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2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII Compact Sports Sedan
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Consider this new Evo as the sum of all performance and competition technologies developed by Mitsubishi's trophy-grabbing WRC racing campaign over the past decade.
It looks like one of those customized sport compact cars so hot now on the street-racing circuit in Los Angeles and captured on the big screen in "The Fast and the Furious" flick. And Lancer Evolution's forerunner Evolution VII racer makes its screen debut in the sequel movie "2 Fast 2 Furious" in the summer of 2003.
But don't confuse Lancer Evolution with the Lancer sedan because new Evo is not really a Lancer -- at least not in spirit and performance.
Lancer the Mitsubishi compact sedan arrived in America two years ago as an economy car with sporty airs.
It splits into three trims including the O-Z Rally, the label lifted from a brand of flashy wheels by O-Z Racing and with add-on fixtures inspired by Mitsubishi's rally racers, such as extensions for bumpers in front and back plus curvy low side air dams.
Despite such too-cool styling, the O-Z Rally edition and other Lancers draw strength from a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that musters only 120 hp.
The fast-and-furious like those tuned to Mitsubishi's success on the WRC circuit want more from Lancer -- they drool for a street-legal version of the Evolution racer.
New Lancer Evolution, emerging this spring with a 2004 model-year designation, aims to sate that pent quest for the Evo rally car.
Check out its rippled body.
It looks ready to tear down the block with the bulging air scoop on the hood, a curvy air dam up front, pontoon-style fenders, Enkei high-strength aluminum alloy wheels capped by Yokohama ADVAN high-grip tires, the carbon-fiber spoiler on the tail and a driver's-oriented cockpit fitted with bolstered Recaro sport bucket seats, leather-wrapped Momo three-spoke steering wheel and rally-style round gauges in the instrument panel with black faces and vivid red letters.
There's a five-speed manual stick shifter on the console ringed by trim that looks like brushed titanium.
Evo's reinforced chassis, derived from Lancer, is designed to check the car body's tendency to sway laterally through a curve so the passenger compartment remains relatively flat.
The platform's wide-track stance in conjunction with an independent suspension system biased toward a low longitudinal roll center contributes predictable stability for Evolution when it's steered through a curvy course.
Likewise, the rear suspension -- in multi-link wishbone configuration with forged aluminum trailing and lateral links plus cast aluminum cross bracing -- holds the back wheels in line while also damping vertical movement prompted by pavement bumps.
