Driving Sports

Extra #17 - In this episode, Aaron takes a look at the 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart and Ryan hits the Streets at Willow Springs Raceway in the 2010 Subaru STI Special Edition.

iPhone App Bonus: Chase view of the Subaru STI Special Edition around Streets at Willow Springs Raceway.

Welcome to your Driving Sports Extra, for the third week of March, 2010.

It’s a slow news week, and we refuse report on the growing Prius epedemic. Instead, let’s take a double dose of turbo-charged goodness: First, I take a look at the 2010 Mitsubishi Sportback Ralliart, then Ryan track-tests the new Subaru STI Special Edition on the Streets at Willow.

Now, let’s get in to our Latest Obligatory Vehicle Evalution. Or as we like to call it, Extra! Love.

We’re going to take a look at the new for 2010, Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart. In spite of the very recent demise of Ralliart as an ongoing racing concern, the branded cars from Mitsubishi are still alive and well.

The Japanese-built Sportback Ralliart is powered by Mitsubishi’s 2.0L DOHC inline 4 cylinder MIVEC  with a single-scroll turbo, putting down 237 horsepower through a twin clutch sportronic auto-flippy system – the only transmission option. From the factory it gets an EPA estimate of 25 miles per gallon freeway and 17 miles per gallon in the city.

Pretty decent for an all-wheel drive sports car.

Fancy differentials are all around: a helical in the front, a mechanical in the rear and an active diff in the middle. This can be adjusted with a simple push-button toggle in the main cabin: snow, tarmac, gravel. These shift the front-rear bias of the drivetrain to optimize power delivery.

It has four doors, plus a rear hatch – commonly referred to as the fifth door. Inside it had the typical array of Mitsubishi plastics, plus a swank new digital display. Really, this is a huge improvement over the old amber unit, which looked like a relic from the 80s.

Our evaluation car arrived with the optional $2,800 Recaro sport package. This includes seats that may be a bit snug for American fatties, plus an over-hyped Rockford Fosgate stereo, pushing the total price to $31,060 – including a $720 destination charge.

This firmly wedges the Ralliart Sportback between Subarus STI and its WRX.

The Ralliart Sportback melds two things I love: going fast and carrying a lot of crap. Even though the new console display is a thing of beauty, the rest of the dash is downright ugly, which is unfortunate, because it’s otherwise a really fun car to drive if only I didn’t have to look at… that… while doing it.

I know my co-host Ryan isn’t a big fan of the Mitsubishi Sportronic transmission. In his original review of the sedan Ralliart he said it was inconsistent, but I’ll have to disagree with him. It’s the money. The German built unit shifts just when it needs to, immediately, every time. But, I don’t spend as much time on race courses as Ryan does, so his opinion may be more relevant if you do.

There are a lot of good automotive options in the low $30,000 range, and this car is not going to be right for everyone. But, if you’re a rally fan or just a fan of driving fast on tarmac, gravel or snow, it’s certainly one to put on your shortlist.

*For only a thousand more you can pick up a new Subaru Special Edition STI, which we broke the news on in our first episode of Extra! To see how it shapes up in the real world, let’s check in on Ryan, who should be landing at Willow Springs Raceway…  any moment now…

While Aaron was stuck in the northwest, trolling mall parking lots in the Mitsubishi Ralliart Sportback, I was attacking the Streets of Willow in the 2010 Subaru STI Special Edition.

What makes this STI so special? Suspension has been lifted from the Japanese-market spec-C, a 1-millimeter thicker rear sway bar, stiffer rear bushings and stiffer springs: 16-percent stiffer under the nose, 29-percent stiffer in the aft. Wheels, too, have been copied from the JDM model, which look great against the Aspen White body, but they sport the standard 245/40SR-18 Dunlop summer treads.

Sounds expensive, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, this Special Edition is actually less than the standard STI. Seriously. $32,900 and it’s yours. That’s $2000 less than the standard 2010 STI and only $1000 more than Mitsubishi’s Ralliart Sport Back.

How was Subaru able to bend the JDM-enhanced reality-distortion pricing model? It made some cuts in the stuff any track buff will surely not miss: the AC controls go old-school, with a standard knob replacing the automatic system; HID headlights are downgraded to halogen projectors and the stereo rewinds to the 2005 model year with a single CD head unit pushing four speakers.

If Subaru hadn’t provided me a list of these changes, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. Not today at least.

The drivetrain is unchanged from the standard STI. The already-potent turbo-charged 2.5-liter boxer motor puts out 305-horsepower and 290-ft-lbs of torque. This time tested and tuner-approved powerplant is attached to Subaru’s six-speed manual transmission with a driver-controlled center differential and all the usual go-fast goodies.

I’ve always liked the new hatchback version of the STI. Yes, even the hatchback styling. But, considering its potential, it was too softly sprung for tarmac.

This new Special Edition’s Spec-C suspension treatment fixes that issue, nicely.

The enhancements strike superb balance between capability and everyday drivability – without the need of costly aftermarket upgrades.

The new lower price just seals the deal.

The 2010 Subaru STI Special Edition will be available in dealers soon. The first 125 unnumbered, unsigned and unplaqued editions will be available exclusively in Aspen White. After that, it will continue to be available in standard STI colors for as long as people want to keep buying them.

That’s all the time we have for this episode.

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*See you next week, on the Driving Sports Extra!