Can we start some sort of petition?

I'm extremely disappointed that the American Lancer will not have AYC, ACD, or even the power ratings that the Japanese model has. Is there any way we could get a petition going that could be sent to the company to make them change their minds? I was dead set on buying a Lancer until I read the article about it in Motor Trend and discovered just how different our version is from the original.

I thought evolution occurred to better a species, not make it weaker and less formidable. Maybe it's the Lancer Extinction VIII.

stupid american laws and stupid shit like that

Cry me a river. You have a car that will outperform the Eclipse GSX's that people paid about as much for, you have far more HP, a chassis that's far more rigid, Recaro seats standard and brakes that would eat most cars alive. Not to mention one of the more sophisticated AWD drivetrains out there.

It's too late for complaining now anyway. It's POSSIBLE and it's been rumored that Mitsubishi may bring the active center diff on the '04 Evolution and it's possible it may be (relatively) easily swappable from Euro and J spec models, but I wouldn't count on either. For the price you're getting one of the best buys in the automotive market. I'm certain the viscous diff will be just fine. Talk to some Euro tuners who drive Evos and tell me if they even kept their AYC. If you've never driven a car with AYC or ACD then I don't see what you'd be missing. I think I've read this same complaint about 6 dozen times on several forums and each one makes me feel a little less sympathy for potential Evo buyers.

well i'm really sorry that you're so easily ticked off buddy. Maybe you need to cuddle up with a pint of Rocky Road and watch soap operas with all the other ladies, cuz I'm talking to people who DO care about the Lancer being Americanized. :flipa:

Have you ever driven a car with an active center diff or active yaw control?

I see the point that you're trying to make. I haven't exactly driven a car with Active Yaw Control, but I have driven a Honda Prelude Type SH with ATTS. From what I understand it's essentially the same technology except the Prelude is front wheel drive instead of all wheel drive.

The loss of the AYC and ACD in the American Lancer is not the only reason why I'm disappointed. I think they made quite a few bad changes in the American version. Some of the reasons also make sense such as the weaker engine due to our fuel of lesser octane, the ugly front end which they claim was so that it would pass crash tests. But the Altezza styled lights and the different writing on the rear end was completely unnecessary. We lose the ability to change the traction settings for different surfaces. It's as if Mitsubishi totally forgot that we have Snow and Gravel here in the states. I'm doing 360s in my prelude over here in the snow, i was really hoping the Lancer would totally solve my problem.
It's sort of like when you rent a foreign film that's dubbed into English and you can't enjoy it because through the translation, half the plot was lost.
Mitsubishi has had a pretty dull reputation since they axed the 3000gt series and totally screwed up the Eclipses. I thought they were going to have something really special with the Lancer, IF and only IF they brought something a little closer to what they have in Japan. They saw how badly we wanted it. We let SEVEN generations of the Lancer pass us by. They promised they would bring us the Evo but they never told us it would be the Evo 7's retarded cousin; Evo BillyBob.:bloated:

Yeah, the grill was to fit the FMIC and pass crash tests. The tails are ugly, I agree, but they're standard on the GT-A version of the Evolution VII as well. I'm glad you realized I wasn't trying to flame though. :p

The engine isn't weaker due to octane according to what I've read though. The engine itself is the same 4g63 powerplant used in all Evolutions, but there have been minor changes made (probably in the way of more restrictive cats and exhaust manifold) in order to keep down emissions. Apparently it's scraping the edges of US emissions standards. At any rate, I don't think anyone who drives or buys the car will be disappointed. I have to say I'm a huge fan of the new wheels. :)

EDIT: The reason I mentioned asking Euro tuners about AYC is because a lot of people remove it. It's heavy at around 40lbs and the benefits are minimal. I've heard it referred to as instilling "a false sense of security". It's sort of like idiot proofing an AWD platform so that it's harder to induce a skid.

Well i've still got like 3 years left in my prelude. Hopefully by the time I pass it on, the Lancer will be attractive to me again. I really had my hopes up. And a few months back I thought we were getting the Evo 7 here. So it's been a long chain of disappointments since that realization.

If you want to drop $39,900 you can import a Euro spec Evo VII RS II from Evolution Imports (http://www.evolutionimports.net). The cost vs difference to the Evolution VIII is a major deterent in my book, but the cars are beautiful.

Those goodies should come next year along with a power boost. MUHAHAHA!!!!!!

The Evo VIII while maybe starting at less than $30k will prolly cost ya $35k when you actually buy it from a dealer. That'll come down next year too.

Originally posted by HobieKopek
EDIT: The reason I mentioned asking Euro tuners about AYC is because a lot of people remove it. It's heavy at around 40lbs and the benefits are minimal. I've heard it referred to as instilling "a false sense of security". It's sort of like idiot proofing an AWD platform so that it's harder to induce a skid.

Japanese tuners are removing the AYC and ACD too. They change out the electronic diffs for the normal type, so that they can tune the handling themselves.
Gymkhana especially requires an alternate differential setup. Bozz Speed for example, tuned a diff to provide more oversteer in their Evo VI. FYI, Gymkhana is similar to American autocrossing, but with less cones(course must be memorized) and a lot of drifting.

Originally posted by VQuick


Japanese tuners are removing the AYC and ACD too. They change out the electronic diffs for the normal type, so that they can tune the handling themselves.
Gymkhana especially requires an alternate differential setup. Bozz Speed for example, tuned a diff to provide more oversteer in their Evo VI. FYI, Gymkhana is similar to American autocrossing, but with less cones(course must be memorized) and a lot of drifting.

Yup. I just figured it would be more likely that someone would talk to a Eurospec owner than Jspec. :p

Is there any truth to the rumor that all gymkhana events have at least one doughnut-like full circle in em?

Originally posted by HobieKopek
Is there any truth to the rumor that all gymkhana events have at least one doughnut-like full circle in em?

Nope.

Differnt countrys, and even differnt car clubs all have differnt ideas of what a gymkhana circut should be.
Many are exactly like the US Autocross, while others are much tighter, and signifcantly more complex, or a lot simpler.
The beauty of the gymkhana idea is you can make it as complex or as simple as you like depending on how much room you have and the skill level of the compititors.