I am a firm believer in this theory of "sick" EVO's that seems to be more of a real thing than just a theory. I had purchased a EVO about 3 weeks ago. As i drove it I thought it felt very slow compared to what I thought it should compared to others reports of their 1/4 mile speed. I even installed a manual boost controller and felt very little gain. It seemed the car didn't even respond to the increase in boost. I felt pretty cocky though and asked my friend in his BPU+ 97 auto Supra to race me. I lost by about 4-5 carlengths. He has made multiple passes at the track running low 13's. I thought I should of at least held him. Well, I was able to return the EVO and purchase another one (not for that reason though). This time I drove all the EVO's they had on the lot and picked one. It felt almost like night and day difference. It was so much more powerful and just felt more like I believed it should. Looking back I wish I would have dynoed the old EVO to have an exact comparison but I did not think to. The only comparison I had was to race my friend again under the same conditions. We raced under the same weather conditions in the same place. I won by about half a car. He couldn't believe the difference. Neither could I. I was upset by the results. What if I had had to keep that car. What about the next person who buys it. I feel for 31k we deserve to have cars that are consistent in power. I am curious to know who else feels their EVO isn't up to par. I am thankful I ended up with one that in my opinion is not "sick". I am also curious to see what Shiv finds out from Mitsu about their findings. I think that if this is proven to be true that all those with "sick" EVO's get JDM EVO 8's for their trouble

 

That's really interesting dude-- thanks for the first-hand experience. Hopefully Shiv's talks with Mitsu will have some real results....

 

That Mitsu dealership is just going to sell ur "sick" Evo as is to another guy saying thats nothing wrong with it? Thats kinda scarey if thats what the dealership is planning to do.

 

Hmmm, this is a bit bothersome.... I'm in the market for a new car and was considering an Evo.. but are there any symptoms for a "sick" evo? Wonder if there's any way to tell other than to compare with a "healthy" one...

 

Only things I can think of that would make it sicker than others (their all sick top end, IMO ;-)) are compression/leakdown, A/F map and boost.
All can be checked relatively easily. I might check my compr/leakdown for kicks @ 1000. I have not run or dynoed mine, so I don't even know if it's "sick".

 

It could have also been the weather. Some days my Evo feels super strong and others it feels a little weak. Air Pressure, temperature tends to make these cars moody. Then again you did drive a few of them on the same day.

 

that's for sure! In all my N/A cars of the past a cool night always yielded a 'slightly' better power. But now with the EVO on a hot muggy day the power is stripped away by the masses.

I hope you guys out there with the sick evo's (if it is true) get this taken care of. I've never driven any other Evo but mine, but I can only assume it's not sick as it pulls hard up to 5000 and I hung with a Z06 (through the twisties) all afternoon last week.

 

If you are feeling down on power I would get a compression check as well as a boost gauge in your car. Those are 2 excellent baseline tests to determine if your car is up to par.

 

Fuzzypunks, what part of the country are you in?

I was under the impression that the "sick" cars were localized to the Ca area.

By the way, how did you trick them into giving you a new car?

If it turns out that Shiv brings this to light he will be the ultimate Evo tuner!

 

It could have been an even simpler problem.. Bad gas.. In the northeast we have to deal with oxygenated gas.. And I noticed I had felt like the car ran real sickly.. at first I thought it was the open element cone filter I installed.. But after 2 tankfulls of different brand gas, the car is running better.. Then I just filled up with Amoco93 and the same thing.. the car felt weaker.. at that point I was looking at the "R=(R+M/2)" Label which stated that the gas was oxygenated from whenever until april 30.. Just an interesting observation...

 

This is to messed up. I am glad not to get a "sick evo". Did both cars sound the same to you?

 

Both cars had 2 gallons of 100 octane gas mixed with CA, AZ, CO 91 octane oxygenated 15% ether gasoline. Like I said the test conditions between the two cars were identical. The new one does seems to be louder at idle but that could just be my imagination.

 

So maybe we should rename this sick Evo's = California Evo's

 

my Evo doesnt seem as lively as when i first got it. i had a relatively routine break-in and an oil change at 500. now at 2000, i don't feel that "kick in the rear" anymore. just getting used to it or sick evo ?

 

I really want to buy an EVO, you guys are scaring me with all this....

It will be at least a few months so hopefully this is resolved by then, can anyone point me to a thread where Shiv talks about this problem?

Also, I live in Texas, is the often hot weather going to seriously affect my performance?