MitsuRalliArt

I drove one. It is about the same experience on the freeway, but the gearing is too long for drag racing IMO. However, the car does rev quite a bit less on the freeway and makes for a quiter ride. Handling was not that impressive in comparison to the RA, but overall the steering wheel feedback seemed allright. Understeer came in a linear fashion as well.

My brother has a Tib V6 with brand new Potenza S-03's and I'm driving on Potenza RE92's with 26K. He can't even begin to keep up with me on the twisties. And this an 03, which is before they pussified the suspension in the 04 tibs.

The RA can slice and dice corners.

MitsuRalliArt

UPDATE:
I just examined some technical specs. The first four gears on the cobalt are approximately 10% taller than ours. This means there is a 10% reduction in torque to the ground versus our gearing. Fifth gear is way out there for fuel economy. The Cobalt can get to over 120 mph in 4th gear, so they chose to put a nice long overdrive gear.

Myszkewicz

iTrader: (2)

I wish Mitsu had done something similar with our 5th gear. It's a bit short, IMO. The automatics can go 86mph at the same rpm as we're running at 75mph.

lrh35

I agree completly. But what amazes me even more then that is how so few people know that mitsubishi has a car in this class. I still find that I have to explane what my cas is. People just don't seem to know and mitsubishi doesn't want to advertize it. I guess if people knew that it was faster then the eclipse with the same motor it could hurt sales on the other end.

WoRkZ

iTrader: (2)

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In fact, it appears they just wanna hide that model as best as they can! I've seen the new commercial announcing some free round of golf or something (WTF!?) and it seems like you can see every car in the damn lineup but the RA!

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lrh35

its weird. The RA is the best all around car in the class and yet it probably has some of the lowest sales. I see Scion tC's all over the place and spec-v's are everywhere too, but still not too many RA's. I think its advertizing. They are pushing the eclipse like hell and its selling. If everyone who test drove the new 2.4 eclipse test drove the RA they would sell a lot more RA's.

candycain

well, i'm almost edgy to say, but i'm EXTREMELY glad i won't see a billion other people driving around with the same car as me. and on the plus side, even though they aren't the best known car, since the eclipse used the same engine and it's on sale like hotcakes, our engine is still going to get a big aftermarket. which is great!!!!!

there is like no one here on guam that even realizes what a ralliart is. and the few people that do, don't even own one. there's one guy here on base that has a new silver oz-rally, all he did was change out the tail lights and put the ralliart badge on the back. when he saw my car, he was like, "is that a real ralliart?" i was like "yea, but i bet your's isn't." he just said he didn't know about it when he got his car so when he found out about it he decided to make his look like one. i was like too bad you don't have the same performance out of the box.

i seriously love my car a lot. and with all the ricers on this god forsaken island that don't even know what it is, it makes me even more happy. hopefully i can start modding it soon and show all these ricers what mivec powa is all about.

turnburner

Yes, I think the RA is undervalued by the public-okay with me as long as they sell enough of em to get interest in aftermarket parts.

I drove a Cobalt sc in Lawton a few months back. Totally unimpressed. It was quick, but didn't feel quick. Does that make sense? Too cushy or something. Couldn't hear the engine enough to know where I was rpm-wise, and totally did not stick in couple good turns (on and off ramps, one nice serpentine backroad) on testdrive. Anyway, it didn't handle as well as the stock RA when I bought mine (with those crappy Goodyears on it), and I could have gotten a good deal but easily and without thought since, I turned it down. The salesman kept talking about my RA too.

Arithmetic

iTrader: (9)

+1

One thing thou, people mock the performance of the ralliart, they think it's slow. Thou, when ive beat cars like - tC, SpecV, Type-s, RX8, Civc Si, is300, Eclipse GT, Prelude, BMW z3, SVT Focus, Integra and many more... this is the look on there faces " "

than it's follow by, "so it's not awd" or "how big is the turbo", pffff... ignorant people ... im sorry to dissapoint you fellas, but the evo isn't the only peformance lancer in there lineup. It's comes to the point a few times I had to pull to the gas station and show them my engine.

For the money, the ralliart is sweet!

lrh35

The only 2 cars on your list that are truely faster then the RA (given equal drivers) and are in the same class are the spec-v and the SVT focus. I drive the spec-v. I didn't like it as much. The RA is much more refined. And they don't make the SVT focus amymore. Even if they did, its a 2 door. I need 4 doors. RA= best all around car.

WoRkZ

iTrader: (2)

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That, plus you cannot really put the late SVT Focus on the same category anyway... over here, it was selling for 5000$CAN more (around 4000$US). I don't know what the price of it was in the US, but for me that's not even a fair comparison... so we're down to the Spec-V once again.

Can't anybody else finally give our car a run for it's money or our we forever condemned to compare it with the Spec-V and nothing else?

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lrh35

I think your right. The spec-v is about it. From what I've seen it sure isn't the cobalt. The VW 1.8T & VR6 jetta is close if we are talking performance stock for stock. I have taken both versions off of the line but both normaly catch up in the end.

WoRkZ

iTrader: (2)

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Yeah, but then again, what's the price of these cars in the States? Up here they're both much more expensive than the RA... the 1.8T starts at 27,000$CAN, so it should sell for at least 23 grands over on your side of the border, right?

Nope, there ain't nothing to beat the RA as the best package of performance vs features. The Spec-V in my mind was a very close second though... but I never was serious about buying one.

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lrh35

I think your right. the jetta is a lot more.

WoRkZ

iTrader: (2)

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And the good news is that the rumored turbo RA should probably sell for the same price as the 1.8T when it goes on sale in 2007... I can't wait, this has to be my next car. That's some big chunk of change less than the WRX (albeit with no AWD, of course). Nonetheless, I will probably not be able to afford a brand new WRX two years from now... but I could probably afford the turbo RA.

And anyway, the new WRX is so ugly that even it's mother must be ashamed...

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