Mitsubishi Lancer 2009 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

Mitsubishi has announced a global safety recall on their performance hero, the Lancer Evolution, for a faulty clutch master cylinder on the five-speed H-pattern manual transmission. The defect means the rally rocket's clutch could fail and the vehicle be unable to be shifted in and out of gears, risking a collision.The recall affects more than 12,000 cars around the world built at Mitsubishi's Mizushima plant -- the sole source of the Evolution model -- between December 12, 2007 and March 5, 2013, and 407 in Australia. "There have been no incidents of failure in Australia," Mitsubishi spokesperson Shayna Welsh says. "A fix will take approximately three hours and customers will be advised to contact their local Mitsubishi dealer to book in their vehicle."The carmaker will notify owners, and their local Mitsubishi service centre will replace the clutch master cylinders of any affected cars.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

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.  

It's the brainchild of Queensland's Team Nemo driver and manager Chris Eaton who will debut the car at the World Time Attack Challenge at Sydney Motorsport Park on Friday, August 10. "Other teams you'll see at World Time Attack started out with a road car and added different bits along the way," says Eaton. "From the beginning, our car has been a definite effort to integrate the aero with the suspension and driveline. Our goal has been to produce something with the best ability in every area.'' It started life as a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII but and two years of development by American aerodynamicist and data engineer Andrew Brilliant it emerges as a track animal with aerodynamics "not far off an F1 car''. Just look at the stats: At 200km/h the 950kg car makes 1.6 tonnes of downforce which means - theoretically - that you could drive it upside down on the roof of a tunnel without falling off. The team uses special Hankook semi-slick tyres with enough load rating to cope with the downforce and a 600kW turbo engine that had to be programmed to automatically drop the boost in corners to stop the wheels spinning. "The car has more than 600kW at the wheels and would struggle to get that power down in the corners if we didn't moderate the boost,'' Eaton says. "The autoboost also improves engine reliability." It is believed the car will lap Eastern Creek at 1m29s which is as fast as Craig Lowndes lapped his V8 Supercar on full slicks.  

Based on the 2012 model year Lancer ES, the Lancer Platinum includes a host of upgrades to offer extra safety, convenience and style. Safety is boosted with a reversing camera and reversing sensors. Camera images appear in the electro-chromatic mirror.  Inside are a  number of luxury touches including leather seat trim, heated front seats and powered driver's seat with slide, recline and height adjustment functions. The deluxe leather centre console complements the leather wrapped steering wheel which features audio and phone controls for convenience along with voice activated Bluetooth 2.0.  Exterior enhancements include 16-inch alloy wheels, side air dams, chrome muffler tip and a special Platinum badge while the sedan model also receives a rear spoiler.  The Lancer Platinum boasts the efficient 2.0-litre dual overhead cam MIVEC four-cylinder engine, and is available in both manual and CVT transmissions, and in either the sportback or sedan body styles. The price is $21,690 for the manual and $24,190 for the automatic.

There's a two-year waiting list of 60 buyers for the $580,00 Ferrari F458 Italia, and luxury brands BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi also had strong sales months.  But its just not the high end of the car market seeing good times return.   New car sales rose 20 per cent last month compared to last November.Bargain buys and the Federal Government's small business tax break for new vehicles are driving sales.  Among the star cars last month were the Holden Cruze, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30 and Mazda Mazda3 - all with starting prices around $20,000.Toyota's workhorse HiLux ute was the best-seller for the month, clocking up 4230 sales largely because of the small business incentive package.  More than 85,000 new vehicles hit the road, up 14,000 vehicles compared to November last year.Many businesses are in a last-minute rush to take advantage of government tax incentives for utes and vans, which ends on December 31. "This is an extraordinary result that provides further evidence that the market and the broader Australian economy are showing signs of recovery," Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Andrew McKellar said."Business sales increased an incredible 35.4 per cent during the month; spurred on by the substantial incentives available until the end of the year," he said.  The off-roader segment was one of the most popular with sales surging 44 per cent.Top 10 cars - November1 Toyota HiLux 42302 Holden Commodore 39563 Toyota Corolla 33094 Ford Falcon 28635 Mazda3 25486 Holden Cruze 22747 Mitsubishi Lancer 20238 Toyota Camry 20039 Hyundai i30 199810 Toyota Yaris 1725

