[Harrie]

My tryst with fast cars started when one fine day I decided my life was getting bored and needed something to spice things up a little. So made a phone call to a very special person and I ended up with a "Psyched Palio 1.6 GTX"! The love affair lasted for more than a year. And then some problems started cropping up and I decided I it was time for something better.

I was initially looking at buying a petrol swift - mainly because I could get some body kits made on it and the fact that it could be turboed without burning a big hole in your pocket. I started looking out for cars and of course made a few calls to psycho bugging him about what to buy. And then it happened....

He said the red mivec lancer in Bangalore was still up for sale incase I was interested. It took me all of 8 hours to make my mind and I was on my way to Bangalore with a ridiculous amount of cash. Started from Coimbatore by 6 in the evening and by 2 in the morning he deal was done.

I was the proud owner of a lancer with a 4g92 swap aka The Mivec!

It took me about 2 weeks before I could get the car down to Coimbatore. Had to ask keshav to give the car a once over before I bring it down. After all this is the first time I am gonna be driving something as fast as the mivec.

The first time I drove the car was on the BTM Main road (what is it called??) I was thinking to myself did I make a mistake buying this car? The car had a nice exhaust but nothing much apart from it. It was only as fast as my palio. I was heartbroken. I had expected a lot more from the mivec and this was more like my palio. I stopped at a traffic signal. I was first in line. Looked around there were no cops. Thought might as well give this a try and floored the throttle when the lights turned green....

The car felt fast. 3000...4000...4500..5000...BAM! I was like heck... I was experiencing Mivec kick in on WOT for the first time. The exhaust was no longer a growl. It was shrieking. 6000...7000rpm and the acceleration didn’t let go. I was too scared to touch the redline. Immediately braked and shifted the car to neutral.

I spent the next 5 minutes trying to figure out what the heck happened. I was grinning and my eyes were gleaming behind the shades. I was floored. I knew Mivecs would be fast, had read about them from sideway's posts. But this was something very different! This was bliss. Motoring Nirvana!

But something was nagging in my head. The car was fast. Looked good with the kit in red. But somehow this was not my car. My previous car ( Palio1.6 ) had been very special to me and this bigger faster car somehow couldn’t take its place. Two track days, playing around with fiberglass kits didn’t quite make it. Something was missing. Something didn’t connect. The car was just that. A car. It didn’t connect the way the palio did. That’s when I decided something had to be done and fast. Then started the long process of upgrades and mods...

Paint.... Yes it had to be the paint first. My palio had the tangerine mist paint. I decided this car must also have some really different paintjob. So asked my painter to start work on the car fixing minor dents here and there. Then started looking for a suitable color. I must have spent about 6-7 hours at the paint shop going through the DuPont color shades looking for the perfect colors. Wanted a Ferrari Red on it first. But then they were getting too common. Thought of blue, cherry red, white and even matt black.

It was then when I was browsing the Lamborghini section that I stumbled across this....



It was called the Lambo Fire Opal Red. It’s a 3 stage metallic pearl with a white base coat. It was just what I was looking for. I knew it had to be this. My color atlast. The car looks very orangey in the sun and orange-red in the dark. I was in love with the color. My wife loved it. I still remember her eyes going wide when I opened up the covers on the car.

Well first things taken care of next was the long pending tire upgrade. There was just one way to do it. Advan Neovas AD-07. 205/55/15.

Some basic ice comprising of a pioneer HU and a set of infinity reference components. This is there for the time being. A more elaborate setup by Satya (Blueraven) is on the cards. Just waiting for a few funds to come through...

Suspension is ok as of now. The dampers need to be a bit stiffer. But will work on that in a while.

Now that the history of the car is over, let me get on to the ownership experience part of it.

[iceman91]

aah! can see it here. But Harrie why 2 threads??

[abhinav.gupta88]

Lovely colour. Lovely Choice.
The mivec sure is a gem of a car.
Saw the engine personally yesterday and it is surely amazing.
What all mods have you planned apart from ICE?

[Harrie]

Stupid tata indicom net connection at office is acting up! Will post the other half of the review also in a while.

@ abhinav - Have quite a lot more planned. Will be starting a new thread about that in a while... Some parts are already here. Gonna try a DIY on it.

[Nikhilb2008]

Awesome car! Wish I could own it! How much did you pay for it? Just for my curiosity.

