Looking at a 2013 Ralliart Lancer

[schoolofmonkey]

Hey all.

I've been thinking of getting a Ralliart Lancer, I'm not a lead foot, just looking for a good 4cyl car with the extra power when needed.
Currently driving a i30 (don't hate me)

I found one that looks good, but I'm wanting to run it past people who know about the Ralliart.
Years ago I owned a Evo 6 Tommy edition, actually bought it new, had more disposable income back then, but sold it when I started a family.

The one I'm looking at 2013 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart CJ, it has 52,000km's on the clock, one owner, full logbook services, the dealer selling it is offering a free 3 year warranty, but I don't think that's worth the paper it's printed on.
Asking $23,000, but I'll be trading in the i30 (80,000kms) and not using finance, so I'll have more bargaining power to bring the price down.

I'm aware of the SST transmission issues, so when I go up tomorrow I'll listen for a rattle, plus I've been watching MRT Performance's videos, so my first port of call is if I was to buy the car is straight for a FULL service, fluids, filters, plugs etc, just need to find someone on the Gold Coast who knows what they are doing with these cars.

What are your thoughts from what I've told you about the car

[bumblebee]

The Tommy Evo was nice. I saw one a few months ago and was very impressed with it.
Did some reading about them and not even Tommy himself owned one. And stumbled across a Jackie Chan Evo and I think I would prefer it.
The SST from what in have seen in MRst video can be fixed with the new gear shift selector
It's a small aluminium block and that is screwed into place.
The OEM is plastic and glued on .the glue let's go. The selector falls off. The SST goes stupid cos it has no idea where it is. Funny bout that.
The SST should be pretty reliable once the selector is replaced if you ever have drama with it

[schoolofmonkey]

It was nice, went well, I never did any mods to it, didn't need to, it was a beast out of the box.
Gave my VL Turbo a run for its money, plus the Tommy Evo was much nicer to drive.

It's good to see the SST can be repaired and not just replaced, it'd be worth getting all the gearbox fixes done even if theres nothing wrong for piece of mind.

I'm going up today to check the car out anyway, got a list of things to check, number 1 is a gearbox rattle, seems from what the MRT videos say it's common, but can turn serious when springs start breaking off into the gearbox.

[bumblebee]

Good luck with it all
RA with a decent exhaust and ECU tune in the hands of a decent driver is a great vehicle for the streets

[schoolofmonkey]

Well the beast is in the drive way as I type this and all I got to say is man it's aggressive.
In normal mode just cruising the streers around 60mk/h its like "what the hell are you doing, I don't like this", a strange sluggish feeling/
But put your foot down it's like jumping for joy screaming "lets do this".

I played with sports while test driving, it's a learning curve.

It does need a wheel balance, those nice highway driving vibrations from the wheels, I rang the dealer and he said it hadn't had one with them, so nothing big.

I ended up getting the car for $17,000 with the i30 trade in, so it's left me $8,000 spare, first thing will be a FULL service, SST fluid and all.
There's a 4WD and Performance place not far from me, so I'll take a drive down there see what they have to say, they looked after my Turbo diesel Jackaroo years ago.

Anyone know where to get map updates for the sat nav?

[bumblebee]

Sounds like a nice buy
Well done

Turbo diesel and turbo 4 banger RA are two widely different breast so be careful


These guys do decent exhaust system at a good price if you want to get rid of the OEM
https://www.rpexhausts.com.au

You will need a rear mini-cat for the O2 sensor
http://imgur.com/a/l3sDM2f

[schoolofmonkey]

Sounds like a nice buy
Well done
Turbo diesel and turbo 4 banger RA are two widely different breast so be careful
These guys do decent exhaust system at a good price if you want to get rid of the OEM
https://www.rpexhausts.com.au
You will need a rear mini-cat for the O2 sensor
http://imgur.com/a/l3sDM2f

Thanks for that, I'll go down the list of important stuff to get done like the SST oil change etc, then I'll have a think about the exhaust.
Quiet happy with what I got now, I'm not really going to be using it on a track or screaming around the streets, like the extra power the car offers when you need it, I've loved every minute I've had in the drivers seat so far, brings back the memories of when I bought the Tommy Evo that's for sure.

