out of all the lancers(that i can afford to buy) the one i most like is the O.Z. rally. i have a 01 Eclipse right now but i have my second child on the way and i'm sick of the 2 doors crap i have to deal with. i'm still not ready to get a SUV so i'm thinking a Lancer would be the best bet. what if any differences are there in between the O.Z. rally/ralliart/es/ls/de? i want to know which of these has the most comfortable ride. i heard somewhere that the O.Z. rally had an entirely different suspension kit on it to make it possible to drive it on dirt roads without slipping to much.

point in fact is i am sick of driving these sport compacts that have such a hard feeling ride. and i'm looking for the best ride version of mitsu's. because quite frankly, my Eclipse has 204,000 miles on the original engine and its still running pretty strong. at least it is when all the emission and ignition controls aren't breaking on it. but the engine is still running like a champ. burns clean enough to pass california emission regulations so i'd say mitsubishi has a pretty good engine.

anyways if anyone knows the difference or can give me their opinion on how they all ride it would be great. i'm looking to possibly get a 03 black O.Z. rally with 90,000 miles on it for $6,000 i checked up on blue book value and it said $8,900 so i think i'm getting a great offer. i haven't had the chance to look at it yet but i'm just trying to make it so i don't end up getting a lancer thats gonna feel like i'm driving on a dirt road whenever i'm driving in the old part of the city in monterey.

Here's a summary:

OZ/LS/ES:

Same engine (2.0L, SOHC)
Same Chassis
The OZ has a nicer interior than the LS/ES
Different suspension: The OZ has a rear sway bar, which prevents body roll. The ES has different front shocks to compensate for the lack of a rear sway bar. There is not a huge difference between the OZ/LS/ES.

The Ralliart:
This has a bigger engine (2.4L, SOHC)
The suspension is stiffer than all other Lancers (don't know about the Evo)

I have a 2005 ES. I'm the original owner and have 76,000 miles on it. I've had no problems and I think it has a comfortable ride.

If you want the best riding Mitsubishi (from a comfort stand point), you might want to look at the Galant.

I would buy the 03 OZ.

Hope that helps.

it does help a lot thank you very much for the information. i guess i'll have to check out the Galant and see if i can get a good deal one one of those. i was trying to stay away from them because everyone i have ever known that had one said they had nothing but problems with it. i can't really specify what they were i just know that the people i know that had owned galants were constantly having them in the shop. maybe it was just a fluke and these guys got some badly made ones but i haven't really heard anything good about them.

The price for that lancer is a bit high. My girlfriends Lancer with 60k on the odometer was 6,000, and that was over a year ago.

I wouldn't discount the lancer out right. It gets good gas milage, is a four door, the stock suspension isn't like riding on a cloud but it isn't totally bad. I like it better than a comparable civic four door.

only bad things happen when someone mentions honda civic on this forum my man try to never bring those words together again. i nearly puked when i read that.

I have nothing against the Civic, or Hondas in general. I have a problem with "ricers" in general (but that would be getting off topic).

The Lancer is not overpriced. It was cheaper for me to buy a brand new Lancer, than to buy a used Civic (2 years old, identically equipped) with 60,000 miles.

I have a 03 lancer oz rally and i like it alot. It is a really smooth ride and has room for all my friends and still looks nice. My friend has a 03 eclipes gs and my car is faster but i also have mods. I would go with a OZ.

I dont like ricers either haha but My 03 OZ was only 7500 with 68000 miles on it

its alright i don't need a new car anymore as i finally figured out why my stupid Eclipse had the check engine light on. i didn't know that the G3 eclipse had a altimeter screw on the throttle body. now i don't have to get rid of the Eclipse.