IS THE MR WORTH THE MONEY?
THE SIX SPEED, HID'S, AND THE FRONT LIMITED SLIP FOR ABOUT 6 GRAND MORE. IS IT REALLY WORTH IT. PLANNING ON GETTING A NEW EVO NEXT SPRING AND WOULD LIKE THE MR BUT IF I CAN SATISFY MY NEEDS WITH THE GSR AND SAVE THE DOUGH FOR MODS, THAT WOULD BE COOL. STUPID POST BUT I WOULD APPRECIATE SOME INPUT.

 

Every Evo is worth the money IMHO.

 

evo 9?

 

this has been covered SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many times

 

motortrend did a huge writeup on this, and in the end they said "yes" its worth it.

 

The "GSR" is not the same as a US spec straight 8. A real GSR has a 6 speed.

That being said, depending on what you plan to do with the car is what you should base your decision on. If you plan on doing drag racing then I would stick to the straight eight, if you want to do road and autocross I would go with the MR.

If you don't race, I would go with the MR, it's all around nice IMO.

 

buy the MR....i think im ready for a trade in......evo 9..? ehh i want the gg 05 mr.. !

 

Get the MR and upgrade to the X when it comes out. That's what I'm doing.

 

I'd either get a 9 or wait till the X comes out and see what that's all about.


Don't go out and buy an MR and than trade it in for an X in a year or 2 when it comes out. Atleast to me that seems like a lot of wasted money.

 

Looks like only two other MR owners have responded. I'd agree with both. The MR is definitely worth it. Having a softer suspension that's better for daily driving and FASTER on the track, how can you go wrong? You mention the six speed and the HID's (HID's optional on the regular 8), but the LSD isn't exclusive to the MR (all models). When you talk about $6K, don't forget the BBS wheels and Bilstein suspension. The wheels alone go for something ridicules like $900/ea. That's almost $4k in wheels. The BBS wheels, aluminum roof, hood, front fenders and side impact beams are all important in weight savings (some available on the RS). After all is said and done, you still get the extra gauges (great once you swap them with the radio location), chunky aluminum shift knob, improved shifting feel (Teflon coated cables), aluminum pedals (a little cheesy as they just screwed them over the standard pedals) and sweet aluminum/carbon E-Brake handle. My thinking was to add up what it might cost to add the 6-speed, suspension, wheels, aluminum parts, interior gauges, pedals, E-Brake & spiffy MR badge and guess at a total. Even excluding the labor to add any of this stuff yourself, it's gotta be half price. Sounds like a great deal to me. After seeing the new front and rear on the Evo 9, I'm glad I bought an 8 MR. Now if I could only get myself a Japanese spec Evo 8 MR RS (with the AYC) in White???? Guess I’ll be happy with my MR GSR in Graphite Grey.

 

I think if you ask an MR owner, they'll say it's worth it. Regular Evo owners would generally say no.

I'd say that if you've already got an Evo, it's not worth the upgrade. I DO prefer the way the 6-speed shifts over the 5-speed, and the way it drives around town--there seems to be a gap between the 3rd and 4th gears on the 5-speed that makes comfortable 30-mph driving impossible. BUT I wouldn't think that the extra expense of selling your regular 8--possibly owing more money than you sell it for--and then shelling out the extra 5G's to get the MR is worthwhile. If you have a regular 8, use that extra 5G's to modify it.

But if you don't have an Evo at all and you have the extra money, the MR is well worth it. The feel of the 6-speed is much better IMO; the suspension is much more comfortable without any real sacrifice of performance; lighter wheels; etc.

In the end, 4TUN8 is right...it depends on what you're doing with it. Regular 8 or an RS for drag racing, MR for auto-x or track.

BTW, The helical front diff is not exclusive to the MR...I think all '05s got this differential. '03s and '04 regular 8's have open front diff's. '04 RS's have LSD's in front.

 

The six-speed is butter. I love it. The Bilstein suspension makes my 70 mile round-trip commute a lot better. The gray rims go well with my silver car. My dad, who has an Sti, mentioned that he felt the MR's shifter was much smoother. I have an MR and dumped money into modding anyway. It's perfect for my LA commute.

 

Yes its worth it.

It's a few thousand dollars more than a regular 05 evo but you can upgrade certain items and you make some money back:

MR Suspension ~$900
MR Wheels ~$1000
Gauge package $200

Plus you're paying for the 6speed tranny and maybe some resale value.. All in all I would say it's worth it but mostly a matter of preference.

 

yes its worth the money to buy an MR...

 

No, but the RS is worth every penny.