We heard what you wanted
and we made you an Evo video.
Picture this.
It's 1993. We're in Japan.
You pull up to a stoplight in your brand new Ferrari.
You’re probably listening to Woomp There It Is.
And what pulls up next to you on the line but a four-door sedan with fog lights and
a big ass spoiler.
The little sedan next to you, apparently not understanding that you're in a Ferrari, revs it’s engine.
So cute.
You laugh,.
The light turns green.
And suddenly…
What just happened?
You my friend just met yourself a Lancer Evolution
and your life will never be the same again.
This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
The Mitsubishi Lancer was introduced in 1973. It was a good little car.
Small, fuel efficient, kinda boring.
In the 70s and 80s, Mitsubishi decided that they wanted to improve their global image
with motorsport, and their sport of choice was Rally.
They gave the little Lancer a bigger motor and took it racing.
It did well.
This was the dawn of Mitsubishi becoming one of the most iconic names in Rally.
By the late 80s Mitsubishi was developing a Group B program with an AWD version of their Starion.
Yeah, that Group B.
The Starion prototype performed well but before the car was fully developed,
Group B was outlawed following a number of fatal crashes in 1985 and 86.
So Mitsubishi was left with an almost fully developed racecar, but nowhere to race it.
So if you’re Mitsubishi, what do you do?
Well, you make lemonade!
You take the drivetrain from the Starion, you toss it under a Galant and you enter it
in Group A.
The Galant performed well from 1988 until 1992, but European rally stages suddenly got
too tight for big fat sedans and a number of manufacturers switched to
smaller, more agile platforms.
Ford replaced the Sierra with the Escort, Subaru the Legacy with the Impreza, Toyota
the Celica with the Corolla, and Mitsubishi the Galant with the LANCER BABY!
Guess who’s back in town dad, and I have an earing now!
In true Mitsubishi fashion, they took the guts of the Galant, and put it in the smaller,
lighter Lancer.
But they couldn’t just call it a “Lancer”.
The Lancer is boring economy car.
You're driving a project car baby!
Mitsubishi's project car.
This thing had AWD, a big turbo, racing suspension, aero..
It’s like an evolution of the lancer…
That's a good name!
Let's call it that.
THIS...is the LANCER EVOLUTION.
To conform with Class A regulations, 2500 road cars had to be produced.
So in October of 1992, the first Lancer Evolution One’s showed up in Japanese showrooms.
The initial run sold out in less than three days!
The RS version came with NO power windows, NO power seats, NO anti-lock brakes, NO rear wiper
and steel wheels.
Basically no frills.
But what it did come with was AWD and a 244 horsepower version of the legendary 4G63 engine. There is no Evo without the 4g63.
This motor is so good that upgraded versions of it powered every single generation of EVO
except for the final one.
In 1993, Mitsubishi tweaked the Evo I into the Evo II.
There weren’t a lot of big upgrades on this one--lighter sway bar, bigger spoiler, and
about 10 more horsepower.
Pretty standard upgrades for the second year of a build.
Our wallet’s still kinda hurtin from the engine swap.
My wife’s gonna friggin kill me.
I should also note that meanwhile on the rally circuit, Mitsubishi’s arch rival, Subaru,
is friggin killing it right now.
Colin McRae could do no wrong.
Mitsubishi, undeterred, kept working.
And in 1995, they introduced the kind of new, but pretty improved Evo 3.
New look, bigger holes in the front for better cooling, bigger intercooler for better cooler,
bigger spoiler, new sideskirts, different bumpers, higher compression in the engine,
and a bigger turbo.
--please do not tell my wife I spent money on a bigger turbo,
She's gonna kill me
The first big redesign though, came in 96 with the Evo 4.
The 4 RS came a new turbo and
which is basically a robot that tells the car when
to send torque to each individual wheel.
*Go that way*
Most importantly though, it also got two huge fog lights built into the front bumper.
How are people gonna know it’s a rally car?
You can’t see my Active Yaw Control.
It was it this point that Mitsubishi’s hard work started to really pay off on the rally stage.
