Mitsubishi Evolution X FQ400 gets the green light

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Mitsubishi Evolution X MR
It was only a matter of time before Mitsubishi's British engineers tired of relentlessly beating the FQ300 and FQ360 versions of their homegrown Evos. So it's no surprise that after a 400-hp version of the Evo X successfully campaigned in the Britcar Championship, Mitsubishi finally gave the go-ahead to its crack team of in-house tweakers to produce a road going version for public consumption. The FQ400 is on its way.
If the Mitsu team holds true to the original ADR Motorsport-developed Evo, expect a new turbocharger, exhaust manifold and fuel system, along with a reworked ECU to make use of the extra boost and petrol. Naturally, output will be related to the FQ400's name, with 400hp being delivered to all four wheels through a manual gearbox. A top speed of 170 mph and a 0-60 time of around 3.5 seconds shouldn't be too hard to achieve, and with a reworked suspension, upgraded brakes and some aerodynamic enhancements, Lambo owners should think twice before cutting the FQ400 off at their first track day at Silverstone. Pricing hasn't been released yet, but expect the Mitsubishi Evolution X FQ400 to crest the £45,000 mark when it goes on sale next year in the UK.
[Source: AutoExpress]






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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Cardude 2:37PM (10/15/2008)
Can us Americans get one por favor?
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AkulaX1 4:07PM (10/15/2008)
Sick car for sure but what's with AB latest dumb quotations of Clarkson? It's not a British car so no British didn't design it as he stated in the previous FQ400 vid. It's Japanese car. Brits can't build engines we all know that.
Evotec 4:48PM (10/15/2008)
Resession says this car wont sell well in america... thats why no FQ-400 for USA.
xpolarx 6:45PM (10/15/2008)
The name isn't well known enough in America to warrant a pricetag more than double the US Evo's MSRP. I'm sure over in the UK, the collectibility mark-up goes a pretty long way, but it just wouldn't happen here. Meanwhile, you can get some aftermarket stuff and hit 400hp in under $5k if you can do your own installation. Not sure if the SST will handle it, though...
TJ 2:47PM (10/15/2008)
cars are getting too fast and too cheap. If this trend continues, many people will perish on our roadways until drivers ed training catch up to changes in automotive technology.
where the hell can I get one of these in the states?!?!?!?!?
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Paul 3:29PM (10/15/2008)
Too cheap? 45,000 Pounds is about 80,000 dollars... I have little fear of a teenager getting his hands on one of these.
TJ 3:34PM (10/15/2008)
I have a very hard time believing you couldn't find ANY trace of sarcasm in my post.
do you really need '/sarc' in order to locate sarcasm?
zamafir 4:17PM (10/15/2008)
"Too cheap? 45,000 Pounds is about 80,000 dollars... I have little fear of a teenager getting his hands on one of these."
Alright, well this is about the millionth retarded comment of this variety. Can we simply block the IPs of people who don’t understand the relationship of economies to the car industry. These comments are just beyond petty now.
Regarding the car, awesome, i'd pay $50,000 for one.
blitzkrieg79 2:50PM (10/15/2008)
Oh hell yeah!!! Thats what I am talking about, and it looks like the new power unit 4B11T is as strong (if not stronger) as 4G63 so it can take a beating. But what interests me more is an FQ400 with SST tranny, I wonder how much power can SST really handle. This car can give Nissan GT-R run for its money as I won't compare it to any Porsches as they are vastly inferior to either of the two :D
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drew 3:21PM (10/15/2008)
It's already known that you can only get a FQ360 in manual, although the FQ300 has the SST. The FQ400 will probably never have the SST, unless it's a complete redesign.
