Back to an Evo 9 ??

[Eazy-E90]

I'm coming from a 500whp Evo IX SE and I don't regret getting rid of it. I miss how fast it was and the Recaro seats but that's about it. The Evo crowd has changed a lot as well. The Evo owners are getting more younger and less mature. More high schoolers are owning these cars now and it's really becoming a "boy's" car. I bought my Evo brand new in 2007 and sold it two and half years ago since then the Evo crowd has changed dramatically.

You know the pro's and con's to these cars like you stated. It's all up to you. Personally if you really want an Evo I would buy a IX with a blown motor/tranny and make it a project/weekend warrior and keep the M for a daily. You get the Evo for fairly cheap and you can build it the way you want it.

[go hawks]

I'd love to have my 05 Evo back as well, but as a daily driver? Definitely not and would never trade the M unless financial difficulties occur, I do miss those Evo recaro seats though...

[Ezio]

Evo is for that person who is trying to get most performance for the money. i have never in my life been that type of person. personally i think Evos are fun, but at the same timed viewed as a cheap car. M3s are classy and sporty.

[Z K]

I had an Evo 8 and Evo X. I loved these cars and their capabilities on track are great. A few mods and you are going very fast in a straight line and around corners. The quick steering and the confidence it gives you is addicting.

But on the street I wanted something a bit more refined and wasn't tiring for long drives. The Evos tired me out.. especially the Evo X which had very supportive but terrible seats ergonomically.. no lumbar support and my back would hurt after 2 hours of driving. Evo 8/9 seats were way better. Also, the steering is so sharp and there is so much input (road sensations, engine noise, road noise, stiff suspension) being fed to you that it just tires you out in any longer drive.

Would I want an Evo again? Hell yes! But I'd want another car as a DD so then I can enjoy my Evo for fun drives and leave the daily driving to a more comfortable car. When I owned the Evos, I wished I had a regular car like a Civic or Corolla.. both of which are WAY more friendly for every day driving.

The great thing about the M3 is that it is great on track and it is great for every day driving vs the Evo which is just great on track.

Image be damned... I could care less what people think. I'd be having a great time behind the wheel of an Evo blasting around corners with a perma-smile plastered on my face.

[radiantm3]

I always wonder why everyone says the Evo is such a great track car. When I was doing research on the car (was interested in getting one along-side the M3), everyone on the Evo boards seemed to think it was a much better/faster track car than the M3.

Obviously you can make tons of power with mods, but stock vs stock the M3 should be faster around the track and in a straight line, no?

I feel like the Evo is just a much easier car to drive fast on the track because of AWD. I'm guessing most of the Evo track guys are passing average M3 drivers and assuming the Evo is just faster on the track when in reality, that car is just easier to drive fast. Thoughts? I've seen lots of Evo's and STi's at the track and I don't remember ever having one of them pass me.

I think they are really cool cars though. I've test drove an Evo X months ago and wouldn't mind one as a daily. It was a ton more fun to drive than the STi.

[///M3Owner]

Evo's are nice but I don't get how you can go back to that after having a raw s65 engine in a sexy ass m3. The m3 will do everything better than the evo. And just my personal opinion the only Japanese cars I'd drive are the Gtr or LFA. You'll miss the M if u get rid of it

[Lucrecio84]

I sold my Evo X before buying an M and there I definitely miss the turbo AWD. SO much fun to drive. Just with bolt ons and a tune, I was almost at 350 awhp. On the other hand, Aside from the feeling you get behind the wheel, I dunno if you are single but it definitely feels better taking a chick out in an M than an EVO lol

[pkimM3r]

Originally Posted by mdosu

he's a troll...seriously, just look at all his posts and people telling him he's a douche bag

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showpos...1&postcount=19

But isnt he developing the troll race team now? Dont mess with him.

[vastano]

I came from a decently modified X making 430awhp. Once I got the M, even in stock form, I didnt and still dont miss that car AT ALL. I'm 33 and was getting tired of all these teens trying to race me, plus I really wanted leather and sunroof.

