Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart

[Aaron]

The sales droid at Mitsu claimed they were bringing in both Hatch and Sedan Ralliarts.

A.

[hakosuka]

The sales droid at Mitsu claimed they were bringing in both Hatch and Sedan Ralliarts.A.

That's interesting considering that a non-turbo 4wd hatch is not sold here-yet. As long as they offer choicem then that's great. Any mention of an approx release date?

[TonyJZX]

the salescunt would probably say anything at this point

if it delays you from buying a wrx now you *may* get a lancer later

[ALLMTR]

Follow this with interest

[KanaL]

Well, there was a senior sales guy at the mitsu dealership i work at that did mention the ralliart lancer freaking ages ago, and he's always been spot on about every release in the mitsu range to date.

I wouldn't be holding your breath for a hatch in the next 6 months or so, let alone a ralliart version.

[hakosuka]

the salescunt would probably say anything at this point

if it delays you from buying a wrx now you *may* get a lancer later

I wouldn't be getting a rex in a million years. Last model looked like ass, new model is even worse. I've been considering a 2004/5 Liberty GT 2.0 but I want something slightly smaller - i.e. Lancer/Imprezza sized that is 4WD etc so that is why I'm interesting in the Ralliart. Hopefully the car will be reasonably inconspicuious in the way the original 1.8 GSR turbo was.

[Aaron]

March/April for a release date for the Sedan and the hatch to follow later when the hatch was launched.

The indication was that Mitsu was going to get on the wagon against Subaru after failing to do so with the first GSR (getting out of the light AWD turbo market before it took off) as they have a better car...

I'm sceptical, but the concept of a good AWD hatch with boost is of interest...

A.

[edo]

Geez that hatch looks flash...& if its near $40k with all that gear then the queue isnt going to be very orderly.

[Mike V]

Interested in the hatch.

[redgsr]

The indication was that Mitsu was going to get on the wagon against Subaru after failing to do so with the first GSR (getting out of the light AWD turbo market before it took off) as they have a better car...

It's a perfect opportunity to get back the market segment it handed to Subaru on a platter in 95. The GSR was supposedly a better car than the early WRXs as well.

Plus if I get one in red my username may make sense again.

[baggins]

Looks tops - but I can't help but be skeptical on how much it still looks like a concept image - the larger wheels, wide track, fantastic roofline, all in proportion... then the Prod car comes along and they look like shite. Time will tell.

[TonyJZX]

remember the fantastic looking lancer concepts ended up as this

[baggins]

*nods*

[carazy]

remember the fantastic looking lancer concepts ended up as this

True but I still think they look pretty good.
One of the best looking in it's class at least.

Perhaps Mitzi Aus should just hurry up and dump the 380 and start churning out lancers?

[Captiva Fan]

It's a perfect opportunity to get back the market segment it handed to Subaru on a platter in 95. The GSR was supposedly a better car than the early WRXs as well.

According to who? That's crap, the GSR was a bit lacking even compared to a Liberty RS.
The GSR absolutely rocked when first introduced at ~$29k, it was a bargain. By the time Subaru replaced the ~$37k RS with the ~$40k WRX, however, the GSR had gone up to ~$37k; and the WRX was a rocket by comparison (firmer suspension, similar off-boost performance but much superior on-boost albeit noticeably laggier, better overall feel of quality & NVH, and mid-6s 0-100 is a fair bit faster'n 7s flat).
The CE Lancer was a generally better made car overall, and I'm guessing that the way the yen was at the time, the GSR would prolly have been >$5k more'n the previous model. And in 1995 nobody was buying AWD turbo cars; I called Subaruba to ask about RS reliability before buying one, and they only sold about 900 of them overall. You don't see many of the original '94 & early '95 WRX's around, with the original grille treatment. You saw more GSR's than VR4's, but I still doubt they'd have sold 1500 CC GSR's, and considering how much the WRX had been outselling the GSR since the WRX came on the market, they probably just didn't see a point in spending all that type-certification money on even half of such a small pie.