Lancer Evolution VIII (United States of America, 2003)

The Lancer Evolution was once more given new improvements and some styling novelty in 2003, when Mitsubishi launched the car’s 8th series.
The Evo VIII’s first public appearance was at the Los Angeles Auto Show, United States, in January 2003. The choice of that city is due to the Lancer Evolution’s first ever introduction in the United States, which only happened in 2003 after several years of significant North American interest in this car.
The Evo VIII was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show a month later and in the United Kingdom another month after.

The biggest changes to be found on the 8th series Evo were increased power, reduced weight, an improved engine cooling structure and the Super Active Yaw Control that was incorporated to handle traction.
Three trim levels were available for the Evo cars: the standard (GSR in Japan), the RS (lighter due to the radical elimination of the excess components) and the MR (for higher performance levels). In addition to those, other special versions of the Evolution were produced in the United Kingdom – the FQ-300, FQ-320, FQ-340 and FQ-400 variants.
No more Lancer Evo VIII cars were produced since March 2005.

A 2.0-liter intercooler-turbocharged Sirius engine is provided to the 8th Lancer Evolution. While the standard/GSR version of the Evo produces 276 hp, the top-of-the-range FQ-400 delivers 405 hp. Standard Evos can run at a maximum of 155 mi/h (249 km/h) and go from 0–60 mi/h (0–97 km/h) in 5 seconds, but the FQ-400 reaches 175 mi/h (282 km/h) and goes from 0–60 mi/h in just 3.5 seconds.
The all-wheel drive Evo VIII can be supplied with a 5- or a 6-speed manual transmission, according to each market’s specifications.

Unitary steel frame.   Platform Mitsubishi CT9A platform.   Suspension McPherson strut at the front and a multi-link arrangement at the rear; front and rear lower control arms, coils springs, telescopic shock absorbers and anti roll bar.   Steering Power assisted rack-and-pinion steering.   Brakes Front ventilated discs with 4-piston callipers and rear ventilated discs with 2-piston callipers, all powered with ABS.

The Evo VIII sedan sports a rear spoiler that is wholly reinforced with carbon fibre in order to reduce weight, being the first time to happen on a production 4-door sedan.
Several parts of the car’s bodyshell were optimized to facilitate downforce with no drag increase.