Posts Tagged ‘Mitsubishi Evo’

One of the most common questions we get asked at MRT Performance, literally on a daily and weekly basis, is whether I would buy an Mitsubishi EVO X or an EVO IV compared to a Subaru MY08 STi or an MY07 STi.

I am going to give you a few thoughts on the different models to help you make a judgment on whether the Mitsubishi Evo or Subaru STI is the better car to buy.

If you’re trying to decide, do you buy an STI or do you buy an EVO? If you work for Mitsubishi or Subaru, this may come as a surprise, or it may come as no surprise. The way that we most often help people these days to make a decision is we ask one simple question:

Where and how often are you going to drive the car?

Are you going to drive the car every day of the week, or are you just going to drive it on the weekend? Is it your daily driver and the most common car that you do drive, or is it the car that you’ll only drive on weekends for a bit of a fun car to drive at the track or out through your favorite, twisty country roads?

The reason for this is because, unfortunately the STI model cars, particularly in the Impreza range really aren’t what I call, not hard core, but the sporty type of car that the previous models used to be.

The seats are not the same. It’s toned down a little bit. I think Subaru tried to make the new STI range a little bit too common now. They’ve widened its appeal. Maybe they’ll sell more. Maybe they’ll sell less because I’ve certainly had several people speak to us about how the seats in the ’08 STI are not as good as the previous models. In my opinion, they’re certainly not as good as the ’99 or ’00 model car.

Frankly, they’re made for wide-assed people. They’re made to suit as many people as they can. Of course, if you’re a bit beefy in the back side, and you want to sit in a ’99 or 2000 model, you’re probably not going to like the seats, but you will like it in the STI. Who knows why they decided to do that, other than the fact that they obviously want to sell more cars.

Now, when it comes to the EVO range, it’s a little bit more hard core. I think Mitsubishi has effectively kept its focus on where it’s really going with that model. That can be good and that can be bad. If you’re going to drive a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO range of cars, definitely like the ’09 on a daily basis, it can be quite annoying. For example, it doesn’t have cruise control if you drive in freeway traffic and you want to have a bit of a plod, or you’re going home late one evening.

The Subaru comes with cruise control factory standard. The other thing is that, for Australian conditions, the EVO has pretty poor air conditioning. I don’t think it’s really been thought out that well. I think it’s an add-on. In a race car situation, you sack it. You don’t want it so you get rid of the weight. It certainly doesn’t perform as well as a Subaru. Bluntly, the EVO’s got an absolutely shocking turning circle, whereas the Subaru has got a good turning circle.

That can be good and bad. If you’re a bit of an animal, and you don’t have any mechanical sympathy, if you put the steering wheel on full lock on a Subaru, and you give it a big launch, you effectively will pop the drive shafts out of the outer CV joints because there is too much angularity in the outer turning circle because of the drive shaft connection in the front of the car.

Mitsubishi obviously limited that with the turning circle to stop you from doing that. It’s effectively built in an idiot factor. The downside is if you want to do a nice, cruise-y, take-it-easy type of u-turn, or go around a very small round-about, you can’t make it without doing a two-point turn. That looks absolutely stupid when you are driving a car as new as that model EVO IV..

Performance wise, on the road, standard suspension compared STI to EVO, the EVO is firmer, a little bit harsher, but it’s not really an issue. So you can start to get a bit of an idea of why I asked about how you’re going to drive the car. The answer is if you’re looking to buy a car that you’re going to drive in a sporty, fun way on the weekends, then you would buy an EVO.

If you’re going to drive that every day of the week to and from work, then you would buy an STI. There really is no accurate, black-and-white answer. On the track, both cars pretty much hit the nail on the head with a different recipe. Obviously the drive train, engine layout and diff controller system on a Subaru is dramatically different to a Mitsubishi, but the lap times come up pretty close together.

