Evo & Out - Mitsubishi’s Evo Has Reached The End Of The Line

Mitsubishi Evo VI Tommi Makinen

On one website dedicated to the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution – the Evo, to you and me – is a page summarising the model’s development.

They’re all there: from the original Evo I of 1992, through the II to the III that took Tommi Mäkinen to the first of his four consecutive world rally championships. It passes the IV, V and the 1999 Evo VI, to this: the limited-edition Evolution VI Tommi Mäkinen Edition of 2000.

Then the page stops. There is more, of course, but forget the rest, the website suggests. The decade that took in evolutions seven through to 10? Forget it. Forget all from the Mäkinen onwards. After the Mäkinen, it suggests, there is nothing. Harsh? Maybe, but this is, even today, considered the Evo’s pinnacle. The best the breed ever offered. Ostensibly, the Mäkinen Edition, sometimes known as the Evo 6.5, was built to celebrate the Finn’s fourth world title. Under it was an Evo VI, but with a new titanium turbocharger and a different exhaust, a reworked front bumper with fewer lights and more scoops, 17-inch Enkei alloy wheels, a quick steering rack and Tarmac-style set-up on the suspension. Power was 276bhp, like most top Japanese performance cars of the day, and torque 274lb ft. A good, square, balanced power and torque output.

These were still, just, Group A rally car days, and although newer World Rally Championship regulations were putting greater distance between road and competition cars, Mitsubishi was persevering with existing regulations, which maintained a link that meant the Mäkinen Edition was something special.

It still is today. This car is one of just 250 officially sold in the UK. The full livery and red paint weren’t compulsory, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. This one is low on miles but we’ve been encouraged to enjoy it as we please, which means that we’ve got to drive it. There’s little to be enjoyed in the basic interior, after all. And looking at the outside only makes you want to fire it up. So we do.

Mitsubishi Evo VI Tommi Makinen Rear - the car’s size and agility are welcome assets

Why now? Because this year Mitsubishi UK is importing just 40 examples of the Evo X in an FQ 440-MR specification, but that’ll surely be it for the Evo as we know it. There should be another Evolution, but it won’t be quite like this. We’re effectively saying cheerio via the best there is.

We choose Stoke-on-Trent for the pictures, because we want something urban and moody. There are areas of decay and regeneration here, but there’s no analogy to be made. Comparing a place to a car always understates a city’s past and patronises its present and future. It’s just that some of the old brickworks look right, and it’s close to the Peak District for a thrash.

The trip there is a reminder that, although I still think of the Evo as a modern car, and 2000 is not very long ago, things in motordom change quickly. The Evo feels small - at 4350mm long and 1875mm across the mirrors, it is – and you are perched higher than I remember inside, with a low window line, so visibility is terrific.

Those seats sit high but are good, mind. They’re extremely supportive, and although the steering wheel adjusts for rake only, you can find a position that’s comfortable over distance. What’s more wearing is the tyre roar, which drowns any engine drone made by a powertrain that encompasses that highly charged 2.0-litre engine and a five-speed manual gearbox. Both respond with reliable precision. There’s a little turbo lag, but it’s far more compliant and responsive than many a turbocharged modern engine. I don’t want to sound like a Luddite -more modern cars are exceptional – but by gum, this is a lovely thing.

Mitsubishi Evo VI Tommi Makinen Side

At the time, I’m sure I remember the ride being considered harsh, but today, although it’s firm and mid- corner lumps kick back through the quick steering (about 2.1, maybe 2.2 turns), there’s not the harshness that I expected. There’s no crash. The tyres, 225/45 R17s, are relatively modest. Gosh. I really like this car.

By and by, we’re through with Stoke and heading out on to the open road, and I like it more and more. How can you not? It weighs just 1365kg, for heaven’s sake, and has a body that’s tied down better than a Ford Fiesta ST’s yet rides easily and comfortably. It steers better – with linearity, accuracy and feel – than any power-assisted set-up on sale today.

And you’re able to approach its limits on the road, to feel its extraordinary agility. It seems to pivot around its middle, although not in a nervy, unstable way. It changes direction on a whim. There is active yaw control for the permanent four-wheel drive system, meant to limit understeer and over steer, but on the road in somebody else’s classic car (how curious it feels to write that phrase about an Evo, but I suppose it is), I’m not inclined to delve too deep. But even at seven, eight – oh, okay, if you insist I’ll have nine-tenths – it’s seriously terrific.

It’s still great value, too. A Mäkinen Edition – price new, $ 52,107.90 – can’t stay at the $ 16,809 - $ 25,213.50 mark that it demands now, surely. It’s just too good for that. This isn’t just the best of a breed we’re saying farewell to here. It’s the best of any breed.