There comes a time when every man and woman must succumb to a vehicle which changes the very world they have known about. A car which is such a monumental shift that everything that comes after it is compared to this new vehicle. It's a benchmark which is remembered for decades and remains timeless to a degree because it's so unique.
Today.... I'm not reviewing such a vehicle. Wait don't boo me. Wait don't leave in droves, turn off your computers, iPads, phones, internet connections... Wait, just hear me out and see where I'm going with this....
The 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer DE is not a vehicle which from a mechanical standpoint is going to change everything we know about the compact car world. Yes it does have a larger engine than some of its compact rivals a 2.0l inline 4 cylinder with 148hp. Yes it does have a decent amount of interior space.
But... The downer for the car I had was the CVT (continuously variable transmission). I've driven lots of cars with CVT's. I would have said before driving this car that I like 90% of the CVT's that I've driven. But after the lancer my stats are going to fall because this particular gearbox was a real let down.
Yet it's deceiving... When you're in the Lancer with this particular set up of engine and transmission the car feels slow. No, no wait not slow... It feels like if you were to jump out and sprint or even ride a bike you would be able to get places faster. I think that's partly because the engine and transmission in concert together try to go into economy mode as quickly as possible.
The light turns green, you press on the accelerator and you hear a low grumble from out front and you move away from the light. The deceiving part was after a few minutes with the car in city traffic I realized that I was in front of most of my fellow drivers. A quick look at the speedo and I was doing 60km/h. The set up moves you along quite well in city stop and go traffic. But from a seat of the pants experience it feels underwhelming even though the reality is it's quite peppy.
So after a little while you get used to it. Until you come to an intersection where you have to cross multiple lanes of uncontrolled traffic. Here you look for your spot to zip out into traffic and press on the accelerator only to find yourself pushing more and more on the accelerator and suddenly saying to yourself "come on betsy get going, hurry up".
Ok, I'm going to use the "G" word here. Hold on... It feels gutless, there I've said it and I can't take it back...
But it's not really gutless. It feels like... It feels like someone at the CVT assembly plant forgot to tighten everything up. There is that nagging voice in the back of your head that constantly says, "Is it responding, or not responding".
Late last year I drove a Subaru Outback with a 4 cylinder and CVT transmission. I have to say that Subaru's CVT felt like a highly strung CVT. Like a sprinter or racehorse that's just waiting to go. That's how my experience has been with most of the CVT's I've tried to date although Subaru's felt like they had really worked on its responsiveness.
Comparing Subaru's CVT to Mitsubishi's is like comparing a sling shot to a jar of mayonnaise. Time to move on, I've made my point there's no sense in beating it to death...
Where the Mitsubishi is a winner is in the looks department. When the Lancer came out a few years ago it was one of the most stunning designs around. It's still a good looker. Unique is the best way to describe it and no one else is even attempting to copy it's great looks.
Those looks cary over into the interior of this base unit. It is clean and very well thought out. It maybe has just a little too many hard plastic surfaces but in this category of car and in this price range most other cars have similar materials inside. The nice thing even with all the hard plastic there was not a single squeak to be heard from the car.
Heating and cooling controls could be better designed. It has 3 large rotary dials way down low. Since they are all identical in size and shape you have to look down to adjust the temperature or fan. If you don't look down well you tend to turn down the fan when you wanted to turn down the heat. Over the course of the days I had the car I turned the wrong dial at least 20 times and after a point it becomes annoying. Just one different shaped dial in the whole mix and the problem would have been solved for me.
Out on the highway this car just cuts though the air like a knife. It's highly raked windshield and low profile allow for some comfortable cruising on highways. The CVT here is good at keeping the revs low and many times I was well over the speed limit.
Going up long grades or passing is where the engine gets growly. Maybe I'm just getting old but I really think Mitsubishi has set up this car for a younger demographic than me. The engine at around 4000 RPM was annoying to my ears. It sounded rough I think Mitsubishi was trying to give it a performance exhaust sound but it's just noise. There is also something about a 4 cylinder when it's noisy that makes you think the engine is not as smooth as one that has a better sound to it.
Go into a single lane passing situation and the engine fairly quickly goes towards its red line and stays there and again this engine just sounded loud. The times that I passed some vehicles I just wanted to do it as fast as possible to get the drone over with and move back to the quieter sound of the car cruising along.
Handling and braking were both good. I particularly like the brakes. So many cars now have a soft brake pedal and in order to get the bakes to grab the pedal has to travel quite a distance. Not so with the Lancer. It was very direct feeling and stopping felt secure and stable. Handling is quite neutral, no surprises in this car and even lots of frost heaves and pot holes did not unsettle the chassis in the corners. One minor gripe about the steering wheel. Mitsubishi could you please put a telescoping feature on your steering!? It would make the driving position perfect. Without it finding the perfect set up just wasn't happening for me.
Now for the ultimate question. Would I buy one? If I were a superficial person, (Which I'm not) yes. This car looks great and the price at just under $16000 is a decent deal for what the car has in it. To me though beauty is more than skin deep and the engine / transmission setup is what soured me on this car. If Mitsubishi could drop the CVT transmission and put in their 6 speed twin-clutch sportronic shift transmission this car would be top of my list for inexpensive compacts.
I can only wish they rethink their transmission choice and one day put in another better suited auto transmission.
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