Kurdt, my first (written off by a beamer driver), second (torched via random act by random person supposedly), and third (replaced because my wife couldnt drive manual) cars were lancers. 2000 VRX, 2007 something (only put 17000 on it, cant remember but the 2.4L was a step up), and a 2010 activ (not 2.4L sadface). Loved them all and would probably of driven the first one til it fell apart too but accidents happen.

Decided on a mazda 3 for the reason you said, lancer line is dead, no update except a facelift in 7 years or so.

As for the joy sharing, tuesday arvo my pregnant wife went for a regular gp checkup and was told to go to hospital where she was rechecked, blood pressure still high, and admitted with pre-eclampsia. Wed morning a steroid injection given as precaution for baby's lungs, and after some checks they found her red blood was low, and ultra sound showed the bub had stopped growing... so they gave her a second steroids, and told us they'd be cutting the baby out thurs morning. Got delayed but at 3pm yesterday afternoon he came out at 34 weeks, 1.9kg (4.3lb) about the length of a milk bottle and had a tiny bit of trouble breathing but as of 11am he was off the tubes, and out of intensive care at 7pm.