Finnish racing legend Tommi Makinen won the WRC driver’s championship four times behind
the wheel of an Evo.
Uh, Subaru I would politely ask you to suck it.
The Evo 5 and 6 were more or less the same as the 4.
After all, this is a build.
In 2001, the Evo 7 moved into a new slightly heavier chassis and introduced a host of suspension
and engine tweaks.
More importantly, however, the Evo VII brought with it the Active Center Differential, which
in combination with Active Yaw Controls, allowed … and I’m not sure if this is the proper
engineering term, I’m gonna try and pronounce this right ummm...
Better four wheel skids.
While the world watched the Evo race through the woods, we guys in the US were f*ckin sidelined.
Americans were chompin at the collective bit for the nimble little 4 door sedan
with the big wing and the fog lights and the turbo
When Gran Turismo was introduced in 1997, both the Evo III and IV were included in the game.
Americans fell in LOVE with it.
When GT2 was released in 1999, it brought with it rally tracks--and of course,
the newly-redesigned Evo VI.
Now, North America could see what made the Evo series so devastating on the circuit,
and we wanted them.
If that wasn’t enough, Initial D f*cking happened!
The show was an introduction to not only drifting, but to the entire japanese automotive lifestyle.
It was the first time a kid like me from Louisville Kentucky saw that street racing
was more than just a bunch of fat rednecks drag racing their Stangs and Camaros across the bridge.
And if Takumi had such a hard time defeating the Emperor Team which was made entirely of
Evos, then this car must be pretty serious.
I mean I want one. Top 5 for sure.
In 2003, the year I graduated from high school,
the US finally got what we were begging for.
The newly tweaked Evo VIII made it’s way to North America, thank God.
*Thank you Jesus*
Lightened again, and with new Bilstein suspension, the Evo VIII adapted well to it’s new environment.
It changed the game, and despite the American version lacking the Active Yaw Controls, it
sold well.
There were numerous special editions of the VIII, including the devastatingly fast FQ
series.
FQ, of course stands for:
Top Gear showed the FQ400 could keep up with the Lamborghini Murcielago.
F*ck you Kanye,
*Lamborghini Mercy..*
I have an Evo!
Debuting in 2005, the Evo IX continued the Evo’s legacy of tight, corner-hugging speed,
and it was now fully available throughout North America, Japan, and Europe.
Using the Evo IX platform, Mitsubishi continued to experiment.
They produced not only a 6-speed Rally edition, but also a limited-run Evo IX station wagon
2007 saw the final incarnation of the Evo - the Evo X.
Despite lingering issues with Mitsubishi’s financial footing, they pushed ahead with
the car, and it was a fitting final model.
The exterior, for the first time, was designed in Europe, and the majority of the production
cars now topped out at 280hp but it was fat and didn’t have the 4G63 engine that powered
every one of it’s predecessors.
The Evo X literally didn’t have the heart of the EVO.
The Evo X was produced for almost ten years.
Throughout that time, few if any major updates were made, and Mitsubishi struggled to sell
In 2016, the Evo was finally retired.
and much to many people’s dismay, the Lancer name (and with it the Evo’s legacy) will
most likely be reincarnated as a crossover.
I feel like I'm gonna puke
but I also feel like I'm gonna sh*t too..?
So I don't know if you guys wanna....
Should I take my mic off?
Despite this, for many, the enduring legacy of the Evo series is one of pure fun:
It's a race car; it's hard to drive!
The clutch is too stiff.
But it has four doors and enough trunk space to fit a decent amount of groceries.
Let me buy one JESSICA!
It’s as if Mitsubishi bought a boring four door lancer in 1992,
and then improved on it a little bit every year.
But eventually they ran out of money and had to sell their project.
Here’s hoping that one day, they can figure their finances out and build a new one.
That's everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Mitsubishi Evo.
We're gonna start doing give-aways, so let us know what you would want us to give you.
What's your favorite generation of Evo? When was the first time you saw an Evo?
Would you rather have an Evo or an STI?
Who can blow the biggest clouds?
Evo owners? Or STI owners?
Should I get my teeth fixed?