EIGHT IS MORE THAN ENOUGH.(News)(Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution )(Product/Service Evaluation)

Byline: Kevin A. Wilson

They're calling this the Lancer Evolution in the United States. Elsewhere, it's known as the Evo VIII, which tells you Mitsubishi has gone through seven generations since 1992 before deciding the car and the U.S. market were ready for one another. American rally enthusiasts have been lusting after it since at least Evo IV.

Our first look at the car was in Thailand, on a racetrack (AW, Feb. 3). Now, after driving the Evolution on public roads in the Detroit area and in California, and running it through our test regimen, we can tell you the car is certainly ready. It's a box full of fast, frenzied fun with enough rally flavor to inspire your passengers to utterances like "third gear right, bump in middle, in 300, 200...'' This is true even though, technically, it's not a rally homologation special, as were earlier Evos. For one thing, serious production-volume homologation runs are no longer required for the WRC class, and for another, Mitsubishi isn't competing this year. That is, unless you count North American marketplace competition, where the Evolution squares off against Subaru's WRX STi, and a fwd, 160-hp Ralliart edition of the Lancer is due to appeal to the less-monied sector of the sport/compact market this fall.

We're plenty happy to finally get to drive machines like this Evolution. Our first Evolution offers 271 hp from 2.0 liters of turbocharged, intercooled four-cylinder. This basic engine design has been around for nearly 30 years at Mitsubishi and started life as a 1.6-liter, so it's little surprise to find it feels stretched and stressed to generate 135 hp/liter, even if it is a bit short of what Subaru squeezes from the same displacement (see sidebar, page 17). Water spray onto the air-to-air intercooler helps densify the intake charge, though we doubt you'll detect much difference from this feature unless you're running the car hard for an extended enough period to get the temperatures good and hot. We did, and thought we could detect a bit extra-not much-in hard running with the console switch set to "automatic.'' There's a manual mode, if you just want to make steam. We were more certain we could feel the difference in performance between a warmish afternoon and the cooler air when we were inspired to make a lap of a local test road in the wee, wee traffic-free hours, just for kicks. In these cooler conditions the water spray didn't seem to do much more than produce an interesting signature odor-hot washer fluid-when we parked.

The standard 17-inch wheels sport Yokohama Advan performance tires, 235/45Rs, with sidewalls so short we needed the bifocals to read the tiny letters that told us they were dry weather-only rubber. They stick and stick and stick some more. But, as they don't quite say in Arizona, it's a dry grip; a light snow proved their undoing, leaving one of us helpless to avoid an onrushing wall on a freeway ramp. The slow crunch demonstrated that-like rally drivers-Evolution owners will need more than one set of tires.

With the power peak up at 6500 rpm, torque topping out at 3500, it's a good thing the engine spins so readily and the ratios in the gearbox are so closely spaced. Where other markets get a six-speed, the U.S. car has a five-speed manual with nice tight throws. The box is geared short in the lower ranges, especially, the better to launch 3263 pounds.

Impressive as the engine is-clearly stronger than the regular WRX's 227-hp flat four, and racier in character-it's the steering and chassis dynamics that leave the greatest impression. The steering is so immediate that, after driving this, you get back into a Mini to find "go-kart'' quick has become a relative expression, and one you're no longer so willing to apply to the little Brit. Not only does the steering respond immediately to a move of your hand, but there's so little slop in the suspension that the car turns in sharply and you find yourself ...