Spotting a future classic can be a difficult job, but there’s a good chance that virtually anything produced by Mitsubishi that wears the Evo badge is going to be a fairly safe bet. These little cars are capable of mind-boggling performance, and this 2006 Lancer Evo MR Edition is no exception. In its 13-years of life, it has managed to accumulate a mere 21 miles on its odometer. Therefore, if you would like to own what is essentially a new 2006 Evo, you will find it located in Costa Mesa, California, and listed for sale here at South Coast Mitsubishi. The asking price for this future classic has been set at $75,999.

Mitsubishi developed the Evo series for a very specific reason, and that was to achieve success in the World Rally Championship. This is something that it managed to do on a number of occasions, providing great promotional opportunities for the brand. The fact that it also proved to be an astounding road car was a happy coincidence, and they have the ability to make even the most average drivers look pretty good behind the wheel. This Lancer is essentially a new car, so there isn’t much to fault with it. The red paint looks nice and being the MR Edition, it features an aluminum roof, along with the hood and front fenders made from the same material. This was done in a bid to shave precious pounds from the car. It is for this same reason that the rear spoiler is of carbon-fiber construction. The spoilers aren’t just there for the sake of appearance, because these were developed in a wind tunnel in a bid to reduce aerodynamic lift which tends to be an inherent part of production automobile design. The front spoiler also serves to channel cold air into the enormous intercooler, helping the car to produce its impressive power figures. The spoked aluminum BBS wheels were included not just for aesthetic purposes, but their somewhat spindly appearance was designed to reduce unsprung weight.

As with the exterior of the Evo IX, the interior is in as-new condition. Being the MR Edition, it does feature a few of the creature comforts that the more “hard-core” model misses out on. In this case, you find yourself with a car that is equipped with keyless entry, power windows, air conditioning, power mirrors, and a CD player. The Evo also features leather-clad Recaro front seats, a leather-wrapped wheel and shifter knob, and splashes of carbon-fiber throughout the interior. If you have never had the opportunity to drive a car fitted with Recaro seats, this is something that you should definitely place on your Bucket List. The comfort and support that they provide, especially under hard cornering, is quite extraordinary. Even those of us with a little added girth find them to be comfortable.

It’s when you delve below the skin that you find what the Evo is all about, and what will almost certainly make it a future classic. For decades, the “Holy Grail” for automobile manufacturers was to build a production engine that achieved that magic figure of 100hp per liter. This was territory that seemed as though it would always be exclusively reserved for exotic manufacturers such as Ferrari. Mitsubishi rocked up with the Evo IX and proceeded to blow that figure out of the water. The 1,997cc 4-cylinder engine in the US-spec Evo features a wealth of technology, including double overhead camshafts, fuel injection, electronic engine management, and a giant turbocharger with an intercooler. The result is an engine that pumps out 286hp, or 143hp per liter. In other countries, versions of the Evo IX with up to 366hp were also available. There’s no point having all of that power if you can’t use it, so the Evo features a 6-speed manual transmission, a sophisticated active all-wheel-drive system, power steering, traction control, Bilstein shocks, and enormous Brembo anti-lock disc brakes. If you point these at any piece of road that is either twisting or features a loose surface, they will absolutely destroy virtually anything exotic from the great Italian and German supercar manufacturers. Of course, with a mere 21 miles on the clock, this car has done little more than a trip around the block. Having seen so little activity over the past 13-years, there is almost certainly going to be some form of deterioration to some of the rubber components, so the next owner will have to have the car given a thorough check if their intention is to return it to active use.

Of course, when we come across a car like this one, it will generate the inevitable discussion about whether this car should be returned to active duty, or whether accumulating miles is likely to impact the vehicle’s future value. It is ground that we have covered in the past, and there are plenty of compelling arguments for both cases. What I will say is that if you track values of the Lancer Evo IX over the past 3-years, they have risen very steadily to the tune of nearly 20%. Unlike many other classics, these values have not exhibited a single dip during that period, which would suggest that the Evo IX MR Edition is on track to become a future classic.