Well, I have come to the final breaking point on my decision, and I am still on the fince about this one ! I drive a '01 Celica GT-S w/ a decent amount of mods and I am currently in the process of selling my house with my Fiance, and I have been looking into an Evo VIII ever since I test drove one.. and wow ! I have been sold ! I think the Tarmac Black is calling my name.. Well, I have been performing searches upon searches to learn more about this machine and I have come up with a few problems that some of you guys have been incurring... and, well as any n00b to the AWD boosted scene I have a few questions:

1. Reliability. I have owned a 2nd gen DSM in the past for a couple of years and it was a GREAT car to me.. no problems, and was extremely good to me. I took care of it religiously even though people said the n/a Eclipse was a peice of junk.. I had it from 72,000 miles - 117,000 miles and still ran great... now my question is, is this the same with the Evo ?

2. Clutch. I have read topics upon topics of people burning out their clutch in just a few hundred to a few thousand miles.. it seems to me to either be an epidemic of poor quality (clutch) or poor driving ability. What is your take ? This is the topic that is keeping me from purchasing one in the next upcoming months !

3. True cost to own... synthetic oil changes, gear oil, tires.. what kind of PM items need to be adressed ?

4. Modability (lol, I just made that up !) How mod friendly are the dealerships and voiding of your warranty ? I know with my Celica GT-S the dealership is excellent about modifications. How's Mitsu ?

Those are pretty much it.. I am looking forward to see what changes (if any) are in the midst for the '04 Evo - and if the clutch issue is rectified. I am just extremely attached to my '01 GT- S that it's a tough choice between the two ! I appriciate the comments guys...

 

Sell that celica! The EVO is the sh#t!

1) with around 14 years of the 4G63T, yes, it is very reliable! Companies are doing ~550whp on the stock block. Many dyno pulls later, leak down is less than 2%!

2) Mitsu makes the clutches weak on DSMs and EVOs on purpose. It helps save the transmissions, diffs, rear ends, etc. Keep in mind, lots of people who buy these cars will not mod them, so Mitsu takes a precaution buy giving them a clutch to burn up instead of a transmission.

3) Yes it will probably cost more to own an EVO. Your tire changes wont cost more (didnt you have high performance tires on your celica?).

4) I don't know yet on the mod issues. But my car has 450 miles on it and already has a ton of mods. I don't plan on taking it to the dealer. I got ProStreetOnline here to take it to

Basically, get the EVO! You won't regret it.

 

The EVO is AWD -- if you try to spin the (four! wide) tires, what will "break loose" is the clutch.

Also, the damper in the hydraulics gives the clutch release a bit of a delayed response, so fast performance shifts can glaze the clutch, if you don't time it just right. I don't much like the feel of the clutch, that way, but as I only use my EVO on the street, I haven't bothered to remove the damper.

Shop around for your dealer. Dealers vary. Some will deny your warranty if they even suspect you've seen a track with it, others consider whether mods actually caused the problem. And the best dealer to service the car might not be the best place to buy.

I did replace a Celica with a Tarmac Black EVO. It was an '88 Turbo AllTrac (ST165).

The EVO's interior isn't as good as the Celica's (optional) leather interior, but the EVO wins the performance numbers.

I'm not really expecting my EVO to last the 15 years I got out of the Celica. But then, in '88, the ST165 cost as much as an M3, so the EVO is a bargain, by comparison.

But line up service before you buy. Any car becomes a lemon if the service isn't up to par.

 

1. i don't know... i trust the engine because it's been around for so long... the kinks are worked out, there's such a huge community out there for tuning/engine work

2. a lot of people that drive the car hard with launches will inevitably destroy the clutch... apparently from what i've read the clutch is designed that way so the stress is off the tranny. thus, the clutch gives out instead of the tranny. drive it normally and hopefully you won't have any problems. i haven't.

3. you live in florida... no winter tires.. that's a big *** plus. oil changes are something like 60 bucks (from what i've heard). you can do it yourself or buy the oil in bulk and have the dealer do it for you for a lot cheaper. paint isn't that good from mitsu... just wash it and wax it, i guess. invest in a 3m bra (prices i've come across range from 800-1300) if you want to be even more **** about the car.

4. Mod-friendly dealers? There are.. some? maybe? i don't know. think of it this way: mitsu is having serious financial problems now.. why would they want to cover warranties for modded cars? that's just throwing money away. toyota is probably friendlier because they're making money all over the ******* place.

 

My dealership is very friendly towards modifications. Jim Hudson Mitsubishi in Columbia, SC. They still have one '03 left and it's red so you might want to check it out. www.jimhudsonmitsubishi.com

 

hey i'm in the same boat as you..

are you on newcelica.org?

i'm thinking about selling my celica for an Evo.

 

http://photos.yahoo.com/jotango/

i sold my celica for an evo

 

you should sell pretty much most cars for an EVO...that's unless you have an Enzo and stuff like that.

 

I would expect that an Evo would be nearly as reliable as a DSM, but statistically not as reliable as your Toyota.

The clutch issue goes on and on, I personally have no problem with it or its feel.

True cost to own won't be with tires and brakes and oil changes. It will be with depreciation. Your Toyota will kick an Evo in the butt on this issue and will be way cheaper to run because of it.

Eh, the dealer network is pretty shabby, but I think I found a pretty good one. Better than my BMW dealer but I think I just got lucky.

However, NONE of this stuff matters really...drive one and you could care less about all that crap!