2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR Long-Term Test

Why We Bought It
Durability
Performance and Fuel Economy
Retained Value
Summing Up

In a dimly lit hallway somewhere in Northern California we enter mid-conversation with a Mitsubishi engineer.

He says, "Guys who really want to go fast will buy the GSR model with the five-speed manual; it's stronger for guys who want to modify the car and it can be launched harder so it's quicker in the quarter-mile."

Another bystander chimes in: "I hear it's as much as 0.3 second quicker than the MR."

And another: "This is the car for performance enthusiasts who can't afford a GT-R."

Why We Got It
We walked away from this conversation with a simple idea: Take a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution GSR and modify it to beat the Nissan GT-R, king of all comparison tests, in a head-to-head duel. But with some sensible parameters. No racing fuel. No harsh, tooth-chipping suspension setup. And no matter how much we tuned and tweaked the Evolution GSR, it must maintain the split personality bred into it from the factory: half errand-runner, half GT-R hunter.

We'd give ourselves one year to modify the Mitsubishi Evolution GSR. And we'd chart our progress with tests on the streets, at the test track and on the dyno. Along the way our long-term blog pages would be full of impressions of the car's evolving standards of everyday practicality and livability. Would the new exhaust wake up our neighbors? Would the upgraded cam make stop-and-go traffic unbearable? These would lead up to the big question. Could we tune the Mitsubishi Evolution GSR to outrun a Nissan GT-R?

Our first full test of the Evolution GSR had left us wanting more. One unwanted side effect of the Evo X's larger size turned out to be weight, as the car turned out to be 250 pounds heavier than the outgoing Evo IX. And in our experience, more weight means less speed. The last Evo IX we tested clocked a quarter-mile pass of 13.3 seconds at 103 mph, while the Evo X ran 13.6 mph at 101.3 mph in stock form.

We knew we could do better. So we made a phone call.

Durability
Mitsubishi was quick to accept our request for a GSR project car. When the Evo pulled into our garage, it already wore some modifications that had been installed by AMS Performance. These included a cold air intake, front-mounted intercooler, upper intercooler pipe, AMS turbo cat-back exhaust and ECU reflash. Good thing this was the same GSR that we already had used in our full test, so we had its performance figures on file to use as a baseline. Our test was under way.

It's hard to get this car between the cones without overwhelming the clearly too-soft suspension.

With AMS Performance mods in place, the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo was a hit. Senior Editor Erin Riches noted, "Is the exhaust a little too loud to be practical? Yeah. But the rest of the modifications on our long-termer are right on. Much as Chief Road Test Editor Chris Walton wrote earlier, the mods help the Evolution X feel more like the Evo IX. They don't restore the high-rpm push of the old iron-block engine, but the GSR still feels like it might explode as the turbocharger ramps up to full boost. Whether you're on or off throttle, various interior panels are buzzing and vibrating as the car attempts to shake itself apart. But this is a good thing. This car is hard-core and demands that you accept it as such."

Throughout the test we scrupulously held to the factory-recommended maintenance schedule for the Evo. Long Beach Mitsubishi has always treated us fairly, so we visited the dealership for service at the 10,000- and 20,000-mile intervals. And the service techs addressed the hood latch recall that is now standard procedure on these Evos. We handled the 15,000-mile service ourselves. We should also mention that Long Beach Mitsubishi helped diagnose a mysterious fluid leak that developed between the transmission and active center differential (ACD). And that this leak ultimately pulled the plug on Project Evo. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Total Body Repair Costs: None
Total Routine Maintenance Costs (over 15 months): $180.61
Additional Maintenance Costs: $100 for fluid leak diagnosis
Warranty Repairs: Hood latch replaced under warranty
Non-Warranty Repairs: None
Scheduled Dealer Visits: 2
Unscheduled Dealer Visits: 1 to diagnose fluid leak
Days Out of Service: 20 (approximately) for parts installation
Breakdowns Stranding Driver: None

Performance and Fuel Economy
This test was all about the mods. As we added them, we tracked performance results to measure our progress. Baseline figures for the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution GSR:

0-30 mph: 1.7 seconds
0-45 mph: 3.1 seconds
0-60 mph: 4.6 seconds (with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip)
0-75 mph: 7.2 seconds
Quarter-mile: 13.6 seconds @ 101.3 mph

30-0 mph: 28 feet
60-0 mph: 113 feet

600-foot slalom: 70.3 mph
200-foot skid pad: 0.93g

Weight: 3,512 pounds
Tires: Yokohama Advan A13, 245/40R18 (front and rear)

The GSR arrived for its long-term test with aftermarket parts. Notably an intercooler and its associated plumbing, intake, exhaust and ECU reflash; all by AMS. These changes showed clear benefits in acceleration:

0-30 mph: 1.7 seconds
0-45 mph: 3.1 seconds
0-60 mph: 4.1 seconds (with 1 foot of rollout)
0-75 mph: 7.2 seconds
Quarter-mile: 12.8 seconds @ 107.2 mph

We had power on the brain. Project Evo X was quick, but quicker is better. Cosworth MX1 cams and dyno tuning by Road Race Engineering came next:

0-30 mph: 1.3 seconds
0-45 mph: 2.6 seconds
0-60 mph: 4.1 seconds
0-60 mph: 3.9 seconds (with 1 foot of rollout)
0-75 mph: 5.7 seconds
Quarter-mile: 12.3 seconds @ 110.3 mph

Wheels and tires were top of mind since the stock tires were nearly down to cords. We slipped on single-piece forged Volk Racing RE30 wheels from Mackin Industries to fit the wider set of Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 summer tires we had recently acquired from Tire Rack. The wider wheels and tires looked fantastic, but the stock suspension wasn't up to the task of exploiting them and the handling numbers reflected it. As Senior Road Test Editor Josh Jacquot noted following slalom testing, "Lots of grip but it needs sharper response. It's hard to get this car between the cones without overwhelming the clearly too-soft suspension. Needs more control."

