Comments on: 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Aspire Review

By: Danzo

Danzo — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:18:52 +0000

After going through the pain of test driving a stack of other cars, should i go for a bit of power, or should i go for good fuel economy, will the car be a dinosaur in two years when maybe electric cars may or may not rule the roast……will the pollies stuff up everything with their hair brain eco schemes. should i just keep driving my old bomb and wait ahhhhhhhhh…….
Anyway i drove the the whole honda range, Mazda SP25, Mazda MPS, Toyota Aurion, Suzuki swift,
Hyundai I30,. Then took a Aspire for a long test drive today, tad pricey but lovely little car that ticked most of the boxes. No car is 100 % perfect, but this one comes pretty close.
Motor good, ride good,feels solid and well made. feels like a little mini me of a Toyota Presara but with better fuel economy. joy to drive. I30 good but no sole, sp25 looks great but feels like an old car. MPS nice but pricey with bump steer. Euro nice but you have to rev it a bit to wake it up. Swift cute as a button, great economical little car.both standard and sport model. Presara lovely car but bit of a grandads car with powerful addictive 200kw motor but loses value by the second.
The lancer Rallyart i test drove went like a fire cracker but something deep inside me said computer says no. So to cut a boring long story short, i loved the Aspire and might buy one this week. And yes i don`t care if a pram will fit or not, or my friends golf clubs. When you do a review just tell it like it is. I know 50% of the readers are lovely ladies , but the other 50% of men just want to know if this sucker is worth going for a test drive themselves.

By: ricki

ricki — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:50:56 +0000

crap mate i own a aspire and i just put $30 in it and it wasnt full tank and it lasted 7 days everyday driving it is the best car i have driven and has style and class of a 80k car its actually nearly identical to my mates alfa we were just comparing them the other day similar body shape and 2 tell you the truth the aspire had more opts than it

By: Lauren

Lauren — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:50:44 +0000

Ha ha, all these “I hate Mitsubishi” Grow up! Everybody has their own taste. Everybody has different opinions on what they are after in a car. Eg: Mother of two – considers functional aspects, roomy, big boot for stroller and even goes off the aesthetics. Male, 28, Thinks about the engine, brand, what people think of him. Every car has its pros and cons, its just what YOU think a pro is.. For me, 25,female – I like an all rounder car. Looks good, drives good. For $34 including on road costs is the price you pay for an allrounded car. Agree?

By: RevMan

RevMan — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:16:46 +0000

Tossed up between the Subaru Libety, Accord and the Aspire.

Hands down Aspire won at the end, though it was a hard choice between the other 2

By: FrugalOne

FrugalOne — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:24:16 +0000

^^^^FRANK

“I went and drove all of the other cars everyone raved about…. in particular the Subaru Impreza who all of my mates kept going on and on about with it’s AWD etc…. I drove it and it was by far one of the worst cars I had ever driven… EVER. Sluggish.”

AMEN!

T H E MOST OVER-RATED brand on the market…..EndOfStory!

Owned by EXTREME fickle punters, who are blind-n-stupid in the way haonda owners use to be, but haonda has been brought down to earth.

Its now just a BigT[tm.F-0] product, otherwise would have been banished to the woods.

Hows the WRC victories going? :-)

When will FHI have a factory own/operated and commit to the Aussie market 100%?

Other than that they are ok!

Rant Over!

Cheers

F-0

PS/ Congrats to all you guys who purchased the Lancer’s!

By: Jill

Jill — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:07:22 +0000

Don’t any of you go in and bargain the price down.
We pick up our new Silver 09 Lance Aspire on Friday and got $5000 off the price. Their are a lot of car deals around at the moment. It comes down to each persons taste and what they are willing to pay; what features are important to them when looking for a car. The baggage comments people carry are usually from previous model cars and the fact that they cannot afford to pay that bit extra for the current model. With that said, yes we would have liked to have a compartment for sunglasses and we would have thought the top of the range model would have come with rear sensors. And as for Leather, if you really knew about leather seats, in most cars now the only part that is leather is the main middle panel the rest is vinyl.
If you can bargain and afford one I recommend the Aspire.
Happy Bargaining.

By: Zac

Zac — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:39:00 +0000

I bought the 09 Lancer Aspire for $36400 drive away which includes the following:
Tinted windows – Front & back
Parking sensors
Paint protection
Alarm System
Leather and Vinyl Protection
Smart membership
Floor Mats
Free tank Fuel
VRX Spolier
Sunroof
Sat Nav + Rockford Fosgate

I was tossing up between this and the Euro Accord but the Lancer walks all over it after comparing feature set and warranty.

The only compaint I have is slightly lound road noise and poor rearward visibility and large front pillars.

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:09:13 +0000

I just bought the Aspire tonight…. I’ve been doing alot of research and test driving cars… I left the Lancer until last only because I owned a 2000 VRX already and have never had a single problem with it… and it served me well.

I went and drove all of the other cars everyone raved about…. in particular the Subaru Impreza who all of my mates kept going on and on about with it’s AWD etc…. I drove it and it was by far one of the worst cars I had ever driven… EVER. Sluggish.

So I left the Lancer VRX until last… as soon as I got in and drove it and felt the 2.4L (compared to my old 1.8L) I fell in love…. I drove the Auto as well with the paddles… and that was it. I then saw the Aspire and thought it looked fairly nice… it had all of the fruit inside and was basically a VRX with the fruit. I decided on the Aspire after much thinking… and in fact put the VRX real spoiler on it… so that it has the great looks of the VRX with the chrome… and all the fruit of the Aspire inside.

