The uncluttered design of the dashboard impressed us, as did the look and tone of materials used to dress the cabin. A band of plastic trim stretches across the upper part of the dashboard and divides it into top and bottom sections. The O-Z Rally uses a brushed aluminum color for the plastic trim panel, which blends nicely with the cabin's black color scheme.
The Lancer ES has a surprisingly nice interior. Our ES came trimmed in light tones. A broad piece of handsome woodgrain plastic trim across the dash warms the cabin and looks richer than what we've seen in some of the newest luxury SUVs. The pebbled material used on the top of the dash is nice and the satin finish trim on the center stack, center console, and shifter surround looks good. Lancer ES models have a two-tone dash; the upper dash is a dark color, with a lighter tone below. The mouse fur around the door handle and armrest feels nice, but doesn't quite live up to the other materials.
The steering column adjusts vertically. We liked the feel of the thick wheel in the O-Z Rally, which is padded and covered by stitched leatherette. The steering wheels in the ES and Ralliart models we tested felt good but looked uninspiring in an otherwise handsome interior. Big, bold analog gauges are clustered beneath the arching cowl. Black gauges with white lettering are used in ES models, while the O-Z Rally gets white-faced gauges. The Ralliart has an all-black interior with carbon-style accents and white-faced gauges with orange lettering at night.
The Lancer's dash design features scooped sections in front of each seat for roominess with a center panel of audio and climate controls that bulges out for easy reach by driver and passenger. Three rotary dials for the ventilation system are large and easy to use. Above the HVAC controls is the audio system, which suffers from tiny dials. The cup holders are big and solid, but there's only a small amount of center console storage.
The Lancer has comfortable and roomy rear seats. The rear seats in the Ralliart are highly supportive, and quite comfortable, and feature sporty headrests.
The trunk in the Lancer sedans offers 11.3 cubic feet of space, a bit less than Civic and Corolla.
The Lancer Evolution comes with Recaro racing seats in blue and black cloth designed to accommodate a six-point racing harness. The three-spoke Momo steering wheel looks racy with its small airbag pack. The center console includes a special button for spraying water onto the turbocharger's intercooler for maximum horsepower, useful when racing through hot, mountainous terrain.