600-foot slalom: 69.9 mph

200-foot skid pad: 0.93g

A flurry of activity ensued, accelerating Project Evo's metamorphosis. As Engineering Editor (and godfather to Project Evo) Jason Kavanagh documented, "The most dramatic of the changes is the bolt-on Garrett GT30R turbo, which came alive once we installed the 3-inch AMS Widemouth downpipe. Supporting mods to maximize volumetric efficiency include Cosworth MX1 camshafts and AEM intake, while high-flow fuel injectors from Injector Dynamics that are rated at 1,000cc/minute handled the fuel side of the equation. A stronger ACT clutch and flywheel helped us turn this thermo-chemical ballet into motion rather than smoke. We addressed our soft suspension issue with additional roll stiffness, found in a set of AST coil-over suspension pieces by Vorshlag. These units comprised a complete bolt-on solution, including camber plates, coil springs and double-adjustable dampers." Some braking improvements in the pursuit of more positive pedal feel and fade resistance were also made along the way and comprised Stoptech braided-steel brake lines, Stoptech 309 front brakes and Project Mu B-Force rears.

0-30 mph: 1.7 seconds
0-45 mph: 3.0 seconds
0-60 mph: 4.0 seconds (with 1 foot of rollout)
0-75 mph: 6.3 seconds
Quarter-mile: 12.4 seconds @ 113.4 mph

30-0 mph: 28 feet
60-0 mph: 111 feet

600-foot slalom: 71.3 mph
200-foot skid pad: 0.99g

Weight: 3,489 pounds
Tires: Bridgestone Potenza RE-11, 265/35R18 (front and rear)

Project Evo has improved dramatically from bone stock. Godfather Kavanagh explained, "It ultimately produced 388 hp as measured at the hubs by a Dynapack dyno on 91 octane, which is essentially an indication of 430 hp at the flywheel depending on which magical factor of theoretical power loss in the drivetrain you want to apply." What this meant to our test was improvement in all major categories: 0-60-mph improved 0.9 second; the quarter-mile was quicker by 1.2 seconds and trap speed by 12.1 mph; 60-0-mph was shortened 2 feet; slalom speed increased 1 mph; and skid pad grip was up by 0.06g. Overall weight was reduced unintentionally by 23 pounds.

For laughs we also kept a log of the Evo's fuel economy, noted below prior to modifications. Fully tuned, the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo GSR is still capable of mpg in the teens. But a heavy-footed day of instrumented testing at the track produced federal government levels of inefficiency. We notched a record low during its final test of 2.9 mpg, a mark achieved on 91 octane over 20 miles of driving.

Best Fuel Economy: 22.6 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 11.0 mpg
Average Fuel Economy: 16.9 mpg

Retained Value
We returned our GSR to Mitsubishi with 26,000 miles on the clock. And according to Edmunds' TMV^® Calculator it had depreciated 28 percent from its original MSRP of $32,990. This calculation assumes all performance modifications were removed beforehand. By comparison, our long-term Lancer Evolution MR depreciated 24 percent under similar conditions.

True Market Value at service end: $23,665
Depreciation: $9,325 or 28.3% of original MSRP
Final Odometer Reading: 26,002

Summing Up
In the end, our experiment was a success. Project Evo bested the GT-R on the Streets of Willow. (Well, the way we figure it anyway.) And then it drove straight from the track to pick up the kids at day care. We accomplished both objectives of this test. Tune the Evo to compete with a GT-R on the track. And do so without compromising its life as a daily driver. Somewhere in between the two we had a whole lot of fun doing it. So what did we learn?

There are strings attached when it comes to driving a 430-hp Evo to and from the office each day, especially if you're modifying an all-new performance car like we were. Once you start tuning one area of the car, you need to pay attention to the other areas in order to retain the overall balance. If you add front brakes but not rears, you'll regret it. Add a ton of grip but decline to alter the suspension and you'll feel it. Engine calibrations evolve as the learning curve is traversed. That's why it pays to find guys who know what they're doing. If those guys also own a dyno, then make friends. We had help tuning Project Evo. Without these folks our test could've been a disaster.

Why did the seal between the ACD and transmission give out, purging the ACD's contents into the tranny? We don't know. We just replaced the seal. Over the long term we might have determined a cause. But over the short term it still taught us a valuable lesson: Beware of the dealership if you have a tuned Evo. Any Evo warranty claims exceeding a set limit will require extensive photo documentation by the service technician. And that paper trail can void your warranty.

Do your homework before choosing to modify your 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. Then when you decide to do it anyway, have fun. We sure did.

The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.