Canadians love their small cars and automakers know this. Canada seems to be the gopher for small cars in North America (and that is by no means a bad thing). The Great White North received the Yaris sedan and hatchback months before the U.S. and the smart car will have had a four year head-start on the States by the time our neighbours to the south get it in 2008. Nissan gave us the Canada-only X-Trail and now Mitsubishi is joining the club with the Canadian-exclusive Lancer Sportback.

The only problem for automakers is, Canadians know a great compact car from a bad one a kilometre away so they have to be careful when bringing one to this market. Mitsubishi must think we're blinded by snow 11 months out of 12 because the Lancer Sportback is sadly a far inferior example of what is otherwise a much-improved Mitsubishi.

It's amost unfair to compare the Lancer Sportback to other nice-looking - if not gorgeous - designs in the Mitsubishi family like the Eclipse and Eclipse Spyder, Endeavor and new Outlander.

The Lancer Sportback is a decent enough vehicle in terms of the basics like hauling capacity (which is in essence what a wagon is for) but everything else about it is terribly bland and completely dull. The Ralliart version that we tested shares the same 2.4-litre 4-cylinder engine as the LS but adds - gasp! - 2 more horsepower and 1 more lb.-ft. of torque. Then you get the usual visual add-ons such as the black mesh grille and dark headlamps along with the 'Ralliart' decals here and there, all which add little to make this Sportback look very attractive. I had several passengers comment on what I already saw when I first stepped into this vehicle - a car that looked like it was designed four years ago.

The Lancer Sportback sits low to the ground but designers did nothing to make it easier for tall folks to step into it. I never got used to climbing inside and actually had another tall passenger bash their head right off the top of the car ... is it necessary to say that headroom in the back isn't exactly 'ample'?

The Sportback Ralliart is the most expensive of the Lancers (sedan or wagon) but only comes in at a shade under $25,000. That being said, it still can't live up to even the Ford Focus SES wagon, which costs $5,000 less than the Sportback, but comes with heated front seats, power windows for everyone, tilt/telescoping steering wheel, steering wheel audio controls and traction control. The Lancer looks more inviting on paper in the power department but the lag when gunning the throttle is all-too-obvious, with no thanks going to the standard 4-speed automatic transmission. The standard 5-speed manual on the Focus, meanwhile has plenty of pep to it. The Focus also has more passenger space in almost all respects.

Having the 'Ralliart' moniker, this Lancer wagon obviously is supposed to be more sporty than the 'regular' version but it's anything but. The sport-tuned suspension makes things a little more lively but the steering is surprisingly unresponsive and that aggressive exhaust note didn't fool me for a second into thinking this was a wolf in sheep's clothing, ready to pounce at any moment. This is more like ... well, like a sheep in sheep's clothing.