Mitsubishi Lancer SX 2011 Review

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $25,290
Options fitted (not included in above price): Metallic paint $450
Crash rating: Five-star (ANCAP)
Fuel: 91 RON ULP
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 8.2
CO2 emissions (g/km): 196
Also consider: Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Cerato

When the current CJ Lancer arrived in Australia at the end of 2007 it was one of the gems in the small-car segment. It's still a worthy motor car, but the competition is catching up — and fast.

A handsome design, the Lancer does attract more conservative buyers in the market; people who like their cars engineered along mostly conventional lines, but still offering reasonable fuel efficiency and decent resale value. Add in better-than-average safety (five-star ANCAP with a knee airbag for the driver, for instance), and you've covered most of the rationale people apply when choosing a new, small car. And what's wrong with that?

If your purchase decisions are based on a more complex formula however, the Lancer may leave you wanting. In this model tested — the lower mid-range Lancer SX — there's more gear than in the basic Lancer ES. The buyer gets, for instance, leather-bound multi-function steering wheel, rear spoiler and 16-inch alloy wheels. But for the money it's looking overshadowed by at least one rival from Korea, the Kia Cerato SLi tested by motoring.com.au back in March. That car is $700 dearer than the Lancer, but is better equipped and offers sportier driving. If there's one shortcoming in the Kia, it's the car's four-star ANCAP safety rating — versus five stars for the Lancer.

So the Lancer scores top marks for crash safety, but in other ways it's falling behind. NVH is a case in point — and that's largely a consequence of the Yokohama Advan tyres fitted. Tyre noise in the Lancer not only dominates on typical country roads, but also on freeways and properly sealed arterials. It drowns out the wind noise at open-road speeds and those two together blot out any audible driveline noise. That's not to say the Lancer's 2.0-litre engine is especially refined or harmonious at higher revs. Compared with the petrol engine in Ford's new Focus, the Lancer powerplant is neither quiet nor pleasant sounding. And the CVT worsens the situation, with the engine droning in the higher rev range as the road speed picks up.

Clearly, a good hard flogging is not how this car is intended to be driven, but the CVT will adjust itself to allow the engine to rev briskly to 4000rpm and accelerate up to the redline from there. Thus the Lancer's box does attempt to overcome that common vice of CVTs — the engine revving at a fixed speed as the car picks up pace. In the Lancer the engine will actually rev harder as the road speed rises, but mostly the driver has to be using all the available throttle for that to happen.

To the CVT's credit, it eliminates 'gear changes', so even though the Lancer SX with this transmission doesn't fire off the line like a Ralliart or Evo, it will keep pace with a lot of cars if the driver is sufficiently determined — and that means half throttle, not full bore.

At touring speeds, the Lancer with the CVT can be fairly economical. During the week in our possession the trip computer indicated open-road fuel use around 6.5L/100km, which is pretty close to the ADR-observed extra-urban figure of 6.4. Around town it's not so frugal, although a regime of commuting on free-flowing arterial roads saw a figure of around 10.5L/100km, which is better than the official urban figure of 11.3.

All the same, we suspect that the Kia Cerato variants we've tested in recent times — the last occasion being the hatches back in March — would be more economical than the Lancer, if put to the test. And it's hard to go past the Cerato for its sportier drive than the Lancer manages with its CVT. The engine note in the Kia is more enjoyable, the transmission provides a stronger sense of urgency and the Kia's steering is a little more communicative too, we would suggest.

The Lancer's steering is properly weighted and there is some feel, but steering feedback makes the Lancer very much an average offering up against newer rivals. That said, the Mitsubishi makes up in other ways, dynamically. Those noisy Yokies redeem themselves in corners and over bumps. Turn-in is good and the car maintains a consistent line through corners. There's no shifting around or weight transfer once committed. Handling approaches neutral and the front-end grip is impressive.

While cornering the CVT will hold a 'gear' if the driver is using the sequential-shift facility (through the lever); the trick for exiting a corner faster seems to be one of shifting down manually and then pushing the lever left, back into Drive once the driver is ready to accelerate again. Otherwise, should the corner be wide and long, the car will run out of revs in the manually-selected 'gear' and hang around the redline without accelerating any faster. In other cars with a stepped transmission, either the engine bounces off the rev-limiter or the transmission changes up a gear.

Although driving the Lancer harder with the CVT is curious, it's not self-defeating or depressing. The Mitsubishi can be hurried along surprisingly well, but the CVT smacks of difference for the sake of difference. What's the point of the smooth-shifting CVT if the tyre noise offsets any NVH gains, or a competitor (Cerato, Focus) with a six-speed stepped transmission can be more fun to drive — and still be more economical?

Mostly the Lancer SX seems like a car that will appeal more to drivers preferring their A to B excursions be comfortable and effortless. Leaving aside the tyre noise already mentioned, the Lancer copes fairly well in this regard. The ride quality is commendable for a small car — and particularly one that offers the roadholding that the Lancer does.

Inside, the car features the proper accoutrements, but looks practical rather than appealing. The fabric pattern in the seats, the coordinating charcoal colour and the metallic grey plastic decorative trim are barely lifted by such features as the leather-bound steering wheel and the orange LEDs of the trip computer in the dash.

Finding the right driving position took some work. There's no steering column reach adjustment — just rake; so obtaining the appropriate relationship to the pedals, the steering wheel and the instruments required some unconventional tweaking of seat and wheel.  To be able to reach the wheel properly, without being too close to the pedals, the seat backrest had to be moved closer to an upright position, and the seat height was adjusted up a bit — something this writer is not in the habit of doing. Fortunately, there's plenty of front-seat headroom in the Lancer and the view of the instruments through the wheel is clear and unobstructed in any but the worst case scenario.

Once set up, the seats are comfortable and supportive — probably on a par with the seats in Ford's Focus Ambiente and Trend. There's a massive footrest for the driver's left foot, which is one of the nicer features of the Lancer's interior design. In contrast, the car's handbrake lever is positioned closer to the passenger's thigh, but most of the major instruments and controls are well located otherwise. Headlight and wiper stalks are intuitive to use and most people will arrive at the conclusion the Lancer is a very easy car to drive.

Audio system presets in the head unit can be a bit of a stretch, but if you set up your favourite radio stations to be just one step apart they're easily selected from the steering wheel's remote controls. The Lancer comes with Bluetooth connectivity and voice control. It's nigh on impossible to pair a phone while in traffic, because the system won't allow this operation once the car is on the move — for safety reasons. This is a frustration, but once the phone is paired the Lancer prompts automatic reconnection to the same phone each morning and it's then a simple operation.

Rear-seat accommodation doesn't seem as generous as in the Kia Cerato sedan, although head and kneeroom are adequate for average-sized adults. There's a bit of toe room under the front seats, but not much actual legroom to stretch out. Still, it's good enough for adults and plentiful for most kids.

The boot space is restricted by the high floor (to allow the drivetrain components of the Ralliart and Evo models), even with the spacesaver spare. The overall length of the Lancer is 40mm greater than the Cerato's, but that doesn't seem to grace the Lancer with any more luggage space or easier access to the boot. The Lancer's boot isn't long and the stubby boot lid leaves a relatively small aperture for loading gear. Rubbing salt into the wound, the boot lid is also quite heavy to lift initially, due to the added weight of the Lancer SX's spoiler.

And this is something that will put off those conservative buyers more likely to opt for the Lancer in this level of trim. They won't enjoy the effort required just to lift the boot lid.

For the money, there are other small cars around that are ultimately more driveable, ultimately better value, ultimately more comfortable — and in some cases they're all of those things, but the Lancer is a 'safe' choice.

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