It annoys me that people that this is a review - it's merely a guy who has driven his X for a while letting everyone know how his car is holding up after 50K miles. And from what it looks like, it hasn't broken down yet.

 

Just don't get one of the earliest ones ('03 VIII). The newer and less abused, the better, like 05 VIII MR or with the IXs if you are able. Though, I am sure much of the problems mentioned in the OP's review of his X has probably been fixed for 2010.

 

If you are worried about rattles, you certainly aren't going to get anything superior in the realm of rattles with an VIII. My VIII rattled, my X rattled; it's a Lancer, not a BMW.

 

this is an opinion not a review. Also I hope you dont think the VIII's and IX's doesnt have a problems and rattles...
But i'm sure you can be happy with any Evolution if you dont have high expectations about comfort and luxury. Otherwise as you go down by Evo numbers you will be more and more disappointed.



I been in many IX's besides mine . And they rattle, just like any other Evo.
I had a VIII SSL also, /suppose to be a luxury evo back then/

Talking about rattles...in the EVo forum...

Seriously you guys need to look for an other car. My suggestion would be for you guys VW R32. or something simular.
/by the way if you really care rattles they do to not that much , but still you know... /

Rob

 

Honestly I think all this justification by X owners is a little ridiculous. It only feeds and allows Mitsubishi to continue to get away with poor build quality.

Yes, we bought this car for speed; and if he were complaining saying things like "I get poor gas mileage" "the car is too loud" "the car makes whooshing noises" or "the ride is too stiff" I would totally understand with what most people are saying right now. But he's not. Things have broken, windows are rattling, interior parts are rattling, paints chipping. Honestly even if I had a Honda Civic and I had all the problems mentioned I would contact the dealer to let them know I had a lemon.

 

Show me a new car where the paint doesn't chip in today's market? All of them use the same type of paint now days.

Things have broken? Almost all of these things would fix. I haven't heard of other people having these same "breaks".

I think it would be one thing if we knew this guy took care of his car, but he hasn't even done the maintenance it. Just that alone makes his "opinion / review" go out the window.

 

Yes, very true, all of your points are valid. But refuting individual occurrences is aside from the point of what I was saying. It seems there is an overall problem with the quality of the car, which has nothing to do with how fast the car is. I honestly wouldn't expect some of these problems from a Honda, Toyota, etc. We've had civics, corollas, and one outback wagon, but i've never had any of these problems crop up. That said, the cars I had were not the first generation.

 

My biggest problem with the OP is that he admits to NOT doing the recomended maintance. Agreed, some of his complaints are not effected but I think it speaks to how he may have treated the car in general.

Again, I have had my car for almost the same time period and, aside from the paint being more chip prone than I would like (mostly fixed by clear bra)....which is no different then my wife's 08 legacy, I have no issues with the car. No big rattles even with relatively stiff coilovers in Cleveland area where the roads are crap.

I will add that my wife's previous car was an Acura RSX and she had the air condition go out with 36K miles....paint was better but it is better on my 01 Eclipse also...I think that the formula has been changed on all cars, not just Mitsus.

 

I'd agree with you 100% if I knew these problems were regular.

1. My bulbs are all slowly dying on me. -- First I've heard of this

2. Driver's left side AC vent knob (helps you position the AC) broke off. -- First I've heard of this. The VIII and IX did have this problem though. Was because the line would get kinked. If this is happening with the X then that is sad, should have learned from the earlier models

3. Windows are very rattly (open or closed) and don't move smoothly. (I'm aware there's a fix at the dealerships for this). -- Once the dealer does their fix and then it happens... then I'd consider it a problem

4. RPM's still fluctuate. -- First I've heard of this. I don't even know what it means to be honest. That's what RPMs do when you step on the gas . But in all seriousness do you get it? Maybe he's talking about the fluttering where there was a TSB put out for a hose coming off of the intake manifold. Most new evo x's (like mine) have had this fix done already

5. The interior is very rattly. -- We've discussed this one to no end.

6. The side skirts look as though they're about to fall off, and some body panels on both front and rear of the car are looking like they're coming apart. -- This shouldn't have happened. But there is a fix out by for this.

7. Seat staples. -- This shouldn't have happened. This has happened to me, I tucked it back in and it hasn't come out again.

8. Moderate paint swirls (I wash my car, and I've always been very gentle and buy new microfiber towels once every other month). -- He obviously doesn't know how to wash his car. But swirls happen in all new paints. They are all thin and very soft.

9. Moderate paint chipping on the front of the car. -- See above on the type of paint. Clear bra and a good wax would help this from occurring.

My point here is these are very minor and definitely don't contribute to the overall quality of the car. I do think a lot of these have to do with it being a first gen (window, skirts, hood latch, tune, seat staples). But the rest are pretty ridiculous. But my tone can change when I start seeing this happen more and more to conditioned cars.

 

Just because I don't want to tap into my life's savings to maintain my car, doesn't change how I treat my car.

I always took care of my car, how does my bank account emptying out reflect how I treat it? The difference between me and anybody else in this situation is I decided to keep this car as opposed to selling it. Consider that as a liking for this car.

 

It doesn't take "bank account emptying" to maintain the car at 30k.

Because these aren't real problems in comparison to other cars. You completely bash for their car when in comparison to other manufacturers these things are extremely minor.

Either way, do yourself and all of us a favor. Please do your 30k maintenance, before you burn your transfer case bearings and we have to hear about your *****ing more.

 

I really dont have any of these issues and im almost at 50k... worst thing I've "had" to do was replace the clutch, change fluids, timing belt, and tires. But how is that different than any other car? OP, if you have that many issues with your evo, then sell it. At the end of the day, if you aren't happy with it, go buy a different car.

 

As I mentioned in my other post, if you can't afford the car, you shouldn't have bought the car. Not maintaining a car, regardless of the reason, is very indicative of how you treat it no matter how you want to spin it. It doesn't matter how gently you drive it; if you are not maintaining the car, you are abusing the car, period. When was the last time you changed the oil in your car? 20k miles ago? Seriously?

 

yes, and also they wasn't build by performance in mind only.
Many people tend to be forget, the Evolution line is not for comfort or fuel mileage , neither for low maintenance...
They try to be as close as the given minimum comfort by the given year, what other car makers have. That is all. TPMS - 7 airbag - crash beams etc. just to have the car comply for the US standards to being road legal. Other goodies , like stereo or nav. just to be more trendy by the given era.
If you really look into the base line model any Evo by the given era, they just as far from the base models from the other car makers as the X today. nothing changed with that. Only the customers and the governments want to have "more".

Some guys cant see the forest from the tree...

The Evo, end of the day is a road legal race car. There for , these issues like rattling etc. is completely irrelevant in the Evolution.

If this is a problem, then the Evo is simply just not for you. Nothing wrong with that.


i hope my opinion will not come out a wrong way here.

Rob

 

if you are form the EU , just as me , we never will understand this type of complains in the Evolution