Mitsubishi UK heralds 20 years of Evo
The first official imports of Mitsubishi's icon began in July 2000 - we've been grateful ever since
Imagine an automotive world without the Mitsubishi Evo, and how much worse it might have been. Think how much less the Subaru Impreza might have improved, without such a closely matched rival always making incremental gains. Think, too, how much less exciting the hot hatch might have become; there have been one or two comparisons made recently between the old Mitsubishi and the new Mercedes-AMG A45 S, the latter's rear-biased 4WD system being vaguely redolent of the Lancer. And, well, consider that 5,728 Evos were sold officially in the UK over 15 years - that's nearly 6,000 people who would have had to buy duller cars instead.
So the Evo's UK anniversary - the first car registered by Mitsubishi was on July 11th, 2000 - is a pretty big milestone for people like us. Because lots of cars have had 'Evolution' in their name, but only one comes to mind when you say 'Evo'. That's where more than 20 years of rally success, media adulation, video game notoriety and movie roles get you; Mitsubishi has called it "one of the world's most revered driving machines" in its press material marking 20 years, which is surely the least it deserves.
Appropriately enough, the first Evo registered here two decades ago was a Tommi Makinen Edition, price back then from £32,995 and with an initial allocation snapped up in weeks. Today that would be £49,000, which is about what you'd pay for an officially imported UK TME in 2020; this Japanese imported car, in red with the stickers, is £42,500 with 68,000 miles...
But while the VI was arguably the most iconic of Evo, the genius was there for many years after as well. Notable highlights include the introduction of an active centre diff for 2001's Evo VII, the arrival of the 'FQ' models from 2003 and the FQ-400 the year after that. The X that arrived in 2008 was a less memorable Evo, though anyone who's tried the more potent versions - notably the FQ-440 Final Edition - can vouch for them feeling pretty barmy against anything else from the period.
Today, tracking down a UK Evo might be the most difficult job, the PH classifieds currently only offering up this VIII FQ-320 as an official Mitsubishi car. Handily, however, the selection of imported examples available is extraordinary; see this 9,000-mile (!) Evo I, for example, or this amazingly bare bones VIII RS, wind up windows and all. For £50,000 - yes, really - Evo fans have the choice between this low-mileage IX FQ-360 or an older FQ400 while the later (and perhaps less loved) Evo X now looks like the value option. A lightly modified FQ300 SST offers a 400hp Evo experience for £15k...
So even though an Evo hasn't been offered to UK customers (or indeed anyone else) for a good while now, anyone wishing to discover what the fuss is about - and they really should - is spoilt for choice when it comes to secondhand examples. Mitsubishi says the Lancer Evolution's "technology and spirit lives on in the DNA of Mitsubishi Motors' current and future ranges of vehicles." That seems a tad disingenuous for the current models, though we live in hope of an Evo for the 2020s; as the rest of the world finally wakes up to the benefits of active diffs and torque vectoring, perhaps Mitsubishi could move the game on once more with an electrified performance flagship. Because we've been talking about old Evos for long enough - time to update the legend, Mitsubishi.
Evo IX/X image credit: Dafydd Wood.
It took a long time but the rest of the industry finally caught up and passed them, along with good build quality. After few years of VAG 4WD performance cars it's like a time-warp getting back into an Evo now - the build quality was poor, hence why they were so cheap.
Rust claimed most of them and in the last few years the prices have rocketed and as much as I would love another as a second car I just can't justify paying the prices for a good one.
Also they are coming into the age where they can be imported into the USA which isn't helping !
In the end he bought an E46 M3 instead (probably a better car, by all accounts), but I'm still hugely attracted to Evos, even now.I'm a big fan and I came very close to buying one back in 2006, but I ended up going the TVR route instead. I still feel like it is an itch that needs to be scratched though.
High praise indeed from the masters of the 'ultimate driving machine'
For what it's worth, my favourite was the Lancer Evolution III, debuted in Corsica 1995. One wonders what took Mitsubishi UK took so long to bring it to the UK officially, with the VI? Especially as there were a few 'grey imports' around, as seen in quite a few forest car parks throughout the country.
Wouldn't do it now, but it was pretty incredible thing to own the way it drove and how fast it was possible to go along any twisty road with so little effort, no matter the bumps, cambers etc.
It was far less well built than the Celica GT4 I sold before I got the Evo. Drove lots of Subarus and the odd Skyline at the time and the Evo was just right for me, nothing else felt the same.
I was 25 when I bought it, and now a little over a decade later, it's a car I still can't help but compare everything with. None of the Type R's have owned could live up to it, and it's been such a hard car to replace in my mind as the one I use as a benchmark for what a car can do (given the way I like one to drive and where - think Scottish B roads).
Lately I had a MK7 Golf R for a bit. On paper it was great, and technologically so far ahead of the Evo, such a nicer place to be. Despite thinking initially it would be a 'grown up' replacement for the Evo in my mind, it just did nothing for me, and I sold it.
Currently I've got an i30N and it's genuinely fantastic fun, I really enjoy being able to drive it reasonably hard and not be going tooo fast (being older I'm maybe a little more conservative) but still enjoy the fact it feels I'm driving. Think the i30 wins so far, and I didn't imagine I'd be saying that from a fwd car either.
ks.In real life, I knew a asian guy in college whose brother would import Japanese cars, he'd usually turn up to college in a number of grey import STI's.
I remember one day I was driving behind a fully liveried Evo 4 that just looked amazing.
Pull into the petrol station behind it and next thing a slightly large middle aged Asian women comes out of the drivers seat in full traditional dress and starts to fill the tank, the complete opposite of the person who I thought would be driving it, I just had to laugh.
The next day at college I mention this to the guy, turns out it was his mum lol.
Dream import garage would consist of a Evo 6 TME, STI ver 6 Type R and a Midnight Purple Skyline R34
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