Alright guys I am about to buy an EVO or STI. For the past few months I have been leaning towards the EVO, because I love the 4G63 platform and aftermarket support. But after following your guy's forum for a while, I am really worried about drivetrain reliability (transfer case etc). Couple questions, are the 05's better, is the MR tranny better suited to hold more power. I am coming from heavily modified GTI 1.8T, and have never owned a AWD car so don't know what to expect as far as reliability problems. I know the motor is bullet proof, but how bad is the transfer case. How many of you guys have really had major problems. In my VW we had a few problems with synchros, but only heavily drag raced cars. I will not be drag racing often at all (couple times a year) and will mainly use it as a street car. My goal is 400 whp on pump gas and I have a very good idea of what I need to do it. I am just worried about dropping $2 grand on a transfer case every year or less. The only thing I like about the STI is the displacement and tranny strength. Anyways all this garbage being said I am still leaning towards the EVO, but am looking to be reassured I guess Thanks for reading all this garbage and any help would be appreciated.

 

Keep in mind that the posts on this forum are generally the worst experiences and generally the exceptions not the norm..

I have well over 25k on a stock drivetrain and stock clutch, and its a heavily modified car.. Driving style and abuse are the biggest factor in failures.. If you beat the crap out of something, you'll break it, no matter what kind of car you drive.

Don't let that affect your decision, weigh your options based on valid information.. I hate to say this but much of the info on this site is a little one-sided and biased due to the simple fact that your more likely to complain online about a problem, than go out of your way to post about not having any.. You'll see this on almost any forum you follow for awhile. Especially one that caters to the fringe where a good portion of the cars are modified and those are the people who post the most.

 

Have we all been talking and posting about this exact stuff for a couple years for nothing? It's all here, man. Do three distinct searches and you will find more threads than you want to answer your questions.

As a summary for what you will find, the Evo can push a little over 400 AWHP (depending on dyno) with the stock turbo at it's extreme limit and the stock motor can handle the production of about 500 AWHP before it blows up.

The transfer case has the potential to blow up if you install a stronger clutch AND do high RPM clutch drops. It doesn't self-explode.

Other than that, the Evolution 8 comes out of the factory almost perfect.

 

...if you drag race the car you can expect to pay 1k every 5-10k miles to launch it and save the drivetrain.

to achieve those 0-60 / quarter mile times posted in magazines you'll have to keep replacing the clutch with a weak clutch that will wear when launched. unless someone here has done a lot of launches with no broken tranny parts and stock clutch...I doubt it.
Keep in mind also that those who post " i have 30k+ mileage on my car etc etc" probably have 80%+ of those miles on the highway and those who broke it @5k prolly did more launches than those @30k.

The new 05's have a helical LSD in the front so they probably will not have the problems 03/04 have. Haven't read anything bout a broken 05 tcase yet lol. Maybe u can dump the clutch all you want on the 05s?

 

I had 30K with some serious launches on my stock clutch. The drivetrain was fine, the clutch needed replacement.

However, if I didn't abuse it as much, I think I could of had another 10,000 to 20,000 miles on the stock clutch.

It's just that when you upgrade the clutch, the drivetrain have hard time taking the pressure of more power/clamping force.

What happens is the transmission expands to absorb the power/shock from the clutch engaging, which in turn the clutch is forcing the power to be harnessed. Then the transmission expands, including all the gears in it, then boom! It no longer can hold the sudden power and it comes apart.

They should of made more engineering effort to control the expansion of the transmission at the same time find a way to transfer the energy elsewhere.

I heard STI have the same transmission problems as evo, but you wont break the transmission, you'll break something else, like the engine and parts of transmission.

So you could either get EVo and get a great feeling shifter, or get STI and get a playful shifter that's vague and still get tranny problems.

Or you just don't race at all.

 

So are you guys saying you think you are better off not getting a stronger clutch with such clamping force?? What about the MR's 6-speed anyone have any info on that tranny, differences good or worse. thanks

 

i'm not saying that, but you'll have a better chance of blowing your t-case with an aftermarket clutch.

it's the curse of the AWD, there's noway to really take some of the energy off of the wheel spin.

 

if you do get a clutch and dont plan on doing clutch dumps, get a single disc like the act and lightweight flywheel. I have the act clutch and love it. it has more clamping power that stock but far less than those twin disc clutches. Remember, a clutch is alot cheaper to replace, than a t-case.

 

Any car, not only Evo will last longer and more reliable if you don't abuse the car like crazy launches, racing on every stop light and poor maintenance etc. My '03 Evo has 12k miles with no problems to the drivetrain, engine and properly maintained before I traded it to an MR. To conclude, take care of your car and it will take care of you. Goodluck!

 

I have 31,000 miles on my car and still have the stock clutch. It's been to the track and I have fun with my car. I don't abuse it, but I do have a spirited driving style. My car is probably making 380 crank hp (maybe more) and the clutch is doing it's job just fine. I've had a Exedy twin disk in my garage now for about 6 months thinking I was gonna need it. WRONG.

 

this is not true. I had a prelude before, I abuse the awful hell out of that car launching. I've never had any sort of transmission problem or even needed to change the clutch after 60,000 miles.

You do need to maintain the car on a regular intervals but it's the pro / con of AWD, it grips immediately and transfer all the power to the wheel without spinning the wheels (most of the times) but that's why we beat most of the cars on the road off the line and that's why we have more problems blowing the drive train then say honda's blowing their engines up before the drive train.

 

What about the 05'? Anyone here think the LSD will keep the TC from blowing? If it does i wish i had waited for an 05 because there is a better chance the TC wont blow like the 03-04 . Its weird b/c my friend has an 03 pushing over 400hp with an exedy twin disk and his car has had not a single problem. IM starting to think that people breaking the tc are doing hard clutch drop launches. I just got The new Turbo mag and has AL's car that runs 10.5 1/4 and has more than 20 passes and is on the stock tranny and stock differentials and also has an exedy carbon clutch on the car. I want to make my car a beast but im also worried about the TC going

 

exedy twin disk, you need to slip so less shock on the tranny.

 

I kind of wish i had gotten the 05 b/c of lsd which will probably help down the road with Wheelhop but we have to wait who will be the first one to blow the TC on an 05 if anyone does.

 

According to RRE, the factory front LSDs are weak above 300whp. So just get a quaife and you should be set.