The ///M crowd is just SOOOO much better than the evo/honda scene.

[brisance]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

I always wonder why everyone says the Evo is such a great track car. When I was doing research on the car (was interested in getting one along-side the M3), everyone on the Evo boards seemed to think it was a much better/faster track car than the M3.

Obviously you can make tons of power with mods, but stock vs stock the M3 should be faster around the track and in a straight line, no?

I feel like the Evo is just a much easier car to drive fast on the track because of AWD. I'm guessing most of the Evo track guys are passing average M3 drivers and assuming the Evo is just faster on the track when in reality, that car is just easier to drive fast. Thoughts? I've seen lots of Evo's and STi's at the track and I don't remember ever having one of them pass me.

I think they are really cool cars though. I've test drove an Evo X months ago and wouldn't mind one as a daily. It was a ton more fun to drive than the STi.

First a little perspective. Back when the Evo was launched in the US there was no E9x M3 but the E46 M3. Stock for stock the Evo was simply faster except maybe all-out top speed runs. This has been proven many times on actual race tracks all over the world. Evos were totally dominating their class wherever they raced. You can refer to One Lap records as reference.

Then the E9x M3s were launched.

But the Evo always had the price advantage. And like anything with forced induction, and with the old-school 4G63, just a little bit of mods could net you massive power gains. I wouldn't even think about racing an Evo in my wife's M3. I know my Evo 8 would've left it in the dust.

Ultimately it always comes down to making compromises. I loved my Evos and would've kept them if I could. But now that age is catching up with me I would like more comfort from my cars so I'm driving my wife's car while scheming for a 981 Cayman S as a replacement for her. Racing is a very expensive hobby and I would never look down on anyone who puts his passion into it, no matter how old the car.

[kwike92]

I'm kinda on the fence about getting rid of my M as well. I was looking at a 2011 suburu STI..

This week I'll go drive both the evo's and the STI...

[Z K]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

I always wonder why everyone says the Evo is such a great track car. When I was doing research on the car (was interested in getting one along-side the M3), everyone on the Evo boards seemed to think it was a much better/faster track car than the M3.

Obviously you can make tons of power with mods, but stock vs stock the M3 should be faster around the track and in a straight line, no?

I feel like the Evo is just a much easier car to drive fast on the track because of AWD. I'm guessing most of the Evo track guys are passing average M3 drivers and assuming the Evo is just faster on the track when in reality, that car is just easier to drive fast. Thoughts? I've seen lots of Evo's and STi's at the track and I don't remember ever having one of them pass me.

I think they are really cool cars though. I've test drove an Evo X months ago and wouldn't mind one as a daily. It was a ton more fun to drive than the STi.

I have done Thunderhill many times in both the Evo 8/X and the M3.. The Evo 8, I got a 2:11 with Ohlins DFVs and Azenis RT-615 tires, otherwise stock. I was able to get a 2:09.4 over the top turn 5 at Thunderhill in my Evo X with just a off the shelf reflash, HKS street coilovers and Bridgestone RE01R street tires. And I had my spare tire in the trunk and a 160lb passenger. My stock M3, I was able to get a best of 2:17.. which is pretty slow but that's partly to my inexperience in the car. Definitely some time to gain there but no way can I do a 2:09 in the stock M3.

There's definitely a lot of difference in driving technique too. You can get on the throttle super early with an early apex and the car will pull you through. With the Evo X's S-AYC, turn 2 at Thunderhill, you can go WOT through the whole corner and you'll be countersteering while accelerating... a true 4 wheel drift with no speed loss. Very fun! People think you're crazy going sideways while catching up to them at the corner exit.

I think the main difference is in the M3, you have to be very delicate with all your inputs. Be a little off line, brake/accelerate at the wrong times and the car doesn't like it and your lap times reflect that. It's a very serious car. The Evo, you man handle the car. Throw it in, get it a little sideways and then WOT. It's a very different driving experience at the track.

