Mitsubishi Evo VIII, Rally Bred

Stunning performance from a turbocharged 2-litre engine delivering 301 bhp is the trump in the pack of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 FQ300, to give the car its full name. When I jumped in the car, the questions were: Would the handling and brakes be up to it? Would it be temperamental?

The short answer is that this is the whole caboodle. Everything has been worked over with the rally experience in mind to produce an all-round performer and the acceleration is shattering and in the supercar league.

The first thing that struck me when I slid into the car was the neat little Momo steering and the deep Recaro bucket seats they could have been off the winner of the World Rally Championship Evo. They're mounted quite low, and hug your hips you wouldn't want to be overweight to drive this car.

I dipped the clutch, and started the engine, which roared into life, and then burbled away. To my surprise the clutch was light and progressive -and remained that way. Highly civilized, not a problem in congested traffic or when driving flat out.

Despite its modest base I mean, the Lancer is one of the most pedestrian cars you can buy in Japan the Evo has nice lines. True, it lacks the naturally sporty line you get with a hot hatch, but it all works well.

From the new long curved nose, through the wide eyebrow wings, which curve back into the door, and the rear wings which bulge out from the rear door. Neat and sporty. At the rear is a massive spoiler, big enough for a Grand Prix car. Unfortunately, it is just at the wrong height right in the middle of the rear view mirror and you certainly need to keep looking that way at lot. There's a very useful air outlet just over the engine in the hood with so much power in a tight space, the heat needs to get away.

Phenomenal 300 bhp 2-litre engine

Mitsubishi's high-performance two-litre engine must be one of the most remarkable engines in production anywhere. Supercars included. It is a simple little engine, with a cast iron cylinder block, and were it not for the heat haze that rises as soon as you lift the hood, you'd have no idea this was anything special. Well, that is until you saw the brightly polished air intake pipe from the turbocharger to the manifold that's a real giveaway. There's a massive intercooler to cool the air as it comes out of the turbo, but that is hidden right down at the front.

Spray to give extra cooling to the intercooler

One of the unusual features is a nozzle that sprays water from the washer bottle onto the front of the intercooler to free up a bit more power when the engine is working hard. You can switch it to automatic, or keep pressing manually no doubt you'd let the co-driver do it manually if you were rallying. It's redundant on the road, except in the odd situation.

This engine is rated at 301 bhp at 6,200 rpm, and it delivers 300 lb ft of torque at 4,500 rpm, enough to move the compact body around at lightning speed. Oh, and if that's not enough power for you, there's a 330 bhp engine on offer! Too much power? Oh well, choose 276 bhp which comes with a five-speed gearbox. This modest looking engine churns out 150 or even 165 bhp per litre. Very few engines can match that.

Burbling exhaust inside but turns heads outside

As I drove off the noise of the exhaust, which burbles at low speeds, was the only hint that I was driving something different. And the heads that kept turning to see what was coming. At higher speeds, the noise is a muted boom, which oddly enough is not tiring.

Wonderfully docile engine with stunning power

This is a wonderfully docile engine; I trundled along at 40 mph in sixth gear in traffic with no snatch and no dramas. Just like your average 100 bhp mill. It all changes when you hit the open road, though.

On dry roads you can make a really fast start with about 4,500 rpm, and she just goes off; no wheel spin that's all taken care of and no stalling; the Evo VIII just hurtles off with a roar. Before you've time to adjust yourself, you've hit the speed limiter at about 7,700 rpm, and grab second; almost straight away, you need to grab third. After that you're getting into illegal territory if you keep your foot down for long.

First gear is good for about 40 mph, second for 60, and third looks good for about 90 mph. By the way, the top speed is quoted as 157 mph, and this car takes a little under 5 seconds to reach 60 mph from a standing start no wonder those first two gearshifts come up so fast.

