Mitsubishi Feat Trumps Audi?

Isn't Audi still prohibited from competing with the Quattro system? I thought that's why they left in the first place.

who cares what Mitsu does

they are going to end up leaving the US soon anyway

Good TVs though

Pardon my ignorance, but why would the be prohibited from competing with the Quattro system?

Audi was banned from racing in Germany in the DTM for their "unfair advantage" of having Quattro.
They would add weight to the Audi cars, and they would still win, so finally in 1997 or 1998 Audi was banned from using Quattro.
It does not apply to the Paris Dakar.

You can't compare the two. While Paris-Dakar is quite a grueling race, Le Mans is 24 hours of full throttle racing. I would put Le Mans more impressive.

As much as I am amazed at the Paris-Dakar, I'd have to agree with Chewy.
This is a 24 hour non stop run for the cars...that's a lot of stress on an engine and the rest of the car!

are we still talking about the company that makes my TV?

I said that Paris-Dakar is a grulling race, but as pure race cars, the Le Mans are more impressive.

Will

They are, but the question asked which one is more impressive. I say 24 hours of Le Mans is more impressive. Is is also impressive that Audi has put Le Mans winning technology directly into its road cars.

Will

IMO, the R8/R10 is a much more impressive race car than rallying cars (WRC, which are great racing machines) Subaru does sell a lot of AWD street cars (the STI version in lower numbers) however Mitsubishi not so much, the Evo is the only all wheel drive Lancer, and I don't imagine int sells in very big numbers.

mitsubishi tech simple? you must be joking. it is full of driver aids. to prove jeremy clarkson in an evo managed to powerslide round a corner with one finger on the steering wheel, he said it was very easy. the stig spun off in a lambo.
paris dakar is very different, the x5 dieselthey used (i saw it) has a straight through exhaust (!!!) and is completely stripped out, it is one hell of a tough race, tougher on the drivers though i think.
i think le mans is tougher on the engines, paris dakar on the gearboxes and suspension
but as will says, the races are completely different

Will

I agree, but 6 Le Mans victories are more impressive IMO than 6 Paris-Dakars IMO.

I agree - the comparison between LeMans & P-D is rather strange. I think both are daunting tasks for the engine/driver/chassis/etc... but when was the last time drivers in LeMans had to worry about being robbed or held for ransom by bandits in the middle of the desert? You're pretty SOL if you break down in the wrong place in P-D.

Getting back to Mitsu - it's impressive to win the P-D 6 years in a row, but it'd be more impressive to sell cars that are problem free on regular roads for 6 years in a row. The new upcoming Lancer looks promising, but I think it may be too little too late for Mitsu. Even Chrysler sensed the demise of Mitsu by dropping their stake in the company last year. They are lacking direction with their products and their dealership base is shrinking - at least in my area.

one of the reasons that you see mitsu and suburu is the $$$ of the cars are more of a fit for this type of race.

Remember Bently did it with the Audi R8 (for the most part)

logical

Audi has been dominant, teams are just showing up. And the Toyota won't be rebadged a Lexus next year.

Gotta love biased, it's apparent their's no comparable ground.

being in the usa it's very apparant Mitsibishi USA failed enforcing brand identity so this Paris Dakar i don't think is targeted for the USA Market, since the 'Montero/Pajero' isn't going to be sold in the USA after 2006.

Really sad cuz I have an 02' Montero and it ROCKS... without going super high end this thing hangs with the land rovers.

They shoulda stuck with the Montero, Montero EVO for the smaller compact edition. Lancer EVO, and Lancer 'rally', and basically brought in the evo editions of the low budget parant instead of trying to spawn off SUV catagories...

Doesn't help pushing performance adds, then bring out a FF Eclipse with no 4g63 relation. Basically a marketing bumble, this should make it a breeze for the next CEO or VP come in and clean it up...

Looking at all the other brands (Honda, Toyota etc) make a model that hangs with the BEST, ie Acura , Lexus... then make a comparitive entry model of the same thing for the rest.

FYI I liked that Mitsubishi had some sense with the Pajero/Montero to trickle the technology into the production... This is why these events are great to watch, because the technology the consumer gets excited about is one of the key driving forces people buy (submit brand loyalty here)...

-Break down-

BMW is Luxury Driving + Performance = The Benchmark

as

Landrover is Luxury Offroad + Performance = The Benchmark

as

Nissan is Skyline + Godzilla = 'Their' Touge :)