2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution User Reviews

Pros

Mitsubishi Motors has been around since 1917 or 90 years experience in carmaking!

Cons

No other Japanese car manufacturing has the same 90 years experience than Mitsubishi!

Car owbers, Car experts and test drivers agree that the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution is the best and lowest priced stock car, high performance machine found around trhe world! I guess the 90 years carmaking experience is the reason for their know-how and nobody can beat that from Mitsubishi!

Pros

Very good performance for the price! 2.0L 4-cylinder that can run with the best V8's out there

Cons

looks very close to a normal lancer, not much "street cred" only real car guys would recognise it.

the technology on this car rocks!!! all of it's competitors need much larger engines and more than one turbos to keep up (WRX STI ; 2.5 twin turbo, R34 skyline 2.6 twin turbo)

Pros

Raw performance, recaro seats, suspension

I love this car, use it only on the weekends so i cant complain about gas especially when you have to use 93 octane and gas prices are going up every day. I would not recommend this car for long daily trips in traffic.

Pros

Best car in its class and beats cars in the upper class! Part sports car/part sedan!

Cons

NO cons

The part sports car and part sedan is the thing I love about the Mitsubishi Lancer evolution because I can hang-out with the club of sports car owners and at the same time go out with my wife and kids on a picnic. This is for people who loves both worlds, but does not need two cars to fulfill ones wishes!...read morehide

Pros

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX is a great performing car as well as a fun car.

Cons

Mitsubishi always try to better the next model.

Having seen the Motor Trend's video comparing the EVO IX and EVO X, the test driver says the EVO X is better than the IX in most aspects like, handling, steering, braking and ride. Good to learn the new EVO X comes with a better overall performance and an all new styling. The test driver compares it to a lower priced Porsche Cayman costing $75,000 with the same fun driving qualities....read morehide

Pros

this car is the best of the best,best, more better than the sti, and m3.

Cons

some noise inside, and the stereo.

the lancer evolution was the car of the year on 2004, and i see, the evo is the one of the best handling car of the planet, and one of the best on rally competition with the wrx sti, i don t spend my mony with a bmw m3 , is just lexury and is not fast like the evo is,is a very good car, is legendary........read morehide

Pros

AWD super car for under 30K

Cons

Need more power for straight and weak transmission

If you are reading this review, than presumably you may had already know most of everything about the Lance Evo. So I going to be taking about how my 9 months experience with my 2006 evo IX RS is like (and perhaps some of my personal bias also). The look on this cars is very bulky, and this is a fact not opinion. Whether you like that or not is up to you. I like it because it give a more aggressive racy look. The interrior dash are mostly plastic but that not this not the reason you buy an evo for. Speaking of reasons to buy evo, the grim reality is that the interior of the evo is cheap and that's is why I don't think anybody need to paid more for all the cheap extra stuff offer in any of the higher trims the IX, IX SE, or IX MR. So get the cheaper RS version and save those extra 4k to 7k for engines, tranny, and suspensions upgrade. As for the six speed in the MR version, which is one of the reason it was more expensive, the evo 286 hp and 289 lb of torques are too small to effectively utilized that extra 6th gear. In other words, by the time you hit 6th gear, you hardly have any power left to accelerate the car with the stock power. So the 5 speeds transmission is best for this car. Again, use the extra money you can shell out to upgrade the cluth and tune the engine by buying the base trim, RS.
If you live in CA like I did, for about $800, you can have your evo IX RS reflash that's good for about 50 to 65 extra whp with Vishnu Performance. Get a lowering sport spring for about $300 and your evo is a moster tracked machine. In other words, if you can get your mitsu dealer to sell you an RS for under $29k, which I did, and if you spend about $1K for engine reflash and lowering sport spring, you have a car that's fully capable of beating any thing out during autocross or track day for under $30K. If you want you can spend about for $5K more for turbo upgrade and more extreme engine tunes that's good for 400 whp to 500 whp dependent on you set up. We are taking about an AWD with about 400 whp that can 0-60 in less than 4 seconds and in low 3s if you are good at lunching AWD cars and capable of going all the way to 170-180 mph for under $35K. Plus the handling of this car is worldclass, so you're not just quick on straight but around bent too.
Still want all the extra dead weight and cheap stuffs from other higher trims? Bottom line is when you buy an evo, you're going to take it apart. Save youself the pain and money for upgrade ( or rubbers ) and buy the RS version instead.
Lastly, the ride quality on this car is not extactly what you'll comfortable at all. You will feel every bump and hole in the road, which is great for occasion like when you are sleepy, you can still drive home with you eyes closed because your body automatically knows where to turn and go by the feel of the road bumps and holes (just kidding, do not drive if you're sleepy, you'll put others and yourself at risk). Turbo lag is what people don't like about this cars, I on the other hand love it. As we all know, the more you're in turbo mode the more gases you burn. For about 80% of the time in dialy your driving, you be you don't need to engage the turbo to save gas, but you still have the turbo for the other 20% of your driving needs when you want. The close gear ratio does require shifting a lot, but the evo gear box is so smooth and perfect that you'll find youself craving to be playing with its gear box all the time. So if you're serous about tuner performance car, evo IX RS is the way to go. Don't forget to say hit when you see others evo driver.^_^...read morehide

