For the price and the segment, it packs all the baubles you’d expect, plus something that sets Mitsubishi apart – its all-wheel drive system. With consumers in this segment less enamored with outright power and increasingly focused on how grunt reaches the ground, Mitsubishi has a chance to become one of the predominant players in the all-wheel drive set, a segment that Subaru has owned for decades and luxury automakers are finally beginning to recognize as a sales tool. Mitsubishi certainly has the necessary hardware, and it’s fitted it to a well-priced, nicely equipped CUV. If the compact crossover segment takes off as predicted, Mitsubishi has a credible package to offer and a renewed focus that could save the marque from obscurity.
Wayne Cunningham at CNet’s Car Tech Blog poses this loaded question and takes us for a spin in a Mitsubishi Evo X MR at the Jim Russell Lancer Evolution Experience:
It takes a pro driver to send a car into a drift or tackle a highly technical racetrack like Infineon. Or does it?
I spent a Friday attending the Jim Russell Lancer Evolution Experience with a diverse group of amateurs. There was the father and son team from Arizona taking their annual outing. There was the businessman from Peru ditching a day of meetings. One man had already taken the course once, but had to go back for more, and one couple seemed to look at it as the perfect romantic outing.
The car–the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X–plays a big part in this day of high-speed instruction. Possibly no other car would let a group of people with mostly no previous track experience accomplish the Jim Russell program. Of course, the instructors, all being active race car drivers, contribute more than a little, too.
On-board footage from our test session at Autobahn Country Club on 5.25.10. Break-in and testing of the brand new AMS 900x 2.2L engine setup went very well. The lap in this video is just a preview of what’s to come, the engine was de-tuned to 650whp for this test session. We are scheduled to debut the new setup at Autobahn on June 12th when Redline Time Attack rolls into town. If you’re in the Chicagoland area, come out for the weekend and check out the car….and the event!
Quick bit of info to clear up any misunderstandings as to what the ASC button actually does: Per Grassroots Motorsports Magazine:
The system includes a Torsen-type front differential, Active Center Differential (ACD), Active Yaw Control (AYC) rear differential, Active Stability Control (ASC), and Sport ABS brakes. Additionally, the driver can choose between Tarmac, Gravel and Snow modes for the ACD and the ASC can be turned off for performance driving.
As an added bonus, if you hold the ASC button down for 3 seconds it will deactivate the AYC’s brake control function. Turning off the ASC is imperative for a fast autocross run, but we found during our road course run that ASC was a useful aid in the rain.
In a nutshell:
ASC on= Traction/Stability control. Will cut engine power and may use individual brakes from AYC (Active Yaw Control), or any combination of the above to point the car in it’s intended direction and regain/maintain grip.
ASC off= No cut to engine power, but individual braking from AYC, or any combination still employed.
Hold ASC for 3 seconds= No engine cut, no individual braking from AYC.
These options along with the Evo’s complex yet VERY effective differential arrangement and controls can yield some serious stability, or let you have some good old fashoined tail out sideways fun.