I think it’s because Subaru has dulled down the STI a little bit. The EVO is a little bit more fun to drive out of the box, but then, I’ve got a bit of a weakness for Subarus. I’ve owned a Subaru for a long time with my rally car. You can’t beat that boxer beat when you make the exhaust sound a little bit better. An EVO, then, has a separate advantage. I’m talking positive with everything in that if you want to open up the exhaust and squeeze a bit more grunt out of it with the right package of parts, you can do it a lot easier. When you open up the exhaust, it doesn’t get as noisy as what a Subaru does however.

Hopefully that has given you a few ideas on my opinions of the Mitsubishi EVO X or an EVO IV compared to a Subaru MY08 STi or an MY07 STi.

The Evo 10 was released in Australia this week. But here’s a few quick facts you might not know about the evo…

If you are trying to decide to go for the classic manual transmission gearbox or the semi automatic dual shifting gearbox. Well based on our experience, choose carefully because if you are going to drive the car hard, early indications are that while the seamless shift semi autimatic transmission gearbox is technically very advanced, the down side is that it is not really up to it when it comes to taking it to the track and giving it a work out.

We have already heard some early examples of these cars with these transmissions being taken to the track and the gearbox overheating and effectively putting the car into a limp mode after a simple couple of laps.

So, our feedback to begin with is to go the convervative route with your manual transmission where you get to shift gears yourself.

Did you know that the factory official Evo 10 models in the UK actually has a modified converted factory ecu using the EcuTek tuning software? This package is on all the Evo 10’s sold by the Mitsubishi factory they then also offer the FQ model that has been available since the Evo 7.

Stay tuned and we’ll post some more Did You Know’s about the evo soon.

Brett

Steve Glenney has won the Targa Tasmania by a convincing margin over eight-time Targa winner Jim Richards.

The South Australian, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, came home a massive 1 minute 31 seconds clear of Richards in a 2008 Porsche 911 GT2.

Dean Herridge finished third in his Subaru Impreza WRX STI after gearbox issues ended the event for Jason White in his Lamborghini.

Glenney’s win was the first by a Mitsubishi in the 17-year history of the tarmac classic.

With four-wheel-drive, the Evo was always considered to be a threat if it rained.

As it turned out, Glenney got no help from the weather as this year’s event was the first ever that didn’t feature any rain.

“The event was very tough and we probably competed under conditions which didn’t suit our car, which has made the win all the more pleasing,” Glenney said.

“Conditions have been hot and dry, which suits the Lamborghinis and Porsches, but we’ve been able to get away with a win, so we’re very happy.”

Report From Faster.net.au

Hi Everyone

Well we are through Day 4 of the Targa Tasmania and the Richard Kimber / Brian O’Kane Mitsubishi Evo 9 RS is running in about 40th place at the moment.

However Day 5 will prove to be a critical time for many competitors. There is already a lot of talk about how much faster the race is this year compared to the Targa 2007 and this will show in wear and tear over the critical closing stages of the race.

There is potential for the Mitsubishi Evo to gain places on the day if all goes well and the setup of all cars will be tested as people are running out of tyres and face a 2 minute penalty if they need to change to a new set.

On the Mitsubishi Evo today all we did today was flipped and rotated tyres to maximise wear and checked spark plugs and we think that our extensive preparation will put us in a better position by the end of Day 5.

Here are some pictures from Day 4 action:

Hi Everyone

Here are a few shots from the day 3 clean-up of the Richard Kimber / Brian O’Kane Mitsubishi Evo 9 RS.

Hi Everyone

I wanted to give this to you as soon as it came in.

Listen to Brett Middleton provide an update after servicing the Richard Kimber / Brian O’Kane Mitsubishi Evo 9 RS after the first rally stage on Day 2 of the Targa Tasmania 2008.

Brett also talks about the importance of the suspension setup for a tarmac rally and why this is one of the most critical aspects of the car due to the tyre limitations. Plus some additional tips on what you can do to your own Lancer to get improved suspension performance.

Click Here to download the MP3

(Or Right Click and select Save As to save the audio to your hard drive).

Check back soon for more updates and images from the Targa Tasmania.