JASON Bargwanna has locked down a drive for the 2010 V8 Supercar season, joining Kelly Racing in one of the family team's Holden Commodores. Bargwanna loses his drive soon with the closure of Sprint Gas Racing but becomes the third Bathurst winner at the Kelly team alongside brothers Rick and Todd. His current team mate Greg Murphy is now expected to move to Super Cheap Racing in 2010 alongside Russell Ingall in a Commodore sponsored by Castrol.KEVIN Weeks and Bec Crunkhorn did it again in the tragic Classic Adelaide rally last weekend, scoring their third straight victory in a Porsche 911. The pair considered withdrawing after the fatal crash of Glen Tierney and David Carra, but carried on to the finish as Allan Simonsen won the modern category in a Mitsubishi Evo and Rob Devenish took the classic category.Gabriele Tarquini clinched his first World Touring Car Championship in Macau on Sunday driving a Seat, defeating his team mate and defending champion Yvan Muller. Tarquini was only fifth for the weekend but the one-time Bathurst V8 racer, who competed for TeamVodafone in 2008, picked up enough points to edge Muller - who has also raced at Bathurst with Triple Eight Racing - in the battle for the driver's championship.CHAD Reed took the lead in the Super X motocross championship with a clean sweep of the second-last round at Waikato in New Zealand last weekend. He heads to the grand final in Brisbane on December 5 with a 14-point lead over Dan Reardon after dominating on his Monster Kawasaki, taking 80 points in NZ from Tye Simmonds on a KTM and Reardon on his Honda.JUNIOR go-kart racers will get an elite championship series in 2010 when the baby class is returned to the four rounds of the official Australian CIK Championship. The KF3 category, formerly Junior Intercontinental, will be added to the KF2 and KZ2 titles in the championship program as karting officials look for a junior to succeed the likes of Ryan Briscoe, Michael Caruso, Tim Slade and Andrew Thompson as previous winners of the championship.THE Alannah and Madeline Foundation, set up following the massacre at Port Arthur in 1996, is the official charity of the 2010 Australian Grand Prix. The Foundation will received the proceeds from the official auction at the grand prix ball, to be held at Crown on Friday, March 26 next year.FORMER V8 Supercar team boss John Briggs has called time on his motorsport career because of a health problem. Briggs had just returned to the Australian GT Championship as a driver and agent for the Mosler sports car brand.V8 Supercars will race under lights for the first time at Yas Marina in the Middle East at the start of the 2010 championship season. The format for the meeting on February 18-20 will follow the successful pattern of the Abu Dhabi grand prix last month, with a day-night competition that will see the Falcons and Commodores blazing through dusk and into a fully-lit after-dark finale. 

