I worked as a detailer at a Mitsubishi dealer in 1989/90 and got to drive the then-new vehicles as they came in. This was in the days where the base model - the GL - had a 1.3 litre carburetted engine and the top of the range SEi had a 1.5 litre twin cam fuel injected one. Being in my late teens at the time, the 1.3 wasn't much to my liking, but I was impressed with the way the power was delivered even in the auto version of the 1.5. My mother - now in her mid-70s - drives a 2014 Lancer SEi liftback - a 2.0 litre with a CVT - and the car has yet to roll 37,000 kilometres since new as she lives in a little seaside town on the Coromandel peninsula and doesn't travel far out of it any more. I take it for a run when I visit to blow the cobwebs out of the exhaust and the little car performs like a new one as you'd expect for such a low mileage. A lovely little car if you just want to pootle from A to B and back with no fanfare and the seats haven't got any better at support or comfort over the generations, but a nice car all the same.....and Mum enjoys driving it, which is really all that matters. If it's at all possible in your busy schedule, I'd like to see you do a review (and hear your thoughts) on a Mazda Axela 1.5 for comparison, if you can find one in the UK. The Axela - again - was a JDM vehicle that the Western world got to see as the Mazda 3. However, the Mazda 3 sold new in NZ only had the 2.0 / 2.3 / 2.5 litre 4-cyl engine and it wasn't until car yards started importing the Axela second hand that we got the 1.5 litre version. I own one, but it's a bit far for you to come to do the review.....but I do think it would be a good comparison between two rather unsung and under-rated little cars if you can find one. All the best to you, Miss Hubnut and the Hublets.
Wow! A white lancer sedan. I spent more than half my childhood in the back of one, including multiple cross Europe trips. Although, ours was the previous generation (1994/95) 1.6l 113bhp and with a manual box. Rust and a leaky sunroof retired the car, but it was great while it lasted. It was a simple and reliable workhorse, like many japanese cars of the era. Relatively low curb weight, healthy power and a tow hook made it ideal for a family with two kids.
Could you do a Galant at some point? I had a -01 estate with the least cool engine, the 2.4 GDi with a 4-speed automatic a few years ago. It was slow as hell, but for me it's one of the best looking cars ever.
A good mate of mine in Australia had the coupe version of this. It was a manual with a 1.5 single cam engine. A real pretty little coupe, no racing car but it took the long distances in Western Australia very well. Bought new in 1996 and sold in 2005 when he came back to the UK.
This looks just like the Carisma that the European market got around the same time, but juuuust different enough that no parts are interchangeable between it and the Carisma. Probably in the same way that Mk2 Granadas and Aussie Falcons of the early 80s look almost identical, but are completely different.
Back in Australia we bought many of them, but there’s no preservation culture, and very few left. Interestingly they were mostly 1.8 litres. Of course the evo was the halo car.
Chrysler actually sold that car in the US as a Eagle Summit , and Mitsubishi also sold it as a Mirage (even the hatchback). The short lived Eagle brand that just rebadged other things- from a Renault Premier to a Mitsubishi Lancer and Eclipse.. wow. The 1.8 liter version of those Lancer/Mirage/Summit cars were actually decently quick.
The MX-TOURING came with the body kit. I had the 1999 JDM MX-SALOON. My very first vehicle, NEVER gave any trouble. Took replaced the original engine and replaced it with the MIVEC. By the way, I'm from Trinidad & Tobago
This reminds me of a Proton that I had as a courtesy car about 20 years ago. I think it was a Persona saloon or 5 door hatchback, clearly related to the bubble shaped Mitsubishi Colt. That was pleasant enough, but desperately needed better tyres and dampers. The only Mitsubishi I've driven was an Evo, but one with a dual clutch transmission. So I guess an Evo X? It was stunningly quick and capable.
Shouldn't be a surprise the protons seem very similar. They bought the designs after mitsubishi stopped making them, and made them for a few more years. Had a friend many years ago that did a swap from the spicy proton satria into a lancer of that generation. Pretty much just plug and play, and would just smoke the fronts without even trying
I owned the Australian sold Lancer GLXi sedan with the 1.8 4G93 and 5 speed manual back when they were new. It was the most comfortable and efficient long distance touring car I'd experienced up to that point. It was as fast as the V6 automatic commodore of the era, and had the most comfortable drivers seat for long distance driving . I could do the trip from Kalgoorlie to Perth on one tank of fuel and still have enough to do some running around town. I sold it to a woman at 49k km , she was still driving it at 10 years later with 370k on the clock. No issues besides a clutch replacement.
The Mitsubishi brand has been a huge part of my life for years. My Dad used to work for Colt Cars UK so plenty of stories about these cars. My Dad actually owned a white Lancer but the previous generation & it was a very unique car with the chassis number all zeros & then ending in one. It was a preproduction car that was a 2.0 non-turbo diesel, practically zero creature comforts too, no central locking, no electric windows, no aircon, only electricity adjustable mirrors, it even had steel wheels & no wheel trims. Going back to the Lancer you tested, I owned the Evo IV GSR in my profile picture for 6 years, hilarious fun car to own, very thirsty for 99 octane fuel & servicing every 4500 miles. The floor mats for a Colt are a direct fit for the Evo IV, I tried it & they match exactly.