i just need to add more to my review... Acceleration is neck breaking fast!. The close ratio between each gears meaning constantly swifting,some people like it, some don't, like myself. The brembo calipers does a great job on the stopping the car. I don't feel any turbo lag from the car. The exhaust note coming from the muffler sound very nice, just grawling. Try turning off the stereo & rev the engine pass 6000rpm, & listen to the sound of the car, those are music to your ears!^^ Another thing that is so special about driving an Evo is that, when i am on the road, other Evo drivers will wave at me or high beam to greet me. I do the same too, because i know we're driving a special car that not a lot of people could have. So if you do planning to buy this car, be prepare to be notice like it or not^^, not just from cops, other people too will notice. Some kids even took a picture of me when i was driving behind them.(okay, maybe it's the car)....read morehide

Pros

performance, handling & cornering, awd.

Cons

ride is a lil' rough, PRICE for gas, Cop magnet.

I brought my E9MR a little over 18 months now. I am just going to tell you about the car from my experience. Performance for this kind of money is second to none. Cornering is like the car is on a rail, like when the sign read 25mph into a S turn, i did 65 from beginning to end w/o braking. Appearance of the car is beautiful. Some people hated the rear spoiler on the car, but i love that spoiler not only it look nice, but it also functional. So far i never tried the ACD on snow before, so i can't say much about that. The interior is pretty decent, but could've been better, i can't complain. Recaro seat is very supportive, the momo steering wheel look & feel nice. The 6 speeds gearbox move smoothly from gear to gear. The back seats are comfy & leg rooms are decent for short trips, but on long trips leg room is a problem. The trunk room is better than all my past cars as they're all 2 seaters. The ride is rough on unpaved roads, but you could switch the ACD to gravel for better traction^^. Gas prices is not helping as the car drink gasoline like i drink redbull. Cops is a problem too, i got pull over after i just drove out the dealership for illegal mods, which i didn't even get a chances to do that yet. I got pull over 3 more times after that, 1 more for illegal mods(i had all stock), 1 for speeding, another for street racing?!?(which i wasn't, i was speeding & the guy just join in). i can't help it, every time i drove, some idiots with their ricer just tags along. i have to left them behind one way or another. Anyway, overall i love this car & i wouldn't trade it for any other....read morehide

Pros

Great steering, seats, suspension. Tough little motor with instantaneous response at high revs.

Cons

Hard to talk the dealer into installing cruise. A little bumpy going into 3rd gear sometimes.

Well, where to start? First, let me explain that the SE is like a regular IX, but it adds an aluminum roof (like the MR) and lighter wheels (like the MR) HID headlights (like the MR) and Alcantara fabric seats (like the MR). I'll probably draw some argument, but about all the MR adds is the 6 speed transmission and $3000. Plenty of torque for that 5 speed in my opinion.

The steering is a delight. When I get in my wife's GTI the steering seems totally dead. Yech! You will get used to the IX's steering and be spoiled from then on. I can't even stand to look at the wheel in the X. It looks big and stupid. Hey, I can't help it!

These seats are comfortable. I don't understand how people can say they drive something else as a daily driver or for long trips. I have a bad back and I've spent 14 hours in these seats. Makes me feel better than spending a day in my seat at work. And not just because it's twice the fun as working.

OK, I wish it had stability control. My old TT Quattro had it, and you could take off in the rain from a stop around a corner under full power and the thing would just track. The electronics would sort it all out and all you had to do was steer. Try to do the same thing with this and you're going seriously sideways. Maybe even going backwards after a while for all I know. I back off, but it costs you time, it really does. Anyhow, if you had it, you could always turn it off. When it doesn't have it, you can't turn it on.

Well, the acceleration and handling are great. Best to experience in the mountains on unpatroled roads, for sure. I won't tell you where. But it's also a hoot in your daily drive. If there's a hole in the adjacent lane, you will be able to adjust your speed, up or down, faster than 99% of what's out there. Go ahead - that's what it's for!

The problem with this car is, where are you going to go from here? The X would be an excellent way to blow off some cash and it looks nice, but it's too big and heavy, and that dopey steering wheel!

Logically, you just improve the engine on this one. My dealer will make the engine much stronger and keep the 10 year/100K warranty going. Smoke through the miles in 3 years and figure something hotter will be ready when you are. I think that's the way to go....read morehide