2010 – 2014 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback: Hatching a Plan
Back when Mitsubishi was building sporty cars, it’s Lancer line of sedans had acquired cult status. Heated battles loomed between the Subaru and Mitsubishi camps at Cars & Coffee events over whose turbo powered all-wheel drive rally machine was the best. By most accounts it was a tossup, but fate favored the Subaru WRX – not because it was better. Subaru was just better at focusing its brand and attracting buyers who would later become fiercely loyal.
That’s not to say the Lancer was not worthy. It still generated excitement when Mitsubishi showed a concept of a fastback Lancer at the Detroit North American Auto Show in 2008. At the time there was speculation that it could be the new Evo. Instead, Mitsubishi would deliver its most interesting Lancer variant as a middle model in 2009 for Canada and a year later in the U.S. The Sportback promised to shake up the fast evolving four door hatch market in America.
The Lancer in its final generation was a spectacular performer in Evolution GSR or MR guise. As for all the other normally aspirated Lancers, they were not always as captivating. The Sportback allowed Mitsubishi to jump into the then popular four door hatchback market with something that offered economy and a fun driving experience. The Sportback name was not new for Mitsubishi, as it was used in a version of the 8th gen Lancer station wagon. Its mission was quite different, making it possibly the frumpiest car by Mitsubishi this century.
The Lancer Sportback based on the 9th gen car only lasted for a few years in the American market – roughly between 2010 and 2014. In that time the Sportback offered buyers a true alternative to the Civics and Mazda3s of the world. For one, its profile was unlike any car on the market at the time. Not quite a fastback, but not upright and boxy like a WV Golf. In modern parlance, Mitsubishi could have gotten away with calling the Sportback a coupe. Audi certainly uses the term Sportback to describe its coupe-like sedans. Simply put the Lancer Sportback’s shape and packaging was in some ways ahead of its time.
Depending on the year, there were basically two trims, an ES and GT (or GTS) sold in America. The biggest difference aside from subtle aero components from the two models was what was under the hood. The ES made do with a 148 hp 2-liter DOHC inline 4-cylinder engine. The step up offered a 2.4 normally aspirated inline 4 with 168 hp. Both engines utilized Mitsubishi’s valve timing system called MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve-timing Electronic Control). Even in the 21st century Mitsubishi continued its long tradition of using multiple acronyms to describe it’s take on technologies of the day.
The Sportback, like other Lancers had a major sore spot in the eyes of enthusiasts in the form of it’s CVT transmission. Designed to be efficient, it offered unspectacular economy in the ES. With the performance-oriented GT or GTS models, there were magnesium paddle shifters mounted on the steering column (and not the steering wheel) for more driver engagement. Then of course there was a conventional 5-speed manual transmission that made all versions of the Sportback a joy to drive.
In its base trim the Sportback offered better than average handling and reasonable comfort. With around 34 mpg, it was not as efficient as some of its competitors, yet had more power than a standard issue Focus, Civic or Corolla. With the GT or GTS, performance was much better with not much of a fuel economy penalty over the ES. 33mpg for the GT was not bad, but like many Mitsubishi cars of the time, reliability was good, but fit and finish average. The interior with its vast array of hard plastics looked and felt cheap. Upper trims of the Sportback featured a small screen infotainment screen that was smartly integrated into the dash, although it looked like it could be pulled out like an aftermarket accessory.
By 2014 all models of all Lancers got an improved dash design. Unfortunately for the Sportback which was sold mostly in lower spec ES trim, the non-infotainment screen car dash went the other way with an integrated audio system that was so simplistic it looked cheap. Had it been in an Audi, it may have been praised as minimalist design. In the Sportback the vast expanses of plastic, unbroken by color or material changes gave it a down market vibe. To the Lancer’s credit, it did have some of the most colorful gauges available, a throwback to when Mitsubishi was a serious player in the consumer electronics industry.
I don’t know how many Sportback’s were sold in America relative to the sedan, but all evidence suggests a 5 to 1 ratio if the used car market were a gauge. Lancer sedans themselves are extremely rare, so the sight of a Sportback GTS has to be the equivalent of a unicorn. That’s a shame because Mitsubishi really had something with its odd little hatchback. It offered a compelling alternative to the normal competition with a model that fit nicely between the basic Lancer sedan its super car big brother the Lancer Evo. Even as the decade of the Ohs progressed, it became apparent that Mitsubishi was not the performance company it once was. The Lancer line started to thin out with first the Sportback disappearing in 2014. Eventually the Evo itself would bow out in 2017 with the Eclipse being one of the first casualties in 2011.
The Sportback was the last remnant of a time when Mitsubishi was the maker of charming high-tech cars with quirks that did not always translate well outside of Japan. It’s hard to tell if the Sportback was a casualty of being too early or late to the marketplace. Perhaps if Mitsubishi had followed through with its show car tease and based the next Evo on the more practical Sportback body, those Subaru fanboys (and girls) would have had less to brag about.
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