This is my ideal car - a compact saloon with plenty of kit. Shame smaller saloons are out of favour with the British car buying public. The Colt hatchback that this was based on is a very attractive looking car. Shame that Mitsubishi started going downhill by 2003.
If it comes to Mitsubishi , my heart beats for dark brown '77 Celeste 1600ST ... Very rare to encounter these days , so i've been happily driving my Champagne metallic '83 Cordia 1600SR for 3 years. (NL import to BE)
Owner of a Lancer Vi GLX 1.3L 12 valve (4g13) and the car is awesome for it's economy and actually power (only 75bhp) but it goes really fast and responsive because it's very light, mine is manual 5-speed and I would not want it any other way, i'm really happy with the car, had it for a year so far and not dissapointed, only issues i had were from the previous owner and in my hand it never had anything, these kinda dissapear on the EVO shadow's which is normal, but the ammount of body modification you can do to these is also really good thanks to the evo, you can fit the evo parts on it to make it look better if you want.
I had a 1994 1.5L Lancer. It was the shape before this one. It was very modern looking and in general a nice comfortable drive. The air con dropped it's guts on the front passenger floor. And the engine was needing a rebuild at 150,000km
i had a manual 1.5 lancer as a first car. owned it for 6 years it thrived of neglect and abuse it did not once leave me stranded and when i sold it it needed next to nothing for MOT. at one point i had no idea how to change the oil in a car and i was just filling the whole crank case up with oil...... and this thing still ran
My father had a Lancer 1.8GLXi (single cam) of this generation in Australia. The INVECS 4sp auto was the best auto transmission I've driven - better than the CVT that replaced it in later models.
After the little dog had put in an expression of interest on the Lancer's front wheel and started sniffing your safety sandals, I was on the edge of my seat to see if he peed on you, to. Great climax at the end--the muppet's editing is advancing.
These things were everywhere back in the day in Australia. Also pretty much every car in Australia has indicators on the right. Which by the way is the correct way to do it for a right hand drive car. I can never understand doing it the other way around. Cheap & bomb proof motoring
I’ve the 2007,Mk7 UK version, 1.6 auto. Nought to 60 is listed about 11.5 seconds if I remember correctly. Not an exciting car to drive but was available with full MOT when I was in need of a replacement with limited funds a few yrs ago. Pretty much a bland, competent vehicle ,decent but firm road holding, you don’t go fast over speed bumps ! Only issue I have now is sourcing parts for it, at 16yrs old and only sold in small numbers here only general service items are available. I think “adequate “ describes it fully!
Used to see heaps of these in the high school car park back in my day in NZ (we have lots of ex-Japan cars on the roads). Common to see these with the Evo bodykit etc but gutless engine.
Nice road test; looked like a clean example of a good, basic Japanese sedan...The dog at the end was marking "mobile territory" ("give or take a pee...")
Lol, this car is so good, I would pick this one over many modern cars and I am serious 👌👍 You are very lucky indeed to have access and test it . Thanks for sharing
I'm very familiar with these cars. My family has owned Mitsubishis for almost 45 years now, and still do with two Lancer Cedias. That said, I have feedback about the transmission observations... 6:41 the transmission in these is very smooth. I suspect this one might be in need of a fluid change or something to resolve the clunky shift when stopping. 7:54 this was an odd time in a lot of Japanese cars with their gearing. Models from Mitsu, Nissan etc until about 95/96 typically had overdrive gears of about 0.65 to 0.70, which meant cruising at 100km/h would have most engines spinning at about 2500-2800 rpms. Then for reasons unknown, most transmissions after that went to overdrive gear ratios of about 0.70-0.80, which firmly means 3000+ rpms at 100km/h. Still relaxed, but not as much as the previous models. 8:38 Mitsubishi used a transmission control system called INVECS II. It was an intelligent software controller that would adjust the shift pattern to the driver's style. It also employed grade logic, so that's why it downshifted when going down the hill. It would also downshift on its own when going uphill without you pressing harder on the accelerator.
I had the US market version of this car in base spec 1.5 sohc, 4 speed AT, 4 door. Truly a miserable car it started consuming oil and had to go. One of the cars I dont miss at all.
The last generation of Lancer went back to the routes of this car having non exciting models a slightly sporty model and then the full fat EVO 10. The only exception in the last generation Lancer range was the addition of the Hatchback version which never spawned a EVO variant (not that I know of anyway) to compete with the Subaru Impreza STI hatchback.
That's true, no Lancer Evolution X hatchback but you could (at least in Australia) get a Lancer Ralliart hatchback which went against the regular non-STi Subaru Impreza WRX hatchback. The Ralliart (sedan or hatch) didn't get the flared arches of the Evo. I'm not sure if you are referring to the Ralliart or to the regular 2.4L (with slightly sporty "VR-X" trim in Australia) as the slightly sporty one. For the tested era of Lancer, the coupe model (which shared parts with the Mirage hatchback) seems to be most common one still on the roads in Australia. It was part of the boom in sporty coupes in the 90's!
