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We seldom start our feature car descriptions talking about a car’s interior. Generally we start by describing the audio and visual stuff. Ah, but here we have a very special custom job inside this Lancer – and we’ve seen lots of ‘em.
HELL FOR LEATHER
Firstly, to this writer, the leather in the beige/tan colour is gorgeous, albeit seldom used these days. We guess it has fallen somewhat out of fashion compared to the currently more popular, dark grey, black, and to a certain extent, white. But in this instance, it’s so lushly fitted and so accurately stitched, that we found it superb. And the colour – in either leather or suede – covers all of the vehicle’s cabin and boot (including lid). Same goes for the beige Mercedes carpet, custom designed leather seats, gear shift surround, steering wheel, and suede cabin ceiling. So this plush white-stitched beige leather is also the beautifully-applied trim for the speaker pods on the front doors. Similarly the leather and suede are carried over to the whole of the dash and doors – in both a straight and perforated style. And that includes the glove box door, the centre console, and the instrument shade and even inside the instrumentation panel. This is a little unusual, as even the space between the speedo and other dials were beige-covered, as was the steering column and handbrake lever. But the level of quality here is so high that it really looks stunning.
Other enhancements are the Isotta steering wheel and gear lever, both using the lovely leather theme. In terms of the rest of the cabin’s interior, the intention here is that whatever materials were used by Mitsubishi to construct the various panels, etc, have been retrimmed and replaced here with tan leather and suede. The CD tray was completely removed and replaced with a custom MDF and fibreglass construction – which is removable – and of course covered in tan/beige leather and suede. Also removable – for spare tyre access – are the various suede-covered enclosures in the boot that house the system’s subwoofers and amplifiers (more on that anon).
The Lancer’s exterior is plainer in look when compared to the extravagant interior, but nevertheless is very well executed and is rather attractive. The car has been debadged and bodykitted with an EVO-5 kit. The front guard/spoiler is truly awesome-looking making the little Lancer sportily aggressive and ready to pounce. The guard
is accented by massive air-intake grilled cut-outs and large circular spotties. The look is enhanced by the subtle side and rear skirts. The exterior look is finalised by the suitably good-looking chrome and black wheels with low profile rubber.
LANCERLOT OF AUDIO AND VISUAL
The electronic equipment list is no less impressive here. The head unit of choice in this outstanding Lancer is the Pioneer DEH-P9250 augmented by the Clarion TVX6651 performing the DVD duties. While all the customising was being applied, Dynamat sound deadening was placed strategically from the rear quarter panels to the entire rear of the vehicle. This is of course conducive to good sound and should be a great starting base for the speaker system to perform at its best.
And given the quality of speaker componentry on offer here, together with the sound deadening and skilled installation, the sonic picture, as it were, looks pretty good. Up front we’ve got the Boston Acoustics SL60 split system. The mid/bass drivers are mounted towards the lower section of the Lancer’s doors and sit beautifully installed within the custom leather bound pods. The tweeters are flush-mounted onto the perforated leather trim of the upper door frames. The rear parcel shelf is home for the two Boston Acoustics S65 coaxial speakers.
The boot is a very interesting place audio-wise. Here is where the heavy hitters reside. The custom leather and suede enclosures (which as stated above are fully removable for easy spare tyre access) house the mammoth Boston Acoustics G512 dual 4-ohm voice coil 12-inch subwoofers. Two of, on either side of the boot.
On a sloped baffle sit the two amplifiers that drive the subwoofers – two Boston Acoustics GT-24s. Below the sub amps is one of the Boston GT-40 amps and a further GT-40 is hidden directly behind. A further pair of Boston speakers is flush-mounted on a suede baffle either side of the amplifier array. The whole classy setup is further highlighted by LED downlights. The whole shebang is hard-wired via Streetwires and Kicker cabling. Rest assured, this is a solidly powerful audio system; the claimed highest recorded SPL being a considerably loud 144.7dB wall of sound.
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