Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia - Another Brick In The Wall

Vividly etched in every rock fan's memory, Pink Floyd's cult classic is safely immortalised in the annals of history. Apart from the shades of pink in the photograph, though, what is the Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia's Floyd connection? Read on to find out.

Story: Jayesh Jagasia Photography: Kunal Khadse

Moments like this one come once in a lifetime. Make that seven lifetimes. How does 'Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII FQ340' sound? Good, eh? Surely not better than the roar of three hundred and forty insane horses. Most defi nitely not sweeter than that addictive turbo whistle.

Recaro sports seats. Check. Sports steering wheel straight off the World Rally Championship conquering Evo. Check. Twotone interiors with carbon fibre inserts. Check. 1999cc, 340PS. Check and drool. Seatbelts. Check. Rear-view mirrors. Check. Er, keys. Check and turn. Burbling exhaust note. Check. Hair on the back of neck standing on end. No need to check.

Shift into first. Build the revs. Dump the clutch. Screeching fi reworks. Tyre-works, perhaps. As I shift up through the gears, desperately clinging on to the steering under savage acceleration (almost hysterically worried about my pancreas and liver), I've hit 100km/h. It has been less than four seconds since you started reading this sentence and I am doing a 100. This is supercar territory. I am going so fast, I am almost time-travelling. Errm, I am actually time-travelling. Time-travelling into the new Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia.

Amply supportive seats crafted in cream leather. Hmm. Suave leather-wrapped steering wheel (with horn in the centre). Yes. Two-tone interiors with faux wood inserts in a hideous shade of ochre yellow. Sigh. 1999cc, 115PS. Moan. Seatbelts. Check. Rear-view mirrors. Check. Keys. Check and turn. No exhaust note. Yawn!

Shift into first. Build the revs. Dump the clutch. No fireworks, no tyre-works. I shift up through the gears, willing the car to go faster, coaxing it to live up to its rally-heritage, wondering what-inheaven's- name would shake the engine out of its perennial slumber, what mixture of exotic herbs would make it a little more agile, a wee bit more eager…I am trying hard to come up with a really huge sentence that will take you close to twelve seconds to read. Because that, gentlemen, is the time the Cedia will take to glide to 100km/h. At its price, the Cedia sits slam-bang in Corolla-and-Octavia territory. The going is likely to be tough for the Cedia. Very tough!

Ever since the market got wind of the Cedia, it was being touted as the road-going version of Mitsubishi's cult Lancer Evolution series. While the Evo series is in its ninth evolution, the Cedia was said to have borrowed its chromosomes from the visceral Lancer Evo VIII. That was all that starved motoring hacks (me included) needed to launch into ferocious bouts of wild daydreaming - most of which featured them going down (sideways, if I may add) snow-covered roads in the Himalayas in a red Cedia at its exclusive press preview drive.

Alas, now that the Cedia is 'Totally Alive', most of those dreams lie in shambles, mercilessly strewn across pothole-ridden urban roads. Why, eh? Let's dig in some more.

A 1999cc engine finds place under the hood of the Lancer Cedia. Its 115 horses fight their way past a five-speed manual transmission onto the tarmac through 195/60 R15 radials. What is immediately apparent is that HM-Mitsubishi engineers have added a whole new dimension to the word 'de-tune'. So while a similar-design engine in the Evo would be good for close to 300PS - aided by a turbo, yes, but nevertheless - the Cedia's has been taken off all steroids so as to churn out a rather meagre 115PS. Thankfully though, it has also lost its addiction to unleaded fuel. Our efficiency runs pegged the Cedia's score at a perfectly acceptable 12.78 kmpl as opposed to a depressingly abysmal figure that the Evo would ever manage. Taking its engine capacity into consideration, however, one would have expected a little more grunt out of the Cedia's engine. Bear in mind that the Corolla's 1794cc conjures up 125PS, and you will get the drift of what I am referring to. The engine is very refined, but it has none of the spark or sprightly agility of the Corolla's VVTi mill. An 11.82 second 0-100km/h time only stands testimony to the fact that the Cedia's engine is urgently calling for a dash of zing so it can stand up and take the drag-fight to the current segment rulers.

The Cedia has enough zing on the inside, though. The 'Elegance' trim featured here is crafted in perforated cream leather. Stitched leather gear-knob and steering-wheel cover only add to the interior's classy feel. Fit and finish is top-notch and space - front and back - is adequate. There are enough luxury bits to keep the sybarites busy for a while, even as they laze around in the roomy rear. Do I even need to mention power steering, power windows, power mirrors, height adjustable driver's seat, steering column adjustments, storage bins and MP3 player? All these add-ons are almost as important as the engine in the class that the Cedia intends to make its own.

Source: Car India February 2006.