Nice! Not quite accurate about Evos being stripped out though. Nothing was removed from the interior in terms of electronics/luxuries. I had an Evo 5 many moons ago with exactly the same climate control etc. Didn't have the nasty wood trim though! Pretty sure the dials were the same but with a white background.
So much of that car looks familiar from my FTO, a/c, stalks, transmission lever, door furniture, even passenger side dash airbag and glove box. Gearbox is probably same fuzzy logic learning one like the FTOs too.
Love the styling on this era of Mitsubishi. However, at least here in the USA, the automatic transmissions became endless money pits as they aged. Manuals were okay, but, still, it would not hold up like a Toyota, Honda, or 20th-century Nissan.
Most of the cars have disappeared from UK roads (apart from the last generation Lancer and EVO models) but a lot of the SUV's, pickup trucks are still about. Sadly the UK importer no longer trades in the UK anymore, so we will see no more new Mitsubishi cars for a while.
An AWD version of the next generation of this car was sold in Canada for a couple of years, but not in any great numbers as it was considered fairly tedious to drive. Every Mercedes automatic I've owned in the last 22-23 years, except for my wife's old SLK320, indicated what gear it was in, but I agree that it is still an unusual feature. Interestingly, it's become common place on motorcycles.
The bread and butter everyday Lancer. At one time Mitsubishi did not make their own electronics not sure about this one, Subaru also had a no frills 1.5 Impreza on 13'' tires.
Back in the day, the Disney World parking lot was full of current-model-year examples of these, Chevy Cavaliers and the Mazda-based American Ford Escort. If you had taken a vacation in the US and booked your rental car through Thrifty (Sedan, compact, 4/5 passenger, Dodge Neon or similar) chances are this would've been the "or similar" either in this form (minus woodgrain, digital climate controls and PW) with Mitsubishi Mirage or Eagle Summit branding or the nearly identical 6-window Dodge/Plymouth Colt sedan. There was no 5-door hatchback of this generation anywhere in the world but two distinct 4-door sedan rooflines.
That dog at the end almost killed me, laughing to death 🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣😅 - great video, even without the dog moment. You have to wonder what made Mitsubishi loose it's mojo, that they used to have back then - now Mitsubishi seems to have been all but forgotten by the general public. Soon they will only be re-badged Renaults, it seems...
From my observation, car companies lose their mojo when they give decision making power to the bean counters. GM, Chrysler, Austin, Morris, Mitsubishi... the list is endless.
I remember when they seemed to have so many pretty neat looking cars, but I had to resort to Wikipedia to remind myself what they produce today, couldn't think of anything recent, didn't even know they'd left the UK.
Many thanks Ian and Carly for another excellent video of a very attractive and interesting car. Very good camera work as always. Guest appearance from the lovely little dog and good choice of music as the video was ending.
It's a shame Mitsubsihi left Europe. Jap imports were very popular here in Ireland and still are to an extent- Jap import Toyota Aqua, Yaris/Vitz, Prius, Honda Fit/Jazz, Insight, Mirage all in auto quite popular
109bhp for a 1.5-litre was pretty healthy power output for a family compact car in 1997. Probably it was the time when fuel quality for regular octane had greatly improved enough to make it possible for higher pressure injection system, higher compression ratio and VVT systems to be introduced.
It's not the 7th generation, it's the 6th generation. The 7th generation was the Cedia. If everything is correct, the MX-Touring indicated the "middle" equipment level, the MX-Saloon was the base equipment level and the MX-Extra was the "full" equipment level. The engine range in the Japanese domestic market was: 4G13 (1.3), 4G15 (1.5), 4G92 (1.6), 4G93 (1.8), 6A11 (1.8 V6)
We in the USA did not get the Lancer until 2002 when it replaced the 97-02 Mirage. I had a 2001 Mirage Coupe with the 5 speed stick and the 1.5l engine. It was pretty good on the roads and pretty peppy for its displacement but then the car was quite light.
The same model that was sold as the Lancer in the rest of the world was the Mirage in US and Canada, because Dodge was using the Lancer name in the mid/late '80s .
This would be the sort of car I would get. Also Subaru did similar with their Impreza….when I looked just a few years ago, you could get a base spec Impreza with a petrol 1.5 CVT, perm AWD. When you tell people it’s an Impreza, they are shocked. My Honda CVT tells me which pretend gear I’m in…..but only when in “manual mode”. In regular Sport and Drive, it doesn’t.
My mother when she was alive had a 2000 Mitsubishi Lancer Actually she didn't do many kilometers on it and my younger brother took it but l did drive it a couple of times it was nice to drive when my brother got it the Lancer had about 3000kms on it he did a lot more than that unfortunatly our nephew was driving it and wrote it off but been a Japanese car from 2000 it would have lived a long life
My dad used to have something similar to this but it was a later gen Lancer, 2003 GLX with a 1.3L engine that had around 80 hp iirc. It was slow as today's Mirage but like the Mirage it did the job of a basic A-B daily driver and even took long trips in hot desert climate very easily. Fast forward to today, I have a 2017 GT model with a 2.0L engine and CVT. I actually wanted a Suzuki Kizashi but that was already out of production by the time I got my license. The last gen Lancer was the only one that was similar to it both inside and out and available new at a decent price. And ofcourse regardless of the version of Lancer you bought, it always had that classic coca cola bottle shape with circa '80s boxy aero design, and a boy racer wing if it wasn't a base model. Only new car I can think of that is something remotely like this is the current gen Mazda 3 sedan and Nissan Z car. Neither have a wing but not impossible to add one.
