Evolution MR brings sophistication to 2011 Lancer

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2011 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR Touring.

Updated: August 12, 2011 9:03PM

A car that comes in Octane Blue had better drive like a car draped in anything remotely as combustible as the word Octane invokes. The 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (Evo) makes a direct statement and after driving it for a week I think it might have been better named High Octane Blue.

While the Lancer Evo is wholly defined by what you cannot see under the hood and beneath the Octane Blue skin, the exterior comes close to matching the high-output attitude resting in the wings.

The hood delivers air inlets front and center, enhancing the sculpted hood running into the raked windshield. This is all about redirecting air flow where it is needed, but it looks intense and it screams “fast!” (There’s that octane reference again.)

From profile, the Evo MR looks like the standard Lancer, though the side skirts extending down from the rocker panels – along with the chiseled hood and head- and taillights – instantly turn Bruce Wayne turn Batman.

From the front, you cannot disengage from the brash headlight assembly and the enormous mesh grille that to me, in proportion, looked as big as an Audi Q7 grille. Final opinion: simply awesome.

The Lancer Evo MR sits atop a sporty set of 18-inch BBS forged alloy wheels that really take on a whole different attitude with the big, red Brembo brakes clearly visible in the background. I love the fact the MR version drops the big obnoxious wing in lieu of a subtle lip on the trunk. The dual chrome exhaust tips also add a subtle hint of aggressiveness.

Inside the cabin of the Lancer Evo MR, you will find an array of hard plastics that appear in the base Lancer. My Touring trim level blanketed the interior in Recaro leather seats (heated for the winter) that were predictably manual adjusting. The manual adjustment seems to fit the racing signature of the Evo, so I was not disappointed because it fits this car’s personality.

The leather seats, in conjunction with padded support in all the right places, hold you firmly in place no matter how aggressive you might get with your driving. After a while I found them a little snug, but the benefit far outweighed the negative.

Gauges and essential dash elements are presented in racy form that is fun and genuinely functional. Visibility is good once you get settled into your snug driver seat. While attitude can be found on the outside and under the hood, the $2,000 premium package upgrade delivered a Rockford Fosgate Punch sound system that delivered 710 watts through nine speakers and a 10-inch subwoofer: plenty of noise to be had to go along with the engine vibes.

The Lancer Evo has a 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder (291 horsepower/300 pound-feet of torque) with a twin-scroll turbocharger. All this power and torque goes to all the wheels, which, along with those big Brembo brakes, helps keep the Lancer Evo MR in control at all times.

Base Evos offer five-speed manual transmissions, while the MR model features Mitsubishi’s six-speed TC-SST transmission, which is a dual-clutch transmission.

The TC-SST transmission offers three settings (normal, sport and super sport); two can be easily altered while driving with the switch of a toggle near the shift. Putting the car in super sport requires you to be stopped and to hold the toggle for a few seconds.

I had fun playing in all the modes and I found the normal setting to be the most acclimated to around town driving. The super sport keeps the revs nearly always above 5,000 rpms and it hits redline nearly every time. This is not the setting in which to have a brimming latte or a brownie blizzard on your lap.

The Lancer Evo MR has super all-wheel control (S-AWC), which is a fancy moniker for an adaptive all-wheel-drive system. In a nutshell, a yaw system pushes power from side to side in the rear. Push the Evo hard around a turn and the power is literally moving around the car as the momentum and stress pushes against the pavement.

Speaking of things moving, watch your fuel gauge when you drive this little rocket ship. Rated at 17 mpg city/22 mpg highway, the high-output turbocharged four-cylinder has a lot of weight to carry and it demands premium gasoline to perform with the zeal a buyer would expect.

My tester had a base price of $37,195. Add two option packages at $2,000 and the grand total out the door was $41,955. Sure, there are other just as powerful options out there, but this is a sophisticated driving experience that is unique with the Evo MR designation. Most fun things tend to cost just a little more and this car is no exception.