Owned my 04 RS for about 3 weeks, ~1500 miles.

1-2 grind occasionally, probably my fault for not mashing the clutch to the floor.

Knocking noise at high rpms (6000-7000). It's a pretty dull knocking. Can anyone describe what piston slap sounds like?

Other than that the car is a blast. No paint chips, no squeaks inside or out. Love the noises it makes decel and all.

 

15000 miles now. Only problem was the Check engine light coming on all the time for the random engine misfire code. The new reflash from Mitsu has fixed it. Other than that it has been smooth sailing thus far.

 

about 13k... had it since December 03....
3 trips to the drag strip...
2 trips to streets of willow
literally a nightly session through the canyons
3 mile trip to work...


transmission is a bit noisy, but still runs smoothly
clutch is fine, starting to slip a little bit, but holds up near perfectly
had the suspension clunk thing, but greased up the front lower bar, and it went away...
have the buschur exhaust rattle...
had the 1st - 2nd WOT grind... (then i learned to shift better, and it went away completely)
squeeky brakes...
getting the worse possible gas milage...
i don't even want to talk about how much $ is spent on gas....
runs crappy in hot weather, especially with the AC blowing...
change the oil every 1500 miles...

when mitsu washed the car for me, when i purchased it, it had been sitting in a dirt lot for months... they apparently didn't use soap, so they just left me some sweet swirl marks... giving them the benefit of the doubt, i went and got the car detailed in hopes it would go away... it didn't, so i brought it back to mitsu... mitsu blamed the detailers...

within the first 500 miles i noticed a wierd ticking noise coming from the tranny... recognizing this sound from my previous cars, i suspected metal shavings in the transmission oil... i took it to mitsu at about 1000... they said they heard no such noise and would do nothing about it.... they also said i voided my warranty, due to excessive treadwear... called up the general manager, who happened to be a friend of a friend...
dropped it off at mitsu the next morning, for a complimentary oil change/tranny oil change.... one of the technicians said i had a large amount of metal shavings in the transmission... go figure...


third set of tires... stock advan's, 225 azenis, 245 azenis...
about to need a fourth set....

ran the brake pads down to uhhh.. nothing...
warped the front rotors... replaced the fronts...
the rear rotors are in ok condition...
replaced with ferodos' 2500 front and rear... feels good so far... definitely hold up to the heat....



All in all, the only problems are little things... and the things that aren't little things, were a direct result of how I drive the car... so i can't/won't complain at all... it's like daily driving a race car...

I love this car far too much... and don't think I can ever drive another car... everything else feels too squishy, or numb....

 

Call me a light weight.
I cannot imagine drag strip launching an AWD car.I won't even launch a 2WD that way.
I only do roll ons,with normal shifts,easy on the drive train type shifts.
Not even bikes stand up to repeated drag strip launches,and bikes are 10x stronger than any car.
The Evo is really built strong,just judging by what the modders are getting,bolt ons only=350-600RWH.When I do the math on that alone it amazes me.
I don't see any issues just driving hard with care,and I don't see any posts about problems.
My '03 only has 3000 miles,stock; and it sounds and feels tough as nails.

 

1544 miles right now in the parking lot at work and works just beautifully. My only mod is tint, if you even call that a "mod." I plan to just get the evo 7 tails, turbo timer, alarm, lojack, wheels and maybe lower the car and i'm set for a good few years. I'm only 21 paying for my own car, paying for my own needs so I guess it's not too bad. I now have 2 money drainers (see sig). Believe it or not, hate me or not, laugh at me or not, the EVO is my daily driver. I find it very nice with the tint, doesn't get too hot and AC is blazing cold. The car is young at 1500+ miles and will be getting it's full oil change/filter this weekend @ probably somewhere around 1,800miles. Majority of the owners I see have no problems but there's still a large bunch with problems. Overall I think people with problems MOST likely abuse the cars... but that's just my opinion so don't kill me.

 

just wondering, so many people keep talking about clutch problems, and when i search the forums i get mixed responses, some people say it's just cuz it's a crappy clutch and others just because they drive it hard. is it really such a bad clutch that normal driving with some occasional "spirited" driving can make it go after 10k miles? that would seem really bad for OEM equipment to go like that...

 

There are quite a few people who still have their stock clutch after 25k miles with spirited driving. I drive mine pretty hard, and the clutch isn't slipping in the least at 7k miles. There's even rumour of somebody with 60k+ miles on the stock clutch. This is after only a single year, mind you.

On the otherhand, I have met people who's clutches have failed at < 5k miles _without_ hard driving. Those people got seriously pissed, but I can't same I blame them. Clutches almost never get covered by warranty on this car, even if they're faulty from the start.

d

 

thanks for the response. that's kind of surprising to me that mitsu could make a car with a clutch that weak... and it's even worse that they wouldn't cover it under warranty. hopefully the '04's and '05's will fare better, and not all '03's will be that bad.

 

Mitsubishi is broke. A weak clutch keeps drivetrain warranty claims down. Hard to break it with the stock clutch and an aftermarket clutch will void the warranty.

 

I have had no real problems, a little rattle here a little rattle there depending on the road conditions, Most of the noises would probably be from my installation of mods but all is well now. No drive train issues, tire wear stinks, and the toe on the bacl rear tire was out of alignment. Thats all. I love the car. BTW I'm an old guy too (29).

 

I got just over 14,000 miles just replaced the tires about 1000 miles ago. Noticed the car does run a lot better when its cool outside hot weather + AC are not the Evo's friend. Only mods are stereo and getting a Rear stabalizer bar put in tomorrow.

 

Well I've had a few problems, but all my fault. After about 3 months of going to the track every sunday and doing anywhere between 3-6 runs every time, the stock clutch died at 2000 miles (give or take). Was it my driving style / constant launches? damn right it was, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I had a local performance shop install an exedy twindisk and very very happy with it. Only thing I can think of that really lacks is that I have a bad back at a relatively young age (20), so I sit like a grandma in my car. Seat all the way foward so I can stomp the clutch, and the seat vertical. i wish the seats would be a tad taller, as with my height (5'9) and how I sit, the steering wheel has to be higher so I can see the gauges, which isn't very comfortable. but that's personal preference, I think mitsu built a hell of a car, and wouldn't trade my car for anything.

 

Problems for me:

Transfer case
5 gear grind
brake times 3
rust
CEL
Hydrolic sending unit
Weather stripping

I'm really starting to hate my car

 

very informative thread. Something that I didn't get an answer to is how do these cars handle in the winter? I'm still on the fence about which way to go (R32, STI, WRX or EVO). I don't like how mitsu is voiding warranties left and right for little stuff like exessive tire wear . I plan on using this for my daily driver putting between 800-1000 miles per week so I want something I can drive in all kinds of weather. Now I am using a 91 GSX which is awesome in the snow but it has 50 series tires on it and I belive all the vehicles I list have 40 series or lower. Any info is appreaciated.

 

Hooptie157,

Have you ever launched your car?