@@HubNut yeah the only car ive ever seen here with rust was my grandmas Austin Morris 1100 lol we loved that car as kids and we still talk about it very fondly
You can get an app for your phone that measures you speed and also there is an app for converting metric imperial and US measurements which I find useful. Mila's Tools
Usually you can tell a conventional automatic from a CVT by the gear selector. If it shows multiple gears (e.g. P-R-N-D-3-2-1) it is a conventional auto, if it doesn't (e.g. P-R-N-D-L) it *might* be CVT but could also be a conventional auto. Have you ever driven a Daimatic? Was a two-speed semi-automatic gearbox fitted to Daihatsu Charade G11 in the 1980s.
Nice! Not many Mitsubishi's of any model left in the UK. I have diesel, 59 plate GS4, acording to How Many Left there are roughly 330! Essentially the same body shape as mine, some internal controls are exactly the same. I suspect your parcel shelf is fixed, you'll learn to hate it as much as i do!
I'll admit that as an Australian, this is what I think of when thinking of a CE Lancer, albeit with less bells and whistles. Well, either one of these, or a coupe with a sex spec bodykit and paintjob. The sedans look elegant for a small car, like a slightly shrunken Magna/Diamante.
That mileage shown will be all miles as would depend on imported as a new or used car, many Japanese vehicle dealers recalibrated the speedos as often MPH ones were unavailable. If a used car the new reading would have started at zero so total would be unknown except in the original paperwork.
Not how it works. On this, like my old S-MX, I suspect an in-line converter changes the electrical signal, so from that point, it just records mileages in actual miles, and shows the speed in miles rather than kmh. It's still the same cluster it always had.
The summation by the dog peeing on it, tells me everything we need to know 😛 btw in this video I counted you pushing your glasses back up the bridge of your nose only 12 times Fascinating * pushes glasses back up bridge of nose
A guy i used yo work eith loved mitssies he eas obsessed abd yo be fair they do the job well nothibg flash abd unlike the equally as solid mazdas they are a readpnable price
I worked as a detailer at a Mitsubishi dealer in 1989/90 and got to drive the then-new vehicles as they came in. This was in the days where the base model - the GL - had a 1.3 litre carburetted engine and the top of the range SEi had a 1.5 litre twin cam fuel injected one. Being in my late teens at the time, the 1.3 wasn't much to my liking, but I was impressed with the way the power was delivered even in the auto version of the 1.5. My mother - now in her mid-70s - drives a 2014 Lancer SEi liftback - a 2.0 litre with a CVT - and the car has yet to roll 37,000 kilometres since new as she lives in a little seaside town on the Coromandel peninsula and doesn't travel far out of it any more. I take it for a run when I visit to blow the cobwebs out of the exhaust and the little car performs like a new one as you'd expect for such a low mileage. A lovely little car if you just want to pootle from A to B and back with no fanfare and the seats haven't got any better at support or comfort over the generations, but a nice car all the same.....and Mum enjoys driving it, which is really all that matters. If it's at all possible in your busy schedule, I'd like to see you do a review (and hear your thoughts) on a Mazda Axela 1.5 for comparison, if you can find one in the UK. The Axela - again - was a JDM vehicle that the Western world got to see as the Mazda 3. However, the Mazda 3 sold new in NZ only had the 2.0 / 2.3 / 2.5 litre 4-cyl engine and it wasn't until car yards started importing the Axela second hand that we got the 1.5 litre version. I own one, but it's a bit far for you to come to do the review.....but I do think it would be a good comparison between two rather unsung and under-rated little cars if you can find one. All the best to you, Miss Hubnut and the Hublets.
I loved how you were videobombed by a wee dog. Did the dog leave its mark on the front wheel at the end? You handled it like a pro.
It did! Cheeky bugger.
@@HubNut Haha teehee 'the car smells nice"
@@CasperthefriendlyG10T - it did, untill the dog was done with it... 😆
A wee dog in more ways than one, eh?
@@Extreme_Rice 🤣🤣🐕🐕
Wow! A white lancer sedan. I spent more than half my childhood in the back of one, including multiple cross Europe trips. Although, ours was the previous generation (1994/95) 1.6l 113bhp and with a manual box. Rust and a leaky sunroof retired the car, but it was great while it lasted. It was a simple and reliable workhorse, like many japanese cars of the era. Relatively low curb weight, healthy power and a tow hook made it ideal for a family with two kids.
Could you do a Galant at some point? I had a -01 estate with the least cool engine, the 2.4 GDi with a 4-speed automatic a few years ago. It was slow as hell, but for me it's one of the best looking cars ever.
_"For sale: One Mitsubishi Lancer MX Touring. Carefully restored, but front offside wheel may smell a bit of wee-wee."_
I had the feeling closely followed by Ian's foot 😂
A good mate of mine in Australia had the coupe version of this. It was a manual with a 1.5 single cam engine. A real pretty little coupe, no racing car but it took the long distances in Western Australia very well. Bought new in 1996 and sold in 2005 when he came back to the UK.
