One thing you'd have to say in favour of the last Lancer - which was on sale in the UK for less than three years - is that it didn't pretend to be anything it wasn't. It was startlingly cheap (one of its best features, actually) and it looked it.The new Lancer, launched here early in 2008, has given itself airs. It costs considerably more, there's a wider range of engines and trim levels, and it looks much better. Its styling is closely related to that of the Evolution X - so much so, in fact, that if you see a line of higher-specification Lancers with a couple of Evos mixed in, it can take a second glance to establish which is which.I'm sure that this will open up the Lancer to potential buyers who like to drive around in something smart. That especially applies to the GS3 tested here and the still better-equipped GS4, both of which have 18" alloy wheels, front foglights, a body kit (including an Evoesque rear spoiler), privacy glass and sports suspension. Lower-spec Lancers will be along later and will be less flash; in its current forms the Lancer undoubtedly looks like a quality car with an implication of big-time driving enjoyment.As so often happens, though, looks are deceptive. However different the two cars may look, the new Lancer is very similar to the old in the sense that it has clearly been built down to a price. For a start, Mitsubishi interiors very often look cheap. This one is no better than the average, something that the use of carbonfibre-effect trim details can't disguise.On top of that, the steering wheel is not adjustable for reach (very common Mitsubishi practice but nevertheless astonishing for such a recently-developed model) and the seat back can't be made upright enough, or at least not upright enough for me. Your own body shape may be such that these things don't matter, but they don't suit mine at all, and I couldn't make myself properly comfortable.However impressive they may make the car look, the sporty add-ons don't help very much. The large spoiler on the bootlid obstructs the rear view, which is the sort of thing you might accept in an Evo but seems unnecessary in a more conventional car.Those 18" alloys wear low-profile tyres which make the ride too jittery on almost every kind of road surface. Shame, that, because there are plenty of indications that the ride would actually be good if the Lancer were wearing sensible shoes.It's not as if this particular car needs the extra grip that low-profile tyres are meant to provide. It has the 1.8-litre petrol engine which produces 141bhp, and at first glance that might seem to be enough to be getting on with. But it also has the optional six-speed automatic transmission (actually a CVT with six ratio holds), and although this has much less effect on fuel economy than a normal automatic would - the combined fuel consumption figure is within 1mpg of what the manual can achieve - it has a more serious effect on the straightline performance.For example, the 1.8 manual will do the 0-62mph drag in 9.8 seconds. The CVT takes 11.2 seconds to do the same job. These specific numbers are relevant only if you constantly need to go from rest to 62mph as quickly as possible, but they indicate the general trend, which is that the CVT car feels much slower than you might expect from the engine's maximum power output.Oddly, the Lancer is at its best in town, where its surprisingly tight turning circle makes manouevring easy. The steering is slightly heavy, though (noticeably more so than the brakes, for instance), and I can't help feeling that it could do with a little more power assistance than it has at the moment.Unlike previous Lancers, this one will be available as a hatchback (or Sportback as Mitsubishi calls it), but at the time of writing that body style is still a few months away. For the moment you have to make do with the saloon, which has a reasonably generous boot - 400 litres, with the option of folding the split rear seat if you need to carry longer items - but a much smaller loading aperture than most hatchbacks.The Sportback will be sold in the lower GS1 and GS2 trim levels as well as the ones which apply to the saloon, and although those more basic models won't look as fancy I can see them appealing to UK buyers on the grounds of being cheaper and more practical.For the moment, GS3 is as basic as the Lancer gets. You can have the same engine and gearbox as the test car with GS4 trim, which adds £2000 to the price and includes pan-European satellite navigation, a music server with a 30GB hard drive, an iPod/MP3 auxiliary input, heated leather seats, a more advanced trip computer and personalised settings for the wipers, interior light delay, folding wing mirrors and so on. Engine 1798 cc, 4 cylinders Power 141 bhp @6000 rpm Torque 131 ib/ft @4250 rpm Transmission 6 speed semi-auto Fuel/CO2 35.8 mpg / 188 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 11.2sec Top speed mph Price From £17784.00 approx Release date 01/02/2008
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