[s65e90]

Originally Posted by Z K

I have done Thunderhill many times in both the Evo 8/X and the M3.. The Evo 8, I got a 2:11 with Ohlins DFVs and Azenis RT-615 tires, otherwise stock. I was able to get a 2:09.4 over the top turn 5 at Thunderhill in my Evo X with just a off the shelf reflash, HKS street coilovers and Bridgestone RE01R street tires. And I had my spare tire in the trunk and a 160lb passenger. My stock M3, I was able to get a best of 2:17.. which is pretty slow but that's partly to my inexperience in the car. Definitely some time to gain there but no way can I do a 2:09 in the stock M3.

There's definitely a lot of difference in driving technique too. You can get on the throttle super early with an early apex and the car will pull you through. With the Evo X's S-AYC, turn 2 at Thunderhill, you can go WOT through the whole corner and you'll be countersteering while accelerating... a true 4 wheel drift with no speed loss. Very fun! People think you're crazy going sideways while catching up to them at the corner exit.

I think the main difference is in the M3, you have to be very delicate with all your inputs. Be a little off line, brake/accelerate at the wrong times and the car doesn't like it and your lap times reflect that. It's a very serious car. The Evo, you man handle the car. Throw it in, get it a little sideways and then WOT. It's a very different driving experience at the track.

they really are great little cars. I miss that "small car feeling", people who drive one know. the steering is great, and I too used to have 2 long sweeping turns by my old house that I could easily drive sideways through the whole turn at speed. This was a 9, the handling is great.

[Z K]

Originally Posted by kwike92

I'm kinda on the fence about getting rid of my M as well. I was looking at a 2011 suburu STI..

This week I'll go drive both the evo's and the STI...

The STI is a better daily driver. More low end torque and softer suspension/seats. The interior has more soft and nicer plastics. The Evo is pretty stiff, lots of road noise and the interior plastics are crap. But the Evo is way sharper and the handling is so much better. So it depends what you want more.

[Z K]

Originally Posted by s65e90

they really are great little cars. I miss that "small car feeling", people who drive one know. the steering is great, and I too used to have 2 long sweeping turns by my old house that I could easily drive sideways through the whole turn at speed. This was a 9, the handling is great.

Definitely! When I get sideways in the M3, I am trying to get it to stop sliding so I don't lose speed. Lifting the throttle, coaxing it back into line. Not to mention shit a brick if you are close to a wall or the edge of the pavement.

The Evo? Just give it more throttle.

[Charlie@McKennaBMWService]

Originally Posted by kwike92

I'm kinda on the fence about getting rid of my M as well. I was looking at a 2011 suburu STI..

This week I'll go drive both the evo's and the STI...

I miss my STi... Had so much fun, and more ideal for my hobbies...

[Z K]

Jeremy Clarkson liked the Evo X so much he went and bought one.

His review:

Just recently I was snapped by a member of the public while driving along the M40. He claimed the snap showed I was using my mobile. My phone records prove that I wasn’t but, no matter, he sold the picture to the Mirror. It ran it on the front page and as a result the young man probably earned enough to buy himself and his girlfriend a slap-up meal at the local Harvester.

On holiday this year someone took a picture of me going snorkelling. And because it showed a chin and a stomach in a face mask the Mirror bought this one too, paying the lensman enough for him to buy himself a jolly nice piña colada.

Now it’s open season. Some kid took a picture of me while I was asleep, and when I told him to eff off his dad went immediately, you’ve guessed it, to the Mirror. It’s got to the point where my wife never actually bothers to ring and ask where I am. She just looks in the redtops.

I’m thinking of cashing in myself; maybe I’ll sell them a picture of me checking my prostate.

It’s at its worst, though, when I’m imprisoned by a flash and noticeable car. Recently I drove my Lamborghini from Guildford to Chipping Norton. It’s about 90 miles and I had my picture taken 107 times. I counted. This meant I couldn’t use the phone or pick my nose or break the speed limit or sing along to the radio or even, on the straight bits, catch forty winks. It was so wearisome that when I got home I sold the car.