This looks just like the Carisma that the European market got around the same time, but juuuust different enough that no parts are interchangeable between it and the Carisma.
Probably in the same way that Mk2 Granadas and Aussie Falcons of the early 80s look almost identical, but are completely different.
Carisma was slightly larger. I think Mitsu did aim for a bit more compatibility across their models.
I believe the Carisma was exclusively tailored for the european market. After all it was the sister of Volvo S40
The Carisma was a Volvo/Mitsu partnership. It has more shared with a Volvo V/S40 than any Mitsu, except for the driveline.
An excellent, classic Hub Nut review, informative and entertaining. No nonsense and with real driving on real roads 👍
Back in Australia we bought many of them, but there’s no preservation culture, and very few left. Interestingly they were mostly 1.8 litres. Of course the evo was the halo car.
in australia they where basicly the honda civc for aussies. as in everyone riced the hell out of them.
Chrysler actually sold that car in the US as a Eagle Summit , and Mitsubishi also sold it as a Mirage (even the hatchback). The short lived Eagle brand that just rebadged other things- from a Renault Premier to a Mitsubishi Lancer and Eclipse.. wow. The 1.8 liter version of those Lancer/Mirage/Summit cars were actually decently quick.
The MX-TOURING came with the body kit. I had the 1999 JDM MX-SALOON. My very first vehicle, NEVER gave any trouble. Took replaced the original engine and replaced it with the MIVEC. By the way, I'm from Trinidad & Tobago
I remember when Japanese imports were all the rage. Used to see all sorts and thought the Japanese spec ones were nicer,
This reminds me of a Proton that I had as a courtesy car about 20 years ago. I think it was a Persona saloon or 5 door hatchback, clearly related to the bubble shaped Mitsubishi Colt. That was pleasant enough, but desperately needed better tyres and dampers. The only Mitsubishi I've driven was an Evo, but one with a dual clutch transmission. So I guess an Evo X? It was stunningly quick and capable.
Aren't proton saloon cars based on mitsubishi cars? Or their engines might be from them...this may have been said but I havent watched the video yet
Shouldn't be a surprise the protons seem very similar. They bought the designs after mitsubishi stopped making them, and made them for a few more years. Had a friend many years ago that did a swap from the spicy proton satria into a lancer of that generation. Pretty much just plug and play, and would just smoke the fronts without even trying
I owned the Australian sold Lancer GLXi sedan with the 1.8 4G93 and 5 speed manual back when they were new. It was the most comfortable and efficient long distance touring car I'd experienced up to that point. It was as fast as the V6 automatic commodore of the era, and had the most comfortable drivers seat for long distance driving . I could do the trip from Kalgoorlie to Perth on one tank of fuel and still have enough to do some running around town. I sold it to a woman at 49k km , she was still driving it at 10 years later with 370k on the clock. No issues besides a clutch replacement.
The Mitsubishi brand has been a huge part of my life for years.
My Dad used to work for Colt Cars UK so plenty of stories about these cars.
My Dad actually owned a white Lancer but the previous generation & it was a very unique car with the chassis number all zeros & then ending in one.
It was a preproduction car that was a 2.0 non-turbo diesel, practically zero creature comforts too, no central locking, no electric windows, no aircon, only electricity adjustable mirrors, it even had steel wheels & no wheel trims.
Going back to the Lancer you tested, I owned the Evo IV GSR in my profile picture for 6 years, hilarious fun car to own, very thirsty for 99 octane fuel & servicing every 4500 miles.
The floor mats for a Colt are a direct fit for the Evo IV, I tried it & they match exactly.
Great review, feels like a good old fashioned classic HubNut test.
This is my ideal car - a compact saloon with plenty of kit. Shame smaller saloons are out of favour with the British car buying public.
The Colt hatchback that this was based on is a very attractive looking car. Shame that Mitsubishi started going downhill by 2003.
If it comes to Mitsubishi , my heart beats for dark brown '77 Celeste 1600ST ... Very rare to encounter these days , so i've been happily driving my Champagne metallic '83 Cordia 1600SR for 3 years. (NL import to BE)
Owner of a Lancer Vi GLX 1.3L 12 valve (4g13) and the car is awesome for it's economy and actually power (only 75bhp) but it goes really fast and responsive because it's very light, mine is manual 5-speed and I would not want it any other way, i'm really happy with the car, had it for a year so far and not dissapointed, only issues i had were from the previous owner and in my hand it never had anything, these kinda dissapear on the EVO shadow's which is normal, but the ammount of body modification you can do to these is also really good thanks to the evo, you can fit the evo parts on it to make it look better if you want.
Fantastic video, especially the guest taking a leak 😂
I had a 1994 1.5L Lancer. It was the shape before this one. It was very modern looking and in general a nice comfortable drive. The air con dropped it's guts on the front passenger floor. And the engine was needing a rebuild at 150,000km
i had a manual 1.5 lancer as a first car. owned it for 6 years it thrived of neglect and abuse it did not once leave me stranded and when i sold it it needed next to nothing for MOT. at one point i had no idea how to change the oil in a car and i was just filling the whole crank case up with oil...... and this thing still ran
My father had a Lancer 1.8GLXi (single cam) of this generation in Australia. The INVECS 4sp auto was the best auto transmission I've driven - better than the CVT that replaced it in later models.
