Mitsubishi Lancer 2007 News

Cars are either being built worse -- or companies are getting better at detecting faults.a range of models made over the last 10 years replacing potentially deadly Takata airbags in 1.3 million cars in Australia. a second, airbag-related recall for the Priusreplacing potentially deadly Takata airbags in 1.3 million cars in Australia

Lancer and Evolution models are now being recalled as a precautionary measure by Mitsubishi because of Takata airbag shrapnel risk.

The Lancer has a 3.9 per cent slice of the sub-$40,000 small-car market, but faces off against a dominant Mazda3 with 18 per cent share, and the Toyota Corolla with 16.5 per cent. The small-car sector is virtually static in sales -- up just 0.9 per cent year-to-date -- but the buyer demand for compact, fuel-efficient cars means there are no signs of the sector weakening. Luring buyers with the value flag is the Mitsubishi ‘Special Action Model’ - or SAM - that gets a $19,990 drive-away price for a manual sedan based on the entry-level 2.0 litre ES model. SAM comes with metallic paint, choice of four colours, 16-inch five-spoke alloys, Ralliart front bumper and grille, VRX high-rise boot spoiler and extra bling. Mitsubishi has announced its “compact sedan” concept will become the next Lancer, but it could be three years away. The SAM is one of the special-edition models designed to maintain sales ahead of this next generation.  

"In the current economic climate everybody is looking for better value for money without compromise," Mitsubishi Australia president and CEO Robert McEniry says. "The new Lancer line-up lets our customers have this without breaking the bank." The Lancer range, which accounted for almost half of all sales for the triple-diamond brand last month, has been freshened with some minor exterior style changes, more extensive interior freshening and a limited edition RX model (from $21,990) with unique badging and wheel designs to sit beside the entry ES cars. Across-the-range changes include a new-look instrument cluster, improved ETACS (Electronic Total Automobile Control), synchronised windscreen washers, and premium VRX-style tail lamps as standard on all variants. The ES also gets extra storage with a floor console box and the availability of optional side and curtain airbags. Exterior changes to the mid-range VR model include a new chrome upper grille, and alloy wheel design while NVH has been improved with the inclusion of an insulated front windscreen to cut down on road noise. The high-end Rockford Fosgate audio system is also available as an option. The VRX and Aspire also win the sound-deadening windscreen and the premium audi system as standard. ES, RX, VR, VRX and Ralliart models are available with a sedan or Sportback body, with the premium Aspire offered solely as a sedan.

Mitsubishi Motors Australia revealed its Subaru WRX-chasing Lancer Ralliart at the Melbourne Motor Show. The price will probably be about $40,000 when it goes on sale in August. The newest Lancer family member is designed as a stepping stone between the ES, VR, VRX and blistering Evolution X. Mitsubishi president Robert McEniry describes the Ralliart as a “tougher version of the street-model Lancer.” The Ralliart is powered by a slightly detuned version of the 2.0-litre Mivec intercooled and turbocharged engine available in the Evolution X. Despite its lower state of tune, the car still pumps out 177kW and 343Nm and misses little in the way of performance features. It comes with Mitsubishi's twin-clutch sportronic shift transmission (TC-SST) automated manual transmission and full-time AWD with an active centre differential. Visually, the Ralliart has a distinctive front bumper design, rear spoiler and dual exhausts. Apart from the Lancer Ralliart, Mitsubishi will roll out the Lancer Sportback hatch later in the year. The Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart has a distinctive front bumper.  

