AS THE ever-popular Mazda3 shows, buyers respond to good looking small sedans. This is great news for Mitsubishi, which has to wait until the end of 2008 before the Lancer hatch arrives. In the meantime, there is the handsome CJ Lancer sedan, a small car with big features – stability and traction control, dual front and driver’s knee airbag protection, cruise control, power windows and mirrors and a five-year/130,000km warranty are all standard on the base ES – to back up its striking styling. Consider that the Lancer sedan also drives well and starts from only $20,990, and it is pretty clear that the car with the diamond badges represents gold-star value for money.
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Mitsubishi CH Lancer ES
Released: Aug 2005
Ended: Sep 2007
Family Tree: LancerMidway through 2005, Mitsubishi replaced the Lancer's 92kW/173Nm 2.0-litre SOHC four-cylinder petrol engine with its long-lived, 115kW/220Nm 2.4-litre DOHC unit, delivering a torquey and punchy if somewhat raucous performer whether mated to a five-speed manual or four-speed sequential-shift automatic gearbox.
Fairly eager steering and safe handling made the CH Lancer a pleasant sedan, backed up by a spacious body and a functional interior, but the dowdy and dated styling inside and out kept the smallest Mitsubishi sedan from greatness.
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