Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR, we will still miss the Evo even the last one was not the best

It is a rare occasion when the name of a car model becomes ironic when it is still at the production level. However, there were exceptions like the Ford Aspire and the Chevy Monte Carlo, made very few appearances on the street. The subject of contention is the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR for 2015, and the name hardly matches its status of a car that is already a dead car on the roll.

One would expect the car improve with time as it sports the name “evolution” and adapt to the environment it lives while it evolves the breed. The fate of the Lancer Evolution is similar to the saber- tooth, the lone remaining one, searching its last rest place.  Like the saber-tooth the Evo from the tenth generation is capable of doing away with larger victims. We in America had to wait till the Evo of the eighth generation made its appearance, via import ten years ago.  

 It won people’s heart with its sharp response aided by a sturdy four-cylinder turbocharged engine, manual transmission, and four-wheel-drive. Here we must mention that the Evo came victorious in three comparison tests conducted in 2003, 2005 and 2008 which also saw it covering three generations in America.  By having the pedestrian, Lancer compact as the base model did not do anything to enhance its image. The Evo was the sharpest of the trio consisting of Subaru WRX STI, VW Golf R, and Evo. However, the car had always been offered with drab interiors.  Poorly made up interiors in a well functioning automobile is acceptable but the plastic used was very cheap when it was carrying a price of $40, 000.

To make matter worse Mitsubishi is not offering the optional Recaro seats for the final year but they were benchmarks in Evo VIII and IX, which was not just restricted to the compact car segment. The Recaros in the X were wider and more sitting space; they will still snug fitting. For the 2014 MR, it came as an option worth $1900 package. However, when we tested the vehicle, we did notice that the Recaro was missing, found out only when we slide all the way across the seats. But they were tight fitting and comfortable to sit.

Acceleration catapults the Evo to a 4.9 seconds short sprint time, and it did the quarter-mile in 13.7 seconds, which was similar to the other Evo X MRs we tested. When the Evo appeared in 2008 it had genuinely exotic pieces of dual clutch automatic transmission, launch protocol and torque vectoring rear differential that could not be found in many cars, excepting the ones like the R35 Nissan GT-R, but at a price that is two times over. Evo does not share other things with the Lancer and its 2.0 Liter inline four engine surged forcefully to the redline with its 291 horsepower and the super reflex steering responded to each twitch and sent up feedback at an amazing rate. Evo’s brakes are hard and biting and gave excellent modulation while trail-braking. This one is not for the traffic but built to roam tracks, mountain roads, canyons, and even the drag race tracks.