The factory-backed Ford Performance Racing team is definitely set for a three-car operation in 2010 after expanding through a new deal with Rod Nash. The Bottle-O backed team owner, who is fielding a Commodore for Tony D'Alberto this year in V8 Supercar racing, is moving to the latest FPR Falcon next season with promising youngster Andrew Thompson on the shortlist for potential drivers.Mark Webber finished his most successful grand prix season in fourth place on the drivers' championship table. Two wins and a string of podium places were capped with another second for Red Bull Racing in the final race of 2009 in Abu Dhabi last weekend.David Sera and Matthew Wall have done it again in the latest major go-karting contest, sweeping their events at the Formula 100 nationals in Melbourne. Sera took his total of major championships to 10 when he won the Formula 100 light category while Wall took the 100 heavy final despite a failing water pump that slowed him in the later laps.Championship pressure has forced V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup to ditch his plan to compete in the Race of Champions in China against everyone from Michael Schumacher to Sebastian Loeb. Luckily, motocross star Chad Reed who, like Whincup, is backed by the Monster energy drink has agreed to fill his place at the RoC alongside retired MotoGP star Mick Doohan.A multi-car pileup took Marcos Ambrose out of action in the latest Nascar race at Talladega Superspeedway, leaving him classified 34th and dropping him to 18th in this year's Sprint Cup championship standings. But Ambrose has a firm drive for the next two seasons with his JTGD team after it renewed and extended its deal to race with Toyota Camrys from the Michael Waltrip stable.Honda rider Dan Reardon continues to lead motocross superstar Chad Reed in this year's Super X championship after beating him in the third round of the series in Perth. Reardon has a narrow two-point advantage over Reed, who won in Geelong on his Monster Kawasaki, with Jay Marmont just four points further back on his Yamaha in the open class battle.The Victorian sprintcar season fires up this weekend with some enticing prizes including a Ford Fiesta for the most successful racer in the A-main events of the Eureka Garages championship. The first race of the summer season through 2009-2010 will be at Avalon Raceway.The Australian Rally Championship will become a one-tyre series in 2010 under a new deal with the Korean company, Kumho. The move has been made to cut costs but is unlikely to help defending champions Simon and Sue Evans, who are expected to defend their 2009 crown in a new Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

"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.

The four-time national champion set the fastest time during a production-class shakedown ahead of Repco Rally Australia, which begins on the NSW north coast on Thursday night.Speeding along a dusty forest road south of Murwillimbah at up to 180km/h, Bates was quickly into stride with the Toyota Corolla his team designed and developed at their race base in Canberra to take to back-to-back Australian championships with Bates and Simon Evans as drivers.Bates clocked a time 1 minute 49.1 seconds in his Toyota Corolla, comfortably ahead of Norwegian driver Evyind Brynildsson in a Mitsubishi Lancer on 1:50.17, with Aussie youngster Eli Evans third on 1:50.8 in his Subaru Impreza. Japan's Toshi Arai, who leads the Subaru effort in the world championship, was also in the leading group with Australian co-driver Glenn MacNeal."That looks pretty promising. Testing doesn't mean a lot, and there are plenty of quick foreign guys who are still learning the Australian conditions, but it looks good," Bates said. "I'm very happy to have a few runs through the stage and to have the car running well. It felt very slippery at first but once I got more into the groove it seemed to be working well."Bates is one of two wildcard local entries, along with three-time Australian champion Cody Crocker. The Subaru star has graduated since to the Asia-Pacific championship and is just five points from claiming his fourth straight crown this season.Crocker clocked 1:51.5 over the test stage, according to unofficial times from the crews' co-drivers, but said there is more to come as he learns a car supplied by Tasmanian team boss Les Walkden in a late deal for Rally Australia."I've still got some things to do," Crocker said. "I'm just glad it's happening. It looked like we were going to miss out when our regular car from Indonesia didn't make it, but now we're here. How good is that?"Bates and Crocker are both hoping to upset the regulars of the world production car championship and believe they have speed, as well as local experience, in their favour. "I want to win Group N (production class). That has to be the target," Crocker said. "There are quite a few good foreign drivers so the pace will be incredibly quick. But no-one is fast on every stage so we'll aim to be quick and consistent." "I've got to beat Cody. If I can do that we should have a shot at the production class win," said Bates. "I also think it's fantastic to have Rally Australia back, and to have it on the east coast for the first time. It was a fantastic event in Perth, but the reality is that the east coast is where all the people live and this should give a huge boost to Australian rallying."REPCO RALLY AUSTRALIAProduction car testing (unofficial times) 1. Neal Bates, Toyota Corolla, 1:49.1 2. Evyind Brynildsson, Mitsubishi Lancer, 1:50.17 3. Eli Evans, Subaru Impreza, 1:50.8 4. Toshi Arai, Subaru Impreza, 1:51.3 5. Cody Crocker, Subaru Impreza, 1:51.5