High on the highway: Sixty to 120kph takes only 5.4 seconds flat out and the X accelerates just as hard up to 180kph and beyond

A big NACA duct for a nostril, maw hung low and turbo whistling softly, the Evo X drips menace. No Attention Assist needed here, that’s for sure — this car, that looks ready to battle, is an eyeball magnet.

The car I drove wasn’t any random import, squeezed in through loopholes. This is India’s first officially imported Evo, soon available at a Mitsubishi showroom near you.

But is this new Evo X (or 10) as much fun as the ones that came before it? Is it still one of the best driving four-door cars on sale, a car that truly feels like a WRC (World Rally Championship) car on street tyres? You have questions, I have the answers. Let’s get straight into the driver’s seat.

INSIDE STORY

The seat is really impressive — this Recaro, with its carbon-fibre trimmings and massively supportive sides. The driving position is fantastic and you are seated at just the right height. Very tall or short drivers may have a different opinion, as the seat does not adjust for height. And nor is the steering adjustable for reach, shocking for a driver-focused car like this.

There’s plenty of space on the rear seats and there’s even some amount of boot space. That said, the full-sized spare and battery take up a lot of space, while plastic quality is only good enough for a car half the price of the Evo X.

UNDER THE HOOD

The version that Mitsubishi imports comes equipped with a six-speed, DSG-type, double-clutch gearbox, and a pair of nice magnesium paddles attached to the steering column. The 2.0-litre motor fires with a soft blast from twin rear exhausts, the dual silencers probably the only purely cosmetic bit on the car.

The aluminium motor (code name 4B11) under the aluminium hood is all new and not an evolution of the famous 4G63 motor that has pages and pages of modifications available if you execute an online search. For all its visual drama, initial take-off, however, is not very strong or rapid. This is understandable as Mitsubishi is wringing 291bhp out from a mere 1.9-litre motor, with a turbo. So a bit of lag is understandable.

DRIVER’S DEAL

Nevertheless, the ‘auto’ gearbox takes care of much of this lag and just downshifts when you put your foot down, the Evo exploding forward after only a bit of a wait. But this car isn’t about low-end pulling power; it’s all about the performance delivered with the turbo on song, shovelling masses of boosted air into the engine.

Drive it hard, in the manic part of the powerband, and the Evo immediately lives up to all the hype. Above 3000rpm the lag evaporates, and power delivery is linear and strong. The tug from the FWD system now pins you to your seat, and the motor just loves to spin and spin. There’s no let-up in power either at the top of the powerband, as the twin-clutch gearbox has already pre-selected the next gear for you, the tachometer flicking back only momentarily, before you are slammed back in the thick of it again.

The best part of the powerband lies between 4000 and 6500rpm, and it’s here that the Evo feels fast enough to hang onto the tail of a supercar. Sixty to 120kph, for instance, takes only 5.4 seconds flat out and the X accelerates just as hard up to 180kph and beyond. What this new motor lacks is the crazy spike in turbo boost present on the earlier car, and some of the earlier Evo’s tuned feel as well.

What this car also doesn’t like doing is standing starts. The SST gearbox seems reluctant to allow the motor to spin hard before you dump the ‘clutch’ and that means you don’t take off like cat on a hot tin roof. Even with all systems switched off, I couldn’t better a zero to 100kph time of 6.6 seconds. Part of the problem is that I couldn’t test this car on the specified 97 octane and I ran it on regular 91 octane fuel. This accounts for a half-second loss in the acceleration time.

A large part of my day with the Evo was spent at the track in Chennai — a great place to squeeze out its tarmac skills and put all that hardware through its paces. First impressions are of effortless pace and grip.

The Evo X just sticks to the track. There is very little body roll and it feels incredibly composed and relaxed. This, despite the serious cornering speeds and occasional howl from the tyres. It’s all very enjoyable, but the message from the very accurate and well-weighted steering is clear — the Evo X thinks it’s on a Sunday cruise.

Once you push harder, brake later, carry more speed into corners and get on the gas earlier that’s when the Evo truly shines. And it’s only then that you get access to the best this car has to offer. The strong brakes, fantastic turn-in, incredible poise and great feedback make going harder and harder a real treat. Through corners and turn-ins, apex and exit flow with amazing fluidity.

What’s more, the Evo feels even more capable on everyday streets. Performance is devastating even at 80 per cent, the chassis is incredibly confidence-inspiring and you just seem to want to extract more and more performance from this car.

With just a little bit of extra care, I managed to take it over some really bad bits of road, and kuccha roads should pose no problem either. It has 140mm of clearance and very stiff springs, so if you’re careful, you can go over stuff you’d never dream of tackling with a Porsche. And while the ride over broken bits of tarmac is quite revealing and stiff-kneed, you aren’t tossed around either.

FINAL VERDICT

Now we get to the spicy part — the Rs 50-lakh price tag. This is a lot of money for what is basically the latest Lancer on steroids. For this sort of money, you could get yourself a car with higher levels of quality and much more refinement and practicality on offer. But would they be as much fun? Could you take them up to 450bhp as easily? Would they attract as many open-mouthed stares? I doubt it. “I drive an Evo” does have a nice ring to it.

spec check

mitsubishi lancer evolution x

Price: Rs 50 lakh (est)
L/W/H: 4505/1810/1480mm
Wheelbase: 2650mm
Ground clearance: 140mm
Kerb weight: 1605kg
Engine: 4-cyl, in-line, 1998cc, turbocharged petrol/ four-wheel-drive
Power: 291bhp at 6500rpm
Torque: 37.3kgm at 3500rpm
Gearbox: 6-speed twin-clutch auto
Brakes (F/R): Ventilated discs