Tweet

In the first two parts of our Mitsubishi Evo X MR review we went over the car’s looks and driving impressions respectively.  In this third and final part I’ll wrap it up by talking about the most important part of any car: its livability.  All too often we as human beings look at an awesome performance car and imagine all the fun we’ll have with it but neglect to consider the fact that we will probably have to drive it everyday.  Driving an awesome performance car everyday sounds great on paper but lets take a moment to think of “everyday” really means.

It means driving in traffic, carrying your stuff around, carrying your friends around, taking long trips, washing, maintenance, parking, checking your mirrors/blind spots etc.  Those types of things can turn an awesome performance car into the bane of your existence really fast.  So how does the Evo X MR stack up in this area?  It stacks up pretty well actually.

First I’ll talk about interior room.  As you can see the Evo X MR is a 4 door car so naturally the interior is quite roomy.  There is plenty of head space and the rear passengers will have adequate leg room.  Of course things can get slightly cramped if the driver were to put his seat all the way back but hey, driver comfort comes first!

When it comes to trunk space there is a definite trade-off.  To help distribute the weight evenly Mitsubishi put the car’s battery as well as the windshield wiper fluid reservoir in the back with their own compartments.  There is also an enclosure for the Rockford Fosgate sub woofer.  These factors all work to help the car feel a little more balanced but it does cut back on trunk space a bit.  However, there is still more than enough room to store your groceries or enough luggage for a few days.  When a packed up for my SEMA trip I wasn’t forced to put anything in the back seat.

My first experience driving the car was a 4 hour drive from Long Beach to Las Vegas for SEMA.  That’s about as good a drive as any to get yourself used to a car you’ve never sat in before.  The first thing I noticed was how much leather-clad Recaro bucket seat conformed to me.  It was pretty comfortable, at first.  Although I have to say after more than a few hours of driving the seat did wear on me a bit but that can be said of almost any seat so I’ll give the Evo a pass there.

There are some shortcomings when it comes to actual driving position.  My biggest gripe with the interior is that the steering wheel doesn’t telescope.  If it does I certainly couldn’t figure out how to do it!  I’m about 5’10 so I am not extremely tall but I like a lot of leg room when I drive.  However when I moved the seat back to give myself said leg room my arms had to be fully extended to hold the wheel.  So I had to sacrifice some leg room to get a comfortable grip on the wheel.  If the wheel could telescope the interior would be very close to perfect.

Generally speaking the interior controls are intuitive, especially the steering wheel mounted controls.  However the user interface on the touch screen audio/gps system can get confusing and tricky to navigate.  There is a special feature called “music server” which instantly records  all the songs off any CD you play and saves it onto the system’s internal hard drive so you can go back and listen to those songs later without the CD.  This is a brilliant idea but in practice it can get a bit cumbersome trying to find a specific song on the server.  I’d recommend taking some time to learn the ins and outs of the system before jumping right in.

When it comes to things like keeping the car clean I would recommend hand washing either by a professional or yourself if you have the time.  Being that the MR comes with absolutely beautiful BBS wheels; you definitely do NOT want to put the car through a machine that will take a large abrasive brush to your rollers!  Because the body lines on the Evo are simple, it is easy to really get in there and get any road grime off the car.  The fact that the MR doesn’t have the large wing also aids making cleaning duties easier as well.  Things can get tricky when it comes to the front grill as bugs like to get trapped in that area but its nothing a little elbow grease can’t handle.

During my time with the car I washed it twice, once myself and once at a professional handwash place as you can see in the pictures.  I can tell you first hand that the Evo X MR is an easy car to keep clean and when its clean it is a thing of absolute beauty!

