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How does a turbo-charged, rear-wheel driven rally car sound? If it's early 1980's? Audi had just debuted the quattro to a formidable effect and Lancia's Rally 037 was yet to turn wheel in anger. Even at that time, without advantage of hindsight, it was easy to see that Mitsubishi's Lancer 2000 Turbo just wouldn't be a winner.
Then again, it wasn't supposed to be either. Mitsubishi was still building their expertise and were quite hesitant about the extent of their WRC programme. Thus, Lancer 2000 Turbo met with only very limited success during it's short career.
The full two-liter engine and turbo-charger were situated in a relatively small engine bay and with no extra cooling available, car chronically suffered from very high temperatures under the bonnet. Also, with just rear-wheel drive and no extra-wide rear tyres car was struggling for grip.
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| Debut WRC event: | Acropolis 1981 |
| Best WRC result: | 3rd by Pentti Airikkala in Finland 1982 |
| Rallies contested: | 6 | (works entries) |
| WRC starts: | 9 | (works entries) |
| Outright wins: | 0 | |
| Podiums: | 1 | (podiums to starts ratio 11.1%) |
| DNF's: | 6 | (DNF's to starts ratio 66.7 %) |
| Points scored: | 24 | (manufacturer championship points) |
| Avg points per rally: | 4.0 | |
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| Group and class | Group 4 |
| Engine |
| Location: | Front longitudinal |
| Turbo: | Yes |
| Cylinders: | 4 in line |
| Valves: | 8 |
| Bore x stroke: | 85.0 x 88.0 mm |
| Cubic capacity: | 1997 cc |
| Power: | 280 hp |
| Torque: | 330 Nm |
| Compression ratio: | 7.9:1 |
| Dimensions |
| Length: | 4220 mm |
| Width: | 1612 mm |
| Height: | 1390 mm |
| Wheelbase: | 2440 mm |
| Front track: | 1365 mm |
| Rear track: | 1355 mm |
| Weight: | 1040 kg |
| Transmission |
| Drive: | RWD |
| Gears: | 5 |
| Sequential: | No |
| Clutch plates: | 1 |
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Andrew Cowan with Lancer 2000 Turbo at RAC 1981.
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Mitsubishi Lancer 2000 Turbo cut-away
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