I like to drive, to shift, to go fast, to take the curves. Pure and simple. And nothing suits that need like a cabin that speaks directly to the driver, without a lot of extraneous crap: lots of badly designed buttons, switches, nonsense. And the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer's cabin, despite a head unit that could be vastly improved, is fantastic...
Maybe it's relatively stripped because it's so cheap ($21,615 nicely loaded), as it seems the more expensive a car is, the more crap they need to put into it.
But it all works in this car. You get in, adjust your CD track and/or radio or hit the nav screen, and just GO. Enjoy the ride. Try to ignore the wing that feels like a manta ray following you. Feel your heartbeat rise as the tach swings to the right.
Doug Lloyd, Senior Copy Editor @ 16,892 miles
joefrompa says:
02:11 PM, 06/30/08
How is that price cheap?
That's an expensive economy car for a manual transmission, even with navigation.
My 06 Civic SI was 20k (pre-destination).
Joe
funkymunky says:
02:20 PM, 06/30/08
Because free of some of the extras, it's $17K.
bradyholt says:
02:36 PM, 06/30/08
It's not as if the Lancer is unique among economy cars in not having "extraneous crap." It's just the only car in the Edmunds LT fleet that you folks didn't order with all that extraneous crap.
cah11705 says:
02:45 PM, 06/30/08
isn't this lancer fully loaded though?
ahightower says:
08:36 AM, 07/ 1/08
Even with automatic climate control, bluetooth, trip computer, keyless entry and ignition, this Mitsu is a marvel of KISS, intuitive controls. Make mine a Ralliart, in blue, without the wing.
ahightower says:
08:39 AM, 07/ 1/08
...with a telescopic steering wheel and a real manual...
ahightower says:
08:40 AM, 07/ 1/08
..er, steering column, I should say. What happened to the edit feature?
Dan Edmunds says:
11:29 AM, 07/ 1/08
We are supposed to gain a preview feature to allow mistakes in comments to be fixed before submittal. It isn't working yet.
dougtheeng says:
06:19 AM, 07/ 2/08
"Because free of some of the extras, it's $17K."
Absolutely right. Its this price because of the Nav, keyless start, stereo upgrade package.
dodo2 says:
10:23 AM, 07/ 2/08
One thing that negatively surprised me about the Lancer is how poorly finished the trunk space is. I just noticed the other day looking at a vehicle in the dealer showroom that the trunk floor is just a piece of plywood, straight under the carpet without any finish. I wonder if this was an anomaly or they all are the same. Can you check yours?
stingray454 says:
11:57 AM, 07/ 2/08
I dunno - I'm not digging that interior at all. For $21k, there are a bunch of other vehicles I'd rather own, many of which have nicer looking interiors.