And I can assure you that I most definitely will not replace it with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X FQ-360. Because, I swear to God, you couldn’t get more attention even if you were Jade Goody and you stood on a bridge over the M1 motorway and had full sex with a cow.

Now if you’re looking at the picture above, wondering why such a vulgar little thing could possibly cause anyone to look twice, then you know nothing about cars and frankly you’d be better off reading about something else.

If on the other hand you do know about cars, then you will also not be very interested to hear what the Evo is like. Because when it comes to four-wheel-drive turbo cars for the PlayStation generation, all eyes are currently on the Nissan GT-R – the most eagerly anticipated new arrival since God stuck a pin in a map and decided on Bethlehem.

The fact is, though, that the Nissan is going to be upwards of £50,000, about 15 grand more than the little Itchypussy. And I’m sorry but I cannot see, with the current laws of physics in place, how it can possibly be that much better.

The previous nine Evos were always exquisite to drive, nicer even than their great rivals from Subaru. But they were also woefully flimsy, stylistically challenged and hard to the point of hopelessness. For one lap of the Nürburgring, you’d use an Evo every time. For the journey home, you’d take the Scooby-Doo.

Now, though, everything has changed. The new Subaru is about as much fun as a church service. And it doesn’t look good in photographs because, like me, it doesn’t look good at all. I’ve seen more attractive things in medical books.

The Evo X, on the other hand, looks fab. Peel away the bulges and all that carbon fibre flotsam and jetsam – all of which gives other road users an impression that for you driving may be a hobby, like trainspotting – and the basic shape is very good. And then . . . Oh. My. God. There’s the way it drives.

I fear I may have to get a bit technical here. When you turned into a corner in an old Evo, initially there’d be a dribble of dreary understeer. In a normal car this is a speed-scrubbing health and safety warning that soon there will be ambulances and fire but in the Mitsubishi it was simply a portal through which you had to pass to get at the car’s heart and soul.

The heart and soul in question was its ability to remain composed and absolutely controllable in a lairy, tyre-smoking four-wheel drift. No other car I’d driven was able to do this, even slightly. It was exquisite.

The new car is even better because when you turn into a corner it’s the back that steps out of line. This means that even the portal through which you must pass to get at the meat and veg is full of hair-tingling joy.

Of course there are lots of buttons you can press to make the handling different but those are for geeks and bores. All I can report is that the basics of this car – the core – are monumentally, toweringly, eye-wateringly brilliant.

Then there’s the speed. Yes, a Ferrari 430 is full of brio and passion but get an Evo X on your tail and I guarantee that, unless it’s being driven by a complete spanner, you will not be able to shake it off.

And now comes the really good news. When you have finished at the track, the ride home is not bad either. Certainly it is way softer than the Evos of old, much more comfortable. Also, the X doesn’t require a service every 300 yards. And it’s garnished with higher-quality plastics as well. Oh, and I nearly forgot. It has the single best touchscreen central command sat nav system I’ve found in any car. It’ll even give you the average speed, in a graph, of each of your past 20 journeys.

And of course it’s got four doors, seating for five and a boot, which despite the fitting of a Grateful Dead bass speaker was still large enough last night to accommodate my daughter’s back-to-school requirements.

There are, however, some drawbacks that you might like to consider before signing your name on the dotted line in dribble.

First of all, it has only a five-speed gearbox. This means that on the motorway the all-new super-light 2.0 litre turbo engine becomes awfully drony. It’s like listening to Alistair Darling make a speech. And, worse, because there’s no cruising gear the fuel consumption is dreadful.

That’s bad in any car but when the tank is only the size of a Zippo, you will struggle to do 200 miles between fill-ups.

