Other rumors include an Alloy Roof and a new/revised Turbo...

 

Spoke with a friend of mine, he is the Sales Manger at the local Mitsu dealership.

He just got back from California for the 2004 model year meeting

he mentioned:

outlander get's minor face lift
new galant
NO changes to the 5-speed evo!!!

he gave me a t-shirt w/ the silver mitsu lineup!!!

whooptie do, if anyone cares

 

I figured there wouldn't be any changes. Some people actually expected an EVO IX!!

 

spoke with one of the engineers that work at mmna and he told me all he could release is a 6 speed tranny with (possible) more hp. but they got alot of ideas.

 

they're going to hold out until the day the 2004s roll of the trucks to try and keep the 2003 Evos selling. I don't blame em.

 

They are going to do an RS Evo though.
Something like around 27K. No air, no radio, no other creature
comforts. Don't know how much they can actually strip. But
the regular Evo should be unchanged.

 

i just came back from the maywood, new jersey mitsubishi dealer because i am soon (DEC/JAN) planing on trading in my si for a evo...long story short the sales guy was trying to swear to me that they are adding addtional horsepower and a different look..in other words after i tell him it sounds strange that a company would make a car and change it the following year he still is trying to make me buy it now lol damn sales people ..btw is there any truth to this more hp and diff looks?

 

No.

 

If they can't even add cruise for 2004, i'll be a bit more confused as to who mitsu is marketing this towards and or who mitsu is listening in market reasearch.. The stripped down version would make sense without cruise, but not a power lock/window/mirror etc version like the VIII is.

 

the evo is not made for creature comforts. look at the seats, suspension, stereo, etc..I don't see why they would even consider making cruise control for it. I'm surprised that they even put a radio and A/C in the total package.

- the car is marketed towards people who what a race car for the street that is legal, in my opinion.

 

I also went to Maywood last week, (they actually offered me a test drive in the EVO and I didn't even ask) They fed me the same story they gave you. I was also wondering why they mitsubishi would change the following year.

 

umm maybe would consider adding cruise control because almost everyone here would pay an extra $200 or so for it, and some such as myself have not bought yet because of it.

Its confusing looking at all the "inside" information on this thread, as it contradicts substantially. Looks like no change is the more likely from reading, but I have NO inside information.

I'm guessing release 2004 march to april and no change - does anyone have good information that this is not the case. I'm sitting on the fence as to waiting or not.

Bottom line is it is an awesome car for an awesome price NOW - still its a fair chunk of change if something better is just around the corner.

 

I'm waiting as well. I plan on this being a weekend fun toy, but not a trailored fun toy. I've got one of those. And since I will be driving the Evo to the road racing circuits, it's most crucial to have cruise to get there without any attention from the fuzz. Plus it woud be nice to have a 2004 Evo just for resale value since 2004s are what are being sold, having a 2003 for sale in 2004, doesn't help trying to explain to someoone when you go to sell it that it was th only car that was a 2003 being sold in 2004, where as every other car ( STi, 350z, etc) was a 2004 car being sold in 2003. It makes the Evo look like it's more than a year older than any other model year car out there. I think it's jacked up, and a certain model year car should only be sold in that model year. Despite Mitsu not always being on top of the ball, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed they have a clue and add some goods to the package.

As for the car not being marketed towards people who want creature comforts, why on earth is there all that added weight from the A/C, radio, power mirrors, windows, locks, etc.. Obviously it is, and obvioulsy it's an extreme oversight to omit cruise which is there on the other lancers and other 4g63 equiped cars.

The car is a great compromise of a road racing car and daily driver , but as a pure competition car, much faster can be had for less, as for a daily driver, much more comfortable can be had for less. But for handling both duties, it is the best out there. Since the majority of people driving Evo's use them as their primary vehicle in a country where most of the driving is done on the highway at poke along speeds, cruise is a necessity.

Sequential Manual Transmission even if a $2500 option is a great idea that allows daily drivers to not lose any power or control of a clutch equiped manual, but gain all the convenience of an automatic, and all the safety of never over reving, never missing a shift, never smoking a clutch, etc. That alone would prevent mitsu from ever claiming abuse with a clutch, all shifting is controlled by their ECU.

And underbody paneling just improves above 50mph acceleration, gas mileage, wind noise, and top speed. Since they already put their cars through wind tunnel testing, it's worth checking underbody and rear paneling while testing to detemine the necessary shape use. For $750, that's some additional plastic paneling on the underside and an easy way for them to make some extar money.

This gives each person the option of what they find worth the expense and helps increase the marketability of the vehicle to more people.

Then again, maybe then want the 2004s to sit on the lots and sell as slowly as they are now.

BTW - Subaru has an even bigger botchup not offering a radio or sunrrof in the STi, but with all the A/C, power windows, mirrors, locks AND CRUISE CONTROL!

 

Another BIG mistake they need to Fix in their ECU, is the A/C should be cut off under WOT! Or better yet, someone needs to come up with a kit that can be wired in that under WOT or >80% or some settable value the A/C is turned off.

 

definetly a ralliart edition evo would be the **** and i think upping the HP would be awsome as well (perhaps a 2.2 L or 2.3 L) in the looks department the lancer is kicking some ***, but i think she needs a new grille.....thats just my opinion