Progress on the Car
Dec. 12th,2003 I purchased this car on December 11,2003. I just drove the car because I needed a car just for the day until I got my Talon up and running again, well I knew the guys at the dealership and they told me to take it home and try it out for the night. I will have to say as soon as I took it for a drive I was impressed. I was never a fan of the Lancer because it looked to boxy but now I have to say that Mitsubishi did a very good job on redesigning the Lancer especially the front end which looks a lot better than before. The seats were very comfortable and weren't stiff like most other cars in this price range. The car has very good pulling power and does a good job of getting itself up into the rpm's pretty quick. I will say getting traction in this car can be difficult because the torque breaks the tires loose but I like it.
I was able to spin the tires in 1st and 2nd and chirp them in 3rd which was really nice. I wasn't used to driving fwd since my Talon is AWD so I had to re-learn on how to take off in a FWD car but it didn't take very long to get used to. The ride is nice and quiet but when you hit the throttle to the floor you can hear a pretty decent growl from the exhaust and engine. The handling of the car is very nice, the steering is very responsive, and the suspension does a good job of keeping the car stuck to the road. I like the look of the white face gauges that are lit up red at night like the EVO. The EVO short shifter is very nice and you can speed shift in this car very easy and nail the gears quickly. The shifter is nice and tight once your in gear with no play which is wonderful unlike my Talon that moves side to side a little when gear. I like the low profile tires and the 16 inch Alloy rims also.
The car I bought also has the 315 watt infinity system with a 8 inch sub in the back and it sounds pretty nice I might add. I love having a sunroof, thats one thing I wish I had on my Talon but that just adds weight. This is going to be mostly my get around car, I might put a intake but not much else, I don't want to void the warranty and plus now I can concentrate on my Talon by slowly turning it into a beast of an AWD. When I get a chance I'm going to take pictures and place them on here.
Dec. 24th,2003 Well I was on my way to the pet store and while driving some guy in a GMC truck wanted to race me but I didn't want to waste my gas on him. A couple of minutes later some guy's in a Voyager mini-van pulled up beside me and wanted to race also. What is it about this car, does it say I want to race you and let's see if you can take me down. One thing that I have notice is people complaining about the tires on the Lancer, I think some of these people need to learn how to drive a car for one because I have no problem's with the tires at all. As you can see I drive the car in snow so I would know if the tires were crappy but they actually handle and grip the snow pretty well. For one you shouldn't be speeding in the snow or gunning the engine because the car isn't going to grip for shit. I have a AWD Talon and I can gun it in the snow and make all 4 tires spin without a problem. If I'm easy on the gas I have no problem taking off in the snow or rain. Actually having torque in a car unlike a honda is why the car can spin the tires so easily. You just have to be easy on the gas because this car has a clutch that needs very little pressure to disengage and engage it, unlike my Talon which is a lot heavier to push in.
Dec. 31st,2003 Well in response to my buddy Angel's comment on my guestbook, most and I most Honda's lack torque but I know first hand that your Civic doesn't lack in that department. Maybe it doesn't lack in that department because of the H22A that you have in there, the one Honda motor that actually has torque. I have a lot of respect for his Civic, for one he kicked my ass in the Talon from a roll which having AWD isn't very good at but his car is a what 1,100lbs lighter than my car so it can do more with less horsepower. I loved seeing him race that EVO, the EVO got him the first time but the second run he took the EVO. He didn't rape the EVO but he was in front and the EVO was at his passenger door but this was before he tuned the fuel a little bit so imagine what he would do to the EVO now. I will have to admit, for my car being SOHC it's actually pretty quick and has torque which is one thing the Lancer has lacked in the past do to the shitty 2.0L it had. Oh and I want to run Angel's 2000 Civic Si just to see how the Ralliart does against it, I may win or may not but it's all in fun none the less. So checkout his site on his Civic and I think you'll like what you see, I know I did and I loved driving the car too.
