The story of the Mitsubishi Lancer began way back in the early 1970s when the company rolled out the A70 sedan, which took pride of place just below the Galant. Unbelievably, in its forty years of production and over half a dozen incarnations, Mitsubishi has sold well over 6.5 million units of the Lancer - possibly even more than that. Meanwhile, the most up-to-date model of the Lancer, known in several markets as the EX, was unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show in 2007. Built on the Japanese marque’s GS platform, the new Lancer EX is also one of the most popular cars in its segment, especially in regions where it has a stronghold -- such as the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East.
The Mitsubishi Lancer EX is an integral part of the UAE’s affordable C-segment, which also sees other stalwarts such as the Hyundai Accent, Honda City, Nissan Sunny, and Renault Symbol to name a few. To keep it looking fresh and alluring for buyers, Mitsubishi updated the Lancer EX in 2015 when they gave it a pretty substantial cosmetic and interior facelift. This made the new Lancer EX quite popular within its segment, and sales started picking up pace again - especially in the Middle East region. However, that wasn’t really the case in other international markets such as the USA. Back in 2017, Mitsubishi North America officially announced the end of production for the Lancer. But, for Lancer loyalists in many other parts of the world such as the Gulf, the outgoing Lancer EX is still being sold “new” at its respective showrooms.
Prices of the Mitsubishi Lancer EX in the UAE commence from AED 51,500 for the base GLX trim and AED 57,900 for mid-option GLS variant, while the top-of-the-range GT model comes in at AED 66,900. The Mitsubishi Lancer EX sports a typical three-box sedan design, with exterior measurements of 4.570 meters in length, 1.760 meters in width and 1.490 meters (GT only) in height. Meanwhile, the gap between the front and rear wheels stretches to 2.635 meters, which puts it at the top of its class, though its meager 344-liter boot capacity isn’t that impressive.
Powering the new Lancer EX is Mitsubishi’s tried & tested 2.0-liter MIVEC four-cylinder petrol engine that puts out 150hp at 6,000 rpm and 198Nm of twist at 4,200 rpm. Internally known as the 4B11, this naturally-aspirated motor channels its grunt to the front tires via a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which has six pseudo gear ratios even though they aren’t entirely all that beneficial. The Lancer EX usually tips the scales at around 1.3 tons, but can still manage to hustle itself to 100 km/h from a standstill in 10.7 seconds -- making it quicker than its closest rivals. It’s also the fastest of them all, with a claimed top speed of 198 km/h. On the other hand, however, the Lancer EX isn’t the most frugal of all the C-segment sedans as it barely achieves 8.0 L/100 km on a combined cycle.
The interior of the Mitsubishi Lancer EX looks decidedly old and is mostly devoid of any fascinating design elements or interesting styling cues. However, the carmaker has tried to cull some of the blandness by inserting some shiny black and satin silver accents on the dashboard, steering wheel and center console, though that does little service. There’s also hard, scratchy plastic trim all over the place, but the large shift paddles and the legible instrument binnacle look decent enough. Meanwhile, the full-option GT trim gets you 18-inch alloy wheels, sportier side sills & a rear spoiler, dual exhausts, LED daytime-running lights, power sunroof, keyless entry, cruise control, automatic AC, multifunction leather-wrapped steering wheel, touchscreen infotainment head unit, and a 9-speaker Rockford Fosgate sound system among others.
