So i just bought my first evo and couldn't be more excited. the first day i had her i got out only once to fill it back up. i know there must be some good stories out there about your first days with your first evos so lets hear them!

 

my first day consisted of driving it home with shot semi slick tyres that vibrated so much i thought the ATC was shot, i remember i got followed by a patrol car which I thought was very cool..........

 

My first day having it was trailering it home and putting it in the garage til spring. The Downfall of buying it in the winter was waiting to drive it but totally worth the wait. Ohio winters and salt aren't very forgiving. Also it had never seen snow or salt so I wanted to keep it that way. Haha

 

evo 1 (AP 06 mr)
- took a small loan from the bank and drove 300 miles to get her. seller drove the car while i sat in the passenger seat. gave him the check and drove home. went to mcdonalds and didnt even know how to reverse the car out of the parking spot and had to call a friend who had one. 2 months later, the transmission grenaded itself with just 40k on the car.

evo 2 (WW 06 mr)
- took another small loan and drove about 200 miles to get her. drove the evo this time and smiled all the way home. 3 months later, the transmission grenaded itself again with 55k. swapped a 5 speed in her this time.

evo 3 (GG 05 mr)
- bought the car off evom from NY and had it transported home. got it off the truck and it didnt start and so i had to push it off. bought a new battery and started right up and then it died periodically. did this for the first 3 months as seller was dishonest until i saved enough to get her fix.

evo 4 (WW 06 SSL)
- drove about 300 miles and trailer her home. got her fixed up and drove her into a barricade during winter and then parted

evo 5 (TB 06 SE) - current
- flew out to ny and drove her 1400 miles back home. felt so good to be back in an evo since its been about 4 years since the last one. keeping this one stock and weekend cruiser as im tired of fixing evo's

 

Flew to Chicago to buy it, then drove it almost 1,000 miles home. No regrets at all.

 

I ALSO flew to Chicago and drove home 650miles... got a lot of looks.
I remember getting use to that wing, always thought someone was in my blind spot lol

 

I flew from TN up to Green Bay, WI to pick her up. Drove it to a friend's house in IL and stayed the night. Then drove the rest the next day.

 

Found a GG IX here on EvoM that had been listed a few months ago and taken down, then relisted at a no BS quick sale price. I called on it after it had been up for about 5 minutes and interrogated the seller (who ended up being a really nice guy!) and decided that that car was the one.

PAX was visiting us at that time, and flights were getting delayed and cancelled. The seller was patient and understanding about the weather and agreed to not sell the car out from under me. Trusting in his promise, I shuffled around my schedule at work, and spent $900 on two plane tickets that eventually got me a flight that didn't get cancelled.

A week before our wedding, my wife and I took a train from South Bend, IN to Chicago. We flew out of Chicago to Jacksonville, FL in the early morning to meet the seller of this Evo, hoping that he was true to his word and had the title/paperwork all lined up.

He was/did.

Inspected the car, purchased the car, went to the DMV for a temporary in transit plate, hoped for the best, and set off for the 17 hour drive home.

Car made new noises that took a bit to get used to, all the while I was sure that the drivetrain was going to blow up. Turns out these are normal Evo noises that are no cause for concern. Fifth gear grinds unless you double clutch. This dash looks like it needs some love, maybe I can replace the panels or just dip/wrap them. This thing sounds fantastic. This is the car I should have bought a long time ago, and shouldn't have wasted my time on my other project cars. I can't see these gauges very well. Why are the headlights so low, didn't they get adjusted after the suspension was installed? Somehow it was OK with her to eat fast food for Valentine's day dinner. Switched off driving so I could try to sleep... no sleep. She was anxious about not seeing very far in front of the car due to the misaligned headlights. Should have googled the answer to that. Both of us loved the seats and were surprised at the decent fuel economy. This wing blocks the headlights from people behind me. Hit some snow coming out of KY on some basically worn all seasons that made me pucker up and gave her a mild heart attack. Had a Focus tempt her at a light in the early morning. She took the bait, got into it and it stumbled a bit at WOT. Needs gauges, IDK what my AFR was or what boost this car is running. No more pulls until some maintenece is done and I get some way to see what the car is doing. This window tint is going to get me pulled over in IN.

Got home at 9am after my wife drove about 2/3 the way back to Indiana which included going west of ATL because they were buried under 2 inches of snow and they shut the city down haha. Had the option to stop in TN to stay the night with family but didn't because they suck and driving straight through seemed a better option.

Got home, changed clothes, went to work a 10 hour shift. After work I changed clothes again and went to play a show with my band.

I was awake for pretty much 50 straight hours. Worth it, would do again.

 

neat thread. My fondest memory of my evo was the first time I laid my eyes or rather ears of her. I've been searching for a Evo VIII/IX for about a month on autotrader, ever since I met a good friend of mine at local meet who also had a VIII- approximately a month with the incounter with my buddies evo -my search began. I was able to narrow two down locally. I found one at a Kia dealership however it was the wrong color...I wanted a apex silver color evo. That car at the Kia dealership was LY VIII, which was okay but I really wanted a silver evo hence my screen name. Across town there was a wicked white evo at a Mitsubishi dealership that was about to transition to a Hyundai dealership...this was the time when Genesis coupes came out and everybody was gaga for them and lady gaga was popular. Anyways, I scheduled an appointment to see the evo 11pm this was in the summer....a blisteringly hot day I recall you know the kind of days were your t-shirt sticks to your back and your jewels are uncomfortable now add that in a crappy srt-4 interior with a partially blowing A/C. I asked the salesman can I drive it, the guy said okay asked one of the tech to bring it around. While, the sales guy and I were chatting I heard a thunderous rumble, and I thought wow in my mind that's a sweet sound car- didn't for a minute think it was a evo. I mean sure I trolled evom and lusted and maybe saw a few youtube videos of evos, but I never thought they sounded that mean......to keep it short; I test drove it and was blown away by the crisp and solid steering wheel handling characteristics and the color Wicked white WOW! the seats were like the bosom of a Swedish goddess blush firm -the kind you just want to come and sit on all over. I never looked back.

