2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX

The twisting handling track at Mitsubishi's Okazaki proving ground--a riot of chicanes, decreasing/increasing radius corners, and yes, a 50-mph jump--has been used to test and tune each Lancer Evo from 1993 on. And after just one lap, you understand why the 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX leaps out of corners, doesn't bottom out when you jump it, and flicks so controllably through a chicane. This car is perfectly adapted to this environment. Evolution: It's how you improve the breed.

Even in Version 9.0, the Evo formula remains a familiar one: a lightweight Lancer sedan donor car, with a turbocharged 2.0-liter engine and idiot-resistant all-wheel drive. But power has been increased beyond the old 276-horse limit (according to the so-called gentleman's agreement among Japanese automakers) to a new official 286 horsepower at 6500 rpm, while torque has been cranked up to 289 pound-feet at 3500 rpm. The added torque comes from Mitsubishi's MIVEC variable valve-timing (an Evo first), and the horsepower increase is due to the turbocharger's larger and more direct compressor housing outlet.

There's hardly a dead zone in the rev range anymore. Down low, MIVEC remaps intake-valve phasing to optimize grunt, and the new compressor housing is claimed to reduce turbo lag by five percent, which means power delivery is far more linear prior to the car going into warp drive at 3500 rpm, where wide-open-throttle boost pressure soars to 20.2 psi. The results are immediately obvious and are further enhanced by new gear ratios (first, third, fourth, and fifth) in the five-speed transmission. Other 2006 engine minutiae include longer-threaded spark plugs (cooler-running), materially different timing belt (more durable), a cosmetic engine cover (resists heat better), and a reshaped oil ring (reduces oil consumption). For those who care about such things, the 5000-rpm rev limiter is still active from a standstill. It has nothing to do with optimizing a launch; quite the contrary. Mitsubishi engineers says this is to protect the pinion of the ring-and-pinion in the front differential from a sudden shock of gear-shredding torque. Japanese-spec Evos don't have it because their tires aren't as grippy as ours, and they allow some wheelspin on a hard launch. So now you know.

An available under-car front airdam extension and rear-wing Gurney flap reduce aerodynamic lift at the front and make real downforce at the rear. While it's difficult to be sure of these claims, the car did feel exceptionally stable on the interesting side of 125 mph while rim-firing around the 45-degree banking and storming into an 80-mph sweeper. The Pontiac-style grille splitter of the Evo VIII is gone; the Mitsu badge now floats in the grille as with Evos VII and earlier. Head- and taillamps get a smoky mirror finish, and the foglights reside in specific oval oculars. New, double five-spoke Enkei wheels are fitted to IX and RS models with a net weight savings of 0.33 pound each. The cockpit of the Evo also is slightly changed: No more low-rent cloth and workaday Lancer dash colors. You get a black-painted Momo steering wheel and black leather/Alcantara Recaro front buckets. Titanium- and carbon-look dash panel accents and aluminum-covered pedals are standard on the regular Evo IX, but not on the RS version.