autox isnt hard on cars per se, unless you feel that your car shouldnt be able to accelerate to 60mph which is about as fast we normally will go (although I have hit 90 in a 300hp mr2) but its rare to see 3rd gear.

autox is hard on tires but not as hard as road racing, its hard on axle bearings but in 9 years I have never had to replace any. So really, autox isnt hard on cars.

Autox is lot about G's if the engine is moving around then yeah it very well could be the problem. But not insurmountable as urethane mounts or engine struts may be available. I had to put a torque arm on the engine in the mr2 because when i hit hard accleration the hoses would rip away from the intercooler (that was fun).

 

Really? So I guess you believe you could autocross your car every weekend and have everything wear/break at the same rate as if you didn't. Just b/c your'e not going over 60 mph doesn't mean your working all your systems pretty hard. Hard acceleration, hard braking, hard turning. Not as hard as if you were on a racetrack, which is really hard on your car, but still pretty hard.

 

I have autox'd every car I have owned and have not had an issue due to autox. In fact I have had more issues associated with basic modding than autox. For those owners who have never been on any kind of track I am going to make an assumption that you have seen redline in your car and have had to decelerate from higher speeds than the national speed limits. Which is harder braking and harder reving over a bigger piece of real estate than an autox will ever use. I put more heat in my brakes on my drive home than autox does ffs!

I would have no reservation about buying a used autox car and I have done it before.

Anytime you drive a car 'hard' you will be putting wear on a car. The question you should ask is when you drive your car on the street is that 'hard'?

So again autox is hard driving and is hard on tires but not hard on cars.

Also the average speed on course is 35mph for a faster car.

 

okay sooo anyway looks like we have gotten slightly off topic. what do you guys think about the review. a fair review? biased? unbiased? etc

 

Sorry. I think the RA will be a fair alternative to the wrx. That trans alone should be very cool on the street (especially in traffic). I would pay the extra over the other cars just for that as I spend way to much time looking at brake lights.

Getting proper rubber seams like the biggest concern but comparing an RA on bad tires to say a wrx and saying that the RA will greatly improve with new tires is forgetting that the wrx also has very bad tires (re92s). Re92's were designed for quiet fuel effecient all season performance, their sidewall is as good as you average paper towel.

So both the wrx and the RA can benefit from real tires.

 

yeah me being an engineer I am in complete love with the tc sst however I like to mod cars and I am still a lil afraid of how the tc sst will take it because it will be veryyyyy expensive to replace. but even though I am probably.... going to go for the manual when/IF it comes out. I really think mitsu did a good thing by releasing this transmission not only in the MR but also the ralliart. all reviews of the tc-sst that i have read have stated its nothing less than amazing.

I completely agree with you that when we compare the ralliart and the wrx (stock) tires should not be brought into the conversation because both have tires can be massively improved. but lets face it everyone that buys the car will end up replacing them.

who else would you guys think that the ralliart is competing against for sales other than mazdaspeed3(even though its fwd and hatch) and wrx

 

if you use price to determine the demographic. Then that really limits it to a few: the mustang, base rx8, mini cooper, civic si, gti. Most of these can be had for 25-28K.

Your going down a path tho that may lead you to buy a lightly used higher performance car, such as a 350z, or earlier sti/evo. I mean once you shell 28K for a new RA that will need tires and mods couldnt you have just bought a low mileage EVO VII or IX that has all that fun stuff already ? only challenge there is finding one that is in good shape....

 

[Apologies in advance, but this is too interesting and coincidental not to go back OT for another post.]

Yadda, yadda, yadda, I still say that hard cornering, hard acceleration, and hard braking will wear a car out quicker than normal street driving, especially if you're in a hot place like TX. But, maybe if you only do it once a month it's not significant. Anyway, Cobb has vindicated your friends driving habits, and the MS3 tranny to a certain extent since this is unlikely to occur except in autocross or maybe on a tight track. Apparently the shift weight is too heavy and can pop the shifter out of some gears:

COBB Shift Weight

Projected Release

1-2 Weeks

Pricing

$25

Features

Under aggressive driving the stock weight is heavy enough it can pop the car out of some gears. The COBB weight reduces the inertia of the weight while still having a little weight to keep the shift action smoother than no weight at all.
~1/2 The weight of the stock piece (Stock = 1.1 lbs, COBB = 0.5 lbs)
Factory looking gold zink plated steel
Smaller dimensions for more clearance for intercooler pipes, intakes, and anything else in that area.

 

Glad to here Cobb solved it. They should call Mazda because I think they put a trans in his car.... on the good side for Mazda mitsubishi prolly would have voided the warranty lol...

 

^During racing conditions every single part of the car is under higher amounts of stress so it will wear out faster. It's really dumb to disagree with that. The high g-force conditions in autocross is really abusive to a car. What will wear out faster? A car under 1g or a car under 4g? The answer should be obvious to anyone.

 

Yawn.... take off the panty hose and drive the car like it was meant too be driven!

Autox is NOT hard on cars! harder than waxing it maybe. I speak from experience with repairs and required maintenance that was a direct result of autox 'wear' and there wasnt any. What are are you using for data ?

If your making some generalization about another form a racing, thanks for helping us take this OT again.

 

Yeah, it's really a huge benefit to have Cobb out there racing the car so that they encounter things like this and offer a fix! I wish I had $6-7K to buy and install everything they put out. That's also why I'm hoping they'll take on the RA when it comes out.

 

I don't even know what your point is because I did not read most of your posts. My point is any time you go beyond the level of stress in daily driving it becomes harder on the car no matter what car you are talking about, so therefore it will wear out faster. Is that concept that hard to understand?

I'm not implying that you should always baby your car. I'm always for the idea of using a machine for it's intended purpose as much as possible. If had an Evo I would flog it as much as possible and test it's limits even on the streets when I'm sure I won't get caught.

 

What more can I say, that you havent already said yourself.

Cobb makes good off the shelf stuff, they are pricey tho.