Almost certainly, then, you’d be better off with the less powerful but more economical FQ-300. I tried this too and missed the savage acceleration. But I liked the twin-clutch six-speed flappy-paddle gearbox, which is not available on the 360. Furthermore it has the same top speed and it’s at least £6,000 cheaper. Of the two, this is the one I’d buy.

Unfortunately, however, I can’t. I’d become fed up with the flotilla of camera-toting rats more quickly than I became fed up with the never-ending trips to the pumps.

Happily, my wife has come to the rescue. She’s going to buy one and, being an organised soul, will keep it topped up with fuel. This means that when it’s dark and all the Mirror readers are in the pub fighting, I can take it out for a little drive. It’ll serve as a constant reminder of what cars can, and should, be like.

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by Z K

I have done Thunderhill many times in both the Evo 8/X and the M3.. The Evo 8, I got a 2:11 with Ohlins DFVs and Azenis RT-615 tires, otherwise stock. I was able to get a 2:09.4 over the top turn 5 at Thunderhill in my Evo X with just a off the shelf reflash, HKS street coilovers and Bridgestone RE01R street tires. And I had my spare tire in the trunk and a 160lb passenger. My stock M3, I was able to get a best of 2:17.. which is pretty slow but that's partly to my inexperience in the car. Definitely some time to gain there but no way can I do a 2:09 in the stock M3.

There's definitely a lot of difference in driving technique too. You can get on the throttle super early with an early apex and the car will pull you through. With the Evo X's S-AYC, turn 2 at Thunderhill, you can go WOT through the whole corner and you'll be countersteering while accelerating... a true 4 wheel drift with no speed loss. Very fun! People think you're crazy going sideways while catching up to them at the corner exit.

I think the main difference is in the M3, you have to be very delicate with all your inputs. Be a little off line, brake/accelerate at the wrong times and the car doesn't like it and your lap times reflect that. It's a very serious car. The Evo, you man handle the car. Throw it in, get it a little sideways and then WOT. It's a very different driving experience at the track.

A good driver can definitely do under 2:09 in an M3 at Thill stock. I was told from one of the driving coaches that there was a guy in a stock M3 running 2:03-2:04 in a pretty stock M3. I don't run at Thill nearly enough to be fast there.

What does a fairly quick Evo run at Laguna Seca? I don't see too many cars running 1:40's and under.

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by Z K

Jeremy Clarkson liked the Evo X so much he went and bought one.

His review:

Reading stuff like that doesn't help me stay away from them.

[s65e90]

Originally Posted by Z K

Jeremy Clarkson liked the Evo X so much he went and bought one.

His review:

very well said and very accurate

[Z K]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

A good driver can definitely do under 2:09 in an M3 at Thill stock. I was told from one of the driving coaches that there was a guy in a stock M3 running 2:03-2:04 in a pretty stock M3. I don't run at Thill nearly enough to be fast there.

What does a fairly quick Evo run at Laguna Seca? I don't see too many cars running 1:40's and under.

I don't doubt it'll go faster. But I tend to push the M3 less on a track than the Evo. It is less confidence inspiring and if I wad it up, it'll cost me a lot more. Trying to set a lap time with street tires is very hard as well. The first laps are the fastest, then they fall off as the tires overheat and get greasy. I can usually get in 3-4 laps before the tires go to crap and then I'll pull in to cool off.

I ran a 1:55 at Laguna Seca in the Evo X with the same mods (and passenger) as on Thunderhill. I can't say it's good as I haven't been to Laguna Seca since 10 years prior to that.

John Mueller pulled off a 1:38 lap time on a client's street tire Evo with some big heavy wheels. Muellerized is well known as suspension set up wizards.

http://www.socalevo.net/threads/2083...zed-Client-Evo

[nineonenine]

Ive had Evos 8s, 9s, and 10s, and wouldnt go back from my M3 (as a daily). M3 is the perfect balance of luxury and performance for a daily. Where as the Evo only has performance but nothing else at all.

As a track car, maybe, but not a daily at my age and with wife and kids.