I currently have a 02 Jetta and it is too boring. I will be buying a new car within the next few months and am currently leaning toward the Evo. My question is is there anything other than the clutch that has a tendancy to fail? For example, the VW's 1.8T engines are notorious for failing coil packs, I have gone threw 2 myself. Is there anything like this for the Evo? How reliable are they if you start modding? Pretty much I am looking between the Evo, STI, 350z, and RX8. I would love to hear what you have to say. Thanks alot

 

Clutches aren't even that prone to failure. You just hear a lot of complaining on these boards from the few that have failed.

Plain and simple, the 4g63 engine is probably one of the most reliable high-output turbocharged 4 cylinder engines made today.

 

The problem with all these clutch failures are people beating the crap out of it. If you drove the car normally (no slipping of the clutch to launch), it would be fine. I've slipped mine about 20 times and have had no problems. I'm getting worried it'll go out soon if I keep doing it, so I'm stopping for now. Take care of the car and it'll be fine.

 

I to am really torn between the 350 and the Evo. I really need to get more drive time with both cars to decide, but dealers are so stingy with test drives.

The 350 is definately a better looking car IMO. But I think that maybe its lacking a little bit in raw speed, especially when out on a track.

I really can't decide which would be more fun to drive on a regular basis both on and off track. RWD of the 350 should be a bit more "entertaining", but it can also be fun to rocket out of corners in an AWD car. The steering feel of the evo is clearly the best in the history of mankind which helps out a bit.

EVO Pros:
-Steering feel
-Probably a "better" track car
-Extra room (dont really care about this)
-Sunroof
-More headroom as far as I can tell (even with sunroof)

350 Pros:
-RWD "fun"
-Styling
-Seems to be a more quality build car

EVO Cons:
-Not the best looking car
-Questionable build quality (materials etc)
-How much "fun" will it be to throw around. Meaning will the AWD take away from some of the fun of driving risk

350 Cons:
Headroom

Just my little list that I came up with. The headroom issue with the 350 could potentially be the deal breaker. I need to fit with a helmet. There seems to be some seat brackets out there to really lower the EVO seat, and add more rake, exactly what it needs for my prefered driving position.

 

If you are under like 6ft3, you should have no headroom/helmetroom problems.

SC~

 

In the evo or 350?

I know in the evo i will not. I would like to have a sunroof though, and I use an EXTREMELY upright seating position when I drive hard, i like to be very close to the steering wheel. The lower brackets to drop the rear of the seat while leaving the front high will give me better thigh support and more room to work with for aggressive seating positions.

 

My template response:

Can't decide? Get the other car... yer not ready for an EVO.

 

I think the 350Z interior will wear worse than the Evo's. That was a primary reason for disqualifying the 350. If you take a look at the door panels, they are very hard and very cheap. If they got scuffed, it would be there forever. Also, the center cover in 350 is super-cheesy. It opens roughly and takes a real effort to close it. When it comes to driving dynamics, the Evo has very little real competition at any price.

 

one negative side is us evo owners hate people that ask this question cuz we have to see it 5 times a day.

 

Exactly! If you need to ask, then I get the other car! You know when you want an evo.

It must be just me, but it is getting old to hear people asking, "should I get an evo"....."I am thinking about an evo...blah blah blah....", "should I wait....", "03 or o4..." If you don't know, don't get it. Do a search, there are tons of threads regarding this already. If you want to know what issues some are having with their evo, believe me there are many threads.

 

askin this question on an evo board will get you no where......
may i suggest you go to honda forum and ask this one more time, then you'll get a not bias answer.

 

First off, you are comparing apples to oranges here. The 350z is a typical american sports car, nothing more. The Evo is a unique beast, capable of supercar type numbers and performance.

2nd off, if you think you can't have as much fun with AWD than you can as RWD, you are sadly mistaken. Only if your idea of fun is sliding around a corner, wearing out your tires trying to accelerate, maybe.

With AWD, you can throw it around a corner, as hard as you want, and it'll just DIG itself out of the corner. You can 4 wheel drift it, and control it, and it's still that much fun in the RAIN!

If you don't believe me, then you really don't have enough seat time in an AWD car.

If you're going to race this (per the helmet comment), you're crazy not to get the Evo. It is BY FAR the faster, better handling car of the two. And it's faster to boot. The 287hp Nissan claims is drastically overrated.

 

You are right about the 350's My car is stock and I was catching all the 350s on the track with power. They got so pissed at me one would not let me pass lol. The evo will hand the 350 it's *** been there done that. And this was with my first track day with the evo so I did not know the limits of stopping and what it's like to drive a awd car. Get the 350 though so I can LAP you at the track as well, I don't like a car that can keep up with me :-) The only REAL car out there that I would say can give you a good run is the new M3 in terms of power and stopping power, there was a old M3 as well but I passed him pretty easy. Again alot of it is the driver. ymmv

 

I am also deciding on the Z or the EVO
well.
next year will be the time for me to get new car.
If the EVO is still being marked up 5000+ or more like this year
I will go get a Z

 

I traded my 02 Jetta 1.8t in for the Evo, never looked back. I have 4000 miles on it now, and not a single problem on the Evo. On the Jetta however, I had one failed ignition coil. Also, my jetta was lowered with neuspeed bilstein. Even with that, the handling cannot compare to the Evo. If you go Evo, I think you'll be very happy. I know I am.