Dang...I gotta get to the strip...right after I go to AMS.

 

Sorry about bringing up an old thread but I was getting my AWC reflash today at my local Mits and I was talking to the manager, sales manager and some of the sales men, anyways we were shooting the sh** as they say and the manager looked at me and got all excited and said "So did ya hear they are coming out with a 5 speed RA for the 2011?" I told him I thought it was just a rumor. He said the owner just got back from a Mits dealership owners conference that they have every 2 years where they discuss what is going to be new for the next years models and other stuff. He said that they are doing the 5 spd RA and a few other changes like wheels(not sure if they will be Evo ones or just new style). He also said that they decided that they aren't going to bring the turbo diesels to North America for the lancer and outlander like they were thinking about and they have an electric car coming out(they are trying to get one before the olympics).

 

Good news

 

I'll believe it when they're in dealership lots.

 

+1, I'd like to believe it...but it just seems too far-fetched for me.

 

selling a car in 5 speed seems far-fetched to you?

 

Since the only source is one dealership, it sounds pretty sketchy. It's not that it's an impossible idea but we've all been down this road before.

 

When I see it I will believe it. Mitsu always has a way in messing something up with the lancers. Like the 1st gen ralliart all they did was put a galant engine in a lancer and decided to call it the ralliart. My question is why didn't they put the 4g63 with a smaller turbo in it. They could of left it with the FWD like the old eclipse GS-T's. Now for 09 they did it rite with putting the 4b11t in the Ralliart then they had to F**K it all up with it only coming out in an auto trans. Yea the SST might be a good trans but us hardcore enthusiasts want to shift ourselves. Hopefully Mitsu does come out with the 5spd in the Ralliart in 2011. But we can only wait and see. Come on mitsu make the Ralliart the rite way

 

Tru in 98% of the cases but somethings are tru. I don't fully believe this either but i'm sure the idea has been put on the table. We never believed Mitsu would make an AWD turbo RA either when we saw the current Lancer prototypes running around. I'll see what i can extract from my source and get back to you guys.

 

Well, if its gonna have upgraded wheels, bigger fenders, new this and that... i guess that means its just some more items us 08 and 09 and 10 Ralliart owners can use on our cars! With luck they will still fit

And im sure if alot more people buy the 2011 ralliart because of its EVO like parts, then there will be more after market parts for us too.

AND! i would have had fun in my car for a whole two years before the 2011 comes out so im cool with it

 

Dealerships always have a line to get a customer to return when the typical payoff of the car is to end or has ended. It is a bait and hook tactic to get you excited for the future. Whether or not this is true as far as the 2011 goes I am sure that Mitsu recognizes where they need to improve on the differentiation between the Ralliart and GTS trim. If you think about it when the old model lancer was still being sold the Ralliart still had different rims and tweaks to the looks to show it was different. Mitsu in my opinion did not follow that concept to the T this time and you can tell by the fact that people still say "Is that your Lancer?".

 

I really doubt they're going to completely overall the car at this point, a 5-speed option may happen but new wheels, fenders, etc seems way too much and would really be an insult to the people who bought an 09 or 10 Ralliart. If they make the car look like an Evo, they're going to run into the problem of people not being able to differentiate between the Ralliart and the Evo.

 

I Completely agree that they wont overhaul the car in aesthetics so to speak but I do believe the rims should change because there was at the most that when they had the old Ralliarts in circulation of sales. Besides the hood front bumper and rear bumper, the look should have been rounded out with different rims. I think Mitsu accomplished the overall look but it would be completed with different rims.

Maybe i just got a rim issue.

 

Yea I doubt that the wide fenders are gonna happen now changing the rims possibility adding the 5 spd manual would be great what we really need to know is will this really happen by 2011 let's hope so we don't need the Ralliart looking more like an Evo then it already does not fully but close enough.

 

Highly doubtful that they will make the car look more like the Evo. The body of the RA is fine the way it is all it needs are better wheels and tires. I had a little convo with a rep at the car show today and he said no one said yes to the idea but also no one said no either. So there is still a chance we might see a manual option in the future, but he said Mitsu is really pushing to utilize the SST more though. The RA is a world car so if it sees a manual option internationally then we should too.

Side note: The first thing he asked when i told him i own a RA is if i flashed it yet. I thought it was a trap and said no because of the warranty. He said "jus install the stock map back for warranty work most dealers won't know the difference anyway". Dude actually sounded like he knew what he was talkin about.