Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart

First Impressions

Click images to enlarge
The new Evo X is an amazing car but it's also an expensive one, suitably specced examples now costing £30K or more. So Mitsubishi has responded with this, the Lancer Ralliart. Based around the forthcoming five-door Sportback Lancer it's got Evo essentials like four-wheel drive and a ballistic turbo engine for a much more affordable price.
What counts as affordable though? Well, prices are yet to be fixed but expect it to cost around £21,500 when it goes on sale early next year. So we're talking Golf GTI money here, pitching the Ralliart against the Impreza WRX, Megane R26, Focus ST, Mazda3 MPS, Astra VXR and others.

And against these rivals the Ralliart has some significant advantages. Its Evo bloodline means four-wheel drive is a given. And although it runs a detuned version of the Evo's turbocharged 2.0-litre engine it's still got 237bhp and will crack 62mph in just seven seconds. But the big news is the gearbox, the Ralliart coming as standard with Mitsubishi's SST dual-clutch transmission.
That's a serious spec for this price point, considering a 227bhp Golf GTI Pirelli with a DSG gearbox would cost you £24,385. The Ralliart bathes in the reflected glory of its Evo brother too, sharing the bonnet scoops and aggressive face and pairing it with the new hatchback Lancer body. It ain't pretty but it certainly has presence.
Performance

To Mitsubishi what STI is to Subaru, Ralliart is the in-house competition and tuning department. And its name wasn't about to be used in vain. It might not be an Evo by badge but this new five-door is certainly Evo by nature and the turbocharged four-cylinder delivers its 237bhp with real vigour.
It uses a simpler turbo set up than the Evo. And although the MIVEC variable valve timing attempts to smooth the power delivery there's no hiding the forced induction character. Which is a good thing, the boost arriving in an invigorating torrent in proper, old school turbo fashion.

There's an appropriately raw edge to its power delivery too. It's just a pity it sounds so boring, with none of the Focus ST's charisma and rather less refined than the slick VW T-FSI turbo engine in the Golf GTI. If it makes you feel any better it sounds a lot better on the outside.
It does struggle with the Ralliart's hefty 1550kg kerbweight though, the four-wheel drive gubbins adding at least 200kg to the standard front-wheel drive Lancer Sportback. As such it feels rapid but perhaps not quite as ballistic as you might hope, and you really need to work the engine hard to extract it best.