Mitsubishi doesn’t make fun cars any more. In fact, it hasn’t done so for the best part of a decade, switching its focus to very boring but (annoyingly) very profitable SUVs back in 2016. That’s when it canned the Lancer Evolution after 24 years and ten generations of all-wheel drive yobbery, a period filled with so much rally success and so many special models that they’re still keeping the Japanese marque’s motorsport heritage alive long after the company gave up on what it did best.
One of the many reasons behind the Evo’s immense popularity is that they really weren’t all that different to the cars Tommi Makinen achieved his quartet of WRC titles in. Mitsubishi nailed the production-focused Group A regulations, so much so that when a new ruleset was introduced in 1997 that allowed more purpose-built machines into the sport it continued its run of dominance with Evos closely linked to their road-going counterparts. It stuck to this formula long into the 2000s, and even though it would eventually get beaten by the Prodrive-built Subaru Imprezas (plus the all-wheel drive Citroen Xsaras and Peugeot 206s) Mitsubishi kept honing and refining its road-going Evo to at least stay within touching distance of its prototype-like rivals.
So the Evo has always been intrinsically linked to the company’s rally efforts. Well, all but the Evo X. By the time the tenth Evolution was introduced, Mitsubishi had pulled any sort of factory backing from its WRC squad and would be absent from the championship altogether in 2008. But what the X lacked in rally pedigree it more than made up for in performance, featuring a ground-up redesign with a brand-new, all-aluminium turbocharged inline-four. And like always, the X was practically a quantum computer on wheels, featuring the company’s latest Super All Wheel Control (S-AWC) torque vectoring system and, for the first time, a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox.
Obviously, countless special editions ensued, and while the Japanese market kept a fair share of them for itself, we easily got the best of the bunch via Ralliart UK. Several flavours were available in various states of tune, ranging from the entry-grade FQ-300 to the full-fat FQ-400, with the FQ-440 MR you see here being the fastest and rarest of them all.
Launched in 2014 to mark the 40th anniversary of Mitsubishi UK, the FQ-440 MR was crammed full of Ralliart’s finest go-faster bits to create the most dialled-in Evo imaginable. Power from its 2.0-litre four-pot, paired with the six-speed dual-clutch ‘box, was cranked up to a mammoth 446hp thanks to an HKS turbocharger, high-flow injectors, an upgraded intercooler and intake system and a remap to tie it all together. A freer-flowing Janspeed exhaust dialled up the noise, while new Eibach springs dropped the front and rear ends by 35mm and 30mm respectively. Then there were aero tweaks, consisting of a carbon fibre front lip paired with a small spoiler glued to the top of the rear wing. More carbon could be found inside, along with sportier bucket seats and an Alcantara-lined steering wheel, and if you think the carbon look on this model’s 18-inch wheels is just a wrap: it’s not.
That goes some way to explain the £72,900 asking price, which even by FQ-440 MR standards is on the high side. But Mitsubishi only built 40 of them, many of which have been subjected to further performance modifications and (more often than not) some questionable visual ‘enhancements’. This one looks to be as original as it gets, and seems to be in as fine a condition as its 7,782 mileage would indicate. Now, if the thought of carbon fibre wheels terrifies you, then perhaps consider this alloy-clad example for a near-£3k saving, or if you’d prefer your Evo with some properly rally heritage there’s this TME for dead-on £80k. There’s no shortage of special Evos to counter the firm's current crossover line-up - it's just a shame they’re not getting any more affordable.
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