For a scant moment, the grass wasn't that much greener over in Japan. We finally have the EVO and WRX stateside, and with the R35 GT-R coming down the pipe, it's almost possible to forget about the awesome Japan-only Skylines that preceded its arrival. Even a Silvia is buildable with a little money and a half-working 240SX.
Nothing good lasts forever, though. In an effort to keep the green grass in check and make performance wagon fetishists throughout the rest of the world cringe, Mitsubishi built a car that is incredibly rare in Japan, and naturally, nonexistent in the U.S. I'm of course talking about the Lancer Evolution wagon, the ultimate in utility with a bang.
Despite being 30mm longer and 30mm taller than the sedan, it uses the same wheelbase and all of the same high-performance hardware. The only real difference is there's more roof where the trunk used to be, and the headlight surrounds are chrome, like those found here in America.
The thing is, it looks great, and it still drives like an EVO. And if you could get your hands on one, it could transport you and a flock of friends and all corresponding ski gear to the top of the snowiest mountain peak out there
If the stock car wasn't cool enough, many of Japan's top tuners have managed to get their tweaking little hands on one of the limited 2,500 wagons produced, and make them do what they do so well even better. So we're off to Japan to flog one of the more notable takes on EVO wagon performance.
As our Accord Euro-R winds its way up an impossibly steep mountain face, the facility becomes visible-it's huge. Perched on the top of the mountain, wrapped in some of the worlds most demanding mountain roads lies the Abbey Road Company, or ARC, as we know it in the U.S. Something of a legend in Japan, these guys were tuning cars when you were pushing them around the rug in the living room making vroom-vroom sounds.
As we pull in, the black EVO wagon inching out of the massive garage doors is an optical illusion-we keep expecting the roofline to find an end, but it never does. After being so accustomed to EVO sedans, it's a surreal experience.
But before we can manage more than a quick glance, we're ushered inside to wait for a brief meeting with the big cheese. Before driving, or even looking at a car in Japan, you'll have tea or coffee with the people that created it. It's the part where formalities are met, a little knowledge about the car and the company is gained, and the consequences of wrecking the car are plopped on your shoulders like a 10,000-pound monkey.
Discussion done with, I give the wagon a brief look over, noting a titanium up-pipe sitting in what has to be the cleanest engine bay we've ever photographed at SCC. I'm more curious about the way it drives though.
Sliding behind the wheel feels remarkably familiar-it's an EVO, after all. Aside from the driver's seat being on the wrong side of the car, everything's coming back with fond stateside memories.
Much like some dogs are neutered, some EVO wagons can be had with a five-speed automatic transmission. The auto-trannied cars come with a slightly smaller turbocharger, and do without Mitsubishi's MIVEC variable valve timing technology. Before I could ask why my left hand was sitting on a stick with a button on the top, ARC explained why they chose the slushbox transmission-the car is a test mule for the latest must-have gizmo by Works Bell: paddle shifters.
Looks like my gag reflex can be suppressed after all. Designed to work with the factory transmission, the CNC-milled aluminum paddles mount to the factory column in conjunction with MOMO's "Race" steering wheel. This system, like many of the goodies on the ARC wagon, is a prototype (actually, it's the only one in existence).