CTC Review: 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer DE

[wing]

My tester is manual...

[carcrazy]

Just curious how did you find the engine coupled with the manual tranny compared to the rest of the econoboxes with similar size engines and manual transmissions - Mazda 2.0L, Civic, Sentra,Corolla,Elantra?

[Traum]

I am completely baffled by James' impression of the seats:

The black seats are constructed of a soft material that tends to attract a good amount of cat fur, but they are nice and firm and comfortable. I would like a little more side bolster support though, or perhaps just firmer bolsters, as they are rather soft and easy deformable.

So are they soft or firm?

[wing]

You bolded those out of context.  The seats are Firm, but the BOLSTERS are soft.

The bolsters seem softer than the centre of the seat.

[carcrazy]

I was looking today at the specs of the econoboxes, base models, and it seems like the lack of keyless entry is the norm.

[scottmcphee]

I am waiting to see crash test results for this car...
Not interested in any car until they drive it into a wall, and take a hit from the side.
When is that happening Mitsu?

[Blueprint]

... and Mazda needs another GLC - if you can remember that far back !

Just yesterday, I saw a very clean Mazda GLC Sport 3-door.  It had the factory alloys, so it wasn't an '81, but somewhere between '82 and '85.  I owned a '82 5-door, but that was a 225$ beater I used for 4 winters.  The Mazda 3 is today's GLC.  What Mazda needs here is the new Mazda 2.  In the old days, they had the 121 (Ford Festiva) below the 323.

[AVToller]

... and Mazda needs another GLC - if you can remember that far back !

Just yesterday, I saw a very clean Mazda GLC Sport 3-door.  It had the factory alloys, so it wasn't an '81, but somewhere between '82 and '85.  I owned a '82 5-door, but that was a 225$ beater I used for 4 winters.  The Mazda 3 is today's GLC.  What Mazda needs here is the new Mazda 2.  In the old days, they had the 121 (Ford Festiva) below the 323.

The 121 (Festiva) was actually built under license from KIA. 

[Blueprint]

... and Mazda needs another GLC - if you can remember that far back !

Just yesterday, I saw a very clean Mazda GLC Sport 3-door.  It had the factory alloys, so it wasn't an '81, but somewhere between '82 and '85.  I owned a '82 5-door, but that was a 225$ beater I used for 4 winters.  The Mazda 3 is today's GLC.  What Mazda needs here is the new Mazda 2.  In the old days, they had the 121 (Ford Festiva) below the 323.

The 121 (Festiva) was actually built under license from KIA. 

IIRC, Kia built it under licence from Mazda.  It probably had Kia badges locally, but it was the Mazda 121.  Also saw a Festiva yesterday, by coincidence, and a clean one !

[AVToller]

... and Mazda needs another GLC - if you can remember that far back !

Just yesterday, I saw a very clean Mazda GLC Sport 3-door.  It had the factory alloys, so it wasn't an '81, but somewhere between '82 and '85.  I owned a '82 5-door, but that was a 225$ beater I used for 4 winters.  The Mazda 3 is today's GLC.  What Mazda needs here is the new Mazda 2.  In the old days, they had the 121 (Ford Festiva) below the 323.

The 121 (Festiva) was actually built under license from KIA. 

IIRC, Kia built it under licence from Mazda.  It probably had Kia badges locally, but it was the Mazda 121.  Also saw a Festiva yesterday, by coincidence, and a clean one !

  Oops, I do believe you are correct.  Mea culpa! 

[Minou]

James,

You mention the engine being noisy at cruising speeds.  Can you tell the RPM with the manual transmission at 100 and 120 km/h?

Another case of a car turning too fast with the manual transmission as opposed to the CVT/Auto?

[wing]

Yes about 3250rpm maybe as high as 3500 at 120km/h

[Thinking Out Loud]

Is this the same 2.4 as the prior gen motor?  HP rating is lower than the 160 I have.  I can agree about the volume - it can be quite raucous when accelerating but quiet when cruising. 

I'm curious about the rpm on mine now.......have to check!

[wing]

It's a 2.0L power plant in this model.

[Mitlov]

I am waiting to see crash test results for this car...
Not interested in any car until they drive it into a wall, and take a hit from the side.
When is that happening Mitsu?

http://www.nhtsa.gov/ncap/Index2.cfm

5 stars for front driver, 4 for front passenger, 5 for front-side impact, 4 for rear-side impact.*  For comparison, the Civic sedan gets 5, 5, 4, 5 on the same four crash tests, the Jetta gets 4, 4, 5, 5, the Corolla gets 5, 5, 4, 4, and the previous Lancer got 5, 5, 2!!!, 4.  So the new Lancer seems just fine to me.

* NHTSA noted a "safety concern" on the rear side impact of the new Lancer: "During the side impact test, the struck side rear door became unlatched and swung open." 

As for the IIHS, the 2008 Lancer gets a perfect score for frontal impacts:
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=811
But they haven't tested side impacts yet.

[JSCC]

The Lancer is only 171 inches long.
That's kind of short for a compact nowadays.

[mmret]

The Lancer is only 171 inches long.
That's kind of short for a compact nowadays.

I acutally found the rear leg room to be quite decent. Don't know about the trunk, though.

[carcrazy]

I see you gave a low mark for the interior. Anything in particular you did not like other than being de-contented like the rest of the base models in this class?

[wing]

Fit and finish is not the best, gaps are uneven and the edges are not clean, probably one of the worst I have witnessed in a while actually.

[carcrazy]

Thanks. I sat in a GTS in the showroom and it looked nice overall, but I didn't look close enough to the details. What I noticed though is that there is no isolation on the hood. I think that could help to lower the engine noise. I wonder why didn't they put it in place?
Great review BTW. Looking forward to reading your take on the Outlander and maybe Lancer GTS w/manual.
Any plans to test the Lancer on the track for some performance numbers?