Hard ride at low speed better the faster you go

Evo VIII is very much a car that grows on you. At low speed the ride is just about as hard as you can get you know it when a tire goes over a coin. The fat tires send a lot of road noise into the car, and you feel every bump in the road surface every bump in the road surface. The seat holds you in position,, and removes the worst of it though. The Evo VIII is most unhappy over a rough road at 20-30 mph. The good news is that as the speed rises, so the ride improves. It never has the suppleness of some cars with this performance, but it irons out the bumps reasonably well.

With strut suspension at the front and multi-links at the rear, you need stiff suspension to keep the geometry right for fast cornering. And for the sort of airborne maneuvers rally drivers get into. Once you get onto sporting roads, though, the suspension set up really works, and you don't notice the bumps much.

On motorways, and where there is plenty of overtaking room, the engine shows just how tractable it is. You just flex your foot a bit, and the speed zooms up from 50 to 70 mph in fifth or sixth and you breeze pass ordinary cars. Even here, the character of the car starts to shine through, tracking beautifully through the fast curves, with nicely weighted steering not too light.

Easy overtaking in sixth; startling in third

When you need to use the real power, you shift down to third. Although the gear selectors are rather notchy, shifts are pretty quick. the shift from fifth or sixth to third is quick because the gear lever is spring-loaded toward the third-fourth gear gate and then watch it fly!

The first time I did this I was driving along behind a car at about 50 mph along a country lane. I dropped into third, stepped on it, and turned out. Shattering power went through to all four wheels and we hurtled past, as the needle of the rev counter shot up. Just plain astonishing acceleration. Immense safety because you 're past so quickly this is one of things critics of fast autos forget.

Masses of cornering power

I was out on some quiet country roads with plenty of bends. I soon found that with the combination of fat 235/45 ZR17 Advan AO46 tires sitting on 8 inch rims and four-wheel drive, the car has masses of cornering power. The power steering is very direct, so on most of these roads it was a case of just turning the wheel a shade at each curve, and feeling the car go round on rails. On high speed curves, you can feel a big of g force pushing you into the marvellous seat, but for most road conditions the car has much more grip than I can use.

A shade of under steer

On a slow but long bend you do get some reaction; wind the power up fairly slowly through a really tight one, and the front end starts to move out as the under steer comes in.

On the other hand, you can unstick the back end by putting the power on as you turn the wheel into a sharp bend. In the dry, this is all very progressive and good fun. The yaw control prevents things getting too out of hand, so you end up thinking you're a better driver than you are! I didn't get to drive the car in the wet surprising, considering how much it rains round here.

The big Brembo brakes are also superb; very powerful, and progressive, and of course are backed up by ABS.

Although the steering is precise, most of the time it is pretty dead, lacking the feel you find on a real sports car. Of course, you can't compare this with a sports car; it has four seats and a good trunk, and a much higher center of gravity than a low two-seater.

If you want to know about the fuel consumption then this is not the car for you; use the power and you won't get 20 miles to a gallon. I suppose on a long motorway run you'd get about 25 mpg.

Super pocket rocket

This is one fine super pocket rocket. It looks different enough to justify the tag, and the magnificent engine is backed up by good steering and suspension, and terrific traction from the four-wheel drive. You also get superb seats, a nice steering wheel, and a pleasant interior for a low price. Probably not the car to drive in all day, owing to that ride and road noise, but the seats are real gems.

Performance is simply stunning, yet you can trundle along in traffic no problem. The four-wheel drive, ABS and active yaw control that's the one that helps correct your wild driving if you corner too fast and three-mode four-wheel drive give you immense control, but you can still have some fun. The three-mode four-wheel drive lets you set the front:rear traction split to suit tarmac, gravel or snow, which is one more of the rally features that's on the car.

The instruments could be a lot better. There's a tiny speedo, red on black which you can hardly see, so to make sure you keep to the speed you want to or are obliged to you need to work off the rev-counter, which is bigger. You do get used to it, but at first you've no idea how fast you're going, and needless to say you're going a lot faster than you imagine.