Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII - Eight Great Rides

I remember well the practiced Mitsubishi PR line about how the Lancer EVO VI's front-mount intercooler made it impossible to import that car to the United States. HAH! Were we really supposed to believe the engineers responsible for turning a dowdy fleet-sales rental shitbox into a fire-breathing rally champion couldn't figure out how to stretch a bumper over an intercooler?

I also remember Mitsubishi fretting over whether Americans would accept a four-door flagship. In retrospect, with dealers taking $7,000 markups from impatient EVO buyers, that concern seems equally laughable.

Turns out we 'Murricans ain't as think as they dumb we are. Four doors or not, we know relentless turbocharged thrust when we feel it. Nineteen pounds of boost from a responsive twin-scroll turbo, in fact, may actually be more satisfying in a flared and bespoilered bionic econorocket than a traditional sports car. Blowing away Camaros is more fun with three witnesses in the car.

We can also recognize a shockingly uncompromised suspension when we feel one. The kind of suspension that can pound over railroad tracks at 90 mph, blast down a gravel road, and then run down an M3 on the racetrack. We don't care how many doors come with a suspension like that.

And the steering... You'll have to skip Starbucks in this car. Driving with one hand means taking up two lanes. Your mom would call it darty; we call it the quickest, most precise steering there is. Period. Wanna change your line mid-corner to dodge a rock, hook a ditch, or spare the life of a squirrel? Your new line is just a twitch of the wheel away.

And maybe a little dab at the brakes. Brakes that happen to be a set of brake pads away from track-ready perfection. Brakes that your left foot can use to steer the car without interference from any frightened drive-by-wire throttle. The EVO, in fact, is completely free of electronic nannies. There's no skid control, no anti-fun buttons to turn off, no active anything. It's an honest, mechanical driving tool in its purest form.

In the first few years of the Eight Great Rides award, it was the Integra Type R that consistently dominated the award. It was always fastest, always the most involving to drive, always the yardstick by which all others would be measured. The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII is the new yardstick.