One of the best cars I have driven… and for the price extremely reasonable compared to some of the other junk I test drove. Can’t wait to pick it up in a week!

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 02 May 2009 08:23:47 +0000

I just bought one…by the way it was not avaliable for test drive at any of the dealers i tried but test drove vrx which essentially is the same car without all the extras
It is an awsome car i also have a mazda sp23 and it is a much better car BTW drive away 32K so people saying overpriced at 34k its not what i paid! no regretts its better than ever car in same price point I tried Honda accord focus mazda 3sp25 suby impressa I did a lot of testing including track days this car is a winner

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 05:44:43 +0000

I have one, too. Three months old. Bought it, and have never looked back. Love it. OK, it may not have some of the touches of others in its class. But as an overall package in my eyes it is a fantastic vehicle. I was lucky enough to get the sat nav and premium stereo kit included for free as part of a driveway deal, and I am loving it.

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:12:37 +0000

I have one. Brand new, just over two months now. @4300Km
i’ve never had a lancer before, never had a mitsubishi before.
overall features and looks was what won me over.
No regrets, none what-so-ever.

By: AAA

AAA — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:40:21 +0000

They are going head to head with the Accord Euro?

$25,999 drive away no more to pay may be :|

By: Bob Straight

Bob Straight — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:15:09 +0000

I love Mitsubishi
My 91 Galant lasted 16 yrs
Now I have a 2003GalantLS 3.0L
Looking forward to the Aspire
coming to Canada with a 3.0L or a 3.8L(preferred)
it’ll get better than 7.9L/100km or 35 mpg
and get me to highway speed before I go bald

By: Bob Straight

Bob Straight — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:11:01 +0000

anything under 230hp(171.51Kw)
250ft lbs(338.57Nm)
is not enough
here in Canada the Galant3.8L gets 35 miles per gallon
and gets to 60 mph in 6.5 sec
that’s what is expected (100km/hr in 6.5sec)
plus it’ll last 400-500,000km(300,000miles)
come on over or boost the engine
ps your 6 sp is fantastic(we only have a 5speed

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 10:00:37 +0000

To Cupid Stunt, the leather thing isn’t so much a vegetarian view, more something I’ve never really gotten. It’s not that I think leather shouldn’t be on cars because of all the poor cows that get killed, it’s just more that, once again, why would anybody want to sit on a dead organ? Heres an idea, what about a heart as the center of a steering wheel? Classy, no? I have leather in more cars than I don’t but if I have a choice for either cloth or Alcantara over leather, I usually take it. Why is cloth so un-classy? I mean, it would have to be high grade, but why is leather suddenly the norm for luxury cars? Could they not think of something else?

By: Cupid Stunt

Cupid Stunt — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:19:44 +0000

Alex – your vegitarian views will be laughed at here
Streuth you lot. You’re comparing this with the Government subsidised commies or Falcon. Buy those and use 25% more fuel.
This is available in the UK with VW’s 2.0 litre diesel and should do 5′/100km.

By: Mark Greenburg

Mark Greenburg — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:53:52 +0000

The VW Jetta has a standard manual while the Aspire has an an automatic. The Jetta only has a 2.0L engine, which is insufficient in a $35,000 car (the US Jetta has a 2.5L 5-cyl, by comparison, as does their Golf and Beetle). Furthermore, if you spec up the Jetta to Aspire levels it becomes very expensive indeed: sunroof ($1890), sat nav ($2990), leather ($3290), 18″ alloys ($2990), for a total of $46,450. VW are able to keep their RRP prices down by charging a fortune for their options. And if you do happen to want any of these options, there’s SFA chance of the vehicle being in the country – it’ll likely to have be ordered in. While the Aspire is much more likely to be in stock.

By: Mark Greenburg

Mark Greenburg — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:17:53 +0000

OUCH!!! $34,490 plus $450 for metallic = $34,940?! Where’s the value in that, when you can get a Honda Accord 2.4L for $29,990?

By: Motorhead

Motorhead — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:04:15 +0000

I don’t know why it used more fuel then my V8 but it did.
It may have been a tight engine or the CVT but I think the main factors is it needs to be driven much harder to keep up with traffic rather then just lope along like Falcodores do but if you were willing to dawdle it would probably improve.

I try a lot of cars & pay close attention to factors such as fuel economy & have generally found smaller cars tend to struggle to match their labelled fuel economy compared to larger displacement cars in real driving but this one was particularly poor.

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:19:58 +0000

Um, Steven A, for one thing you must be a really boring person if this car is as far as you go when you say you want a new car and also, your FACT is not a fact at all.
What about the Volkswagen Jetta? It’s the sedan version of a Golf so it is a competitor, you can get Sat Nav and Leather on it for a few thousand more and since the base model is cheaper than this, it works out about the same, not to mention the better petrol engine or diesel if you want it and obviously the driving dynamics, looks, prestige and badge. Once Ford Australia updates the Focus range, which could be any day, that has a Sat Nav option and the Focus is certainly better to drive.
InFACT, there are so many cars in this segment that can match the equipment of this one, most cars have all the little quirky features that are being seen as unique in the Lancer, they just didn’t make a big deal about it because they weren’t so far behind in the first place and at least the Focus and Golf/Jetta have five star crash tests. Many competitors offer these features for less or same money, may with better badges, many with better looks and all hold their value better. So your FACT, didn’t really turn out to be all that factual did it?.

PS – I test drove a Lancer Aspire a few weeks ago, but to keep my taste in check I would like to point out I was simply seeing what it’s like and was certainly not considering buying one. No, it’s not a bad car to drive at all, but the Focus is better. The Focus is more fun to drive and the engine, though smaller, is more peppy.