is looking much more promising.
It might just be overpriced, feels more like a 35k car.
It’s to girly for me I think though, I’d have to get the sedan ralliart.
………..But I’d rather have the Mitsubishi hatch than the all unbearable Subaru hatch.
…………..Does anybody else agree?
The turbo lags a worry (roundabouts, crossing roads, lights) – sounds like it needs to rev a fair bit higher than the competition to get going. Will be interesting to see the full review when it comes.
Your saying the ralliart is uglier than the wrx?? LOL 90% of people i know and reviews have said the new wrx looks absolutely like turd even people in the wrx forums agree although people do have different taste and bad taste i must say just like SlowHonda
hey charlieman, the EVO MR comes standard with xenons, you may have missed that on the spec sheet given all the other great features in the car
1. Bargain of the century.
2. This will destroy a WRX on a track. Better chassis, quicker gearbox, brand new engine. An engine just waiting for mods.
3. People saying they want a GTi miss the point of this car; if you want German leather you should be talking to Max Mosley.
4. It’s an awesome looking car. Progressive design, with that aggressive fighter jet nose. Distinctly Japanese.
5. If you drive below 3,000, where the lag exists, this car is not for you. Done. Seriously, there’s this pedal on the right hand side of the car, you put your right foot on it…
6. Some of the bad reviews of this car were: a) “It’s not as good as en evo (no sh*t)” and b) “the tyres let down the handling”. Replace the tyres, second easiest mod to a car possible.
What do you get when you castrate the first bull? A “first steer” of course. That term is so childish, I flinch every time I read it. Steering is such a tiny fraction of what’s involved in driving and, more importantly, owning a car that I guess we should all recognize that a “first steer” report will usually be superficial, inconsequential and childish in its thrust.
Yawwwnnnn… more Mitsubishi rubbish.
And btw, it’s GTI with a capital “I”, not GTi!!!
VW Freak are you interested in cars or brands? go gucci boy
sounds like a fantastic car but yes, they should do something about the wheels soon to differentiate it from the VRX… right now only the dual exhaust, hood and ralliart badges give it away. I want my bucket seats with leather and alcantara inserts :P They should make HIDs an option as well…
“The Ralliart can hit 100km/h in 7.1″
source GoAuto’s “First Steer”
This lancer have a good look. I like it.
GTRmon, your right on the money. Its surprises me how quick people are judge before they have even driven the thing themselves. I have a booked test drive this wednesday ;)
Dennis
Make sure you report back on your test drive.I have a feeling it won’t live up to the hype :)
Quote from page 4 of the review:
“The Lancer Ralliart has 18×7.0JJ alloy wheels with 215/45R18 89W tyres, again carried over from the VRX, and Mr Maxted admitted that Mitsubishi would have liked a unique wheel for the Ralliart but none suitable were available in time for the release.
He said an alternate alloy wheel would be offered if one became available.”
Given the above comments, well, I am not convinced that MMAL does NOT include the UNIQUE Ralliart alloy wheels that are ALREADY AVAILABLE for the NZ’s RLancer as standard features?? (By the way, the NZ’s spec has HID headlights, Recaro seats and Rockford Fosgate as standard items, as well as a marginally more powerful (engine) outputs than the Aust’s spec)
Ultimately I wish to highlight that an “alternate alloy wheel” is actually available, but MMAL has chosen not to include this (or offer as an option) for the Aust’s spec RLancer… :(
Hey, you know what would be awesome OURS. If things could just be magically manufactured and shipped!
Obviously MMAL made a decision that the wheels on the NZ spec car were unsuitable/unavailable/too expensive or whatever. But no, clearly you’d have more insight into Mitsubishi’s processes wouldn’t you?
Fasthonda, is it ironic that your name is “fast Honda” and you’re skeptical of a mini Evo? Which fast Honda were you referring to exactly? The FWD civic perhaps? Or maybe the slightly-better-than-Force-India F1 cars maybe?
GTRmon
Oh dear!Obviously you have very little knowledge of Honda’s motorsport history-Honda’s achievements both on four and two wheels are too numerous to mention.
You’re right about F1-however Honda stopped developing the current F1 car in July-to get ready for the 2009 season which will incorporate major changes in design/engineering rules for the F1 cars.Anyway I don’t see Mitsubishi or Nissan having a 2.4L V8 developing over 700hp!In the Japan GT series Nissan use the 4.6LV8 because the R35’s current engine is deemed to risky to use in racing.
