So you're jonesin' for an Evo X, but at nearly $40,000 your stacks are a bit short? You needn't worry any longer. Sure, all that juiced-up WRC bodywork looks great, and 291 horsepower is more than enough to get your daily fix, but when you get right down to it, all you really want is a turbocharged engine and all-wheel-drive. And you probably don't want to spend BMW money to get those things. Mitsubishi feels your pain and has issued the 2009 Lancer Ralliart as the remedy, a sub-$30,000 car that has the potential to put performance enthusiasts behind the wheels of Mitsus the way Eclipses once did.
The Lancer Ralliart is an exercise in masterful parts-bin pillaging-part Lancer GTS (body and wheels), part Evo X (hood, engine, dual-clutch tranny) and part Evo IX (a less complex all-wheel-drive system) — to fill a market gap. With the sporty-ish front-drive GTS starting around $19,000 and the cheapest Evo going for $33,000 or more, there was a lot of real estate between them – and not just in terms of price, but also in performance. The Ralliart will split the difference on both fronts.
The Lancer Ralliart comes to life with the same basic body shell as most other Lancers. In other words, it lacks the Evo X's wide fenders, doors, and pricey aluminum roof (the absence of the latter means a sunroof can be had as an option). It does, however, get the Evo's vented aluminum hood, as well as it own front and rear bumpers and the smaller of the Evo's two rear wings. The standard 18-inch wheels are the same as those on the GTS, but instead of all-season touring tires they are wrapped in 215/45-18 Yokohama Advan summer performance rubber.
The Ralliart's interior is a mix of Evo and GTS bits. That means it looks just like any other Lancer, only with tastier seats and a different steering wheel. The standard seats are the same decent sport seats found in the GTS, but for a few extra bucks (we haven't been told how many just yet) you can saddle up in Recaros identical to those that grace the Evolution GSR. They're nice, as long as you don't ever stick your buns on the Alcantara-lined buckets of the Evo MR. The steering wheel — smaller and thicker than in a plebe's Lancer and covered in black leather with white stitching — even matches that of the Evo MR, right down to the titanium shift paddles for the standard dual-clutch SST gearbox. Rear seating includes a 60/40 split not offered on the Evo, thanks to the additional structural bracing required for that car's chassis.
On paper, the Ralliart's engine is nearly identical to the Evo X mill — and for the most part it is, right down to the exhaust system. Both are 2.0-liter versions of the 4B11T all-aluminum engine with MIVEC variable valve timing. Two critical hardware changes separate the two-the Evo's twin-scroll turbocharger has been swapped for a simpler, less expensive single-scroll unit while a smaller intercooler fills the Ralliart's front bumper. The result is 237 hp at 6000 rpm and 253 lb-ft at 3000, compared to 291 horses at 6500 rpm and 300 lb-ft at 4400. The Ralliart cranks out more than 80% of the Evo's power and torque in a car that's 130 pounds lighter (3462 pounds vs 3594 for the twin-clutch Evo MR), so yeah, it's still plenty fast. Our brief stint behind the wheel in Chicago's congested northern 'burbs revealed a more mellow personality, less peaky but still eager. Partial credit goes to the six-speed dual-clutch gearbox — Mitsubishi calls it Twin Clutch Sportronic Shift Transmission, or SST for short. Developed with Getrag, the 'box snaps off lightning-quick shifts to take full advantage of the power under foot. For the Ralliart, the SST gets two of the Evo MR's three shift modes — Normal and Sport. The track-ready S-Sport program, which holds higher RPMs and shifts with noticeably more authority, is reserved for the big daddy MR. No other transmission is offered on the Ralliart, but our experience with the SST left no doubt that the two-pedal setup is the right choice for a car like this, especially when you consider that the conventional manual tranny in the Evo GSR has only five forward speeds. Better highway fuel economy was a consideration, as the Ralliart's twin-clutch features fifth and sixth gear ratios that are numerically lower than the Evo's.
Power is distributed to the corners by way of Evo IX mechanicals-a full-time all-wheel-drive system with an active center differential and limited-slip front and rear diffs, but not the torque-vectoring active yaw control introduced on the Evo X. The driver still controls the center diff's traction mode, choosing from Tarmac, Gravel or Snow depending on the surface conditions.
The suspension is more closely related to the current Outlander than the Evo. Mac-struts up front are Ralliart-tuned with higher spring and damper rates and a thicker sway bar ties the two corners together; additional front support is handled by strut tower brace. In the rear, the Outlander's multi-link setup handles the business with the help of Ralliart-specific trailing arms for optimum rear-wheel geometry. Brakes are also borrowed from the 'lander, with vented 11.6-inch discs in front and solid 11.9-inch discs in back, though the front calipers have been upgraded from single- to dual-piston units and the rear calipers feature larger-diameter pistons. Sadly, the Evo's super-fast steering rack didn't make the journey, so the Ralliart makes due with the same setup as other Lancers.
When the 2009 Lancer Ralliart hits dealers later this summer, there's a good chance it will become the car of choice for tuners looking to fly under the radar. It offers most of the Evo's goodness without the added expense, and with a few simple hardware swaps can be made just as fast. The main competition, Subaru's WRX, has grown softer and a bit frumpy, making Mitsubishi's timing for this release impeccable. Lucky for them (and us enthusiasts), the car's pretty good as well.
