Went for test drive Saturday. My wife LOVED the car. she liked the sound (noise) of the engine and transmission. She was grinning from ear to ear. Said "buy it". So, put my deposit and should be getting my silver sunroof evo first week of May.

But, have a question. Was reading one of the threads from a guy who had a near disaster in his Blue Evo, went off into the mud / dirt. Now, seems like his alignment is off, or suspesion screwed up?? Is this car that sensitive? I few sticks, gravel and mud, and now it has a shimmy?

Is the Evo to be driven only on pristine pavement? One of the reasons I wanted the car was to have a little "dirt and gravel" fun. I'm not talking about going crazy in it, but just driving on some less-than-perfect mountain and desert roads with dirt, gravel, potholes, and the such. WILL THE EVO BE ABLE TO HANDLE THIS? I know it will probably need some different tires for that kinda driving... but what else

Anyway, look forwad to some input from you experts out there. I'd like to take my psuedo-rally car out in the dirt now and then... but not if its then going to fall apart as a result! Do you think the Evo will hold up?

 

It will be fine. Just get some rally mudflaps! That specific person did a 180 and went into mud. You do that with any car and you'll have problems.

 

I wouldn't sweat it if I were you. Afterall, this car is a rally car. Rally cars are meant to hold up to some pretty severe conditions.

zstryder did a little more than just drive on some dirt. He left the road surface going sideways. You will notice by looking at the sides of his wheels that he hit something pretty hard. No car's suspension could stand up to an instantaneous lateral load like hitting a curb or large rocks going sideways, without suffering some sort of damage. And his rim is likely only damaged on the surface...and it's visible in his pics that he threw a weight. Throwing just one weight is enough to remove the balance of the wheel...and cause some pretty severe shaking.



SC~

 

The EVO does fine off pavement.



-- DavidV

 

Nice!!

I can't wait. Its like being 7 years old on Christmas eve... every night for the next 3 weeks. I'll be mad from sleep deprivation before I get the car....... I WANT IT NOW!

 

svillata - where are you getting your Evo at? My silver sunroof evo is also coming in May and I am from PA. It seems so far away...

 

Fresno, CA. They have 2 on the floor that have been there for a few weeks, but I would feel funny driving a red or yellow car. They look VERY cool, but not really my style. If I was only younger.....

May does seem like an eternity. Was watching TV last night and everytime I saw a car commercial or something showing a car driving on one of those scenic two lane roads, I would get this big grin on my face... my wife just shook her head and laughed at me. Now she KNOWS I am nuts. The next 3 weeks are going to be pure torture.

Can't wait for my first drive up to Yosemite National Park and over Tioga pass... and HWY 1 from Moro Bay to San Francisco.... and the dirt road that goes up in the hills from my house... its going to be a great summer full of weekend drives in the Evo. Good replacement for the 944 Cabriolet I sold a few months back.

 

svillata:

can you let us know which mitsu in CA did you deal with? also were you able to do it at MSRP or even better deal?

thanks for the info.

^_^

 

Fresno Mitsubishi. The sales kid seems ok.. pretty cool. He's into cars, has a real interest.. guess you'd call him an enthusiast. The manager... well, I dunno. Don't know how much I trust him. Whatever. I don't trust ANYBODY!!!

I am not recommending them necessarily, but they do have a red and a yellow sitting and more on the way. The sales guy is ADAM BONILLA. He's alright. Yes, they promised me MSRP, gave 'em $1000 deposit... we shall see if they keep their word. Honestly, I am going to push for SLIGHTLY below MSRP. They are sitting , and the dealer 20 miles down the road (Selma Mitsubishi) also has 2 (blue and white) sitting, with more on the way in mid-April. They also offered me MSRP or better over the telephone.

If the STi MSRP is really gonna be $30,995, then no way in hell we should be paying over MSRP for the Evo.. should be $500 under IMO. (??) Maybe I'm wrong, have no problem with these guys making extra profit... but seems like the demand just isn;t there at this point for over-MSRP. Having said that though, wow, its a hell of a car for $30K!


good luck

 

svillata,

Don't let my story scare you too much. Seriously though, my car went OFF the road at about a 45 degree angle to the road, then continued to rotate for a full 180 with the rear wheels off the road and the front wheels on the road. (think how the side of the road kind of slants downwards.. so the 180 wasn't even on a flat surface) Finally as the rear wheels swung around they "popped" back onto the road and I ended up facing the opposite direction I started in, even in the right lane and all. Even if you do take the car in the dirt, I would hope that you wouldn't be pulling stunts like this.

 

just be glad you are still alive... things coulda been a lot worse!!

All right, I'll trust the Evo in the dirt, but I won't pull no crazy stuff in it. I'm a pretty tame old fart...I'm sure the car will handle my geriatric driving just fine. Thanks for the re-assurance everybody!

 

If you leave the road at a relatively high speed, do NOT try to steer back onto the road, you're only going to hit it sideways and mess up your car, usually with a spin or worse, a rollover. I've seen two accidents like this on this board so it's worth mentioning this.

If you've ever been to the track, you'll see this is how most people mess up their cars. Once you go off track (or off the road in this case) just try to steer staight off and slow down, then SLOWLY get back on the track/road. Once you're off, you're off.

Take care please.