If my name has to refer to a Honda car it would be the JDM Civic Type R -a Na car that would be MORE than capable in beating the Ralliart around the track.
What does everybody else think about the styling? I think it’s pretty hideous. It sits a bit high at the back, I guess, but I can’t really put my finger on it. Something doesn’t look right with the whole lancer range, including the EVO. Maybe it looks a bit better in person?
And 215 tyres? Err, well I know its got AWD, but that’s seriously too skinny in my opinion.
Jaxen Says:
October 25th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
“The Ralliart can hit 100km/h in 7.1″
source GoAuto’s “First Steer”
Jaxen, that’s what you get when you pinch info from overseas reviews!
I was there for the same time as GoAuto and they did not have the opportunity to conduct a proper 0-100km/h test!
Allan D :-
I agree with you.That’s my main gripe with the car.I’m sure it will perform well but I just can’t get by those dated looks especially that giant grille-that also performs the same funtion as flypaper!
With the Audi range of cars,the large grille complements the car because of their overall shape.In Mitsubshi’s case the grille is incongruous with the general shape of the car or vice-versa.
The Road and Track Mag.has a comparision test with the Mazda MPS,2009 WRX and Ralliart.You can’t judge a car by just one review but some of the comments made about the Ralliart have been echoed by other reviews.It’s quite interesting.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/ar.....le_id=7103
have seen hatch on the road today…pictures does not do the justice…looks quite good…nothing like pos WRX
why is every car maker moving towards these gaping grills,IT works on audi becuae they are a soft shape now mazda,peugeit,ford,citroen,renualt,audi and mitsu have these grills and in my opinion i only workls on audis and mazda
Hey David, how come there\’s no pics of the car you drove? These are all press shots we\’ve seen a thousand times before! I know you only had it for a couple of hours, but surely you could\’ve spared a few minutes to take a few pics for all of us?
Interesting first stteer though, looking forward to the review
First, looks/style wise its always going to be debatable, no one/thing will be 100% “beautiful” to everyone. Some will like it some will not.
I for one think, the car’s profile and rear angle appearance is very awkward and “ugly”.
But thats just my opinion and as everyone is entitled to.
Performance wise, yes its very nice indeed. Just reading about the drive train and chassis etc, all very nicely put together.
Price wise, yes its even better, its going to be competing hard with the GTI and WRX.
But, still, I would personally wait and see the 09 WRX for better judgment. Because the WRX looks more appealing in my opinion.
And most here hasnt realized, that the main reason that manual isnt available yet… is because the market its intended for. Mitsubishi would like this to be a better “everyday” alternative. If you want a track car get the EVO or the STi etc. But the GTI’s DSG and this car’s SST transmission are much less painful to drive in everyday traffic. Just to clarify that bit.
Fasthonda a Civic Type-R couldn’t touch a Ralliart on the track.
Big deal, the Honda F1 team can make an engine, like all the other teams. Which, you might have noticed, has no correlation to what the company does in its road cars.
If you want to boast about engines how about the 4G63 out of the FQ400: 200bhp per L in a road car, not a race car.
Nissan aren’t using the VR36DETT because they’ve not tested it properly, it’s too new. In racing, you need a reliable well tested engine that you know the characteristics of. Thus they’re using a V8 from the old JGTCC car. The VR will get used in racing, but not yet.
Oh yeah, favourtie quote: “There’s no such thing as VTEC at 6,000 RPM.”
David Twomey Says:
October 26th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Jaxen Says:
October 25th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
“The Ralliart can hit 100km/h in 7.1″
source GoAuto’s “First Steer”
This actually agrees almost exactly with the report in the Evo magazine (Aug 2008?). I think I remember that the DSG is slow to get off the line, was one of the main complaints. Possibly rolling times will be a bit better, but if the weight is similar to an evo X, then that’d be a fail too.
Unfortunately it’s already at least a full second behind the WRX in the 0-100, and will only get further behind when the upgraded WRX arrives. And it’s struggling to keep up with a GTI. (I know 0-100 is only one performance benchmark, but it so often places cars roughly where there overall performance potential lies).
