Converting from Mitsubishi Evo VIII/IX?

[2013GTRNate]

I drive a GT-R some days and my BRZ others. I am never disappointed in my BRZ. It is fun, looks great, and has adequate power. I miss my old EVO VIII but I'm not the age anymore that feels appropriate to be in an EVO.

Cheers,

-Nate

[suaveflooder]

Gonna bump this, because I'm thinking about doing the exact opposite. I'm thinking about going from the FRS to an evo.

My thought process, and @DeeezNuuuts83 please correct me if I'm wrong since I have ZERO experience with an evo:

My wife and I are planning on having a family soon. While I understand the eve is by no means a good family car, it does have 4 doors and would allow me to have a little more flexibility with a carseat. Price is slightly cheaper (since it's used) so I could save a little in car payments as well as have a functional car.

I LOVE my FRS and really don't want to sell, but practicality-wise (other than gas mileage) it really doesn't make much sense. I was thinking STI or Evo, but as mentioned above, STI's are a dime a dozen.

Would I regret this swap? Idea is practicality as well as a fun autox car.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Is there a specific year or at least iteration you are considering? Seeing how you're posting in the thread I started, I assume you are looking at an Evo VIII/IX.


Obviously with starting a family but being in a situation that might restrict you to just having one car, it's a good compromise, and probably the best swap for you at the moment, though the 2015 WRX is getting a lot of good reviews, but at that point you'll likely end up with a higher car payment since there really won't be any used ones on lots for a while. And despite the good reviews, we haven't really seen them on any tracks or courses yet.


Aside from mediocre gas mileage on average (though all-freeway can get you some decent mpg if you can control yourself... I FINALLY hit 32 mpg this past weekend -- see my signature to view it, though you'll also see that my lifetime average is under 22 mpg), there's not much that would make it a "bad" family car, for what it is. It's pretty roomy, especially when compared to other sedans in the compact car market, and the trunk is a good size.


As far as the negatives of it being a family car (other than the aforementioned fuel economy), the stock suspension (and pretty much any other aftermarket choices) IS a little on the stiff side, but that's kind of what you're going to expect for a car of that size that handles the way it does but isn't a BMW. But going with the Bilstein shocks/struts from the Evo MR does help make it more comfortable without sacrificing any performance (or you could go with the Bilstein HDs, which are very similar to the ones in the Evo MR). Maintenance isn't cheap, but it's not really expensive either, but again, you have to expect some things are going to cost more. If you stick with the stock wheels (or at least ones of the same size), then tires are totally affordable. Reliability is good, as the engine is pretty bulletproof, and a lot of examples are beyond 100k miles at this point. On EvoM, there's a poster named 4RETECH, and his Evo has something like 420 awhp but has over 340k miles.

[suaveflooder]

Yup, either an VIII or a IX….never really been fan of the X, but that's just me. Thank you for the info! Good things to know. I never realized that the gas mileage is so bad. It would be primarily a freeway cruiser and knowing that the engine is sturdy is a huge plus as I put a lot of miles on my cars!

Thanks for the info!

[DeeezNuuuts83]

If you do a lot of freeway driving, then your overall average should be better. While I've been able to do really well on the freeway, my own average is lower than it could be, since my commute is fairly short (2-3 miles), so the car is sucking up gas during the warm-up period and may not even be in top gear to the point where it's getting more typical numbers. Looking at the numbers in my Excel file, my average was a little bit better when my commute was between 5-10 miles since the car was at least fully warmed up and on the freeway in top gear for a good chunk of the drive.

[pacent]

Originally Posted by suaveflooder

Gonna bump this, because I'm thinking about doing the exact opposite. I'm thinking about going from the FRS to an evo.

My thought process, and @DeeezNuuuts83 please correct me if I'm wrong since I have ZERO experience with an evo:

My wife and I are planning on having a family soon. While I understand the eve is by no means a good family car, it does have 4 doors and would allow me to have a little more flexibility with a carseat. Price is slightly cheaper (since it's used) so I could save a little in car payments as well as have a functional car.

I LOVE my FRS and really don't want to sell, but practicality-wise (other than gas mileage) it really doesn't make much sense. I was thinking STI or Evo, but as mentioned above, STI's are a dime a dozen.

Would I regret this swap? Idea is practicality as well as a fun autox car.

I could give some perspective on this...as I have a modded Evo 9, a wife, and a couple of little ones. While it could work as a family hauler, my 3 year old has probably been in my car less than 5 times and my 1 year old not at all.

As for my family car, I ended up trading in a couple of my toys, an RSX Type S and an S2000 for an SUV, and keeping the Evo. We would probably have been better off buying a minivan, but my wife wouldn't be caught dead driving one. Sure, on paper the evo has 4 doors, but the ride is rough. My wife has to bend over farther to get the carseat in and out. The trunk can fit one full size stroller, sure, but not much else after that. We all smell like gasoline after driving the car in traffic, not to mention how loud it is. Despite all that, the biggest clincher for me is the Evo's crash rating. My family's safety comes first, everything else second.

[suaveflooder]

Originally Posted by pacent

I could give some perspective on this...as I have a modded Evo 9, a wife, and a couple of little ones. While it could work as a family hauler, my 3 year old has probably been in my car less than 5 times and my 1 year old not at all.

As for my family car, I ended up trading in a couple of my toys, an RSX Type S and an S2000 for an SUV, and keeping the Evo. We would probably have been better off buying a minivan, but my wife wouldn't be caught dead driving one. Sure, on paper the evo has 4 doors, but the ride is rough. My wife has to bend over farther to get the carseat in and out. The trunk can fit one full size stroller, sure, but not much else after that. We all smell like gasoline after driving the car in traffic, not to mention how loud it is. Despite all that, the biggest clincher for me is the Evo's crash rating. My family's safety comes first, everything else second.

Thank you! Lol, my wife sounds like yours. She REFUSES to drive a minivan.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Originally Posted by pacent

Sure, on paper the evo has 4 doors, but the ride is rough. My wife has to bend over farther to get the carseat in and out. The trunk can fit one full size stroller, sure, but not much else after that. We all smell like gasoline after driving the car in traffic, not to mention how loud it is.

But part of that is because your car seems pretty far from stock.

[Lonewolf]

I considered an Evo for a while as well...until my friend told me how much fuel his X drinks, and how it goes through tires and brakes like a knife through butter if you drive it with any sort of anger...lol

[Accurate Race Shop]

I am down to driving my FR-S about one day a week and it has been killing me leaving it in the garage. So I went today to test drive a 2010 Evo unmodded 40k miles for $22k. I really wasn't impressed with the car and it fell flat on it's face when I tried to take off at a busy intersection. This was the car I thought that would be a fun daily car I could still track but I was not impressed enough to give up my FR-S for it. Don't get me wrong the Evo was fast but wasn't and enjoyable to drive and I'm personally not a fan of the way it looks.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Not to be a ****, but I made this thread specifically about comparisons with the Evo VIII and IX. There's another thread that compares the twins to the Evo X in particular.

[Accurate Race Shop]

Sorry I didn't realize that because this is in the wrong place it needs to me moved to other car discussions. Thanks mods!

Sent from my Q10

[unvevo]

I bought a evo 8 and a evo 9 both were brand new. I had all the bolt ons. Tons of power tons of fun. I miss them. I believe I made a mistake buying my brz. I would much rather have my evo back. The only reason I didn't buy a evo 10 was I wanted the rwd instead of awd.

[raven1231]

Went from an EVO 8 to an frs and never looked back...