Saturday, 8 May 2010

Road Test - Mitsubishi Lancer


















I rented a Mitsubishi Lancer for a quick in and out to the big smoke. The car was pretty zippy and a little buzzy, but a pretty smooth ride to Toronto and back the next day.

Great - handling and responsiveness. This car will get you through the multiple lane changes at top speeds, especially when you make the curve at Milton and the pace picks up so you can blow out the speed limit until you hit that dead crawl by the airport. It's well balanced and firm, and a comfortable ride.

Good - the mileage. Just under 9 litres per 100 km on the way to Toronto with full air blasting, and just under 8 litres per 100 km on the way back to Windsor with air off and defrost and wipers working. The rent-a-car dude insists that heating uses more fuel than A/C, and I'll buy that because he said so and who likes to argues with a twenty-something in a tie?

Room for growth? Interior design. The cockpit is bland and the dashboard is flat. Reaching the buttons for the radio has you reaching across almost to the passenger zone, and necessarily taking your eyes off the road to do it. The inside is boring and not driver-centric, and that electronic display is small and neon orange. It makes all the typical Japanese tweets and bleeps if you're into that sort of thing.

Would I buy it? Nope. Nice car, good quality no doubt, and it will be past it's design expiry date and headed towards yesterday's look before you pay it off.

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