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2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII Compact Sports Sedan
Car Review of the 2003 Lancer Evolution Compact Sports Sedan
Base MSRP Range: $29,987 to $30,217
Base Invoice Range: Not Available
MSRP As Tested: Not Available
Vehicle Category: Compact Sports Sedan
Engine Location: Front Engine
Drive Wheels: All Wheel Drive
Engine As Tested: Standard 2.0-liter, Dual Overhead Cam, 16-valves, Turbocharged, Inline Four Cylinder, 271 -horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 273 lb-ft torque at 3,500 rpm.
Transmission As Tested: 5-Speed Manual
Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 18/26
Standard Safety Features: Driver and front passenger airbags, 3-point seatbelts and headrest for all occupants, 4-channel
Competition: Subaru WRX STI, Audi A4 1.8T, Mazda Mazdaspeed Protégé, Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V, Dodge Neon SRT-4
New Orleans, Louisiana. -- It appears to be an impromptu street chase: A vintage Toyota Supra Turbo with race-ready bodywork sticks tight on our tail through suburbs of the Big Easy as we wind our way out to the middle of nowhere and Grand Bayou Raceway for some fast track time in a street-legal version of Mitsubishi's hot new rally-racing sedan.
Turn by turn, one quick dash after another, a lightning-fast leap across one intersection, even a flat-out burst for a mile-long romp on the freeway heading south out of town: No matter what maneuver we make, the chaser follows.
Finally, we whip into a parking lot and the tracking car pulls into an adjacent slot as the twenty-something driver, hair tipped blonde in spikes and a silver stud protruding from the chin, dances around our low-slung test car with its big wheels and the carbon-fiber spoiler wing flying high above the back deck.
"Dude," he exclaims with unabashed excitement. "You've got the Evo!"
And so we do.
Nicknamed 'Evo' in rally racing circles and on the Internet in aficionado chat rooms, Mitsubishi's World Rally Championship (WRC) race cars have morphed through successive generations under the badge of Evolution -- from Evolution I through Evolution VI.
The new seventh issue Evolution VII serves as prologue for a model coming to North America under the name of Lancer Evolution.
It's a high-performance version of Mitsubishi's Lancer compact sedan but motivated by a souped-up turbo engine and equipped with all-wheel-drive (AWD) traction.
