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2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart (photos)

The Sportback version of the Lancer Ralliart includes the same equipment as the sedan but gets a hatchback through strangely elongated C-pillars. It looks funky, but it handles well.

Wayne Cunningham
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
Wayne Cunningham
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The Lancer Sportback is the long-awaited hatchback version of the Lancer. The Ralliart badge means it falls just short of the Lancer Evo X in running gear, although it does get the same cabin tech.
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The Lancer Sportback gets Mitsubishi's new, signature jet fighter intake grille. This car is also equipped with HID headlights as part of an optional package.
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The Ralliart engine is a turbocharged 2-liter four-cylinder, making 237 horsepower and 253 pound-feet of torque. It falls sort of the Lancer Evo X's 295 horsepower.
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The nose and side windows on the Sportback are identical to the Lancer sedan. To achieve the hatchback, Mitsubishi merely stretched the C-pillars.
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With the Ralliart suspension, the Lancer Sportback has a stiff ride. Stabilizer bars help the car stay flat while cornering.
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The hatchback offers more versatility and space then the sedan for cargo.
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The Lancer cabins are nearly identical up and down the line, although the more sport-oriented cars get some performance touches.
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We like the feel of the leather-wrapped steering wheel. It delivers precise steering response.
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With the engine's large turbo and the manual shift mode of the dual-clutch transmission, we found ourselves frequently hitting redline on the tachometer.
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Mitsubishi's Sportshift Transmission (SST) is one of the best in the business, a dual-clutch manual that can be put into fully automatic mode.
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This all-wheel-drive button toggles through three different surface settings: Tarmac, Gravel, and Snow.
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The information section of the head unit offers interesting graphs, such as this one showing the car's height relative to sea level over the past 3 hours.
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The navigation system largely lacks advanced features, although it does use a hard drive, which means route calculation works quickly.
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Music sources include the onboard hard drive and satellite radio, but we would also like to see the iPod on this list.
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The onboard music storage offers a number of ways to peruse the library and will even compile a list of most frequently played tracks.

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