I took a test drive in a black Evo last night at a dealership here in L.A. The salesmen ranked about a 8 on a 0-10 sleaze meter, but the guy riding shotgun said something that made me think. I'm pretty inexperienced at driving a stick (know how to, just haven't done it, other than on test drives. I rode a motorcycle for a couple of years in college and had no problem with that.) So the salesdrone sees that I'm having a little trouble getting rolling in first gear, and he says "This is not the car for you. You are gonna burn up the clutch, and then you're looking at a $3000 bill replace it."

What do you guys think? Am I setting myself up for a big repair bill by essentially learning stick on the Evo, or will I be good to go after a couple hours' seat time? I stalled the Evo only once, which is a damn sight better than my experience test driving an IS300 last fall.

 

yep ur gettin urslef into some ****. the clutch is this cars weak spot.... you should learn on another car, try buying a beater for like 100 bucks learn, then buy the evo, cause the evo's clutch has proven to be fragile in most cases. someone just reported there clutch went at 400 miles i believe yesterday. think about how bad that is.... when my clutch my spec v has been up to 90,000 miles and dragged on and its still goin. some evo's will see that sort of life , but most people will change out the ****ty clutch before they see those numbers on the odo, but this is not going to stop me from gettin one.

 

go for it. this is my first clutch car also.after a week i was fine with a stick.you'll get the hang of it .do let a punk *** salesman tell you want kind of car you should be driving.salesman are only there to fetch the keys.it's your money,and your life.hope you join the family .

 

why waste your money..... first thing is first... go out and learn to drive a stick first then once you have learned go get the EVO..... and then put the SS clutch line in ASAP.. that way you feel the clutch grabbing and you should have no problems... just learn not to ride the clutch

 

evo was my first stick car.. i learned fine in a few days.. i say go for it

also its not 3000 i doubt that much for a new clutch...

 

It costs about $1000 for a new factory clutch installed at the dealership i go to.

 

man it will take you less then 2 days to learn how to drive it. first of all its not $3000 it's like $1000 to $1700 installed depanding on the clutch. plus you wont be that bad you will learn, just push extra gas and it wont stalll. i have 12000 miles on mine and the clutch is like new and yes i have raced sooo many times but i know how to luanch the car though. Dont worry, it cant be that hard and the clutch is not week but its not suprior either.

 

buy it.......the evo is one of the easiest cars to drive i've ever driven. I learned to drive stick on a 94 toyota pickup. Much harder than the evo. You'll get the hang of it by the end of the day. Seriously, the evo has one of the easiest shifting tranny's and softest clutches i've driven. Very easy to learn on. And BTW, 3000 for that much dough you can get a triple carbon clutch with flywheel, have it installed, and still have money left over.

 

if a salesman implied that I was a bad driver on a test drive I would have curbed the wheels and said "Sorry, you're right I'm a bad driver, your insurance will cover those wheels. See ya."

 

i think you should go around test driving manual cars for a few days and learn on their cars, then buy the Evo, brand new.

As long as you don't launch the car, your clutch will hold up to an inexperienced driver. It's a short amount of time until you get the feel of rolling off the line. Your clutch will not suffer much. You might shave a few hundred miles off it. There are Evos with 25,000 miles + with OEM clutches and still going. Just don't ride the clutch and it will be fine. Go for it.

 

Look.. the way not to burn out the clutch prematurely is to shift fast... dont feather the clutch wherever possible because that is what's killing the clutch.. dont leave your foot on the clutch when you are stopped.. even for only 10 secs.. take it off and out of gear.

The EVO is just as good a car to learn in as any car.. learn to feel the clutch contact points from regular use and you'll be driving the EVO like a PRO.. just be careful driving it.. the car is a deadly weapon.. the turbo is wild... if u wanna let her rip.. make sure the road and surrounding area is clear and most importantly, drive safely and anticipate ahead at all times....

 

my clutch lasted me 22,000 miles

 

my friend who has a 94 M3 just recently taught me how to drive stick because he knew i wanted to buy an evo. so this will be my first car too. as everyone said, it shouldnt take but a week max to get a good feel for the shifting. and personally, learning on a bunch of different cars i think, can be bad. each has a different clutch travel and a different sensitivity. if you get used to something with a long clutch travel, then you drive a car with one that is short, and you stall it. get to know the evo

 

You can burn a clutch in less than 1000 miles or 1 day at the track.

It cost 1100$ US on average to fix in LA so california.

Hope that helps.

http://www.CarPhoto.net

 

Just buy the evo if thats what you want. If you do buy another car to learn how to drive stick you have to think about the depreciation costs that go with buying a car. If you buy the starter car and drive it for a year you will probably loose over $3000 when you sell it. I learned how to drive stick on the evo and I now have 8000 miles and its holding up well. Jus be easy on it and it will last. Just my .02.

BTW they never made m3's in 94, the e36 m3's came out in 1995.