Don't know how I missed the post on everyone getting them. Can we expect a post on some driving impressions soon?
I hope we see some Evo VII vs. US-spec Evo VIII tests soon! (I'm sure we will from the mags around Feb. or March

 

6k if you count return trip. 3k to NJ, 3k back. I'll uh..pay for gas.

This kinda thing makes me wish I had money and more driving experience. No sense in owning a car you'd never be able to drive to its potential, right?

 

I take it that you autocrossed it while keeping the revs low?

How long before it's fully broken in?

 

Well, I missed that thread as well. Congrats. You guys took a huge risk and it finally paid off. Why wouldn't someone have posted that they were delivered (besides that semi hidden post about the transporter)?

Well, have fun with them!!!!! G&K is only 1.5 hours from me....maybe I should drive down there when the next batch shows up.

 

AutoXed while keeping revs low? No way

I tracked the car at 500 mi (Buttonwillow racetrack), that's when I kept the revs semi-low.
I AutoXed it at 1,100 mi. Car was fully broken in by then

 

You said you had no problem with license and insurance. I have one question though; who's your insurance agency, and what state do you live in?

I'm in Missouri, and the DMV here is the Gestappo when it comes to registering a car. Never been to get plates once (or renew them) without SOMETHING being wrong! I'm dreading having to explain to them where this one came from....

 

Hi, guys and gals. I'm back. The trip from Melbourne to Connecticut was a bear (24+ hours) but, otherwise, the Oz vacation was great.

I see that EI has delivered some EVO VIIs. Perhaps WRC4ever and gvr4v (who posted the nice pix at http://www.victorbrant.com/evo/) could verify that their cars are truely legal. The RI should have applied a certification label to either the driver's door or (more likely) the driver's side B pillar which contains (among other data) the RI's name and the statementIf your EVO VII lacks such a label then it was imported as a competition/off-road vehicle and it was NOT modified by any RI to conform to FMVSS and it's totally illegal to register such a vehicle for public street use. If your EVO VII does have such a certification label, please post a picture of it or at least describe all of the other data included on it.

 

I guess that's about as much confirmation as I could ask for.

I'm glad it all worked out. Beautiful machines.

 

looks like someone is just pissed cause he has a plan DIME A DOZEN lancer and not the real deal!!!

 

I don't even know who that was directed at, but something tells me that really wasn't needed.

 

Hey Senor Info, seeing that one pic of the rear of his Evo VII, with the Alabama license plate on it, that's good enough for me. I don't see the government licensing it, then deciding it isn't legal.

 

anyone can stick a license plate on any car..... doesn't make it legal..... It does seem strange that the EI buyers have not come out and bragged about their cars...... almost like they are trying to be quite to avoid any attention..... I would be bragging like mad.....if my car was lega l anyway...

 

There's government and then there's government. Motor vehicle titles and registrations are issued by the individual states, each following its own statutes. All states will check the VIN before issuing a title and some will check to see whether the federally required FMVSS and EPA placards are present, especially if the VIN is non-standard. But other states are pretty "loose." Heck, I could probably title and register a go-kart in Alabama. (J/K)

The big problem would arise if the NHTSA or EPA (i.e. the Federal government) began to suspect that the EVOs imported by EI for competition/off-road use were actually being titled and registered as road vehicles. If the feds were to conclude that was the case, then they'd likely track down every EVO imported by EI (using EI's own business records) and seize them for eventual destruction. In this case, the end effect for those who bought such EVOs would be very similar to what happens when innocently buying a car that turns out to have been stolen: no car and no money.

The bottom line is this. If the EVOs already delivered by EI don't have an EPA compliance label placed under the hood by an EPA-authorized ICI or have a DOT compliance label placed near the driver's door by a DOT-authorized RI, then they aren't the "fully US legalized models of the Lancer Evolution VII" that EI claims it is selling.

Caveat Emptor

 

So no one really knows huh? That was alot of money to plop down on a car that is "kinda" legal. I sympathise for anyone who got one and might one day have it yanked from their posession.

 

It seems to me, though, that if EI is sells an EVO VII, then the federal government seizes it for not being street legal, then the Evo purchaser should be able to sue EI for the cost of the car. It would then be false advertising, possibly fraud.

I don't think anybody who's taken possesion of theirs are trying to deceive anybody. If I had a brand new Evo, I wouldn't be sitting at home loading pictures up onto a forum webpage. Especially since for every person who pays it a compliment, nine others refuse to believe you've actually got it, or say it's not legal. Bugger that, hell, I'd be out driving!