Driving is most important and the car has to be good over a broad range of activities. Out on my own, I managed to push the Sportback a bit harder than with the family. The seats during hard cornering still provided plenty of support keeping me in place with a minimum of movement. At the same time, body lean wasn’t excessive when compared with something like the Lancer EVO. Even with this minimal amount of body lean, many will not feel comfortable pushing this hard.
Working the transmission was considerably more fun than just leaving it in drive. Mitsubishi has chosen to have actual gear ratio “steps” in their CVT transmission. This means that when you give a tug on the paddle shifter, you can actually feel a gear change. It also gives you a broad working range of rpm so that you feel like you are actively involved in driving the car.
Highway driving was pretty quiet inside with most of the noise coming from the tire/pavement combination. New pavement equals very quiet; chip seal equals lots of noise. Sand seal equals sand blasted paint and no noticeable improvement in the road. Through all this, the Sportback will go over road bumps, small pot holes and tar strips without doing more than making a bit of extra tire noise.
When I was downtown, the 168 horsepower, normally aspirated four could get me from lane to lane with ease. Good mirrors and small blind spots helped as much as the nimble steering and the good throttle and transmission response.
The Sportback fit into angle parking spaces with ease and the large side glass made getting out just as easy. Parallel parking did take a bit of getting used to, but the relatively flat sides and squared off tail meant that I only need a couple of practice tries to get it right every time.
If the Sportback has a fault, the makers of my sunglasses have to share in the blame. The instruments, particularly the radio indicator in the small eyebrow dash in the centre-stack would fade from sight on bright days. I did try a different pair and they were much better which made driving much more pleasurable.
photo:Charles Renny
Working the transmission was considerably more fun than just leaving it in drive. Mitsubishi has chosen to have actual gear ratio “steps” in their CVT transmission. This means that when you give a tug on the paddle shifter, you can actually feel a gear change. It also gives you a broad working range of rpm so that you feel like you are actively involved in driving the car.
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| When I was downtown, the 168 horsepower, normally aspirated four could get me from lane to lane with ease. |
Highway driving was pretty quiet inside with most of the noise coming from the tire/pavement combination. New pavement equals very quiet; chip seal equals lots of noise. Sand seal equals sand blasted paint and no noticeable improvement in the road. Through all this, the Sportback will go over road bumps, small pot holes and tar strips without doing more than making a bit of extra tire noise.
When I was downtown, the 168 horsepower, normally aspirated four could get me from lane to lane with ease. Good mirrors and small blind spots helped as much as the nimble steering and the good throttle and transmission response.
The Sportback fit into angle parking spaces with ease and the large side glass made getting out just as easy. Parallel parking did take a bit of getting used to, but the relatively flat sides and squared off tail meant that I only need a couple of practice tries to get it right every time.
If the Sportback has a fault, the makers of my sunglasses have to share in the blame. The instruments, particularly the radio indicator in the small eyebrow dash in the centre-stack would fade from sight on bright days. I did try a different pair and they were much better which made driving much more pleasurable.
photo:Charles Renny
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