- Doors and Seats
4 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
2.0i, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
110kW, 197Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (91) 7.3L/100KM
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Auto (CVT)
- Warranty
5 Yr, 130000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
2013 Mitsubishi Lancer LX review
I like Mitsubishis even though I no longer drive one. Why? Price and reliability. In my household we have owned four Mitsus (equalling 25-plus years of ownership) and besides normal maintenance, tyres and batteries, we’ve only replaced the front brakes on one and some suspension bushes on another. Thats it. 25 years. So when it came time to replace one Mitsu, we bought another - the subject of this review.
- Value for money , Reliability, Keyless start, Electric drivers seat, Fuel economy
- Handling, Under powered engine, CVT drone under load
We liked the look of the CJ Lancer. It’s got that “something more” than its competition in the looks department. The other thing about the CJ Lancer is value for money. You get a lot of car for not a lot of coin, relatively speaking. Yes, they've been around for some time but that lends weight to my argument.
The LX version of the Lancer was more or less the luxury version. We liked the keyless entry and start, the full electric driver’s seat, reversing camera and sensors, and the spacious boot.
This car was our first experience driving a CVT auto-equipped vehicle. It did take some getting used to, but after some time you didn’t notice it - except for the drone under load. It did make an odd sound when loaded and accelerating, but it did everything asked of it and never let us down.
The LX Lancer is a solid car and the 2.0-litre engine doesn't quite have the power to match the CVT auto and the weight of the car. It needed more power. Another disappointing aspect of this car was the handling. When cornering at highway/open road speed, input and concentration is required. I can hear you saying, "well yeah, its not driver-less mate", but I mean you don't just drive, you are steering the thing the whole way around the corners, with inputs required all the time. At speed, it seemed to wallow around corners which made it somewhat uncomfortable. Around town, it was no problem. On the open road, it was like riding a whale that was determined to throw you off.
Moving on from the not-so-good points to what I think are its best; value and reliability. Value, well it depends how much you have to spend, but this was the most car we could find for the money at the time. Reliability; bulletproof. Never let us down. Never cost us any more than the standard services.
Most of us are aware that the CJ/CF Lancer is coming to the end of its very long life on the Australian market. If they ever make a new model, all they need to do is improve the handling and the power and it could be a top seller again. Maybe.