Luckily for the three diamond brand performance is only part of the buying criteria for most ppl. And as you can see from some of the above, there’s always people willing to operate from ignorance of the facts :-P Unfortunately this 40k segment is getting a lot of good cars nowadays, if the Ralliart can’t offer top of the pack performance, then I’m not sure on what basis it’s going to sell? Being newest to the market is only going to last a few months…
I wait for the full review with interest, and so do my dollars…
GTRmon :-
You commented on Honda’s F1 effort a company set up by a brillant engineer and visionary Soichiro Honda,who believed that racing should be “In the blood” of the Company.Do you think your ignorant ramblings are somehow going to diminish or taint the company’s rich racing history-absolutely not!Infact it brings to light how other Japanese companies are found wanting regarding their racing heritage and most importantly racing “heart”.
You mentioned the that there is no correlation to what the company does to it’s road cars.There cannot be a direct correlation but some things regarding engineering(including aero) and materials do make it to road cars.Obviously you can’t have a road car revving to 19,000 rpm!The old NSX was an engineering marvel,the upcoming “NSX” V10 I’m sure will have some F1 tech.
You gave me an example of a powerful Mitsubishi engine which makes 200 hp per litre-powerful -yes! impressed –no,far from it!The now old S2000 has 88Kw from it’s NA 2.0L,same with the Mugen Civic Type R.You have a giant “hairdryer” attached to the engine and it’s a spectacular piece of engineering!?!Honda is well aware of the power of turbos-they use to race them in F1- 1.6L pushing well over 1,000hp!.
Anyway when a company’s “hero” car is a piddly 4 cylinder turbo for the baseball cap wearing brigade-That company shows it’s true racing experience and heritage or lack of it!
I hope that the 2009 WRX kicks the Ralliart’s ugly butt face!
I get the feeling Fasthonda reads a hell of a lot of Honda brochures in his/her spare time…
i think so too he sounds a bit cut .. maybe it’s that time of the month for him..
If Fasthonda is a muslim he would’ve gone jihad on the ralliart by now…martyr for honda movemement lol. In my opinion critiques I reckon is okay but I just can’t get my head around people like fasthonda among others forcing their view so as to expect people to adopt them into their own. We should wait until the real review come out before actually “guessing” what the performance would be for this car…set aside the chopping board for now.
Not bad, but save your coin and go for the hottest hatch on the market -AUDI S3! Now that’s a great car, performance, quality, and style.
My wife just bought one of these today Black sedan sunroof bonnet protection, headlights mats etc.
Tho neither of us have spent a great deal of time in it as yet, we bought this from a slightly different perspective then most posters above. Looks was ofcourse a concern, but safety was primary, 5 star ancap, 4wd we couldnt find a better car, wrx was to much a hero car, liberty was nice also, turbo lag is noticeable if your a rev head and need instant bang, but it begins to pull around 2500-2600rpm and has a nice even arc of power thru the rpm’s which makes it nice for everyday driving, we have had it down too 8.2L/100km driving normally despite website claiming 9.2l/100 or whatever it is, head room is awesome, im 6.5 in the back my head is on the roof tho, back is very comfy besides being a large adult, we quickly took it too 140kmh and jump on the brakes hard and it pulls up like no car we have owned before and straight, road noice is acceptable. I love the direction this car is going, it can be very much a mum and dad car, with the ability to over take 2 trucks in the limited overtaking breaks on most roads and the brakes to slot back in if you miscalculate with out pooping your pants.
How many of you guys have driven the Ralliart or a WRX for that matter? Too many desktop critics don’t have a clue.
I have an 09 WRX an my wife has a 09 Ralliart I have changed the tune,exhaust and the tyres on the Ralliart and it beats the WRX 0-100 every time. Both cars are beautiful machines and there isn’t much between them .
The twin clutch on the Mitsi is fantastic to drive best of both worlds .
If you dont like the ralliart and you havn’t driven one shut the F… up until you have!!!!
I must agree with that. I’ve been a perennial skeptic with regard to robotised manual gearboxes and took one of these for a drive last weekend…. and was thoroughly impressed. That TC-SST gearbox is surprisingly good! After driving something like Alfa’s silly-speed, this has a remarkably good level of response, and even in self shifting mode was considerably smoother than I would have expected.
My only worry is that the stock tyres are the same rubbish Yokohama Advan 10s that the MY08 WRX had as standard.. and they were awful. As well as that, the car weighs about 1555kg which isn’t exactly a featherweight in this crowd. The exhaust could certainly sound a bit nicer too, and the stereo wasn’t particularly remarkable, but I didn’t get to sample the Rockford Fosgate upgraded version.