That car, that engine, that handling and the AD07s. Mindblowing combo.

[jkdas]

Took this long to post?
So would there be a turbo in the future?

[ram.west]

hey harrie more pics please!!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by ram.west

hey harrie more pics please!!

Exactly my words. I am keen to see the whole car in that unique color. Darn interesting color combo of orangish red. More details and pictures please.

[rjstyles69]

harrie one of the hottest looking colors for a lancer. Good that you stayed away from the usual ferrari red and its likes.

I think the last time your car was seen on tbhp was at the track day in MMST(?) me thinks. Guess its time you put up some pics here for the lesser mortals like us.

[iraghava]

Congratulations Harrie! Some more pictures & a detailed ownership experience would be great.

[manveet]

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

Lovely colour. Lovely Choice.
The mivec sure is a gem of a car.
Saw the engine personally yesterday and it is surely amazing.
What all mods have you planned apart from ICE?

I think you're talking about a different car Abhinav.

The one you saw is a 2-door Mivec done by Arush, and was earlier grey.

[revtech]

Never driven a MIVEC but im sure it must have been amazing.congrats on the car. what are the mods planned out for her ? any plans of turbocharging ?


rev

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by manveet

I think you're talking about a different car Abhinav.

The one you saw is a 2-door Mivec done by Arush, and was earlier grey.

i dont think hes talking about this particular car. just the mivec engine in general.

[Harrie]

Coming to the driving part, the first thing i notice is the driving position. With the palio it was too high sort of. Almost like driving a santro. With the hondas it was too low. But in the lancer its spot on. Everything fits around you. I have a bad knee and spending more than 5 hours driving my OHC leaves me with a very stiff back and knee. But not so with this. I feel i could drive for a day and not feel a thing. The driving position, steering, pedals, gear everything falls into place perfectly.

The clutch is slightly hard and takes a little getting used to. But once on the move it is pretty simple. In the town with 10-15% throttle the car is like a little peppy. No major exhaust noise... nothing.... With the air con on it gives me like 10kmpl in the city. Early morning drives to wayanad with the family I get about 16kmpl. Yup I am not exaggeratng figures. It did give me some pretty good figures as long as i dont press the throttle more than 40%.

When going flat out on the throttle FE dips to 6 kmpl. But thats when I am on the track. Average so far has always been in the 7-8 kmpl range.

I have a straight through exhaust on the car with a HKS muffler. No intermediates or resonators. The K&N Filter sits directly on the throttle body with a custom made piping from the hood scoop feeding it.

Result - One very loud car. As in not rally car loud. But a very enjoyable kind of loud. Love the way the note changes when the mivec kicks in. Makes for a great party trick.

I am currently running it on OWS NA Racing engine oil. I keep changin oils every 5k kms / 8 months. Not because its needed or anything. Just because I cant resist getting something new for it. My personal money draining pit!

The tires need no special mention here. Advan Neovas stick like glue. Period. I dont know if its noisy because 1. Either my exhaust is louder than tire noise or 2. I have hardly gone above 120kmph

True but til date the fastest I have done is 130 kmph on the car. I let it rip in 1st and 2nd gears. But not after that. My cpmfortable cruising speed is 100 kmph. So stick to it. Never tried going above it. So dont know how it handles at 140kmph or what the top speed is like.

The car has got upgraded discs front and back. That with the stiffer suspension and neovas make braking a breeze. There is absolutely no dramas braking hard from 120 kmph. Or when braking into a corner.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable daily driver. I use it in the city for about 2000kms a month on a average. Do two out of city trips to Wayanad every month. Fuel has always been Speed 97. One tank full gives me about 550kms range. Wayanad - Cbe is about 440kms. I fill up 10L of IOC Premium with octane boosters when the tank is a quarter empty. That way the car does not knock and I get a safe range of almost 700kms.

Now for the big question....

Will I be turbocharging this car? I dont think so. I dont really need more power than what this car offers right now. Its good amazingly good low end torque as well. And thats what makes the car thoroughly enjoyable in the city. I dont think I am really ready to go turbo on this car. Atleast not yet

Now for the pictures....

[Dragonov]

Thats a great car you have there Harrie, pure rally genes

Btw, does your front windscreen also has a dark tinted film on it ?