Seldom-seen Mitsubishi Evo IX MR RS for sale
One-of-232 rally special packed all the good bits from Mitsubishi Racing into the Evo's lightest model
If there’s anything to take away from this year’s SEMA show, it’s that anything can be improved with mud flaps and a set of spotlights. Yep, Toyota USA’s GR86-based, GR Yaris and Corolla-engined Rally Legacy Concept has got us all wistful about '90s rallying. Not that Toyota’s current Rally1 machine, which is loosely based on a GR Yaris, isn’t very cool - but you wouldn’t say no if it were replaced tomorrow by the Celica-style GR86 concept. Especially if it meant we got a road-going, all-wheel drive version to go along with it.
Obviously, there’s a new GR Yaris to scratch the rally special itch and it isn't completely impossible the Corolla will land in Europe one day. But if it weren’t for them there wouldn't be a single rally special on the road today. The Hyundai i20 N was a front-wheel-drive hot hatch that you can’t buy anymore, while the Ford Puma ST is a sporty crossover with little in the way of rally tech. A far cry from the era the Rally Legacy Concept harks back to, when humble saloons and coupes were being crammed full of motorsport hardware to give manufacturers an edge on the rally stage. The Japanese were among the very best at it, with Mitsubishi dominating the latter half of the '90s with the Lancer Evo.
Four world championships were won by Tommi Makinen in Evos III, IV, V and VI, though Mitsubishi had fallen behind the competition by the time the Evo IX you see here arrived in 2005 and would bow out of the WRC as a manufacturer the same year. That’s in part down to WRC cars becoming less road-relevant (Citroen never did make a 300hp all-wheel drive Xsara, sadly), with Mitsubishi never really getting a good grip on the purpose-built WR ruleset. Fortunately for everyone other than its rally drivers, the road-going Evo was better than ever. While design changes between the VIII and the IX were minor (mainly tweaks to the front and rear end for better airflow), more significant gains were made under the bonnet with an upgraded turbo and variable valve timing raising power to 291hp.
This, however, is no ordinary Evo IX. Countless special editions were released over ten generations, and we got a fair share of them through Mitsubishi importer Ralliart UK, but the MR RS wasn’t one of them. With a production run of just 232 units, the MR RS came with all the top-drawer hardware from Mitsubishi Racing, including 10mm lower Bilstein dampers and Super Active Yaw Control, and melded it with the lightweight, rally-focused RS trim. That meant a close-ratio five-speed gearbox, a limited-slip diff, aluminium roof and a very basic interior.
It’s a proper, featherweight rally special that, frankly, wasn’t fully intended for road use. Mitsubishi (and rival Subaru, too) would build stripped-out, basic versions of the Evo to sell on to independent rally teams who’d take a hacksaw to them the moment they’d enter the workshop. That’s how close the Evo was to rally ready and, naturally, makes the RS model’s purity so much more valuable to collectors.
That’s why the asking price for this MR RS is £54,985. It’s only just come over from Japan, mind, with all 22,000 miles having been covered in its home country (and has therefore yet to see a salty road). That doesn’t take away from the fact that you could drive away in this non-RS MR for £14k less, or this Evo VIII RS for a further £2k discount, but the car we have here is for those wanting the closest thing to a rally car short of a full-bore WRC machine. One of those will set you back many hundreds of thousands, which does make this MR RS that little bit more appealing…
Sat trying to work out where it would fit into a garage. Unfortunately I don’t have enough money as this would probably be 4th or 5th car.
Not the daily. Not the special sports/super car. Not the bare bones focused car.
That being said, if I was in the market for something like a new Yaris GR it would be hard not to consider this instead!
Everything that seems to be lost on most car designers today
And NO- I am not an EV hater
Just ordered 2 Tesla Model Ys for my partner and another friend
I just love focussed light nimble cars that to me need to have a great sounding ICE
My Sunday Toy is light, focussed, gloriously non PC, does 15pmg and gives me 500 BHP in 1445 kilo ( including driver of 75 kg, 90% fuel and all other fluids)
EV will get better- think mobile phones and the capabilities of the phones we carry around now compared to what they were even 10 years ago
I just love the rumble/roar of a powerful V8 with loads of low down torque
If I had space I would buy this one in a heartbeat
personally id buy a stock 9 and upgrade to rs diff and improve the suspension etc to modern spec.
It's an RS, so you're supposed to throw out the bits of basic equipment that are provided (like the seats, the brakes) and prepare it for motorsport. Mitsubishi only provide the basics, on the basis that they will be removed anyway.
If you just drive it like a road car, you'll find yourself falling out of the seats and finding the brakes to be (unsurprisingly) rubbish. As others have said, you'll be better off with the cheaper road-based normal version.
It's an RS, so you're supposed to throw out the bits of basic equipment that are provided (like the seats, the brakes) and prepare it for motorsport. Mitsubishi only provide the basics, on the basis that they will be removed anyway.
If you just drive it like a road car, you'll find yourself falling out of the seats and finding the brakes to be (unsurprisingly) rubbish. As others have said, you'll be better off with the cheaper road-based normal version.
It's an RS, so you're supposed to throw out the bits of basic equipment that are provided (like the seats, the brakes) and prepare it for motorsport. Mitsubishi only provide the basics, on the basis that they will be removed anyway.
If you just drive it like a road car, you'll find yourself falling out of the seats and finding the brakes to be (unsurprisingly) rubbish. As others have said, you'll be better off with the cheaper road-based normal version.
The very thing that made these cool in the first place is that you could do the school run and then go rallying, and they were in general sold to people who did daily them. Part of the fun was putting up with the rubbish interior on a daily basis and subjecting your kids to the turbo boost on the school run - you really won't get that experience going for an occasional drive in this. As such, I don't find it particularly desirable anymore!
The very thing that made these cool in the first place is that you could do the school run and then go rallying, and they were in general sold to people who did daily them. Part of the fun was putting up with the rubbish interior on a daily basis and subjecting your kids to the turbo boost on the school run - you really won't get that experience going for an occasional drive in this. As such, I don't find it particularly desirable anymore!
Makes me want to have an Evo again.
A car with so much character and capability.
TX.
I drove Lancaster to and from Milan in mine and could only manage about 150-180 miles between fuel stops. It was an epic journey. Crossed Switzerland Chiasso to Basel in about 2 hours, including having to turn round to refuel
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