I guess what I'm looking for is info and advice. My 03 is sitting at right around 55k miles. (error in thread heading) I've had it for about 14 months, knew the previous owner also. Car was pretty much stock its whole life, besides an ACT HDSS clutch, intake and exhaust. Just put in cams this past summer with the 60k service.

Now comes the time to figure out if I want to mod the car more (around 400 whp or so) or should I ditch it and pick up a newer EVO IX. Picking up a newer EVO would be a nicer theory but I need to sell my current car first as I still owe money on it (around $11,000) With the current market and time of year, this could be an issue.

For those EVO owners with 60k+ and up how are your cars holding together? Mosty in perspective of the engine. Rebuilt the tranny myself this past winter, inspected, upgraded and reshimmed the TC, inspected the rear end and drivetrain. Suspension was replaced with coilovers, front lsd installed, new clutch and flywheel.

Main use of the car is auto x, a high speed lapping day or 2 a year, and pleasure driving. Not my daily driver car.

 

I fixed the title.

 

i have 65k and not having any issues at all with 350 on a DD for a little more than a year, i drive it almost every day and i vote mod it

 

Depends on how much you can get for your car. Taking on an additional loan is no fun, but if you could sell yours for 15-16k you could probably get a decent IX for 20-21 with today's market.

Other things to think about is the advantage of a IX.

Mivec - Advantage is almost negated since you already have cams
ACD - Again, almost negated. The biggest advantage of the ACD is the beefier TC, which seems to not matter since you can rebuild them on your own.
Seats - You could buy them and sell your stockers for ~500 net.
Resale value - You get what you pay for.
Paint- If your paint is trashed or is BBY or Red (single stage), you might appriciate the upgrade.

I say if your car "feels" old, and its not just that you are used to it, consider the upgrade. If you love it, and it doesn't have an old beat up feel to it, keep it.

 

I have the same thoughts every now and again except I think about going for a X.

I would stay with the VIII since you already did the tranny, LSD & coilovers. Throw a red/black, supporting mods, switch to SD either with stock ECU or standalone and your set. $3-$5k more to be at 500whp vs. selling current car & shopping for the right IX.

 

Financially speaking, you are in a bad position to sell and get a 9. Even if you clear $4k after paying off the load, you are now looking at taking another loan out for $15k+ after you use the $4k as a down payment. That probably means higher car payments and less money to mod assuming thats what you want to do. I would suggest keep the car you have now and mod it.

 

Keep the 8 and mod it.

 

Keep the 8 and pay that bish off! Then mod it

 

Keep & mod, im just now starting to mod at 53k

 

keep & mod , 60k isn't serious milage , i have 51 and still want to make some other mods

 

I'm keeping my IX till it rusts apart or whatever. If something breaks, I'll fix it.

Heck my plan for now is to rebuild the engine and tranny at 60k or if something breaks.

 

maybe ask "what more do you want this car to do that it doesnt already" or "what can another car do that this one wont"

I agree with the others 8's and 9's are so similar that it really isnt a giant upgrade and even less after they both go down the mod trail.

The downside is that modding even extraordinarily well done mods change the car significantly. So if you want a car that sets the track on fire for those few times you are there go for it, but the trip the grocery store is going to suck and wives and girlfriends are mostly not going to understand why your already fast car now sounds like a draq car and they can no longer hang on to their soda when you shift gears...

I hit 130's at mid ohio with my mildy tuned car and my poor driving skills, I sure would like to hit 140's but that may seriously take away from how nice my daily driven year round evo is.... Maybe I will upgrade the stereo instead

 

I just turned 86,300 yesterday, mine still runs like a top. It's only 50k miles man, the only real difference performance wise between your car and an IX at this point would be the fact that you have the 9.8 exhaust housing. Just upgrade your turbo and keep it.

 

My car hit 100k while being tuned on the dyno. I dd every day, and autox. As long as you keep up the maintenance, you will not have any problems.

 

True. Although the IX is aethetically more pleasing, the performance the same. MIVEC only goes far for lightly modded vehicles, and becomes obsolete once you go with a bigger turbo.