One thing that I have been noticing a lot of people saying about the Ralliart is it's close to $20K so why not just go and get a SRT-4 Neon. Well for one it's a Neon, yes my car is a Lancer but I bet it was built better than the SRT-4, also Chrysler is known for having shitty transmission's. For example my wife's PT Cruiser which is only 2 years old and has only 21K miles on it is having problem's going into gear, my damn Talon is 7 Years older and has 86K miles on it and I have no problem's with shifting into gear. Granted it's a Automatic but what makes the standard any different in build quality. Chrysler doesn't build their own transmission's, they have another company build them and whoever it is does a pretty crappy job. My brother in-law who has had 3 different Chrysler vehicles has had nothing but problem's from their transmission's. Their Jeep they had for only 8 month's was having trnasmission problem's for the last 4 month's they had it. So far not a good record on build quality if you ask me. Next is creature comforts, power windows in the fron and crank window's in the back, what kind of crap is that, it's Neon crap that's what. Yes a Neon SRT-4 will spank my ass and my Talon's ass but I know and have read that people with Neon's in the past have had more problem's than I have had with my Talon which is a DSM. I give it a couple of years and I bet the new Neon SRT-4's will be falling apart, like every other Neon has before them.
Jan. 17th,2004Well here it is the New Year and lots of new things to come. I'm not going to be modifing this car right now, maybe just a intake and other small stuff that won't void my warranty. I'm going to use this car as my daily driver and spend more time and money on my Eagle Talon. My first purchase this year will be a 3" downpipe for the Talon and maybe a Greddy Profec B Spec II later on. Nothing new with the Lancer other than it has almost 1,700 miles on it, and still has that new car smell. Hell my visors still have the little stickers on them. Everyday I seem to find out something new about this motor and how strong it is. The pistons have a ceramic coating on the sides which is to help with expansion and oiling. Theres a guy in Puerto Rico that turbocharged his Ralliart with a Garrett GTR25 Ball Bearing turbo, upgraded fuel system, Greddy Profec E Manage, front mount intercooler, custom manifold, and a few other odd's and ends. Well he dynoed this puppy on 9 psi with stock internals and with the fuel tuned to about 12.3 I believe is what he said. Well anyways he pulled 245whp and 248 ft lbs of torque, in stock form the car is 145 whp and 148ft lbs of torque. He tried 15psi but the clutch could handle the power so he sent it off to California to have a new clutch made for the car. He said with proper tuning and fuel management the internals on this car can handle 15psi with no problem's, thats Mitsubishi Engineering for you. Look out SRT-4's, you're going to have a nice little rival out there with the Ralliart thats if people turbocharge them which you know they are.
Now granted it's going to cost more than the SRT-4 after buying the turbo and other stuff to make it run right, but will have no problem's in giving a SRT-4 Neon a run for it's money. I have a feeling this car turboed would probably out last a SRT-4 also, since Mitsubishi's don't tend to fall apart nearly as bad as Neon's do. I like the SRT-4 but after I've seen the crap they put out in the past, I couldn't bring myself to buy one. Like I said earlier just give them a couple of years and they will be back in the shops.
August 21st,2004 Well I know I haven't posted here in awhile but I've been really busy. Well after I had the car for not even 2 month's some fool in a Chevy Venture Van, passed me illegally on the left side when I was in the fast lane and kicked up a bunch of gravel onto my car. Never caught the guy but I was on the phone with the Indiana State Police but they had no cops in the area, but the guy left me alone. I had the car checked out by my insurance company and it was $400 in damage but I haven't had it fixed but you can't even tell unless you really look at the car. It has some small chips in the paint but it's not rusting yet, hopefully it can hold out some more till I get it fixed.
July 21st,2006 Well it's been almost twi years since my last post and well nothing has really changed. I hope to start modding the car this year starting off slow with like an intake and exhaust then work my way up. The car has 73,000 miles on it and still runs like a champ, and also gets 30 MPG's which is great since gas is so stinking expensive anymore. I guess thats about it since not much has changed in the last 2 years on the car, except I have changed the rear brakes and also have put on Falken Ziex ZE-512's 205 50R-16 and these are some nice tires and they really stick to the road, much better than those stock Bridegstone Crap tires.
Page 1= Progress on the Car
Page 2= Modification's
Page 3= Pictures of the Lancer's Exterior
Page 4= Pictures of the Lancer's Powerhouse
Page 5= Pictures of the Lancer's Interior and Component's
Page 6= Pictures of my Family and Friends
Page 7= Pictures from the Track and Time Slips
Page 8= Miscellaneous Pictures
