*Disclaimer* I am not out to get the MR. I like the car. I tried desperately to trick my friend Steve into buying one last night. I am simply curious about cars in general, and of course Evo's specifically. I am presenting what I found just as information. How you take it is up to you.

Got to check out a couple of MR's yesterday. I definitely like the car in red. The contrast of the red against the new wheels is killer. One thing I did not like is the feel of the shifter. I could not believe how much slop there was. For those curious, I've posted a short vid (6.1mb) on my website. I run it through the gears, but I stop each time and show just how much slop there is while in gear. Very rubbery feeling and completely disappointing. That said, I'm sure Kartboy or others will be developing something to improve on it very soon.

www.joe250.com

Joe

 

Joe, I have the MR and in driving it after driving a '03 I don't agree with your statement. I'm not taking offense to your statement, but keeping my opinion purely factual. From the way you made it sound, you played around with the shifter in the showroom as it is doubtful you got a test drive on a dealer's MR. I see a large improvement over the '05 that when I test drove in the '03, 5th gear grinded every couple of shifts. The 6sp shift quality is smooth and butter-like. The teflon coated cables may or may not contribute to the smooth action and the combination of all these combined with the small MR shifter now makes it very short shifter-like. I am not dissapointed with the shift action nor do I feel any slop. Bushing replacement may just further improve this already nice shift action.

 

I agree with dsm95hybrid, the gears are so much smoother, compared to the 04. I would not buy the 03 or 04 just because of that reason

 

Adding shifter bushings under hood and console along with better tranny fluid and metal shift knob will greatly improve the shift quality of the 03 and 04s. I can't see the MR being that much better right off the showroom floor. It's placebo my friends.

 

No slop here. At least when driving. On all subjective accounts, the 06 speed seems to be better. Only grey area is durability/strength which I suspect only becomes an issue in higher-hp racing conditions. But who does that anyway....

Shiv

 

I disagree with your statement of 5th gear grinding statement... either you're the only one getting the problem or my buddies and I got the lucky batches of 03-04s.

 

It took me and hour to get used to it, after driving my 03 for 1 1/2 years, now the 05 MR drives and shifts much better....

 

the 6 speed tranny feels better when you put miles on it.

 

I bet it's the same problem that all evos have. Basically the rubber bushings used in the linkage is crap. When I test drove an evo, the shifter has a lot of slop to it. After sitting in the blue one I bought, that shifter felt much better.

After I upgrated to some bronze bushings from Lancer shop, all the slop disapeared.

 

what is the top speed of the MR is it still the same as the others?

 

I'm not experiencing any of this sloppiness you're talking about. Feels great to me.

 

I have a 2005 MR I have no idea why someone would say that there is slop in the shifter. I traded my 2003 evolution in for an MR. My 2003 had the shift bushings inside the center console shift area and under the hood in the shift linkage. THE MR HAS SUPERIOR SHIFTING TO THAT OF A REGULAR EVO PERIOD.

VERY SMOOTH WITH NO GRINDS. I WOULD ONLY BELIEVE THAT INSTALLING THE BUSHING KIT OFFERED BY LANCER SHOP OR OTHER VENDORS WOULD MAKE THE ALREADY PRECISE SHIFTING EVEN BETTER THAN WHAT IT IS. UNDER THE HOOD IT SEEMS LIKE THERE IS A PLACE TO INSTALL A BRASS BUSHING OR KARTBOY BUSHING. PLUS YOU ALSO HAVE THE INTERIOR CONSOLE BUSHINGS THAT YOU CAN ADD. SO TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT I DO NOT AGREE WITH YOUR STATEMENT ABOUT MR 6 SPEED SHIFTER SLOP.


DEREK

 

bumb.....im curious

 

Assuming a rev limit of 7500 RPM, it's about 286 kmh or about 178 mph.

 

Thanks for the opinion Shiv. Wish you would try to blow one up so we can put this "myth?" to bed. Is it or is it not as strong as the 5sp. Only time will tell... Or Shiv's dyno.

All I can say is the one I drove would grind 5th, many of the other Evo owners in Florida have problems with 5th and one of the members from our group works in Mitsu parts dep't and agrees that they have problems with 5th gear grinding per some of the service techs. We could start a poll, but I drive a 6 now and it is not that important to me anyhow.