You've no doubt heard about Mitsubishi's Lancer Evolution VII. You know it replaced the Evolution VI early this year in Japan and you know about its redesigned body and slightly stronger engine. You know it's got an active center differential with user selectable mapping and you probably even know how it stacks up against its ongoing overseas competition, the Subaru WRX STi. This story is not about what you already know.
We're here to tell you how it drives and how fast it goes. Here's the deal: We drove the Evolution for the first time at last summer's Pike's Peak International Hillclimb in Colorado. We then spent a week in it back to back with the Evolution VI which it replaces. It is-with the possible exception of Nissan's R34 Skyline-the most sophisticated car any of us have ever driven. It's also superior to the car it replaces in chassis rigidity, handling and most critical driver interfaces. Yes, believe it or not, it gets better than the Evolution VI.
On the road, the improvements to the Evolution VII are immediately obvious when driving the cars back to back. The extra rigidity and radical damping are perhaps the biggest improvements. Grip is improved through the use of slightly wider (235/45-ZR17 vs. 225/45-ZR17) and stickier Yokohama A046 tires.
On our favorite mountain road loop, the Evolution VII was completely ridiculous. Not ridiculous like so many of the tuner cars we test. Rather, ridiculous in a very refined, developed and painfully quick way. At the bottom of the hill, engineering editor Dave Coleman (simultaneously testing the Acura RSX against the Subaru WRX on page 78) pulled aside, knowing the mild Acura had no chance when being chased by an Evolution. I told myself to remain restrained and get a feel for the new car's manners before letting loose. Yeah, right. Restrained? There's no such thing when driving an Evolution. Almost immediately, a red misting haze began to blur my vision as thoughts of Tommi Makinen danced in my head. This car is red, after all. Ralliart red, maybe?
Never mind. Back to the task at hand. The Evolution begins its dance with the most subtle and understated speed. Its electronic gizmos become invisible from the driver's seat and making it lose grip seems almost impossible. Attacking the road at ten-tenths, I quickly realize how much car the Evolution VII really is. Soon, what was ten-tenths is only eight-tenths, then seven. Eventually, the Evolution is turning in far quicker than should be mechanically possible. Huge grip. Huge.
Physics? Bah! Who cares? The new Evolution ignores those laws as easily as it ignores speed limits. This is good. Very good. Turn in late with ugly consequences on the outside-very high pucker factor. Doesn't matter at all. The Evolution hangs on, powers through and exits tail out. This car steers with the rear wheels, just like God intended. In fact, it's not unlike the Skyline. When the limit of adhesion in the rear is finally overcome-as it always is in a rest-misting rage like this-it's a rather anti-climactic event. The car rotates with power, but goes exactly where it's pointed. One can almost hear the electronics directing the car with exacting precision.
At the test track, we expected great things. However, since this car was the only example in the country and it had several rather important commitments, Mitsubishi wouldn't let us conduct our full gamut of tests. We added our dice with the mountain road since we could only test acceleration and braking during instrumented evaluation. Exceptionally poor test conditions contributed at least partially to our less-than-ideal acceleration numbers. While a 13.6-second quarter mile at 100 mph certainly isn't slow, it seems quite likely the VII is capable of much more impressive numbers. After all, in near-perfect conditions, the Evolution VI blasted off a 12.9-second pass at 106 mph. This test was conducted in 90-degree weather at about 1000 feet, but even those conditions and the extra weight of the new Evolution VII body don't explain the large gap in acceleration times between the two cars. Braking was all we hoped for. The VII ground to a halt in a coma-inducing 114 ft., 3 feet shorter than the Evolution VI and very impressive for a 3,086-lb car.
By Josh Jacquot
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