It’s hard to believe but this is the fourth installment of “Ask AutoGuide.” For an entire month now our certified experts have provided the finest motor-vehicle shopping advice available for the price. Our crack team of automotive oracles has been at our readers’ beck and call for 30 straight days, though admittedly it’s been mostly “beck” since they don’t have phones. We’re still trying to sort out the billing situation to get their Jitterbugs connected again.
How do you get Generation Y interested in cars? To answer that question perhaps the best move is to take a look at what cars they do already like.
Thanks to new stats provided by J.D. Power and Associates we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 cars with the highest percentage of buyers aged of 16 to 35 in 2012. And if there is one common theme, it’s that Generation Y isn’t big on domestics, with just one vehicle from the Big 3 making the list.
Kicking off the top 10 list is the Acura TSX, where 34.3 percent of its buyers were between the ages of 16 to 35. The entry-level sedan offers luxury amenities at a budget price, while providing owners with the reliability and comfort that Acura is known for. The Acura TSX had an average MSRP (the average price across all trim levels) of $32,251 last year.
Unlike its competitors, when the new Mitsubishi Lancer debuts, it will have shrunken proportions and likely a forced-induction engine.
Driving is a mundane task for some people, but for others it’s a sport, and there’s no better proving ground than a track.
Automakers see that opportunity as well, and love to offer up cars that are designed specifically with track use in mind. Take a look at the latest offering from Subaru and Scion, the BRZ/FR-S twins. Both cars were designed with a priority on light-weight, and achieves an impressive weight balance. In true sporting fashion, it’s rear-wheel drive and can be had with a slick-shifting six-speed manual, or quick automatic with race-inspired paddle-shifters.
The FR-S isn’t the only car out there with racing in its veins. Here’s a list of factory-customized machines designed for time at the track.
Mitsubishi has announced minor changes to its 2013 model year Lancer SE AWC, powered by a fuel-efficient 2.4-liter, four-cylinder with 168-hp and 167 lb-ft of torque.
A man in Sydney, Australia nearly got away with a stolen Mitsubishi Lancer—if he hadn’t left his driver’s license behind. D’oh!
Snidely Whiplash here had his license photocopied by the sales manager prior to driving the 2007 Lancer with a salesman. On the road, the salesman pulled over to allow the man to take the wheel, and when the man got in, he locked the doors so the salesman couldn’t get back in the car, and took off. The finest detective minds were called to track down the infamous criminal mastermind: they drove to the address listed on his license, where the stolen car was parked right in the driveway.
Police arrested the man with assault, intent to take and drive a vehicle, and criminal hilarity.
[Source: Sydney Morning Herald]
A Landisville, Pennsylvania area car salesman turned himself in to police after a customer test drive of a Mitsubishi Lancer ended with a passenger’s death.
According to Lancaster Online, Michael D. Hershey was charged with homicide by vehicle, driving under the influence of a controlled substance, reckless endangerment and driving at an unsafe speed in the death of Jon Christian “Chris” Jensen. Jensen had taken his son Tyler to look for cars, and the two were on a test drive with Hershey when the salesman instructed Tyler to pull over and let him drive. Tyler Jensen said that Hershey was driving recklessly at speeds of up to 90 mph, when he swerved to avoid hitting an oncoming truck and hit an embankment. Hershey and Chris Jensen were ejected from the car, with Jensen suffering horrific injures that mortally wounded him.
It later emerged that Hershey was intoxicated at the time of the crash and had previous convictions for vehicular offenses.
Mitsubishi‘s American plant will transition from making less-than-thrilling cars like the Eclipse and Endeavor SUV to producing vehicles for the global market.
The transition will occur in 2014 as part of its new business plan. The vehicles will share a common platform with the Lancer compact car and Outlander crossover. Along with the Eclipse and Endeavor, the Galant mid-size sedan will also be axed.
Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko said that an onslaught of all-new product will be made available to replace the discontinued vehicles. Osamu was vague with details but said that the “global small car” previewed this month would make it, along with the fully electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV, which would inexplicably be called “i powered by MiEV” in America. In addition to the i-MiEV, Mitsubishi is hoping to launch 8 EVs or plug-in hybrids by 2016.
[Source: Automotive News]
Mitsubishi‘s Lancer Evolution is the major bright spot in a pretty dowdy lineup, and for 2011, the company is making it an even more enticing package.
Mitsubishi’s new FUSE system, featuring voice activation, a Bluetooth integration for cellphones and a way to connect your music player. The navigation will also get real time traffic information, but we’re not sure that Evo buyers are all too interested in these sorts of improvements.
Of more importance to the Evo’s demographic is a re-tuned exhaust for 2011 that will give a more aggressive sound, as well as new front and rear spoilers.
Gallery: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
Hit the jump to see the official press release
[Source: Mitsubishi]