I love the "sheer misery" headline. Pure hubnut.
Absolutely brilliant video Ian Miss hubnut 👍 ❤️ what a lovely car love it brilliant
Great little road test review Ian and Carly, from the rear i see Evo, side on I see Persona, you can see why Proton used Mitsubishi's.
After the little dog had put in an expression of interest on the Lancer's front wheel and started sniffing your safety sandals, I was on the edge of my seat to see if he peed on you, to. Great climax at the end--the muppet's editing is advancing.
These things were everywhere back in the day in Australia. Also pretty much every car in Australia has indicators on the right. Which by the way is the correct way to do it for a right hand drive car. I can never understand doing it the other way around.
Cheap & bomb proof motoring
I’ve the 2007,Mk7 UK version, 1.6 auto. Nought to 60 is listed about 11.5 seconds if I remember correctly. Not an exciting car to drive but was available with full MOT when I was in need of a replacement with limited funds a few yrs ago. Pretty much a bland, competent vehicle ,decent but firm road holding, you don’t go fast over speed bumps !
Only issue I have now is sourcing parts for it, at 16yrs old and only sold in small numbers here only general service items are available.
I think “adequate “ describes it fully!
Have to say I really like this - as did the dog apparently! I honestly thought you were going to get a wet foot at the end there😂.
Used to see heaps of these in the high school car park back in my day in NZ (we have lots of ex-Japan cars on the roads). Common to see these with the Evo bodykit etc but gutless engine.
Body shape changed little in the following ten years. They look neat and in proportion.
Nice road test; looked like a clean example of a good, basic Japanese sedan...The dog at the end was marking "mobile territory" ("give or take a pee...")
I like that car very much indeed, shame I don't have £3.5k sitting at the moment because I would use that as a daily car.
Not miserable and beats walking but it is boring and numb. A good practical domestic appliance. 1.5L was a hire car spec.
These are all over Cyprus when i went in 2014. Maybe not as common now but cyprus is known for being a place where JDM cars go.
Lol, this car is so good, I would pick this one over many modern cars and I am serious 👌👍
You are very lucky indeed to have access and test it . Thanks for sharing
I'm very familiar with these cars. My family has owned Mitsubishis for almost 45 years now, and still do with two Lancer Cedias. That said, I have feedback about the transmission observations... 6:41 the transmission in these is very smooth. I suspect this one might be in need of a fluid change or something to resolve the clunky shift when stopping. 7:54 this was an odd time in a lot of Japanese cars with their gearing. Models from Mitsu, Nissan etc until about 95/96 typically had overdrive gears of about 0.65 to 0.70, which meant cruising at 100km/h would have most engines spinning at about 2500-2800 rpms. Then for reasons unknown, most transmissions after that went to overdrive gear ratios of about 0.70-0.80, which firmly means 3000+ rpms at 100km/h. Still relaxed, but not as much as the previous models. 8:38 Mitsubishi used a transmission control system called INVECS II. It was an intelligent software controller that would adjust the shift pattern to the driver's style. It also employed grade logic, so that's why it downshifted when going down the hill. It would also downshift on its own when going uphill without you pressing harder on the accelerator.
I had the US market version of this car in base spec 1.5 sohc, 4 speed AT, 4 door. Truly a miserable car it started consuming oil and had to go. One of the cars I dont miss at all.
Great video I'm shocked he didn't change the driver's wiper blade the spoiler was on the wrong way round
The last generation of Lancer went back to the routes of this car having non exciting models a slightly sporty model and then the full fat EVO 10. The only exception in the last generation Lancer range was the addition of the Hatchback version which never spawned a EVO variant (not that I know of anyway) to compete with the Subaru Impreza STI hatchback.
That's true, no Lancer Evolution X hatchback but you could (at least in Australia) get a Lancer Ralliart hatchback which went against the regular non-STi Subaru Impreza WRX hatchback. The Ralliart (sedan or hatch) didn't get the flared arches of the Evo. I'm not sure if you are referring to the Ralliart or to the regular 2.4L (with slightly sporty "VR-X" trim in Australia) as the slightly sporty one.
For the tested era of Lancer, the coupe model (which shared parts with the Mirage hatchback) seems to be most common one still on the roads in Australia. It was part of the boom in sporty coupes in the 90's!
@tassielorenzo7070 yeah the slightly sporty one we got was the Ralliart version in the UK.
Nice! Not quite accurate about Evos being stripped out though. Nothing was removed from the interior in terms of electronics/luxuries. I had an Evo 5 many moons ago with exactly the same climate control etc. Didn't have the nasty wood trim though! Pretty sure the dials were the same but with a white background.
Ah, pretty sure the last Evo I was in had wind-up windows!
So much of that car looks familiar from my FTO, a/c, stalks, transmission lever, door furniture, even passenger side dash airbag and glove box. Gearbox is probably same fuzzy logic learning one like the FTOs too.
