This seems a curious thing to be saying about a car which has only recently been introduced to the UK market by a major manufacturer, but there is nothing surprising, nothing innovative, nothing dramatic and nothing special about the Mitsubishi Lancer. You wouldn't boast about having one, and at times you might even forget what it was. It's designed to do a simple job and not to draw attention to the fact that it's doing it. And the funny thing is that it is so successful at all this that I really wouldn't mind having one.The car tested here is the 1.6 four-door Equippe. That's the entry-level model, and it costs a usefully promotable £9999. But it couldn't fairly described as the cheap option because seven of the eight remaining cars in the range are cheap options too (the other one is the 2.0 Sport estate, which tries harder and succeeds less). If you want a 1.6-litre Lancer you might consider this one as effectively the only model there is, with just three available options.None of the three is particularly appealing. You can spend £500 on automatic transmission, if you like automatic transmission. You might also invest a further £500 by choosing the estate body style, though this really only makes sense if you intend to drive around with the rear seats down - if you don't, the luggage volume is actually inferior to that of the saloon at 344 litres versus 430 litres. Finally, an upgrade to the Elegance trim level costs an extra £750, but this involves nothing more than the fitment of leather-faced seats.There are Lancers with every combination of the above, and if you've been keeping score you will already have realised that the Elegance automatic estate costs £11,749 (nearly the same as the quicker, higher-specification Sport). Personally, I would stick with the Equippe manual saloon and find other ways of spending the extra £1750.Even if you went mad with your chequebook, though, you still couldn't spend anything like the kind of money that other manufacturers charge for rival products. The Lancer is remarkably inexpensive, especially when you consider that alloy wheels, metallic paint, air-conditioning, foglights and the rear spoiler (which I'm sure has no aerodynamic value whatever but adds a neat touch to a generally pleasing shape) are all standard.This is not quite the same as saying that the Lancer represents extraordinary value. In some respects it does lag behind the opposition. For example, maximum power of 96bhp is only modest for a 1.6-litre engine, though I would have to add that the car doesn't feel slow.Similarly, the ride and handling are by no means class-leading, but you can swish through corners quite effectively once you've adjusted to the suspension, which provides a great deal of body movement but is nevertheless very well-damped.It's also clear that less money has been spent on the interior than might have been the case. The general impression is that Mitsubishi has built the Lancer very well from cheap materials. The only quality issue on the test car was the appearance of a loud, periodic and unlocatable rattle which unhinged me to such an extent that I was not allowed to start writing this until Nurse brought me the crayons. In all other respects the inside of the Lancer is uninspiring but at the same time unobjectionable.You can't have a diesel version, which won't help sales, but I suspect that Mitsubishi's biggest problem with the Lancer in this country is that there is no hatchback option either. The importers put a brave face on this and say that "in a market sector dominated by hatchbacks, the benefits of a separate, lockable luggage bay should not be underestimated".Well, that's fine and dandy, but the fact that British customers would rather have a tailgate than a bootlid should not be underestimated either. To be fair to Mitsubishi's UK people, this is the hand they were dealt and they have to play it. The feeling in Japan is clearly that a hatchback Lancer isn't worth considering economically, and that's all there is to it.Customers in other markets prefer saloons anyway, and they are buying Lancers in impressive numbers. The most obvious example of this is the car's success in Russia, where it has proved to be immensely popular. The Russians are clearly taken with the idea of an uncomplicated vehicle which they can buy cheaply and forget about until the time comes to replace it, and in this case I think their opinion is worth considering. Engine 1584cc, 4 cylinders Power 96bhp Transmission 5-speed manual Fuel/CO2 41.5mpg / 163g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 12.6 seconds Top speed 114mph Price £9999 Details correct at publication date
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