Well, I got the chance to do a little over 120 miles of track today, in both the wet and dry. All I have to say is wow. This car, hands down, smokes the US VIII and IX's around our 12 turn track.

It takes a bit to get used too though. The car feels a bit out of control at first, and your tendency is to try and do correction steering, like you would with a RWD car, but the reality is this only makes things worse. If you do make any adjustments, when the ECU swings your back end out and starts vectoring around a turn, the result is you end up losing the line that would have been held, perfectly, if you had made no adjustments. Once you get over this though, you are in for a very special treat.

Every turn in this car brings a huge smile to your face. And just when you think you have found the limit, you test it by turning in a little steeper to find that the vehicle has even more to offer. I truly believe this cars capabilities, in stock form, is greater then 95% of the people that will ever drive it.

The other thing you find with this car is that there is no under steer. This was especially noticeable in the chicane, where in my VIII, I would feather the throttle to maintain a line, and unwind the steering and drift wide, as the car refused to turn in. With the X, you simply point in the direction you want to go, and the car goes, exactly on the line you point, good or bad. This took me the longest to get used too, as it is by far, the most radical change over the previous models. I can only imagine what it must be like to drive the lighter, and potentially more agile, JDM versions of the VIII and IX that came with the ACD/SAYC setup. I am now truly jealous.

The brakes held insanely strong on the X as well. I have the optional brake cooling guides on the car, and I found that I didnt have any brake fade on the car throughout the entire day. This was truly amazing to me, because on the much lighter VIII, brake fade was very common around the 15 minute mark of a track event. I even had a couple cases of boiled brake fluid, on those hot summer days, which made my track sessions end early I can see that this problem has been resolved on the X, and now maybe I wont have to put new brake fluid in after every event

Overall this is a much improved machine over the previous US Evo models. Everyone on the track couldnt help but notice the cars unique way of gliding through the turns, and everyone that rode in it was simply blown away. The X is definitely living up to its high standards of supreme handling in stock form.

On a closing note, I did not find any issues with the handling in the wet. The car performed beyond my expectations, and I had little to no traction issues. I found that the car outperformed my previous car, in every way accept acceleration, in both the wet and dry. I also found that I had to disable the AWC system in order to get better times. However, I didnt do the "hold the button for 3 seconds" disable, I just simply hit the button to disable it. In this mode, the PCM no longer did a fuel cut when it detected traction loss, which was a huge issue for me at first. The AWC on mode is too defensive in my opinion, and robs the car of its most enjoyable aspects around the track. Also, +1 to the new tires, they handle phenomenally!

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/6...530031dc7e.htm

 

nice review

 

You going to be out there on the 15th by chance?

I can't wait to try the new surface.

 

I would like to be, Ill have to see how my schedule goes, and I need to make sure they aren't all full up. The new track surface is awesome, and I very much like the new track layout. The turns are quite a bit more technical then they were before.

 

Great review, awaiting track pics or video.

 

were there any other evos out there with you?

 

Glad you had fun PDXEvo!

I may RR/drift my MR2 in the summer.. we'll see..

 

Nice review... YGPM!

 

 

many thanks for the track review of the X. yes, it is def very different from a rwd (or even a fwd) car with regards to the steering adjustments. the grip is amazing, but the nature of the awd electronics/gizmos do take some getting used to. I think this is a very forgiving car to drive fast, but perhaps a difficult one to truly drive well (for me at least).

Question, what do mean by deactivating the AWC? Is this the same thing as the traction control (thought it was the ASC)? I did a track day at 'Streets of Willow' yesterday, and I noticed exactly the same symptoms on low speed corners. I had to resort to driving the X like I would a stock miata to get the best results. It was still fast, but not so enjoyable. On an auto-X, Id imagine it would be a recipe for disaster. Just wondering what your opinion would be for the optimal setting.

Also if there's anything you would change with the X, what would it be?

 

Awesome. Thanks for the write-up. I can't wait until it warms up out here and I can get mine down to Summit Point.

 

Yes you should be ..
I still remember very clearly though if you search the forums regarding ACD/AYC on the earlier evos .. you'll see alot of bashing on them .. typical sourgrapes

Glad you like it .. here's something else for you to try .. accelerate in SNOW .. turn in TARMAC ..

 

x2


PDXevo, I'll be at PIR for the track day on the 15th in Group 2. Hope to see you there

 

No other Evo's on the track
Thanks for the great pics Ashumo, and great meeting you!

I did mean the ASC button, not the AWC button. So you are correct, its ASC, not AWC.

Here is a video
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/6...530031dc7e.htm

 

Oh yeah, I thought I would share what some of the other drivers that were chasing me into the turns said about the car from an external point of view.

"How the heck are you getting that thing to stay on line like that? It looks like its out of control, yet its just burning through the turns."

"How heavy is that?"

me: "Oh, about 3700 pounds."
them: "Really, wow, it doesn't seem like it when its going through those corners."

"I hate that car, you get to cheat through the turns! And thats not fair!"