The uncluttered design of the dashboard impressed us, as did the look and tone of materials used to dress the cabin. A band of plastic trim stretches across the upper part of the dashboard and divides it into top and bottom sections. The O-Z Rally uses a brushed aluminum color for the plastic trim panel, which blends nicely with the cabin's black color scheme. A Ralliart Sportback we tested used a soft-touch material.
The best interior value is the base Lancer ES. Our ES came trimmed in light tones. A broad piece of handsome woodgrain plastic trim across the dash warms the interior and looks richer than what we've seen in some of the newest SUVs. The pebbled material used on the top of the dash is nice and the satin finish trim on the center stack, center console, and shifter surround looks good. Lancer ES and LS models have a two-tone dash; the upper dash is a dark color, with a lighter tone below. The mouse fur around the door handle and armrest feels nice, but doesn't quite live up to the other materials.
The steering column adjusts vertically. We liked the feel of the thick wheel in the O-Z Rally, which is padded and covered by stitched leatherette. The steering wheels in the ES and Ralliart models we tested felt good but looked uninspiring in an otherwise handsome interior. Big, bold analog gauges are clustered beneath the arching cowl. Black gauges with white lettering are used in ES and LS models, while the O-Z Rally gets white-faced gauges. The Ralliart has an all-black interior with carbon-style accents and white-faced gauges with orange lettering at night.
The Lancer's dash design features scooped sections in front of each seat for roominess with a center panel of audio and climate controls that bulges out for easy reach by driver and passenger. Three rotary dials for the ventilation system are large and easy to use. Above the HVAC controls is the audio system, which suffers from tiny dials. The cup holders are big and solid, but there's only a small amount of center console storage.
The Lancer has comfortable and roomy rear seats. (And rear seat roominess is identical in all models, including the Sportbacks.) The rear seats in the Ralliart Sportback are highly supportive, and quite comfortable. The Ralliart models feature sporty headrests in the rear seats.
Sportback models feature 60/40 split rear seats with adjustable reclining seatbacks. The rear seats fold flat, providing 60.7 cubic feet of cargo area. The Sportback has 24.9 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats up. The trunk in the Lancer sedans offers 11.3 cubic feet of space, a bit less than Civic and Corolla.
Safety features include frontal airbags and three-point safety belts for all five positions. Front seatbelts have pretensioners with force limiters plus height-adjustable anchors, all of which can help reduce belt injuries in an accident. The Lancer was named a "best pick" by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's crash testing program. It rated four stars out of five in frontal impact testing by NHTSA, and only two stars in the government front side-impact test.
The Lancer Evolution comes with Recaro racing seats in blue and black cloth designed to accommodate a six-point racing harness. The three-spoke Momo steering wheel looks racy with its small airbag pack. The center console includes a special button for spraying water onto the turbocharger's intercooler for maximum horsepower, quite useful in rally events. Next Page