Love the styling on this era of Mitsubishi. However, at least here in the USA, the automatic transmissions became endless money pits as they aged. Manuals were okay, but, still, it would not hold up like a Toyota, Honda, or 20th-century Nissan.
Most of the cars have disappeared from UK roads (apart from the last generation Lancer and EVO models) but a lot of the SUV's, pickup trucks are still about. Sadly the UK importer no longer trades in the UK anymore, so we will see no more new Mitsubishi cars for a while.
I'm very impressed with your new camera's video quality. Excellent choice
An AWD version of the next generation of this car was sold in Canada for a couple of years, but not in any great numbers as it was considered fairly tedious to drive.
Every Mercedes automatic I've owned in the last 22-23 years, except for my wife's old SLK320, indicated what gear it was in, but I agree that it is still an unusual feature.
Interestingly, it's become common place on motorcycles.
The bread and butter everyday Lancer. At one time Mitsubishi did not make their own electronics not sure about this one, Subaru also had a no frills 1.5 Impreza on 13'' tires.
That was a good, informative video about a slightly unusual, non-modern, get you from A to B car......thanks 😊
the toptronic or simply manual mode on an automatic is nice when you are towing something or just want to keep it from doing a kickdown
I had a '97 Acura 1.6EL (Honda Civic Si in the US) that had a gear indicator in the dash area. Only car I've had with such a thing.
Interesting car. Never seen one before. A good first car for someone. And for £3000 a bargain too
I remembered that proton aero back you drove was that based on the lancer and the colt
Post 80’s economic bubble bursting cost cutting Mitsubishi. Perfect for hubnut.
Nice sensible car with everything you need. Love the typical 90's style trim pattern!
Back in the day, the Disney World parking lot was full of current-model-year examples of these, Chevy Cavaliers and the Mazda-based American Ford Escort.
If you had taken a vacation in the US and booked your rental car through Thrifty (Sedan, compact, 4/5 passenger, Dodge Neon or similar) chances are this would've been the "or similar" either in this form (minus woodgrain, digital climate controls and PW) with Mitsubishi Mirage or Eagle Summit branding or the nearly identical 6-window Dodge/Plymouth Colt sedan. There was no 5-door hatchback of this generation anywhere in the world but two distinct 4-door sedan rooflines.
Stalks, mirror controls, electric windows & aircon panel straight out of the mitsi parts bin & identical to my Galant.
That dog at the end almost killed me, laughing to death 🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣😅 - great video, even without the dog moment. You have to wonder what made Mitsubishi loose it's mojo, that they used to have back then - now Mitsubishi seems to have been all but forgotten by the general public. Soon they will only be re-badged Renaults, it seems...
From my observation, car companies lose their mojo when they give decision making power to the bean counters. GM, Chrysler, Austin, Morris, Mitsubishi... the list is endless.
I remember when they seemed to have so many pretty neat looking cars, but I had to resort to Wikipedia to remind myself what they produce today, couldn't think of anything recent, didn't even know they'd left the UK.
Many thanks Ian and Carly for another excellent video of a very attractive and interesting car. Very good camera work as always. Guest appearance from the lovely little dog and good choice of music as the video was ending.
Such a clean car. Great video.
another great video has always Ian and miss hubnut and hublets and hubmutts 👍
It's a shame Mitsubsihi left Europe. Jap imports were very popular here in Ireland and still are to an extent- Jap import Toyota Aqua, Yaris/Vitz, Prius, Honda Fit/Jazz, Insight, Mirage all in auto quite popular
109bhp for a 1.5-litre was pretty healthy power output for a family compact car in 1997. Probably it was the time when fuel quality for regular octane had greatly improved enough to make it possible for higher pressure injection system, higher compression ratio and VVT systems to be introduced.
well a 10 years older 1,6i corolla makes 105hp. normal power.
@@piuthemagicman Yup, it's fairly normal horsepower output which is depending on every country's engine-based taxation and insurance rates.
It's not the 7th generation, it's the 6th generation. The 7th generation was the Cedia. If everything is correct, the MX-Touring indicated the "middle" equipment level, the MX-Saloon was the base equipment level and the MX-Extra was the "full" equipment level. The engine range in the Japanese domestic market was: 4G13 (1.3), 4G15 (1.5), 4G92 (1.6), 4G93 (1.8), 6A11 (1.8 V6)
Accelerating from 30mph in top, that version will be quicker than an Evo. The turbo lag from low revs in the Evo was glacial.
These are known as the Mirage in the USA and these are assembled in Normal, Illinois USA!
We in the USA did not get the Lancer until 2002 when it replaced the 97-02 Mirage. I had a 2001 Mirage Coupe with the 5 speed stick and the 1.5l engine. It was pretty good on the roads and pretty peppy for its displacement but then the car was quite light.
The same model that was sold as the Lancer in the rest of the world was the Mirage in US and Canada, because Dodge was using the Lancer name in the mid/late '80s .
We never have this model...we got the Carisma. 😢
This would be the sort of car I would get.
Also Subaru did similar with their Impreza….when I looked just a few years ago, you could get a base spec Impreza with a petrol 1.5 CVT, perm AWD. When you tell people it’s an Impreza, they are shocked.
