Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X FQ-330 SST Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X FQ-330 SST
Prices: £35,999 – on the road
Insurance Group: 20
Emissions: 257g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 4.4s / Max Speed 155mph
Fuel Consumption: (combined) 25.4mpg
Safety: Super All-Wheel Control, Advanced Stability Control, ABS, twin front and side airbags
Dimensions: length/width/height mm 4505/1810/1480

POWER PLAY

Our Rating: 7.6 / 10

Keen gamers will get the drift of the Lancer Evo X FQ-330 SST. Steve Walker reports.

Plenty of cars costing massively more try and fail to be as fast and involving as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X FQ-330 SST. The tried and tested Evo formula of 2.0-litre turbocharged wngine and advanced four-wheel-drive technology are supplemented by a high-tech twin-clutch SST gearbox. With 329bhp and a 4.4s 0-60mph time, this is a serious performance car big enough for the family. There’s nothing else quite like it.

There’s a whole generation of car buyers growing up who’ve already driven the Nurburgring Nordschleife in a Dodge Viper, taken Spa’s Eau Rouge with the throttle of their Porsche Carrera GT pinned fully open and screamed around Monte Carlo harbour in an F1 racer. They did it in the confines of their own homes at the wheels of games consoles but since these simulations are amazingly accurate, how hard could the reality actually be? The answer, as anyone who’s attempted to repeat their virtual driving feats in real life will begrudgingly testify, is much, much harder. Having said that, there are some cars with the ability to make going quickly seem spookily straightforward. Chief amongst them is the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and in FQ-330 SST form, it’s almost child’s play.

The Evo X is a landmark car. Through nine generations, the legendary Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution was based on the same rather innocuous compact saloon platform but the Evo X took its underpinnings from an all new Lancer. The thinking behind the car remained unaltered but Mitsubishi took the opportunity to thoroughly update the hardware that made it happen. From the four-wheel-drive and traction control systems to the SST Twin-Clutch Sports Shift Transmission gearbox featured here, the technology was advanced almost across the board. The Lancer moved from being simple but brutally effective to become genuinely cutting-edge.

Tell people you drive a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution FQ-330 SST and you should raise a few eyebrows, even if very few of those doing the raising will have a clue what you’re on about. The car sits in the centre of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo range with the entry-level below and the lunatic fringe above. It uses the same 2.0-litre turbocharged engine that does the frightening in all Lancer Evo models but here, with the benefit of an ECU re-map and a free-breathing sports exhaust, it develops 329bhp at 6,500rpm. Peak torque is measured at 437Nm and delivered at 3,500rpm but the FQ-330 is well into its stride a good deal lower in the rev-range than that. The onset of the intoxicating turbo rush that has defined the Evo since year dot is smoother in the latest car but a 4.4s 0-60mph time will leave nobody in any doubt regarding its potency. With the paddle shifters of the SST twin-clutch gearbox and a surfeit of traction from the S-AWC 4x4 system to marshal the power, progress is composed yet fearsomely quick.

The Evo X just goes when other cars trying to put similar amounts of power onto the road would be left fishtailing violently or impotently scrabbling for grip. Why? Well, Mitsubishi has built in a glut of advanced systems to keep everything going in the right direction. The Super All Wheel Control (S-AWC) system features an Active Centre Differential (ACD) and Active Yaw Control (AYC) while Advanced Stability Control (ASC) also makes an appearance. Rather like when playing a games console, then the driver plants their foot, the computers get to work on delivering the desired results.

The SST gearbox is no less clever. Using two clutches, it predicts and pre-engages the next gear before the driver selects it so that shifts can be made in a fraction of a second. Normal, Sport and Super Sport modes can be selected to determine the speed and aggression of the shifting. In practice, its operation is beautifully smooth and intuitive and it gives the Evo an extra dimensi