I am brand new to the site and wanted to get some honest feedback from all of you. I have messed around with the 4g63 in the past but not when it came to EVO 8 and 9's. I only have a simple question really...At what point of Hp do you loose the daily drivable of the car? I am looking to purchase an evo 8 or 9 next year. I hardly ever leave my cars "stock" for very long. I know that the motors are capable of around 400hp before you have to start digging into the internals or the engine, but i also don't want to worry about start up issues, ethanol fuel, and things just wearing out unusually often. I am going to be mainly be driving the car about 8 miles a day for work and some "spirited" driving on the weekends and the occasional date night car. I had an insanely modded R32 and it was just a nightmare to do anything with that required starting and stopping. I wanted to avoid that pain on my next build. Thank you in advance for all your feedback 😀.

 

400-450 WHP seems to be the limit for good reliability. Higher and you gotta start upgrading all the things and making some pretty decent compromises. I'm not saying you can't build a reliable car with more HP, just that it becomes a lot more difficult.

 

This line is very blurry and really more depends on what you're willing to put up with.

That being said. Any modified car should have a back up car in the garage because it will eventually have issues.

 

and how good you are at taking care of your car. Even a stock Evo's reliability falls through the floor if you aren't good about maintenance.

 

@thetech0922
My 9 is set-up very similar to many on these here boards. Stock block w/all the FBO's E85 powered, Dyno Jetting at 460whp/407tq

For me, my ride is wash & wear at this point. Its just a weekender & just flat out runs well. Probably a low 11 sec 1/4 car but a true athletic car in the turns

Have you bought-in yet or just investigating?

 

I am currently viewing the market as of now, probably will be able to get one until the first part of next year unfortunately. I keep hearing "stay away from modded EVO 8-9's" but if it is done through a known shop that tunes the cars for a living...I am not sure what the big deal is? I understand that you don't want a hack job and weird noises when you start it up. But if the owner shows the receipts and work is legit, then lets go!!

 

i went not even too aftermarket (fp green turbo, stock block, aftermarket cams, etc) and it was too much for me. stock turbo, 24-25psi honestly is perfect for these cars

 

To me, maintenance isn't the worst thing about driving a big power car frequently - I'd be okay replacing parts to keep a really fun car going each day, but once you find no joy in driving the car, that's when you give up. What makes a car unreliable and undriveable is a few parts of the supporting cast that slowly chip away at your sanity. My list is something like this for cars that make you hate driving:

-Heavier, jerkier, louder clutch
-Power that is just difficult to control on the street
-Aftermarket transmission gear sets & really aggressive diffs
-Harsh engine/trans mounts & diff mounts
-Loud fuel pumps
-Loud exhaust & open wastegate dumps
-Stiff springs and loud suspension components
-Removal of interior parts (carpet, back seat, trim, stereo, A/C)
-Running rich and always smelling like gas or tunes that are choppy (also big cams)

If you manage to keep all of that in check, there's no reason why you couldn't run 500 whp on the street and keep it totally reliable and acceptable for the Mrs. I think a quick spooling 400 would be much more fun and easy on the wallet, though.

 

I don't mind having all the cons with going big power builds. The only thing that really concerns me is getting it to start every time I turn the key. The R32 that I had was sitting a 802hp was a nightmare for starting once it stopped. I could drive it 20 minutes to go get a bite to eat and come back out and it wouldn't crank or start at all, wait another 30 minutes and it would start like nothing was wrong. I would love a big horsepower daily and I don't mind replacing parts that break due to the big horsepower. I just need it to start up after I park it somewhere. It was just so inconvenient on my last build that I want to stay away from something like that as far as possible. If 450hp is the max I can go with having "no start gremlins" in my car then I will keep that in mind when I start modding it. Right now I am just watching the market to have an idea of what i will be paying for a decent EVO 8-9 next year.

 

FWIW I'm at 450whp over the past three years, though I did toss in a new shortblock, to get started (old one was tired when I bought the car). The car just seems to go, now that I worked out a series of self-inflicted bugs.
I've left the car as OEM a possible, so I chalk it all up to that. OEM reliability and ease of funding parts.
I will say that warm start up and low-rpm/low speed cruising through parking lots is....a little cumbersome, but not something I can't live with.
It's starts every time, you just gotta crack the TB open a bit.

 

Sorry for going OT, but your low speed issue is a tuning thing. You probably need to smooth/pull timing in those low load low RPM areas, or maybe your fueling needs to be adjusted. My money would be on the former though.

 

Honestly, I gave up. I've been through two sets of injectors, cleaned, adjusted, etc everything I can think of, to be sure it's not mechanical. I've brought it up to my tuner a few times. The tune is locked, so I can't look at anything. At this point, I've learned to live with it, but it would be REALLY nice to have those issues taken care of.

 

yea that's the kind of thing i decided to stop living with.

the key with evos is to leave it as stock as possible, add reliability mods like oil pan, and done

 

That sucks, one of the benefits of being your own tuner is you don't have to deal with B.S. like that. Still can be plenty frustrating though.

I think that kinda boils down to your personality. I love to tinker with stuff, so if I don't do some sort of mod that requires a month or so of polishing my tune or adjusting something with the car I get kinda bored. I'm in the hobby just as much for the wrenching and tinkering as I am for the driving.

 

don't get me wrong - i've tinkered with an unlimited number of thigns - acd tunes, rear differentials, suspensions, spring rates, sway bars, etc to get the car to handle exactly how i like. i just gave up on the power stuff long ago. for me, it was too much headache. every clunk, whine, groan, pop (still getting popping) was an annoyance. i don't expect a lexus but i also don't want a headache for more power