Kierf - ¿§?

I just got off the phone with the local Mitsubishi dealership, to confirm what I read online. They are taking deposits for it, and the EVO VIII will be available early next year. Price...~$30,000. Here is the tech manual that was just released to dealerships. <a href="http://www.evolutionm.net/models/evo/pdf/usevotechmanual.php" target="_blank">http://www.evolutionm.net/models/evo/pdf/usevotechmanual.php</a>

What do you think about it? I'm for one am thinking about trading the 951 for one. 271 horsepower, AWD, proven engine (4G63), racing heritage (see below about it), one hell of a chassis, 4-piston calipers, and a HUGE aftermarket is already available.

As for the heritage...people say (on this board, more than any other I've been on), that they bought a Porsche because of the racing heritage, blah, blah, blah, Japanese cars have no heritage, blah, blah...whatever. I'm not here to argue/debate it. If you didn't know already, the EVO has been a serious contender in the WRC since it was introduced, and has won many times.

<a href="http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/WRC/gb/photolibrary.htm" target="_blank">http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/WRC/gb/photolibrary.htm</a>

<a href="http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/WRC/lancer_spec.html" target="_blank">http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/WRC/lancer_spec.html</a>

<img src="graemlins/bigok.gif" border="0" alt="[thumbsup]" />

mouse

Personally, I don't dislike the cars because of their "racing heritage" or where they are made, I dislike the cars because of the way they look. I have a friend with an Impreza and I think that, and all other rally cars I've seen are simply boring to look at. AWD is nice (especially here in Colorado), but the cars lack original body styling, which is to me, the most important part of a sports car.

Olli Snellman

When four time WRC champ Tommi Makinen left from Mitsubishi it has been just down hill for Mitsubishi Lancer WRC.
Mitsu will not attend to next years WRC series at all.If you like to have WRC "clone" it's up to you.Personally i don't like it.Rather drive my 951.All of these japanese four doors looks the same.

M758

Don't forget
[quote] "It is necessary to keep holding the steering wheel tightly with both hands while driving due to high-performance tire and quick steering ratio." <hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt="[hiha]" />
From page 22 in the Warnings section!!

M758

[quote] Due to the high maintenance requirements of the Lancer Evolution prospective customer should be aware of extra ordinary maintenance costs associated with owning a Lancer Evolution. <hr></blockquote>
Maintenance section page 20

Wonder what this means??

UDPride

I would get an EVO if I was in the market for one. I needed a car this spring/summer and could not wait on it. Im glad to see the imports finally sending us some of the good stuff after nixing the US market for so long. A lot of the sutff is knockoff art, but the WRC cars are for the most part a proven commodity.

The issue I see is with the EVO priced at or above 30K will it even be competing with the WRX? I paid 24.1K for mine and 6K is 25% more. Thats not the same price point in my opinion. So the EVO will have to siphen off some Bimmer and Audi owners and so forth. I think its definitely doable, but they are in a diff. price point than the WRX which, at under 25K, doesnt have much competition.

The good news is the watered down WRX we're currently getting will get axed soon for the STi version which adds the STi suspension, tires, and so forth. You can get it as an add-on option now but walk into most Suby dealers (who are mostly stupid) and they have no idea what you're talking about. I think the US market is another two years away from the 270+ bhp WRX though. Hopefully when my lease is up I can test drive the EVO and WRX and pick the best of the two as they should be more together pricewise by then.

As for the styling, I cant say I love the styling of either. A little sprucing up with the Suby will go a long way. At least it did for me. Then again, I drove a puke green color Integra GS-R before it and opted for a good car rather than styling and color choice. Sometimes ya gotta bend on certain things. To get two and fro though Monday thru Friday in all seasons with some serious fun doing it, they are hard to beat.

PorscheG96

From the tech manual, lol...

What's new for 2003 Lancer Evolution:

All-new Lancer Evolution BADGE DESIGN

special tool

I think they are fantastic. What is known about the suspension, as delivered? I have driven a US WRX, and found the stock suspension to be a little rolly-polly, is Mitsubishi selling the cars for the asphalt?

ThE sPaCeCoWbOy

personally, i like the looks of WRC cars....one of the main reasons i bought my MY00 2.5 RS...

and since i added the turbo to it, i like it even more....i'll have to make it look a little nicer since i did buy the kit used...but over all, its a fun car to drive on the turns....especially when you have the turbo putting power to all four wheels

but if i had to pick between my 2.5RS and my still waiting to get rebuilt engine thats been at the builders house for close to a year that i cant wait to put my SFR supercharger kit on, i would take my 944....

space

skippymcware

I would just like to put forward that the EVO is actually not a great rally car. It is way too heavy and boat-like. How can that be if it won all the time, you ask? Tommy Makinen. He is a an extremely good rally driver. Just something to think about, I guess. <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />
-Jake

schlag

It's not a Porsche.

Some things echo louder than numbers.

Brett

If your going to go get nobby tires and race it around a dirt track then buy all means go for the mitsu.

But on the street my mony is on the porshe EVERY time!!! ricers just cant compete with the 951 on the track!

GhettoRacer

The only thing is, US spec EVO8 might be watered down. Are we getting the active center and rear diff? One of our TracQuest instructor has the EVO7 here. It is fully broken in and I rode it at Sears Point. It is an impressive machine. Weakest part was stock pads which had Mu and faded pretty quickly. But that's easily solved with better pads. It has tons of potential...

for sheer/potential performance, EVO7 is a pretty good bargain. you can get it for $39k right now.

hybrid_944

yes yes yes, <img src="graemlins/soapbox.gif" border="0" alt="[soapbox]" /> here in colorado AWD is a good thing to have. Down here in colorado springs the drag race events that occur every weekend night are dominated by them. and dont for get about the slow off road 'events'. I wouldnt dare take my 951 on that stuff. But there is somthing good about me being able to work on (after work in my garage) all of my friends japanese / american / european cars. I get to develope a love - hate relationship with certain models.

for example my 951 has a cramped engine bay, low clearence, rough ride on city roads, and a wierd sence of only having half of an interior. (under reconstruction). but what it lacks in the ease of working on, it excells on the highway. i have not yet seen a car that will pull on my 951. even some of the bikes that race with us will try to keep up at high speeds (and im only talking about the R6's). now when ive only invested 8,000 on everything (including 4,000 for the car) it hauls *** up to 170ish mph .

no take my friends 98 DSM (a talon turbo awd). it is a HUGE bitch to modify / fix / improve. but the parts are cheap. It drives like a small buss, and well he slows way down after 2nd gear. My joke to him is "you might own my for the first 8 seconds of life, but for the rest of the 20 min of racing I grant you 'bitch' status"

another awd is the 01 WRX, again plauged by the cramped engine bay, poor design of some features, but an exelent low centered drive train / flat 4. It can out handle my 591 till about 65mph.

but you are loosing something when you trade from a 944 to most other awd cars. In most cases you lose the high end stability for the low end traction. Hell the wrx is a boat over 130, and the dsm at 140, my 01 mustang at 135, and then my 951 sticking at 170.

I love the 2.5rs, the body lines and so fourth, but I would buy that car for the races that happen under the speed limit. <img src="graemlins/soapbox.gif" border="0" alt="[soapbox]" />

CPTdooberhead

What are the acceleration numbers on that thing?