(engine sounds)
- There is nothing more badass than
rally racing and rally cars.
(car engines)
You've got turbos.
You've got antilag.
(car engine)
And you've got your sick looking hatchbacks
with big splitters and wings.
And then...
you got this.
Relatively boring, white, four door appliance.
But its looks are a complete lie.
This unassuming economy car
is one of the world's
baddest production sleeper cars.
And by the end of this video,
if I do my job,
you're gonna want one.
Real bad.
Because they're finally legal in the US.
It's time to go from inner core to rear spoiler,
bumper to bumper,
on this Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
Two.
(rock music)
Thanks to Wix for sponsoring
this episode of Bumper 2 Bumper.
Wix makes it super easy to build and design
your website exactly how you want it.
(beep)
You've seen Evo 8's.
you've seen Evo 9's.
you've seen Evo 10's on the road or on the track.
You've probably driven 'em in Forza or Gran Turismo.
Or maybe even in real life.
But this Evo II?
You never see 'em.
They only made 5,000 of these over 14 months,
and they were only sold in Japan.
But under the generic exterior of this 1994
Mitsubishi sedan are all the bones of a rally car.
And you math nerds will notice that
'94 models are now 25 years old,
which means we finally get 'em in the states.
♪ Oh beautiful for spacious skies ♪
♪ This freakin' Evo's sick. ♪
♪ We didn't get them previously ♪
♪ But now you can buy them. ♪
(laughing)
This is what makes the Evo special.
(bass thumping music)
This is the legendary,
turbo charged,
4G63 two liter inline-four engine.
The 4G63 came in everything.
And I mean everything.
They put it in the Galant, the Evo I,
the Montero and Pajero SUV,
the Delica van,
the Eclipse, the Plymouth Laser,
the Eagle Talon,
a couple of Hyundai,
these Chinese knockoff SUVs called Land Winds,
had 4G63s in them.
And the next seven Evos.
This engine is the absolute workhorse
of the Mitsubishi brand.
And for good reason.
Mitsubishi manufactured their iconic engine
with a beefy iron block in extra strong
internals right from the factory.
That means it's really easy to modify.
Crank up the boost to make a bunch more power, baby!
(car engine revving)
Stock engine blocks are known to handle
upwards of 500 wheel horsepower
and 400 wheel torque.
It's basically the 2JZ of four cylinders.
Did he just say 2J?
Yes I did.
(groan)
Speaking of turning up the boost,
the 1994 shoving a turbo under the hood
of a cheapo commuter car was practically unheard of.
They mostly ever came on the much higher profile
and more expensive Japanese sports cars
like the 300ZX, the Supra, and the RX-7,
but Mitsubishi would hand you this econo-box,
with all the major ingredients you needed
to cook up more power for yourself.
Horse steak, anybody?
I like mine raw.
Horse tartare.
(bang)
Close the hood on the 4G63 and you find this special vent,
right over the air filter.
It's like a cold air intake of sorts.
The hood is further ventilated to release
some of the heat from the hard working motor.
And let me tell you, this boy runs hot.
We drove this thing about four miles
from the office to this location,
and it feels like I'm crouching over a space heater.
I know I sweat a lot,
but this is not helping.
(electronic dance music)
Down here it's got huge inlets in the front bumper
so it can gulp in more air into the good sized
front mount intercooler,
and also keep the brakes cool.
That kind of stuff really matters when you're racing.
These rally style fog lights can be
functional add-ons for the street,
but they definitely would not survive
a rally stage down here.
Under the skin,
the Evo's body is reinforced for rally duty,
and there's a strut bar to make
the body stiffer and improve handling.
A rally bash bar is tucked back here to protect the radiator
because in rally (beep) gets crashed all the time
and whenever they can the drivers just keep on going.
The radiator is critical in keeping
the car running until the end of the stage,
and it works better without a tree lodged into it.
Like most things do.
Except wood chippers, which are made to work
quite well with trees lodged into them.
One more thing that sets the Evo apart,
there's a little door right here
that you pop off and it reveals
a tow hook,
so when you get into ditch during a rally race,
your buddies can pull you out of it
without pulling your front bumper off.
(car accelerating)
- [Recorded Voices] Ohhhhhh!
(heavy bass music)
- Here's something for you weebs.
Over the windows are these genuine
Mitsubishi accessory rain guards,
which are super popular in Japan.
This way, you can drive around in the rain
with the windows down and evacuate foul smells
from the cabin without the annoying moisture
dripping on your interior.
A lot of people smoke cigarettes in Japan.
But that was more of a joke about my farts and my butt.
To win rallies, you also need maximum traction,
and again, just looking at it,
this is not the kind of car you'd expect
to find a turbo and all-wheel drive in.
But this juiced up...
(gulping)
juiced up econo-box is hiding
a very capable all-wheel drive system,
with 50/50 torque split.
Power and traction are further enhanced by
a mechanical limited slip differential back here.
(car screeching and skidding)
A downright puny 2700 pound curb weight
(scream)
and an ability to throw down all 250 horsepowers
in a fierce four wheel launch
to send this grocery getter
from zero to 60 in five seconds.
This is an economy car from 1994,
and it goes to 60 about as fast
as the Turbo Z, the Supra, and the RX-7.
Only your friends wouldn't mind getting in the backseat.
Evo II GSRs originally came with 15-inch,
five-spoke OZ rally wheels,
but this one has some updated
17-inch OZs for a more modern street look.
I like it.
The light color choice is very period correct,
and I love '90s period correct stuff.
Look at my car.