Did we also mention sideways, scary and sensational? Probably not but, then again, the Corolla we are talking about is nothing like the $20,990 showroom success you will find at your local Toyota dealer.This one has true supercar performance, speed on any surface and the ability to tame the toughest roads and rivals in the Australian Rally Championship. It also costs about $150,000.The hand-built Corolla has carried Simon and Sue Evans to an unbeaten string of wins this year on their way to back-to-back successes in the championship. It has also delivered a second straight manufacturers' title to Toyota and its rally boss, Neal Bates.Officially, the car is called a Group N(P) Corolla. Unofficially, it is a Celica GT-4 stuffed inside a Corolla body.To turn the Corolla from a sensible small car into an outrageous rally champion, Bates and his Canberra-based engineering team returned to the days when Toyota ruled rallying and snitched the go-fast stuff from the Celica, its turbocharged 2.0-litre engine and the basics of its all-wheel-drive system and five-speed manual gearbox.It took a lot more tweaking, with local developments in the electronics, driveline, brakes and suspension.But the Bates team came up with a car to go head to head with the Subaru Impreza WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer in rallying.There is only one way to really see how it goes, and that is to strap yourself into the TRD Toyota team's spare car; identical to the Evans Corolla; for an inside look at the recent NGK Rally of Melbourne.This is the final round of the 2007 title series and is run on high-speed gravel roads in the Yarra Valley.There are two days of competition, with 48 crack crews. There are the two serious TRD Corollas driven by Evans and Bates, two Ford Fiesta entries for Michael Guest and Darren Windus, and a raft of privateers led by Spencer Lowndes in a Lancer.The Corolla experience begins two days before the Friday start at Docklands with a quick sprint at a TRD test day. The Corolla fits perfectly, as you'd expect from a custom-made carbon fibre bucket seat, fully adjustable steering wheel and five-point safety belts.The turbo engine lights up from very low revs, the all-wheel-drive system fires the car between corners, and it rides over rough roads as if they are freeway-smooth bitumen.Evans is wickedly quick. Bates is fast in an all-new Corolla; with new body, non-turbo engine and special gearbox. He is developing it for a full-on attack next year. When the rally begins on the special stage near Yarra Glen, the fast guys are gone and we; myself and co-driver Anne Gigney; are back in the pack.It feels as if the Corolla is courting disaster, sliding sideways at more than 130km/h and dancing through all sorts of corners and firing up-and-down on narrow forest tracks.But the TRD terror is never threatened. Evans is going at least two seconds quicker for every kilometre, so the guest car is barely working. Just like driving the Corolla ARC.It is clearly a Corolla but, just like a V8 Supercar, the mechanical changes mean it is only the body that stays the same. Everything else is upgraded and more responsive and far, far more enjoyable.The Corolla is supercar-quick in a straight line, has mighty brakes and grippy Michelin tyres, and turns as if it is driving on bitumen. Until you tickle the throttle and set it sideways. Shortcomings? It is obviously noisy beyond anything acceptable in a regular road car. It is hot and dusty, with no airconditioning, no luggage space and seats that grip great but are not very comfortable.It is also thirsty. It sucks $3-a-litre Elf racing fuel like a hungry V8.But the Corolla ARC proves what can be done with smart minds, focused thinking and a TRD Toyota parts bin that makes a mundane car into something very special.  

The NRMA Insurance reversing visibility index shows 12 vehicles, including the Toyota Corolla and Holden Commodore, fail to receive any stars in testing.The test, established because of the deaths of 17 children killed by reversing cars in driveways, measures how well a driver can see out of the back of the vehicle.Of the 12 vehicles with a zero rating, five fit into the small-to-medium segment.The result has prompted the NRMA to call on manufacturers to consider installing reversing camera technology in all cars, not just bigger vehicles.“Without a camera, blind space can range from 3m to 15m,” NRMA Insurance road safety manager Pam Leicester said.“That's a large range for children to be hidden from a driver's view.” With an average of one child run over in their own driveway every week, Ms Leicester said it was time to start focusing on improving visibility in all models.“There has been a focus on four-wheel-drives and reversing but as our results show, that's an issue for all types of vehicles right down to small cars,” Ms Leicester said.“This is a real concern because many of these vehicles have hazardous reversing blind areas, usually caused by high rear window lines and boots.”Vehicles that received a zero rating included the Holden Commodore (Epica and Viva), the Hyundai i30, Mitsubishi's Lancer and 380, Toyota's Corolla, Prado and RAV4, the Honda Civic and the Odyssey, as well as the Hummer H3.Overall, however, the results have improved from last year with more manufacturers adopting reversing cameras.This is especially the case in the four-wheel-drive and luxury segments. Only five vehicles offered reversing cameras either standard or as an option last year.The technology was available on 15 vehicles this year. They gained either a 4 1/2 or 5-star rating.Ms Leicester said they were particularly impressed with the new Toyota Kluger, which has a reversing camera as standard on all models.The top performers given a five-star rating were the BMW X5, Ford Territory, Honda Legend, Lexus GS430, IS250 and LS460, and the Toyota Kluger; all offering a camera as standard or as an option.“We encourage all manufacturers to start thinking about putting reverse cameras in their vehicles,” Ms Leicester said.“At the time of manufacture, it's a very small cost.”Ms Leicester said after-market reversing cameras also could improve visibility and were available for between $200 and $300. How they rated NRMA insurance reversing visibility indexBest: BMW x5, Ford Territory, Honda, Legend, Lexus GS430, Lexus IS250, Lexus LS460, Toyota KlugerWorst: Holden Commodore, Honda Civic, Honda Odyssey, Hyundai i30, Mitsubishi Lancer, Toyota Prado, Toyota Corolla 

