Mitsubishi Evo X: First Drive

It has to be the unlikeliest performance car in the world while on the other hand it does provide really fast motoring for four with an unbelievable ability to marry comfort, ride and handling and everyday practicality which is something you wouldn't expect from your temperamental Italian exotic sports car would you? Indian motoring enthusiasts prepare to say hello and get dazzled by the might Mitsubishi coming our way from the next month on. And it is no Lancer with a lipstick and mascara job but the real honest to goodness shebang geared to put the fear of coming second best into the supercar set.
  
I am referring to the latest Evolution X MR FQ300 and while this Mitsubishi's model designation is quite a mouthful, just see what comes along: 294PS and 366Nm of gut wrenching torque from a 1998cc four-cylinder turbocharged engine, a six-speed sequential shift transmission delivering drive to all four wheels, zero to 100km/h in 4.5 seconds and an electronically limited 250km/h top whack. The performance is truly mind-numbing and supercar humbling not just in sheer numbers specifically but when one revisits the stats and understands that it is a 2.0-litre engine dishing this out in a body-style in which you can take the mother-in-law to the market. Evolution is not just for the species but with the tenth edition in the series, it surely changes the rules of the motoring game.

The Evolution series of four-door, four-seater, four-wheel drive cars from Mitsubishi have always been something of a modern day motoring maverick. Thanks to its spectacular success in the World Rally Championships (four World Championship titles for Tommi Makinen from 1996 to 1999) plus umpteen rally successes the world over including our very own Team MRF winning the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, its place in the Japanese performance car pantheon was always right there at the top.

However, the Mitsubishi boffins weren't satisfied with just the rallyists dancing on the dirt and making merry. They wanted to deliver the same raw untamed power for those brave enough to use it on the streets as their everyday mode of motoring and thus was born the Evo cult - cutting across geographical, social and performance barriers.

The Evo X is probably the best in the Evolution series for it is undoubtedly a very quick and terrifyingly fast car but the Mitsubishi boffins have now smoothened the rough edges and endowed the car with manners, feel and behaviour which veer towards sensibility but without in any way dumbing its performance. In fact, many do state quite emphatically that it is the best ever in the Evo series and it shows. In its impeccable behaviour as well as in its refined approach to all aspects of the game, this is a car which can give a bloody nose not just to the high-powered M-spec BMWs but also scare myriad Ferraris and such!

The Evo X is probably the best in the Evolution series for it is undoubtedly a very quick and terrifyingly fast car but the Mitsubishi boffins have now smoothened the rough edges and endowed the car with manners, feel and behaviour which veer towards sensibility but without in any way dumbing its performance. In fact, many do state quite emphatically that it is the best ever in the Evo series and it shows. In its impeccable behaviour as well as in its refined approach to all aspects of the game, this is a car which can give a bloody nose not just to the high-powered M-spec BMWs but also scare myriad Ferraris and such!

The first thing which Mitsubishi did was to give the new car a completely new visual appeal and in so doing they changed the entire car. It is not just about the jet-fighter look up front but the manner in which the four-door saloon form has been crafted, the sheet metal almost shrink-wrapped tightly so as not to be bulbous but to present a lithe form in keeping with the performance potential on call. The track to wheelbase proportion is spot on and with the aerodynamicists having massaged the bodyshell in the wind tunnel (the pronounced boot spoiler, the cleverly vented diffuser at the rear, the almost flat underfloor and the subtle bodywork accents on the front as well as on the sides being proof this), the Evo X is purposeful yet attractive, designed to be slick enough to scythe through to its 250km/h top whack but sizzlingly hot at the same time to pull in an appreciative crowd.

Being anti-social is not on, especially for car makers in these tough times and so the muted growl from the exhaust and the slick shifting courtesy the twin clutch SST Sport Shift Transmission plus that leech-like grip as the car sticks to the road at whatever speed the pilot can dial in. What remains is that irascible acceleration making the man behind the wheel bellow in delight (I was and delighting in it) as you let the right foot plunge deeper and deeper while you use either the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel or the stylishly understated aluminium gear lever to get the motor to howl and power its way in near manic manner. Given its 1605kg kerb weight, each and every upshift pins the driver to his seat back in ample ferocity but with all the reassurance from its underpinnings (with electronic controls galore) that the car remains glued to terra firma and steers and handles with the very same purpose which made it a legend in the first place. The electronics keep on assessing the terrain and shuffle the torque between all four wheels and not just front to rear in the process delivering phenomenal control while going at illegal speeds in each and every gear!

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The minute though the call comes from Mission Control to head home to the wifey and family, the Evo X plays family car to the hilt. Refined and smooth, with a comfortable ride quality despite the ultra low profile rubber it is shod with (Japanese Dunlops of size 245/40 R18 93Y), it will impress with the space on offer for its occupants. Of course there are short comings, because this is Japanese thought process at play where the quality of the cabin materials is still not yet in the European super league but having said that it is definitely of a very high order. Do remember that the interior is one of a high powered saloon and not a jet fighter and you get the drift. However, the Recaros are brilliant and the adjustability of the steering plus the overall driving position puts you firmly in the mood to let the brilliant four-cylinder motor make music.

Mitsubishi will have this legend available to deep pocketed Indian motoring enthusiasts from the next month on. Be prepared to pay what you would for a top of the line 3-series BMW but then where would you get this sort of engineering, performance and competition pedigree?