Around back is one of the most iconic features of the Evo.
A big ass wing.
(click)
It's tacked on top of a little lip spoiler
so it's taller than the Evo I's and makes more downforce.
The name Evolution II is embossed on the spoiler,
but not so noticeably that people
will be able to tell that it's a
special Lancer that just blew their doors off.
(car screeching)
What about the trunk?
After all, this rally car
is based on a practical daily driver.
And practically, in my day-to-day life
I need to haul bodies in my trunk.
We got you covered.
This got a big one.
Damn it!
I was gonna eat that boy!
These sick Japanese tuner stickers are optional,
they did not come with the car,
but I like them quite a bit.
Especially this period correct Castrol one.
The GSR badge means this is a Grand Sport Rally Evo,
A.K.A. the comfy street version.
The racier, more stripped down,
RS - Rally Sport -
came without the common luxuries that this one had.
That includes ABS, a rear wiper,
power windows, air-conditioning.
You know, the fancy stuff.
(bass heavy music)
If you've watched literally any
of my other videos you know that big bro runs hot.
So because I love this car,
and I want to buy it,
I was really happy to find out that it has air-conditioning.
Everything in here is a perfect representation
of a '90s Japanese economy car.
And unexpectedly high quality stuff shows up everywhere.
The plastics feel a lot nicer than
a lot of modern cars in the same category.
There's even a soft, suede-like upholstery
on the front seat bolsters and on the door panel.
(scratching)
And the ultimate test,
if you're gonna buy a car,
the door clunk.
And this thing's got a great one.
(loud clunk)
Uhhh.
(door clunk repeated)
♪ Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh ,uh, uh, uh ♪
This is one of my favorite parts of the entire car.
When we found this everybody in the office was like, whoaaa!
If you pop off this center part
of the leather wrapped steering wheel,
it's a freakin' MOMO.
Straight up.
It's like an aftermarket wheel
that came stock in this car.
Of course, there's no airbag,
because racecar.
Evo II's all came with a 5-speed manual.
The shifter looks kinda tall and weird,
but it had to be like that because
of how the center console is designed.
It does kinda feel like you would
expect a Mirage to feel like though.
It's like rowing a spoon through a bowl of oatmeal.
Which I like to do everyday,
because I like to remain regular.
(fart sound)
This thing came stocked with RECARO buckets,
but someone has swapped out
the driver's seat in this one for a BRIDE.
It's not bride, it's brid.
Probably because this car is 25 years old,
judging by the headliner,
it has been used.
The pattern on the seat cloth
is just about as RADwood as anything gets.
So '90s. So sick.
I wanna these for my Golf.
On the center console,
you've got the traditional e-brake,
and this next thing is probably
the most racecar thing about this factory race car.
This switch, with the weird little icon on it,
this activates the intercooler sprayer.
That is so sick that they put that on this little car.
It sprays a mist of water in front
of the intercooler to help bring down
the temperature of the air before it heads to the turbo.
Cooler air equals denser air,
and denser air means more power baby.
More power. More power, baby.
More power. More power.
(speech slowed and slurred)
How much longer can I say that til I...
I already feel like a jerk.
The dash - I just looked this up -
is the exact same dash that comes in a 1994 Mirage.
So, you could buy this thing
and make it left hand drive.
Which is exactly what I'd do.
Just to hear you freakin' weebs whine about it.
Oh what did you do?
Why did you do that?
Why did you even bother bringing it over from Japan,
you just made it look like a regular car.
Ah ha ha ha.
Why did I do it?
To go through drive-throughs.
I'm about to do something that
I've wanted to do since 1999 -
start an Evo.
(harp flourish)
(car starting)
(engine revving)
(car engine running)
Sick.
Early Evos like this one are special,
but not in a way that the average car guy knows about.
It's not the kind of ride that would
draw a big crowd at your local Cars and Coffee.
It's the more underground stuff only
the really hardcore fans know about.
And now that it's 25 years old,
you can just buy one and drive it.
Even in California.
I think I might legitimately buy this one.
Let me know in the comments if that's a bad idea.
Also, did I do my job?
Do you covet this car?
Are you breaking a commandment?
I'm your neighbor, boy.
Also let me know what other cars
you want me to convince you to buy on
Bumper 2 Bumper!
- [Announcer in Video] It's Mr Bump and Twisted Tom
they come down for the finish...
Mister Bump!
- Oh my god!
I'd like to thank our friends at Wix
for sponsoring this episode of Bumper 2 Bumper.
I always say it's smart to have your own website.
Seriously, I consistently say that.
Too much. My friends are annoyed with me.
With Wix, the tools are already built in -
Wix Video, Wix Stores, Wix Booking.
Just a few of the many tools that can
help you design and grow your brand.
Look at this website I made about buff horses.
(lazy, whistling music)
And just like a buff horse,
Wix does all the heavy lifting for you.
Everything from reliable hosting,
to email marketing, to custom domains and emails.
All with their refined expertise.
Build your own website today.
It's wix.com/go/donutmedia.
(horse neigh)
Thank you for watching Donut Media,
if you guys didn't watch it,
we wouldn't get to make it.
If you like this video let us know,
let us know by clicking that little...
little boy down here.
Follow me @jamespumphrey on Instagram.
Follow Donut @donutmedia.
You like my shirt or my hat,
you can buy 'em at donutmedia.com.
Watch this episode of Up to Speed to learn
even more about the history of the Evo,
watch this Episode of WheelHouse,
where Nolan runs from the cops.
Go ahead and give Nolan a follow @nolanjsykes.
Um, I love you.