Reports Of Its Death Are Greatly Exaggerated, Or At Least Premature: The 2017 Mitsubishi Lancer 2.4 SEL AWC

The 2017 Mitsubishi Lancer 2.4 SEL AWC.

I'm tempted to call this my third annual fond farewell to the Mitsubishi Lancer.  The car...and for a while, its maker...were on life support for the better part of a decade, and the smart money was that the 2014 Lancer would be the last.

And then came the 2015, and the 2016 and now the 2017.

A Long Last Drive With An Old Friend: The 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer SEL

The 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer.

It's seconds till sundown for the Mitsubishi Lancer.  On the market relatively unchanged for a decade and stripped of its high-performance EVO model, time has caught up with this generation of Mitsu's compact sedan. Still, it is a car not without charms, as we learned to our surprise during a North Coast roadtrip two years ago.

Substance Over Style: 2015 Mitsubishi Lancer SE

The 2015 Mitsubishi Lancer SE.

Nine years without major changes can transform just about any car into rolling wallpaper...with zero chance of sticking out from the crowd.  Factor in said car never having been a hot seller, and from a company that is a perennial favorite on the list of car companies that won't be doing business in the USA much longer, and you've got a recipe for invisibility.

Which, in the case of the 2015 Mitsubishi Lancer SE, is a shame.

How The Mitsubishi Lancer GT Surprised Me

2014 Mitsubishi Lancer GT.

If you live anywhere other than, oh, say...California...you could go a very long time without seeing a new Mitsubishi Lancer go by.  In the Golden State, however, there are a fair number on the roads, and not all wearing bar codes in the rear window identifying them as part of the inventory of a rental fleet.

In fact, 2013 was a good year for Lancer sales...up significantly. On its face, that seems puzzling, since Lancer is in its eighth year without major changes.  So what's going on?

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Review

If you've seen my photo, you know that my boy racer days are (or should be, anyway) long over.

So imagine my surprise when, on my way to pick up my daughter from ballet, a car pulls up next to me at a stoplight and starts revving like crazy. I glance over and there are two teenage boys...in an older Mitsubishi Evolution...drooling over the new one I'm driving.

I roll down the window.

"Hey, dude! Nice car!"

(I'm still trying to figure out which would have been worse..."dude" or "sir".)

I say "Thanks, yours too.", roll up the window and accelerate normally when the light turns green. This mystifies the boys who roar ahead and fall back, finally timing things so we end up side-by-side at a stoplight about a mile further up the road. I roll down the window again.

"So, dude...wanna race?"

"No, thanks."

"But, dude! It's an EVO!"

Had the light not turned green at that very second, I probably would have gone all Ward Cleaver on them and stuff (oh, no...teenspeak is catching), explaining that flooring a lightweight car with 300 horsepower can have serious consequences as regards public safety, insurance and the privilege to hold a valid driver's license. I could even have explained that the Evo isn't a drag racer, it's a purpose-built rally car...

Look, this car is crazy fast. One-eighth throttle induces an involuntary "whoa!" the first time you do it. More than that and there are G-forces at work. This is the car that makes me glad I'm not in my 20s anymore because I'd probably be dead before I could post the review.

What impresses me most is what Mitsubishi did to transform the basic Lancer into the fire-breathing Evolution. It goes beyond a hot engine and stiff suspension. There's a brace built behind the rear seat to control (maybe eliminate is the better term) body flex. The Recaro racing seats are nothing short of awesome. And everything feels like it's been upgraded about seven classes from what you'd find in a stock Lancer.

Yes, there's a price for this kind of serious machinery...$38,290 base (a $2,000 Rockford Fosgate 650 watt audio system sent the test vehicle to a $41,740 bottom line). More than double a Lancer's sticker. If this is your type of car, then I can't imagine one better. Just be careful, okay?