A seven figure tally was “in the bag,” Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Andrew McKellar said as record sales figures for November were released.New car and truck sales in Australia leaped by more than 10 per cent last month with 92,081 vehicles were retailed last month. That took demand for the 11 months to the end of November to 963,732, an 8.8 per cent improvement compared to the same period in 2006.Buyer confidence had not been noticeably interrupted by rises in interest rates and fuel prices or by the Federal election.“Unless a comet hits Australia the million mark will be comfortably surpassed,” Mr McKellar said.“The passenger vehicle market has consistently grown at more than eight per cent. As for 2008, at the moment we would again expect a volume of around one million.”While importers flourished on the strength of the strong Australia dollar, local manufacturers continued to bleed as private buyers continued to favour imported cars such as the Mazda3 and Mitsubishi Lancer to traditional six cylinder family cars.Buyers also gravitated to medium SUVs and twin cab pick ups such as Toyota's HiLux. New model activity has grown the total SUV market by 15.6 per cent during the year.Toyota was the top selling company last month with 20,956 vehicles, ahead of Holden with 12,498 and Ford on 9,219.Toyota was also the leading company on a year-to-date basis with 216,034 vehicles, well clear of Holden on 136,216 and Ford on 99,094.In the process it sold more vehicles to the end of November than any automotive company has sold in a year.Toyota remains the only automotive company to have sold 200,000 vehicles in a year.Even worse for the locals, the fully imported Japanese brand Mazda claimed that “more private buyers put down their money for our cars” than either the Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon, sales of which are sustained largely by sales to fleets.Mr McKellar said it was “critical” that the new Federal Government reviewed the form of assistance it provides to already heavily subsidised local manufacturers. 

This year has seen the market share of Commodore, Falcon and the Mitsubishi 380 fall to 19 per cent of new passenger vehicles, with only Toyota's Camry more or less immune.And while it was the biggest sales October ever, the share enjoyed by big Australian cars was reduced to 17.2 per cent. The lighter fare from Thailand achieved a best-ever 15.4 per cent. The Vfacts monthly bulletin, released this week by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, recorded that 89,289 motor vehicles were sold in October; an increase of 9359 on the same month last year.It beats the previous record for October, set in 2004, by more than 8000 sales. Year-to-date the market is up by 70,000 vehicles as it continues its charge towards breaking the one million mark for the first time.Yet against this bumper backdrop, 15,382 Australian-made units were shifted last month, mostly to fleets.Japanese-made cars continued their dominance but Thailand is where Honda's CR-V, Civic and Accord sedans are made. These and others, including Ford's Courier, which accounted for 13,825 sales in October.In sharp contrast to ever-diminishing local sales, that Thai-built percentage has increased by almost 50 per cent so far in 2007.Petrol prices are blamed for the decline of the great Australian six-cylinder. But the fact four medium-sized SUVs sold more than 1000 units each last month gives the lie to that.Yes, light cars, spearheaded by 1193 sales of the new Mazda2, experienced a sales surge, but the truth for the big Aussies is grimmer than the rising cost of the stuff that makes them go. The fact is that given wealth of choice, fewer and fewer Australians want the types of cars made in Australia.FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar says the locals have never had it tougher.“The intensely competitive situation in the motor-vehicle market is being driven to a significant degree by the ongoing strength of the Australian dollar,” he says. McKellar says 4400 Commodores (excluding utes) were moved last month, so with about 300 more sales than the Corolla, it is the nation's number-one seller.Toyota's eggs are in more than one basket with the ever-competitive Yaris, Camry, RAV4 and Prado prominent among its 20,212 October sales. Holden managed 11,415 and Ford 8206. It was the first time that Toyota had outsold the combined total of Holden and Ford in any single month.Year-to-date Toyota leads Holden by 71,360 with the launch of the new LandCruiser this month.If Toyota's lead is unassailable, surely the success story is Mazda.At number four, the leading full-imported marque sells not a single car to fleets or rental companies. They all go to private buyers.October's best-ever 7271 sales represented Mazda's 10th record month in a row. Mazda's year-to-date total of 64,929 already surpasses its 2006 full-year sales result of 63,664.  Snapshot   Country of originJapan 31,838Australia 15,382Thailand 13,825Korea 9830Germany 3901South Africa 2434Belgium 1525US 1448Spain 1422France 1206 The biggest sellers1 Holden Commodore (Australia) 44402 Toyota Corolla (Japan) 41233 Mazda3 (Japan) 31254 Ford Falcon (Australia) 24395 Toyota Camry (Australia) 19946 Hyundai Getz (Korea) 18967 Toyota Aurion (Australia) 18318 Mitsubishi Lancer (Japan) 14469 Honda Civic (Thailand) 140910 Honda CR-V (Thailand) 129111 Toyota RAV4 (Japan) 129312 Toyota Prado (Japan) 127313 Suzuki Swift (Japan) 119714 Mazda2 (Japan) 119315 Ford Territory (Australia) 119016 Toyota Kluger and Subaru Forester (both Japan) 117317 Holden Astra (Belgium) 111818 Mitsubishi 380 (Australia) 110019 Holden Captiva (Korea) 109320 Nissan Tiida (Thailand) 1087 

BMW 335iSubaru Impreza RSMitsubishi Lancer VRFord Mondeo ZetecThe rollout of the Carsguide Car of the Year finalists continues this week with another four of the best cars launched in Australia this year.Ford's Mondeo, which has taken Europe by storm, goes head-to-head with the all-new Mitsubishi Lancer, BMW's 3 Series sedan fired by the cracking twin-turbo six and the Subaru Impreza, which is the only car other than the Citroen C6 in Australia with five-star passenger and four-star pedestrian safety.For all the latest on the carsguide Car Of The Year each week go to www.carsguide.com.au/car-of-the-year