lancer evo 8

When Mitsubishi sent us a Lancer Evolution for a long-term test back in March 2003, the carmaker hadn't yet fallen into its Ty-D-Bol man impersonation that the company found itself doing for most of 2004. Last year was not a good year for Mitsubishi, but the Evo continues to be the one must-have product in the lackluster lineup. The vehicles that launched just before and after the Evo (the Endeavor and the new Galant) didn't buoy the brand; instead, they pulled sales into the lav and toward the porcelain.

Sales of the Evo cannot be blamed for Mitsubishi's current problems. The car might not sell in large numbers, but its performance and purity give us, and others, a reason to hope that Mitsu can find a way out of its troubles. We still feel the same way about the car even after almost two years and 40,000 miles, but aside from amusing us, our Rally Red stormer also bemused (and, as you'll see, abused) us, but it certainly never bored us.

For the first 600 miles, we treated the Evo like a cute baby lamb. That's because Mitsubishi tells us the break-in is a crucial time in an Evo's life. If you're kind for those first miles, you will be rewarded with quicker acceleration, and it will never burn oil, Mitsubishi claims.

Less than a month later, we tested the Evo, and our self-control was repaid with a 0-to-60 time of 5.0 seconds. Forty-thousand miles later, the repeat performance took 5.1 seconds. Also, we never had to add a quart of oil over all those miles. We've heard from owners who couldn't keep from cranking the tach to the far right as they pulled out of the showroom lot and now must add quarts of oil regularly.

By early summer, the Evo logbook began to fill with love letters. Online editor Kiino reveled in the lack of turbo lag, excellent gearbox, perfect pedal position, and supportive, race-inspired Recaro seats. When the Evo was young, Kiino's comments received boisterous hallelujahs and amens from the rest of the C/D flock. But later, we would find much to gripe about.

The first complaints were aimed at the quick (2.1 turns lock-to-lock) steering that was praised for its feel and accuracy but just as often derided for a level of nervousness usually reserved for amphetamine aficionados. Not helping matters was an unyielding suspension that didn't know how to relax. As one editor put it, "The Evo feels as if the axles were welded to the body." We checked. They're not. The 2005 MR version of the Evo goes a long way toward calming the suspension, but our 2003 model didn't have the magic Bilstein shocks, so we were a bit abused.