[krish3]

Awesome car. Great to see a Mitsu review after a long time. Was surprised to hear the engine options and features available there. India is not so shortchanged after all.

What are the diesel options of the car there (if it has one)?

[benbsb29]

Rethish, i like the way your review is shaping up.

When we were in Dubai, my dad was provided with a Lancer by his company on a temporary basis. This is what it looked like.


Image Source : Google images.

Somehow, as kids we just loved the car, while our other car was a Corolla.

Waiting for more from your side.

[jaguar.runs]

@krish3: No diesel option in Middle East region. The only diesel engine offered for this model is a 138 BHP 2.0L TDI from VW in EU markets (Source: Wikipedia).

@benbsb29: Thanks for the feedback. Have seen few of the old model lancer in UAE, some in good condition too.

[jkdas]

Thanks for the ownership report which included the comparison study of the different models you had in your scan.

Curious how the AC is managing the climate there, it being a black car. Also, since there is less damping doesn't the engine sound bore you or its got a nice sound?

And yes,pix of interior.

Edit:

Ben; its looks like a sedan-pickup truck!

[jaguar.runs]

@jkdas: I should thank you for reminding me of the pending ownership report

A/C is absolutely coping up with temp as I had installed good sun film all around immediately after getting the car. I normally keep the temp at 25 deg in Auto mode and dont have a problem at all. IMO Mitsubishi, Toyota and Nissan have the best A/C in the eco-sedan range. Engine sound is a bit of a problem in the beginning, not a problem for me though. It has a raspy exhaust note which I enjoy.

[HappyWheels]

Jag,

Your office besides Times Square?

Since this review, your profile picture looks meaner!

Few photos of the interiors, as requested, please.

[jaguar.runs]

@HappyWheels: The Mercedes Benz showroom beside Times Square is actually our dealer's. Daimler office is in Jebel Ali Free Zone, you can actually see it on the right side of SZR while traveling to Abu Dhabi.

Interior pictures to follow soon.

[jaguar.runs]

Lancer GT comes with grey and black combo interior. The lower model gets beige and black combination interior and wood trim. Dashboard is the only place which lets down the car. Top of the dashboard is hard plastic, no soft touch. The design feels actually a generation old. Carbon Fiber look trim is a plus in the GT. All the controls fall in place pretty nicely. Cruise control and audio controls present in the leather wrapped steering wheel which is only tilt adjustable. I never felt a need for reach adjustment, but some people might need the same to feel comfy. Light and wiper control is not the skinny type and has a quality feel while operating also.




Fabric sport bucket seats comes with side bolsters for the front passengers. Driver height adjustment is only provided for the driver seat. The seating position is not low as Civic, so entry and exit is easy. Rear passenger seats get a foldable armrest with cup holders. Seats are on the hard side, but not too much which is very good for long drive. Rear seats are flat foldable with 60:40 split, that too by press of a button next to the head rest. None of the main competitors have this feature. Glove box is soft release and is adequate.


Image Source: Mitsubishi Motors (I cannot take a better picture than this)

The audio compensates for the cabin noise with 9-way audio. The in-dash 6 CD/MP3 Rockford Fosgate system is nicely integrated to the car with amplifier below the driver seat and 10” Sub in the boot. I had a 10” JBL Sub-Woofer and an Alpine 4 channel amp in my previous car. I gifted the same to my cousin once I purchased the GT. No upgrade is actually required for the ICE. Aux input is also available for connecting I-pod or other MP3 Players. No competition for the GT in the audio spec as none of the rivals packs the punch the way RF does job.










Speedo and tacho are backlit and is crystal clear. The display in the middle integrates Fuel, outside temp, Odo, temp gauge, fuel consumption (average & instantaneous), service info and trip meter. The glass for the meter is curved in such a way that there is no unwanted reflection.
Back light for the controls and audio is not too bright or intrusive.





Automatic A/c does it’s job very well. I normally keep it on 24-25 deg. Quick cooling is well suported by the heat rejection film on windows and the windshield.

[jaguar.runs]

Engine and Mechanical review to follow soon. Lots of stuff to do. ETA 3 days

[HappyWheels]

JAG:

Where are you?

[jaguar.runs]

First of all, Sorry for the delay from my side. I was held up with lot of work in office & home. (Had some visitors from Germany in office and was busy at home scheduling my son's first Birthday celebrations). Now starts the preparation for the long Eid holidays in Dubai and I don't want to delay the rest of ownership report. Feel free to ask if you need more pictures.


Picture courtesy newcars.com website as the quality wont be this good if I take a picture and the details will not be shown effectively.

Lancer GT comes with 2.0 L 4B11 engine and CVT transmission in UAE as standard. US got a much powerful 2.4l Engine for 2009, but GCC dealers thought that 2.0l is good enough for guys here. 2.0l buzzy engine combined with the CVT makes good amount of noise when you start off from a signal. What you don't actually realize is that the speed you are gaining. Most of the people think that a CVT is slower than the automatic gearbox, even I thought so! I was very much happy to be wrong. CVT pulls better than auto GB and do not have shift lags. I feel that the GT whould come with a 2.4l Engine, the additional torque will take care of the engine noise while accelerating.

CVT Transmission takes time to get used to, but once you are used to it there would not be any problems. You will know how much to press the accelerator pedal to overtake or push ahead. Even at 120 with a medium push of the pedal the car will reach 140 in no time. Same case for 140 to 160 or 160 to 180. 200 will come slower and takes time. Even at 200 kmph GT feels planted and under control, thanks to sports tuned suspension and wide tires.

