EVO's really like to be warm I think. I drove home from work the other day and went inside for a bit. Then I went back out a few minutes later to pick up some food... and the car was just driving great. It was a huge difference to the way the car feels when I fire it up in the morning to go to work. (Even after warming the car up... which I always do by the way).

These are the types of things I notice all the time with this car... that I never noticed with any other car I've had. (I guess these are also some of the reasons why this car isn't for everybody. If you don't want to have to THINK about your car... then you don't want an EVO.)

On a side note... ever since I've had this car... I've noticed that I drive very often with the radio off so I can hear the engine etc. I used to ALWAYS have the radio/CD/I-pod on while driving. Anybody else do this?

 

Haha. I thought I was the only one. I just leave it off on the highway just in case of a "needed spool".

 

4g63 and 16g is all the music you need

 

The notchiness is normal..That is how evos are. I've got 50K on mine and it does it until it is warmed up.

 

mine '03 VIII has 26k and it will grind if the tranny isn't warmed up. I took it to the dealer twice because of it, but they couldn't duplicate the problem. I had then realized that it was time on the road to warm up the tranny to eliminate this 1-2 shift grinding I was experiencing. Let it warm up

I also find myself using the radio/CD a lot less because of the symphony the Evo makes while driving!!!!!

 

It takes awhile to warm up the gear oil, so I agree with the above posts about it being somewhat "normal" when its cold. The AWD driveline and gearbox is very different from other manuals you may have driven, so you will have to "re-learn" some things. Rev matching and heel-toeing (if you haven't taught yourself this, learn how) really help just in normal daily driving. Also, the Evo clutch has a long throw compared to other cars I've driven, so you have to push it pretty far down every shift, no feathering. If it keeps being a problem, take it in ASAP.