So now that you’ve gotten an idea of what the livability is like with the 2010 Evo X MR let’s wrap it up with the Pros and Cons:

Pros:
-Competitive price
-The car looks fresh
-Engine performance is amazing (no turbo lag at all!)
-TC-SST transmission rocks
-Plenty of interior room
-Great Rockford Fosgate sound system
-Easy to keep clean
-Sport suspension still provides smooth ride
-Intuitive interior controls

Cons:
-No telescoping steering wheel
-”Music Server” takes some time getting used to
-Throttle response could be smoother
-Fuel mileage could stand to be a bit higher

At the end of the day no car is perfect but with everything that you can get on the Evo X MR for the price (37k for the base MR and closer to 42k nicely spec’d) you’d be hard pressed to find another car that will deliver everything you get with the Evo.

Yes, the Evo X MR does have a few shortcomings but they’re nit-picky at best.  If I had around $40k to spend I would consider the Evo X MR very strongly.  A telescoping wheel would be nice but I don’t want one bad enough to spend an extra 5-7k on a German counterpart just to get one!.

To me the 2010 Mitsubishi Evo X MR is a BUY.

In part 1 of my review you got to know what I thought about the 2010 Mitsubishi Evo X MR’s looks and my superficial impressions of the car.  Now I am going to tell you about my experience driving the car.  Strangely enough my first time driving the car was right before I had to leave to go to SEMA.  So my first time driving the car was right before a 4 hour trip into the desert.  I’ll admit it was a bit daunting but exciting as well.

The first thing I noticed when I started to drive the Evo X MR was the power delivery and throttle response.  I was expecting turbo lag but I got quite the opposite.  The throttle response was immediate and the power felt like it was all there at once.  Which can be bad if you aren’t expecting it.  It is really hard to drive the Evo X MR without it kicking you in the ass every time the tip of your big toe touches the throttle.  However with sometime you get used to it and your foot learns how to treat the Evo with respect.

Once you have it down the Evo is a blast to drive.  Open roads are nothing but fun and traffic is a breeze thanks to the Evo MR’s twin clutch “sportronic-shift transmission” AKA ”TC-SST”, AKA sequential transmission.  Speaking of, using the Evo MR’s TC-SST tight and responsive.  Unlike the fake “sport shift” transmissions that seemed to become more and more rampant earlier in the decade.

The real beauty of the TC-SST comes through its three “modes”.  You see, you can take manual control by pushing the gear selector over to the side or by using the paddles behind the wheel or you can focus on steering input and flip the transmission into one of three driving modes.  There is “normal” which really needs no explanation and then if you flip the TC-SST switch up once you go into “sport” mode.  Sport mode gives you the 291 horses sooner and holds each of the 6 gears longer than “normal” mode.  It really feels like a totally different car but in a good way.  If you’re really feeling spicy then simply hold the switch up for about 4 seconds to engage “super sport” or “s-sport mode”.  This officially puts the Evo into full-on “Mr. Hyde” mode and transforms the MR into an all out beast.

When in super sport mode the computer keeps the car it its optimal power band at all times.  The revs won’t go below 4k, at all.  Super sport mode is definitely for track days only.  In fact when pro-drivers like Tlyer McQuarrie and Stephan Verdier use the Evo X MR for driving instruction they almost never use the manual mode.  They simply put the car into super sport mode and let it do the rest.  It seems to know the perfect up shift and downshift points.

The long and short of it is that the Evo X MR is never, ever boring to drive.  It always gives you everything you ask of it and never holds back.  It can be a brute when you want it to be a brute but if you have the courage to tame it you can make it drive as smooth as melting ice cream.  Either way it takes a real man or woman to handle all that the Evo X MR has to offer.  This car definitely wont make a novice feel like Michael Schumacher the way a Nissan GT-R might.  It simply gives you the weapons and expects you to know how to fight.

Next time we’ll go over the Evo X MR’s practicality.  Yes, this is a performance car we’re talking about but unless you have a lot of disposable income, if you buy the MR you are probably going to be driving it every day and that can make a world of difference.  Find out just how much in the third and final part of our review.

Tweet