Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Evo VIII (2003 - 2005) 2.0 MR FQ-400 4d (2005/54) Owner Review

What does this car say about you?

I think the car says that ive done my homework and gone for a respectable and reliable choice of fast car rather than forking out for a so called supercar such as a 911 Turbo. Trust me on this though this car will probably cost you just as much as a turbo Porsche or Ferrari, even more maybe!

What do your friends / family / neighbours think of the car?

All my friends, family and neighbours all love it .............. until they drive it! Its all good having a 440bhp Evo but let people drive it and they soon see that its very hard to drive and very annoying to live with. My girlfriend has only driven it once on a 4 mile journey and simply refuses to drive it again!

Would you buy this car again and why?

I would never own an fq400 again even if it was giving to me for free! Ive driven a close friends fq320 and its twice the car that the 400 is. Its faster around town, twice as good on the juice and ten times easier to live with day to day. Mines going within the month and I havent even owned it half a year yet!

What are you likely to buy next?

Hopefully i'll part exchange this in the next week or so for a white e90 BMW M3. The same power output but 10 times better in nearly every single way!

Type of dealer you bought from?

Franchised

Did you buy this car new?

No

What price did you pay?

£20,995

When did you buy the car?

October 2012

Did you get a good deal and why?

All fq400's on sale right now are roughly the same price. Mine has only 14,000 miles on the clock and others have got triple that on for the same price I payed. I also got a free next service and MOT, good news considering these things need to be in every 4500 miles!

Is there any special reason why you bought this car?

I was looking for a fast and exclusive weekend toy that would pack more of a punch than my daily driven 322bhp Astra VXR. It only has 80 odd more horses under the bonnet but trust me when I say its in a completely different league!

What was the dealer like?

I went to look at it from my nearest Mitsi dealer and he talked to me in depth about the car and gave me every bit of info I needed to know about it. They wern't pushy or nagging in anyway and had the car serviced for me the morning I picked it up. Also threw in another service and MOT for free aswell. All in all a great buying experiance.

What's it like to drive?

I 'll cut straight to the point, its rubbish!!! If you want to see what its like watch the Top Gear review in full and its pretty damn accurate. The clutch is so sensitive that everytime you pull off you have to do it like a learner driver, if you dont give it atleast 3000 revs and perfectly find the bite everytime it will simply keep stalling and you'll be going nowhere. Also the turning circle is horrendous, Trying to park it in a space between two other cars cannot be done unless you perform a 3 point turn move. Then theres the fact it does 9mpg around town no matter how careful you drive annnnnd the huge amount of turbo lag in every gear except 1st because of the size of that monsterous single turbo. Your always dropping down the gearbox when the speed limit increases!

What's it like to park?

Like I said the turning circle is stupidly big, literally like a school bus! The allround visiblilty is fine though and you can see where your going when reversing.

Have you had any problems with the car?

Nothing has gone wrong with it so far but ive only driven about 700 miles in it since I bought it. The fq400's are very very very expensive to maintain and fix even compared to the less powerful models so my advice to anyone is to do some serious homework before even going to look at one of these things.

What's most practical about your car?

The actual size of the car is great. 4 doors and 5 seats mean me and 4 passengers can travel in relative comfort. The boot is also very decent and can fit quite a bit of shopping in. All in all its far more roomy and spacious than my Astra VXR. Sadly everything else is mind blowingly expensive!

Favourite gadget, option or accessory?

Sounds silly but it has to be that legendary 4WD system. Driving a FWD hatch all week you easily forget how well cars can turn into corners and how much speed they can build up on the exit. The Evo's 4WD system is without a doubt still one of the best in world! The car also pokes out another 40bhp thanks to an Owen Developments remap so thats not bad either.