2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart Drive Report

By Justin Kaehler

Justin Kaehler

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1,205 views Jun 17, 2010

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My week with the 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart had the potential to be a great one. A wagon version of the standard Lancer Ralliart, which itself is a detuned Lancer Evolution X, the Lancer Sportback Ralliart is more than capable of giving me the ability to break off some WRX-driving fools at stoplights. And should I decide not to street race, the Ralliart could at least fulfill whatever road rally fantasies I may have over the next seven days.

Unfortunately real life, and the responsibilities associated with it, got in the way. I got my Lancer Sportback Ralliart just as I was moving into a new apartment. So instead of bombing canyons for seven days, I would be using the Lancer Sportback Ralliart to haul boxes, donate boxes of unused items, haul whatever pieces of furniture my wife decided to buy, and subsequently return said pieces of furniture upon deciding that they don’t quite match her ideal decor. But if the driving gods saw fit to smile upon me, perhaps I’d get the chance to get at least one spirited run in.

Being a detuned Evo, the Ralliart doesn’t get the fancy aluminum body and suspension pieces, the extra chassis braces, or all the differentials and traction assist systems of its more extreme brother, but there is a lot of good stuff to be found here. Take a quick glance at this rally wagon and you’ll find a turbocharged 4B11T engine (detuned to 237 horsepower), a six-speed TC-SST dual clutch transmission, a full-time all-wheel drive system with Active Yaw Control, and a more aggressive suspension and tire package. 

And thankfully, I did get one glorious night in which I was able to wring out the Sportback Ralliart over some deserted, twisty roads. Outside of a slight bit of turbo lag now and again, the Sportback Ralliart’s acceleration is best described as immediate and brutal. I had to use neck muscles that I didn’t even know existed just to keep my head upright as the Ralliart gained speed, moving ever faster as the paddle-shift, dual-clutch gearbox swapped cogs in the blink of an eye. The steering is so communicative as to be telepathic, always encouraging me to repeatedly attack corners and relish the Ralliart’s seemingly endless levels of grip. The stop-right-now brakes were on a mission to detach my retinas with every hard stop, but they always brought things to an abrupt and safe halt.

Like a child hopped up on Red Bull and Pixie Sticks, the Lancer Sportback Ralliart is at its happiest when it’s running at full speed. And just like that child, the Ralliart is miserable when it’s forced to slow down. Turbo lag increases, the too-sensitive steering gets tiresome, and the suspension becomes jarring and uncomfortable. Most noticeably, the TC-SST transmission seems to lose all sense of logic and will change gears as if it still had its learner’s permit. Sometimes the transmission will shift up way too early, taking the engine out of its powerband; other times it won’t shift at all, letting the engine bang on the rev limiter. This results in a vehicle we’d almost hate to drive every day. Almost. Given how great this car is at speed, it’s worth the limited suffering just to have those few moments of fun on an open road.

The hard-core sporting nature of the Ralliart’s performance extends to the cabin. Gearheads will find a lot to get excited about in here. My test car had the optional aggressively bolstered Recaro seats (the same ones found in the Evo), steering-column mounted magnesium paddle shifters, and leather-wrapped steering wheel and ball shifter. All the driver interface points felt solid, robust and purposeful, and as one who always complains about seats being too shallow and wide, the tight and narrow Recaros were more then welcome.