More Fun Than You Might Think: Mitsubishi Lancer GT

Back in my college days, it was nice to have your own car, but even cooler if it was dressed up with the requisite shiny "mags" and the swoopy body kit. It’s been a few years since I’ve had to cram for those awful four-hour exams, but judging from the parking lot of your typical AB college, I think the standard still applies. Now, I was reminded of this every time I fired up this GT’s motor.

The test unit had an aftermarket Ralliart muffler, and I must say, I take back every unkind comment I ever made about these "showboat" parts back in my wannabe-grunge days. At idle, it emits a very macho, deep-throated rumble that will set off car alarms whose sensitivities are set too high. It goes something like ‘BBRRROOMMmmm….", and frankly, it’s a noise I could listen to all day just to remind me that there is still a life beyond deadlines and credit card payments. No wonder all my blockmates wanted one. Being a "stealth" proponent back then, I shunned such "modifications" as a waste of money, although in retrospect I probably just said so because I couldn’t afford my own.

Like I said though, it’s an aftermarket part, so if you decide to get a GT, don’t forget to drop by the Ralliart counter.

So, what do you get for the GT’s asking price of P958k? The most significant is the upsized engine, the "4G63" 2-liter, DOHC, 16-valve unit rated at 135 PS and 18 kg-m of torque. If the engine code rings a bell, it’s because it’s the same one that 4-cylinder Galant owners have been using for years. Funnily enough, the Mitsubishi website even declares it to be the "legendary 4G63", which is probably more truthful than they’d like it to sound if you’re going after the crowd that eats up hip Mazda3s and Civics like there’s no tomorrow.

But that’s okay. "Legendary" won’t connote any fancy valve-timing technology or variable-anything, but it does say something about reliability. Owning a 10-year old Galant myself, I can attest to the engine’s durability even after thousands of miles of commuting and dashing to and fro under the guise of an "Italian tune-up".

Anyway, the rest of the "GT" package includes a 4-speed INVECS II transmission, a strut tower brace, race car-inspired bucket seats, white faced instrument meters, a Ralliart-inspired body kit (including an extroverted spoiler), 4-wheel disk brakes with ABS, a pretty good stereo with a retracting LCD monitor for your "dibidees", and a lovely MOMO steering wheel I reluctantly had to put back after I couldn’t fit it to my Galant. All of this, of course, is simply added on to the basic Lancer package which has been around for several years now and which, let’s face it, has always been lacking in sex appeal.

Were we to review a car just by skimming the brochures and ogling the highlights, we wouldn’t find anything here that particularly stands out from the pack. But having the opportunity to drive this one for around 700k, I have to say that I actually found myself getting attached to it. What’s more, my girlfriend proclaimed it to be quite a fun car to be driven around in what with those bucket seats and that goombah muffler droning away. And yeah, the body kit and the spoiler only seem pretentious at first, until you look at it a little more, drive it, look again, and realize hey, it actually looks pretty good now!

Give the GT a chance to stretch its legs and it does so with all the eagerness of a puppy. On long sections of highway and curving roads, you can have a really good time as the rally-bred chassis never puts a foot wrong while you sit securely in the cockpit. Lancers have always been eager dance partners, and the GT is even more so as you can enter and exit corners faster than the usual family car. What’s more, brake deeply into a curve and the tail will give you subtle warning signs through the pedal and the seat-of-the-pants before it becomes too late. Would that all cars of its class behaved as nicely as this one does…

The "sport" seats aren’t as body-hugging as I’d like since I still tended to shift a little on the zig-zags, although maybe my 30-inch waistline was also to blame for that. That strut tower bar isn’t just for show, either, as the front end is noticeably stiffer over the bumps while making it a little more eager to turn in. If you like to drive fast and know the nuances of apex-clipping, you’ll like this car. The "legendary" motor isn’t astoundingly powerful, short some 10 to 15 horsepower compared to the competition, but it does the job well enough. I wish Mitsubishi had paired it with the 6-speed CVT of the MX variant than the 4-speed INVECS, though.

C’mon guys, what’s the point of having a manumatic if you’re just gonna put four cogs down there? Like the other 4-speed manumatics of its class, shift for yourself and you’ll always find yourself wishing for an extra gear or two to speed up acceleration and make the whole exercise worthwhile.

In other respects, the car manages to grow on you the more and more you drive it. Driver sightlines are still one of the best in its class, feedback from the primary controls is always ample, and it’s pretty roomy too, with logical ergonomics. I don’t care much for the LCD screen and the DVD function (isn’t driving while watching dangerous?), but I suppose if you’ve got kids and a long drive ahead of you, letting them watch movies will help a lot in keeping the peace.

But, ahh, must that stereo head unit be so complicated? It looks like one of those models you wanted back in college in place of that boring OEM unit in dad’s car, complete with the tiny buttons and the fancy acronyms and inscrutable display screen. Or maybe that’s the point, no? Just another way to add more zoot to what is, in truth, another good car in a sea of good ones.

It’s not the most refined or the most sophisticated car in its class, but with all the latest enhancements, for better and worse, it’s one of those cars you end up liking more and more at the end of the day, and which gives you that feeling that it’s far from being just like anybody else’s.