Mitsubishi Evo 6 Tommi Makinen Edition on the Grand Tour 2014

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• published: 12 Jun 2014
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This year, Mitsubishi is celebrating 40 years of selling cars in the UK. To mark the occasion, it held a grand tour of classic Mitsubishis with 66 cars taking part from all over Britain. Subscribe to our YouTube channel http://bit.ly/11Ad1j1 Subscribe to the mag http://subscribe.autoexpress.co.uk/yt Transcript: This is the Tommi Makinen Evo VI. It was launched in 2000 to commemorate Tommi Makinen's four consecutive World Rally Championship wins. And this particular model is a 51 plate, so a 2001 car. It's only got 2000 miles on the clock, so it's pretty much like being back in 2001 and driving it from new. You could get the Tommi in a choice of colours, but the most collectable have the red paint and decals of Makinen's rally car. A unique front bumper, embossed Recaro seats and distinctive Enkei white alloy wheels also helped set it apart. So we've got a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine under the bonnet kicking out 276bhp, and 0-60 is dealt with in just 4.5 seconds which means even today, it feels really, really quick. Top speed? 150mph which is more than fast enough for anyone. But really, the best thing about this car is how pure it feels. It's light compared to the Evo X - you're talking 1365 kg, and you really notice that when you're hurling it down a B-road like this. The steering especially is just divine - it's really fast and it reacts so sharply to any inputs and the car just dances its nose into a corner, but you've got so much grip from the all-wheel-drive system to carry you though. You've just got to be brave, keep your toe in and it'll take you round. The amount of fun you can get out of this car? I'm not sure there's been any progress in terms of fun. In fact, I think things have probably regressed slightly because just how this makes you feel when you're driving it. As a fun road car, I'm not sure whether it gets any better than this. I love the Tommi, but which out of all the owners' cars did the Grand Tour judges like the most? Mitsubishi has a long association with aeroplanes, so as a finale to the day, guests were able to go for a plane ride with a different - and if there's anything more thrilling than driving a Tommi Makinen Evo 6, it has to be wing walking.