Also, the closed deck design of the 4G63 is much stronger than the semi-open deck design of the 4B11T. AMS already has a >1000 HP evo based on the 4G63. Most tuners would agree that the 4B11T won't scale to that number.
blitzkrieg79 4:30PM (10/15/2008)
@Drew, yeah but 4G63 is an over 25 YEAR OLD design so I am guessing tuners had a bit more time to play with it than with a 3 year old 4B11T. Vivid Racing already has a concept 650HP Evo X: http://www.autoblog.com/2008/10/06/sema-preview-620-hp-evo-x-gt-r-and-tundra-tuned-for-toyo/
which basically doesn't involve any modification of the actual engine, just the exhaust, fuel pump, and bigger turbo, but the engine stays pretty much untouched and to the best of my knowledge, no 4G63 without some internal work can handle that much power...
JDMlover 2:56PM (10/15/2008)
HOLY CRAP!!!!
Keep the price right and i think we have a car that will best the skyline!! and be cheaper to boot!!
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means98 3:17PM (10/15/2008)
the question is how much will it weigh? because the regular Evo X is rather chunky
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Franz 3:26PM (10/15/2008)
I'm pretty sure that as chunky as the regular Evo X is, the extra 100+hp on this one will make the weight a non-issue. The FQ 360 already runs to 60 in about 4 seconds flat.
Bungle 4:14PM (10/15/2008)
That's why I have a hard time believing that the FQ400 will get close to a 3.5 sec. 0-60; if the FQ360 is doing about 4.0, another 40hp isn't going to make a half-second difference. A 3.8 sec. 0-60, sure.
Even that is pretty impressive, considering that a base Corvette does 4.0 with about 430hp, albeit with relatively tall gearing and only 2 driven wheels.
jcar302 3:50PM (10/15/2008)
I'm not the most knowledgeable with money conversion.
But i was under the impression that for each £ (Euro?) was worth 1.8 (rounded up) US dollars.
Which would put this at about 80 grand here in america.
NOT stating a fact, so correct me if i'm wrong.
And if that's true, this thing better come with more than 400hp, and so some serious technology.
I'm no gtr fanboy, that's for sure, but if these 2 had comparable prices, i'd certainly take the GTR, since it was purpose built, this is just a supe'd up version of an evo.
And to prove that i'm not biast vs this car because their foreign, i wouldn't dream of paying 80 grand for a saleen mustang S281E either.
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Bungle 4:17PM (10/15/2008)
You're right on the conversion rate (last I checked), but it doesn't necessarily work like that - i.e. you can't just multiply the price in pounds by 1.8 and end up with our price on this side of the pond.
Every time I've noticed a comparison between U.S. and U.K. prices for cars, it's actually pretty much the same number in either currency. So, I wouldn't be surprised if this were to go for about $45,000 if it hypothetically went on sale in the U.S. Not sure why that is, that's just what I've observed.
jcar302 4:38PM (10/15/2008)
On your tip, i ran some numbers based on the GTR price (list) from the UK and the US. The Uk to US cost difference was 1 to 1.4.
Which still leaves this car at 63,000 dollars.
I dunno, that's still double the cost of a factory lancer evolution.
And in no way shape or form do i think this car is worth 60 grand.
Bungle 5:09PM (10/15/2008)
Yeah, I agree that it's not worth $60K. I would bet that each car has its own conversion value, though, since there are a lot of other variables aside from exchange rate that affect the price (e.g. where it's built, if anything needs to be done to ready it for a different market, etc.). I've mostly seen comparisons between entry-level cars (e.g. $15-20K range) and they generally are roughly 1:1 pounds to dollars. Maybe higher-priced cars that sell in lower volumes have more of a disparity.
In any case, I wouldn't necessarily consider it a $60K car unless you see that price on a U.S.-market version. I saw another Autoblog post from today or yesterday that compares the Ferrari California's price in different markets, and that, too had a price difference that doesn't seem to be fully explained by conversion rates.
jcar302 5:23PM (10/15/2008)
I actually compared a few more cars, just so if i posted i didn't sound like an idiot.
Even the zo6 at 1 to 1.4 was right on.
For the most part, i'm guessing that the 35k+ conversion factor is somewhere between 1.3 and 1.4. ( i didn't do it with any cars that cost less than that in Euro's)