Daesharacor
11-18-2007, 05:12 PM
Sorry if this is a repost, but I read this article in the Nov. 07 issue of Automotive Magazine, and it's a damn good review of the Evo X. (By good, i mean nice and long). :)
Grins. Snorts. Laughter. Arm-loads of steering lock, great gobs of throttle, and even more laughter. We slide sideways through an enormous pile of cast-off rubber marbles and come to a stop, laughing, inches from a pair of yellow slalom cones.
"Ackthph!" says my passenger, enveloped in a translucent cloud of black dust. "I can taste the tires."
We are at an autocross course at Mitsubishi's Tokachi Proving Ground, on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. This is the middle of nowhere. I am attempting to convince a preproduction Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X that I am the world's most talented drifter, but the car isn't buying it; every half lap, I dissolve into helpless laughter and go spinning off into cone-mauling oblivion. Every so often, I force myself to stop cackling and pull things together for a clean, fast, drift-free run, but those are depressingly easy by comparison. They're also a lot less entertaining.
Next run. Flick - I throw the wheel right and pop my foot off the throttle. AS the back-end jinks out, I wind the wheel into the slide and watch the world come at me through the side window. More throttle: the front end claws us back into line, and we crisply rocket off toward the next slalom. The grin might as well be painted onto my face.
On dry pavement, unmodified all-wheel-drive street cars aren't supposed to be this much riotous, opposite-lock fun. Furthermore, bigger, plusher updates of stripped-out rally rockets aren't supposed to upstage their lighter, smaller, and rowdier predecessors. But therin lies the key: the 2008 Lancer Evolution X is a far better car than most people expect it to be.
Anyway, the rest of the article is really great, if anybody has access to it, it's a good read. Makes me want it even more, RIGHT NOW!!!
Grins. Snorts. Laughter. Arm-loads of steering lock, great gobs of throttle, and even more laughter. We slide sideways through an enormous pile of cast-off rubber marbles and come to a stop, laughing, inches from a pair of yellow slalom cones.
"Ackthph!" says my passenger, enveloped in a translucent cloud of black dust. "I can taste the tires."
We are at an autocross course at Mitsubishi's Tokachi Proving Ground, on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. This is the middle of nowhere. I am attempting to convince a preproduction Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X that I am the world's most talented drifter, but the car isn't buying it; every half lap, I dissolve into helpless laughter and go spinning off into cone-mauling oblivion. Every so often, I force myself to stop cackling and pull things together for a clean, fast, drift-free run, but those are depressingly easy by comparison. They're also a lot less entertaining.
Next run. Flick - I throw the wheel right and pop my foot off the throttle. AS the back-end jinks out, I wind the wheel into the slide and watch the world come at me through the side window. More throttle: the front end claws us back into line, and we crisply rocket off toward the next slalom. The grin might as well be painted onto my face.
On dry pavement, unmodified all-wheel-drive street cars aren't supposed to be this much riotous, opposite-lock fun. Furthermore, bigger, plusher updates of stripped-out rally rockets aren't supposed to upstage their lighter, smaller, and rowdier predecessors. But therin lies the key: the 2008 Lancer Evolution X is a far better car than most people expect it to be.
Anyway, the rest of the article is really great, if anybody has access to it, it's a good read. Makes me want it even more, RIGHT NOW!!!