t he tommi Mäkinen
The Tommi Mäkinen Edition, named after Finnish rally driver Tommi Mäkinen, was released in 1999 to celebrate Mitsubishi winning four WRC drivers championships. It was released in the colours red, white, blue, black and silver, and went on sale at dealerships throughout Japan on Saturday 8 January 2000 at a manufacturer's recommended retail price of 3,278,000yen for the GSR and of 2,598,000yen for the RS trim levels. The red was the only colour which could be ordered from the factory with optional special decals replicating Tommi Mäkinen's rally car's colour scheme. Out of all the colours, the red is considered to be most collectable; certainly the used car market favours it as values are seen to be increasing year on year.
The TME was different in quite a number of ways to the Evo 6 GSR that preceded it;
Red / black coloured Recaro seats.
Red stitching on the steering wheel and gear knob
Red on black instrument panel
Newly styled front bumper which inc. cold air intake
10mm lower suspension with revised dampers
Front helical LSD as standard
Larger internals in the front transfer case
Faster steering rack from the RS
15G Titanium turbo for faster spool
Revised fuel pump
Different ECU
More aggressive AYC settings
Revised front lower control arms
Enkei wheels
Different exhaust
Tail light garnishes fitted as standard
..... and also rumoured anti-surge bowl in the fuel tank.
Red / black coloured Recaro seats.
Red stitching on the steering wheel and gear knob
Red on black instrument panel
Newly styled front bumper which inc. cold air intake
10mm lower suspension with revised dampers
Front helical LSD as standard
Larger internals in the front transfer case
Faster steering rack from the RS
15G Titanium turbo for faster spool
Revised fuel pump
Different ECU
More aggressive AYC settings
Revised front lower control arms
Enkei wheels
Different exhaust
Tail light garnishes fitted as standard
..... and also rumoured anti-surge bowl in the fuel tank.
Number of TME's produced;
2021 GSR
678 RS Lightweight
of which;
Red "Special Order" Paint - 212
All TME editions have the Chassis Number CP9A-020****
Engine numbers start with either BB, BC, BD, BG, BH, BJ, BK, BL, BM, BN, BX.
I personally know of 36 red TME which went through the Japanese auctions in 2015 - so not many left in Japan now!
2021 GSR
678 RS Lightweight
of which;
Red "Special Order" Paint - 212
All TME editions have the Chassis Number CP9A-020****
Engine numbers start with either BB, BC, BD, BG, BH, BJ, BK, BL, BM, BN, BX.
I personally know of 36 red TME which went through the Japanese auctions in 2015 - so not many left in Japan now!
Below are two maps i have made showing the locations of red TME around the world. The list is of course by no means conclusive, please contact me either directly through this website or on the MLR if you know of any others....
Photos of the cars on the maps...
Unidentified cars - do you recognise them??
The Photos of the cars were sourced from all manner of sites, from The Mitsubishi Lancer Register, to Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Photobucket .... well, basically anywhere i could find a photo of a red TME! As such some of the names that i have attributed to the cars arent actually the owners, they could also simply be the registration, or the person who took the photo. As such, if a car looks like it could be yours, then theres a fair chance it may well be! Get in touch and we'll sort it out. Similarly if one of the photos is yours, and you aren't happy about it being here, get i touch and we'll sort it out. The Unidentified Cars i have set the names to show on hover, that way you get a better view of the car before clicking on it.
So at the last count i have managed to find what i think are 194 individual cars - 147 of which we know who the owner is, the other's we don't. There is a chance some of these have been duplicated - same car, different owner with a different licence plate... I also have several cars on file that have passed through Japanese auctions this year. I haven't added these to either list or the total number of cars.
So to the pictures.....
Around 50% still have the JDM wind deflectors on the doors.
Most have the TME graphics, although some do not. You could order the car with or without the graphics fitted;
If you ordered to have the graphics fitted at the factory, then you also got black door handles to keep the black sticker line neat. The tops of the doors are red on these cars. The chassis plate on the bulkhead will state "SNGF2".
If you ordered without the graphics, then you got a car with red door handles and black door tops; the same as if you ordered a TME in any of the other colours. Apparently the stickers still came, albeit rolled up in the glove box. The chassis plate on the bulkhead will state "SNGF".
So at the last count i have managed to find what i think are 194 individual cars - 147 of which we know who the owner is, the other's we don't. There is a chance some of these have been duplicated - same car, different owner with a different licence plate... I also have several cars on file that have passed through Japanese auctions this year. I haven't added these to either list or the total number of cars.
So to the pictures.....
Around 50% still have the JDM wind deflectors on the doors.
Most have the TME graphics, although some do not. You could order the car with or without the graphics fitted;
If you ordered to have the graphics fitted at the factory, then you also got black door handles to keep the black sticker line neat. The tops of the doors are red on these cars. The chassis plate on the bulkhead will state "SNGF2".
If you ordered without the graphics, then you got a car with red door handles and black door tops; the same as if you ordered a TME in any of the other colours. Apparently the stickers still came, albeit rolled up in the glove box. The chassis plate on the bulkhead will state "SNGF".
The_ Not_ So_ LUcky_ Cars....
This virtually new car was written off 2001 on the Isle of Man...
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Still relatively young, this car was written off in 2009....
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During June 2010 this unfortunate car appeared at a breakers yard in Kent, United Kingdom.
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Scene of the crime: Scotland, United Kingdom.
Date: July 2014
Date: July 2014
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Written off December 2015 in Leicestershire, United kingdom...
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Below are a number of brochures and catalogues, and a calendar from back in 2000 / 2001...
One downside - the only downside?
It turns out later TME engine's had weaker con-rods than the earlier cars, Mitsubishi released homologation papers for rallying which show the different markings. Due to this change in rods, the TME is more prone to rod breakage than the previous GSR model when tuned. At what point Mitsubishi actually changed rods from the Evo 6 GSR version to the later version is unknown, but the early TME do not suffer the same fate as those on the later cars....
When Mitsubishi produce a model of car, they allocate a set of engine of numbers specifically to that model. In the case of the Tommi Makinen edition all the engine numbers start with the following codes;
4G63 followed by two unique letters to the TME - BB, BC, BD, BG, BH, BJ, BK, BL, BM, BX.
You can see that all TME engine codes have the first letter as a "B" - this is unique to the TME. If your car has any other code than one above then there is every chance that at some point in the engine has been replaced.
4G63 followed by two unique letters to the TME - BB, BC, BD, BG, BH, BJ, BK, BL, BM, BX.
You can see that all TME engine codes have the first letter as a "B" - this is unique to the TME. If your car has any other code than one above then there is every chance that at some point in the engine has been replaced.
The End of the page....
So you've read this far, i guess you deserve a treat. How about the only yellow TME to be produced? Rumoured to have been especially built for one of the bosses at Mitsubishi, and later sold at auction....
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