These are the guys I used to go to:
Gold Coast 4WD and Performance Centre
http://www.goldcoast-4wd.com.au/home.html

I'll have a word with them, I'm interested in the costs involved doing those few simple modification the gearbox cost, like replacing the plastic magnet with the alloy one that has grub screws, as well as the aluminium plug on the mechatronic unit with the stainless steel one (it's what causes the low oil pressure warning).

Thinking as a long term solution instead of waiting just in case any of this fails and causes more damage.
Maybe I'm being too cautious

[bumblebee]

Have a chat to the guys from Sydney MRT I think it was
They had the aluminium replacement for the SST
I don't know if you can buy it anywhere else
I haven't checked , I have a manual so i never bother to follow it up
If you get the exhaust and catalytic converter replaced down the track with a 200 cell and decent ecu tune to suit you can pick.up a few extra ponies under the bonnet and get better fuel economy as well.
And remember it will only go as fast as you Burry the right foot into it, the throttle is proportional, not an on off switch.
Just the ecu tune on its own will give extra.ponies and better fuel economy with out touching the exhaust.
As with all ECU driven vehicles since the 90's manufacturer have to.pass a number of tested to get their products on to the show room floor.
And all manufacturer cripple their products to make it pass the tests be it car, truck, motorcycle, bus .

[schoolofmonkey]

I found these guys in Nundah:
https://www.akracing.com.au/living-with-the-sst/

They seem to know the SST gearbox as well, still an hour drive from me being on the Gold Coast, but sometime's its worth the drive for piece of mind.

Going over the car's service logs they were done by the letter, so no early SST fluid replacement, the service manual say's it's not due until 105,000km's, but a lot of us know better.

I'll look into a ECU tune down the track that's for sure.

[bumblebee]

I have heard both good and bad report about AK , haven't used them myself as had no reason to.
These guys are awesome
https://www.dantrans.net.au/
Try talking to Dan about the SST and see what he has to say

[schoolofmonkey]

Well I thought I'd found someone they had good knowledge of Ralliart and Evos, as well as the issues with the sst, recommended fluid change every 25,000kms, but then then were going to use Penrite fluid instead of the Castro Transmaxxx.

I'm guessing from what AK said is a big no no.

[bumblebee]

Well if you take it to AR to do the work and supply you with a receipt at least you can take it up with them if it goes pear shaped

[schoolofmonkey]

Well if you take it to AR to do the work and supply you with a receipt at least you can take it up with them if it goes pear shaped

No it was AK said only stick to Castro or Mitsubishi oils, anything is is crud so if another place suggests anything else, run lol

[schoolofmonkey]

So the local guys quoted me $850 to do a EVERYTHING service which was meant to be the SST too.
AK Quoted a little over $2000 to do the EVERYTHING service including the SST which they were replacing the internal filter as well as the external.

I asked them how much extra to swap out the Billet bore plug from the aluminium to the stainless steel one as well as replacing the glued on plastic shift fork magnet to the alloy screwed in version (part alone is $600), they are some of the most common faults I've seen so just waiting to hear back.

[fearfulmaster2]

For SST, only use transmax dual, ford or OEM fluid. Someone used penrite and the box died soon afterwards. As for interval, depends how you drive the car. Ford recommends 60K for the focus and Mondeo. I give the car a squirt once a week and I don’t get stuck in stop start so I did mine at 45K with transmax dual. If DIY, get transmax dual from sparesbox and filter from ford.

Didn't do the internal filter as it is too hard for me.

BTW looks like your battery cover is missing, which is no big deal. My dealer once lost my battery cover and fusible link cover (the red cover on the +ve terminal) after a warranty job. I didn’t notice it for 6 months. Luckily, they replace it after I chased the service advisor.