My Honda CVT tells me which pretend gear I’m in…..but only when in “manual mode”. In regular Sport and Drive, it doesn’t.
Great review!
Far to luxurious for a true Hubnut car, but what a lovely car and very impressive equipment levels.
My mother when she was alive had a 2000 Mitsubishi Lancer Actually she didn't do many kilometers on it and my younger brother took it but l did drive it a couple of times it was nice to drive when my brother got it the Lancer had about 3000kms on it he did a lot more than that unfortunatly our nephew was driving it and wrote it off but been a Japanese car from 2000 it would have lived a long life
This thing is amazing!
I've had lots of fun in 1.0 ax and 1.2 novas..
My dad used to have something similar to this but it was a later gen Lancer, 2003 GLX with a 1.3L engine that had around 80 hp iirc. It was slow as today's Mirage but like the Mirage it did the job of a basic A-B daily driver and even took long trips in hot desert climate very easily. Fast forward to today, I have a 2017 GT model with a 2.0L engine and CVT. I actually wanted a Suzuki Kizashi but that was already out of production by the time I got my license. The last gen Lancer was the only one that was similar to it both inside and out and available new at a decent price.
And ofcourse regardless of the version of Lancer you bought, it always had that classic coca cola bottle shape with circa '80s boxy aero design, and a boy racer wing if it wasn't a base model.
Only new car I can think of that is something remotely like this is the current gen Mazda 3 sedan and Nissan Z car. Neither have a wing but not impossible to add one.
I'm pretty sure my dad's 96 maxima QX also had digital climate. Must've been a must have feature for late 90s Japanese cars.
Still many of those going around here in Cyprus. 90s early 00s jdm mitsubishis were peak japanese reliability.
And less likely to rust than here...
@@HubNut yeah the only car ive ever seen here with rust was my grandmas Austin Morris 1100 lol we loved that car as kids and we still talk about it very fondly
You can get an app for your phone that measures you speed and also there is an app for converting metric imperial and US measurements which I find useful. Mila's Tools
Good vid! The cars colour does offset the lighting a bit, but only slightly.
Actually it might be just my telly, nvm.
Surprised they didn't use their 1.5l SOHC, same power output. They slapped that digital A/C in everything bar base model, evos got it.
Had to pop over to auto trader quick look nice 2010 di 2.0
Usually you can tell a conventional automatic from a CVT by the gear selector. If it shows multiple gears (e.g. P-R-N-D-3-2-1) it is a conventional auto, if it doesn't (e.g. P-R-N-D-L) it *might* be CVT but could also be a conventional auto.
Have you ever driven a Daimatic? Was a two-speed semi-automatic gearbox fitted to Daihatsu Charade G11 in the 1980s.
I sadly haven't.
Remember a bloke at work had a uk lancer with rear wheel steer 🤓👍
Don't believe these ever had rear wheel steer, but the larger Galant did for a time (4WD and 4WS).
Another great review. Im not sure I've ever seen these on the road down here in Plymouth
Nice!
Not many Mitsubishi's of any model left in the UK.
I have diesel, 59 plate GS4, acording to How Many Left there are roughly 330!
Essentially the same body shape as mine, some internal controls are exactly the same.
I suspect your parcel shelf is fixed, you'll learn to hate it as much as i do!
'unleash the beast' I really hope that's the title of your autobiography when released
1.5 on Subaru Impreza when it was cheap to run.
Tiptronic...my XR6 in sports mode is disastrous on fuel economy. I never really bothered to evaluate it in tiptronic mode
Now that works for me good looking car.
The drivers blade is facing the wrong way up the spoiler is meant to face downward
I'll admit that as an Australian, this is what I think of when thinking of a CE Lancer, albeit with less bells and whistles. Well, either one of these, or a coupe with a sex spec bodykit and paintjob.
The sedans look elegant for a small car, like a slightly shrunken Magna/Diamante.
That little dog owns the car now. It's mine. Nice review.
"It does smell very nice...."
It does now says the dog!!!
Well - Mitsubishi Lancer gone up in my estimation… a very good, all round package. 👍
Mitsubishi lancer 😍😍
That mileage shown will be all miles as would depend on imported as a new or used car, many Japanese vehicle dealers recalibrated the speedos as often MPH ones were unavailable. If a used car the new reading would have started at zero so total would be unknown except in the original paperwork.
Not how it works. On this, like my old S-MX, I suspect an in-line converter changes the electrical signal, so from that point, it just records mileages in actual miles, and shows the speed in miles rather than kmh. It's still the same cluster it always had.
That attractive steering wheel makes up for a lot.
The summation by the dog peeing on it, tells me everything we need to know 😛
btw in this video I counted you pushing your glasses back up the bridge of your nose only 12 times
Fascinating
* pushes glasses back up bridge of nose
A guy i used yo work eith loved mitssies he eas obsessed abd yo be fair they do the job well nothibg flash abd unlike the equally as solid mazdas they are a readpnable price
I still haven't come across a sharper shifting manual, than on a 1990 1.5 litre Lancer. I don't know what they did.
An unusual non-Evo version was the 1.6 litre V6.