I started using paddle shift of the car at a later stage, only after discovering that I can go to manual mode without even touching the gear lever. Now I use manual mode very often. The paddle shift is fairly simple, pull any of the lever and you are on manual mode. To return back to auto, pull the right paddle for 2-3 sec. Once you get used to the paddle shift, there is no turning back. It will spoil you with the control over the engine output. For me, the real charecter of GT comes out during the manual mode. I have ripped a new Honda Accord driven by a young arab from signal to signal run on Jumeirah Beach road, not once but at three conecutive signals. I could hear his tires squealing while taking off from the signal but still could not catch up with me on the run. I was continously using the paddle shifters and was accelerating upto 5.5K to change to a higher gear (I used only 2 gears from the 6 available). We still kept the 80 kmph speed limit of the road.

Suspension is another plus for this car. Most of the people find it a bit on hard side, but with the good roads in UAE, I really don't care. GT comes with a sports tuned suspension setup with a harder spring setting and strut tower bar as standard. Combined with a wider tire and excellent steering, the car feels like on rails while taking exit ramps even at 100+ kmph.

Standard tires on Lancer GT is 215/45 R18 Yokohama Advan A10A. Road noise starts by 40k+.very expensive tire as it is a rare size. Brigsetone replacement was 1200 AEd and Yokos were 1050 AED. I changed to Nitto Invo few months back for 470 AED each tire and that too a wider size after 85k milked out of the Yokos. I never intended to do 85K on these tires but the non-availablity of the Invos had me delayed. Over that, one of my technical colleagues suggested that as long as it doesn't rain in Dubai I am safe. 1.2% Speedo error make it safe with highway radars . I love the crazy pattern of the Invos and as it is wider than the stock (225/45 R18 now), it protects the wheel rims from curb marks too.

Here are some pics I took during the tire changing session on my 2MP mobile cam. Sorry for the bad quality!


Comparo


Checking alignment, everything was perfect




Next: Why the owner ship report is named "The Tale of Two Lancers".

[Avinash_R]

Saw this car in flesh for the first time in the US and loved it.

Waiting for Mitsu to launch it in India but never seems to happen. The last I heard was that the rising yen is not helping matters either.

Good review - keep it goin. Atleast we can learn abt your lancer and wonder what if...

[HappyWheels]

Mmm.... paddle shift!

Not sure why, but I am liking this car more I read about it.

11 days is a long time!

[jaguar.runs]

This is a long post, but you guys have to bear with me.

It was a normal day, left home by 5:30 as I had to start work at 7:00. Dubai Bypass road widening project was almost over. After a big roundabout on the Oman/Hatta road I started to catch up with my normal speed of 140 kmph. I came behind a Nissan Patrol and was following him into a construction zone. We both slowed down to around 100 as there was a slight right turn ahead which straightens to cross a bridge/underpass under construction and then turns slightly left & then right to continue on the main highway.

I suddenly saw the patrol changing his lane hard to right as if to avoid something. Then I saw it, a broken brake drum from a truck in the middle of my lane. It was close and I did not know what to do. My reflex told me that there is a van on my right and I just held the steering tight to brace for the impact. The car hit the brake drum at aproxx 90 kmph and got airborne momentarily. As I touched down on the tarmac, the car turned almost 180 deg to the slow lane and hit the plastic barriers on the side filled with water. The car turned left to the paved surface and started rolling down to a heap of sand in the bottom. Out of instinct I pressed the brakes had and the car stopped just before the sand heap. I sat there for few seconds realizing that my car had an accident. The door unlocked without an problem but was getting pushed back slightly with the pressure from the fender jammed on to the door. I came out and inspected the damage. The whole from bumper was hanging down. The whole left side was damaged, including both doors and fenders below the waist line. Alloys had damage and under body was also damaged. I went up the road and removed the brake drum to the side of the road to avoid any more accidents.



It was like the accident scene from opening sequence of Shia LaBeouf movie Disturbia!

Imagine a huge piece of this in the middle of your track at 100 kmph.


I called the police and they came almost one hour later. I told them what happened and they figured it out as my mistake. They knew that I cannot be completely blamed as the it was a road hazard and did not fine me even if they made the police report against me. I am not blaming anyone in this accident as I am supposed to have a good distance from the vehicle ahead. The brake drum had hit two more vehicles after coming out of my car, the van behind me on my right track and a car which was coming behind me.

I called up the insurance and got the reference number to handover the vehicle for repair at the dealership. Immediately called the recovery service guy and guided him to the crash location. I also called up my friend at the dealership to inform him that the car had an accident and got the name of the contact person at the dealership. It was a pain to pull out the vehicle through the sand avoiding further damage. The recovery guy just pulled out the front bumper by his hand as it was completely damaged and was held only by couple of hooks on top of the radiator assembly. We took the car out slowly and once it was partially on the ramp of the recovery vehicle I drove it further to a secure position. I could see that bottom of the car was damaged due the impact from the brake drum. Fuel tank was also damaged and I could see that the full tank of petrol I had pumped in the morning is now gone back to the sand below for the Arabs to pump it out and sell it to the public again.

Reached the dealership in 30min and handed over the vehicle without any issues. Arranged a rent vehicle for few days thinking that car will be back with me in few days. God had other plans. Two days later I got a call from the insurance company informing that the car is a total loss. Immediately I called my friend in the dealership and he was already updated about the status. He told me that the car had serious under body damage including the chassis cross member and fuel tank. The overall cost was coming much higher than 50% of the value of the car. My friend also suggested me to let go the car as it wont be the same again even if it gets repaired. The car was only 9 months old, had done 45,000 kms in that period and was still under warranty.

- to be Continued -

[HappyWheels]

What the ...
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You gave a shocker there! Missed the title!

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