 

Stay a while and listen:

I bought my evo from Japan and had it shipped over to africa, they do not allow them to be driven on the roads in SA anymore without being registered so that meant getting it trucked up to Gabarone in Botswana.

So after what was already a bit of a trip seeing lions and stuff in the wilderness of some very off grid game park with no power or anything(but internet!) We have already driven 1800km or so, 1k of that the day before. Start off the day with the intention of driving back up the whole of Botswana in the first day, maybe 10 hours of driving. First speed bump: cannot locate the place we are supposed to find, the address given is basically the address to the whole western side of the city, the industrial area. Takes about 2 hours+ to find it by asking around. Find out the car is not on location but at a "warehouse" which takes more time to find due to more incredibly vague directions and then finally I see it!

Yep, front lip has been reattached with a shopping bag tied in a knot. Intercooler has also seen some kind of impact(found out later it was in fact not leaking at all). Also covered in oil because it was carried beneath a car leaking oil on the truck.Somewhat irritated because this was in fact the second evo I tried to get here with the first being crashed within 300km of it being picked up by a guy we hired to drive it here(against my recommendation because I knew it would happen). Finally drive off to a filling station and I get my first good pull in the car. Car had zero oil in it, nothing on the dipstick which dismays me a bit more because it has obviously been thrashed since it left japan.

After filling up an all that, checking everything I can and know how to some guy presents himself as some kind of ex traffic authority and tells us we need to get plates on the car otherwise it is illegal. So sure enough we set off to find the transit authority office spending yet more time. On it's new botswana fuel my car now misfires after hitting .5 bar and I am kind of pissed. Another hour and a half down the drain and we find he was full of **** and I can drive right the way back home with no plates on just the documents I have, just like we thought.

*Finally* heading out of the city, it was past midday at this point and we will not make the border. I notice in traffic the car is heating up. Shoot out of the city on their rather good roads down there at 160kph+ to make up time. Shortly after I need to stop for gas and my dad is amazed. I did warn him that we needed jerry cans and all this but no. I have used just over half a tank. Pulling out of the gas station it becomes very apparent the car is now bumping along. Long story short we spend another couple of hours with a mechanic figuring out that the Japanese tires do not like the 35c heat + 160kph and are in the process of having a blowout. Lucky to get new tires just before closing time(4pm) from a shop in town. Drive on into the sunset...

Pass through the next major town and it is pitch black. More gas! I don't think you can really describe driving down a busy highway without any markings at all and no street lighting. In any case we have to get closer to the border to make up time with all these holdups so we press on. People on the continent of africa are very confused as to what dip lights are for which is another issue. Eventually I am head on with a truck who will just not dip his lights, very hard to see into the well of blackness that is the road behind him and I am very close to the side of the road and BAM! I hit the only pothole on this otherwise very good road. Tire is flat and I have to stop, flashing my lights like crazy at my parents but good old window tints win again, so I am alone...in a place known to have elephants lions wandering around in pitch black. I won't leave the car without someone else around so I sit and wait for maybe 30 minutes for them to realise I have disappeared.

Turns out I have not only destroyed my brand new tires, but the rim also. Space saver it is. Get into town at maybe 9pm, everything is closed save for one place to get food which was awful at best. First day with my evo! Best car in the world

The next day I am driving to the border at 80kph because of space saver madness. Now Botswana is a country that is nearly completely flat and the roads are completely straight in places for 10+km at a time especially in the north. This is a remarkably strenuous way to drive trust me. On a the bright side I look to be getting 500km+ out of my tank of gas.

Not much more eventfulness from that trip. I managed to abate the misfire at first with better spark plugs(.7 bar instead of .5 before it misfired) and now spoolinup COP of which I am yet to find any limit, running 1.3 bar now and nothing. Turns out the radiator fan had MELTED. I am guessing this could be from a good thrashing + no oil? Turbo is still fine amazingly.

For an evo I would do it all again

 

Wow! Glad you made it through the first day. Definitely nothing like an Evo

 

my first day, i flew back to go to school, my friend selling me the car picked me up in it and let me drive it to his house to where i wrote the check and took ownership. it was a great feeling. couldnt believe i finally got one and paid it off right then and there. sadly it was VERY quiet... un inspiring drive, no turbo spool not much anything... :-( because it was completely bone stock. that didnt last long lol. stupid mod bug.

 

my first day consisted of my evo getting flatbedded to the house. I should've knew my evo ownership would be rife with issues. LOL

 

epic!!

 

Cool thread, here's mine with the back story upfront: My wife hated my old Evo VIII, it was raw, loud, and basically the "other woman". A few years went by and I had to get rid of her (the Evo of course ) not really, but it was in my best interest to do so .

Fast forward a couple of years later and my wife and son went with me on a 5hr round trip to pick up a pretty stock Evo IX. On our long drive back that first night, she remarked that the interior was nicer and the seats were better than those "old blue ones".

Operation Stealth bomber is now underway with particular focus on a quieter exhaust, full bolt-ons, and a true bolt-on stock frame FP turbo (I have a couple of oldschool ones to choose from)