I still don't get people that knock the interior. Maybe it's because I have the SSL package? But I find the interior to be the best I've ever had. I'd say second best I've had would be the camaro. What exactly do you need from your interior? Maybe it's because I'm more of a function over form kinda guy, but if I wasn't I probably wouldn't have got the evo?

 

Japanese econo box interior and I have the leather seats. Its not bad too bad tho. Definitely feel more comfortable in my VIII then I do my X. When I lived in Cali I used to see 60+ yr olds driving Evo's all the time. I see a 50+ yr old woman who drives an Evo X where I live now. I'd say go for it.

 

Well I'm 51 and an original owner of an 03 Evo 8. It would take a large stack of cash to get me to sell it for a newer model. It's bare bones but that's what makes it great to me.

To the OP go for it and get the new one if you want to. You won't regret it at all. They for sure are more luxury appointed than the 8 if that is what you are looking for.

 

The MR-T is a little too quiet for me sometimes I forgot that I'm driving an evo. The automatic is great but I'm still like the manual more. It's more response and I get to shift it even at a much slower rate than the dual-clutch thing. To get the response as the manual in the MR, you have to switch to Sport mode, but the problem is it'll be assuming that you want to drive like sport-mode all the times, so it'll keep higher rev, rev-matching every downshift, hold at certain RPMs longer than expected... so that the response will be better when you need to get on it. You'll get tire after sometimes and then you switch back to Normal mode, and then that Camry in next lane suddenly want to overtake you and the MR would take forever to respond because you're in Normal mode.

Other than that the X MR is a fantastic daily drive machine especially when I'm parking on the 405 here in southern cal.

 

You should be driving your MR in S Sport manual mode all the time for increased clutch longevity and driveability. Then you never get caught slipping by a Camry because you can shift down twice in 8 miliseconds and destroy them. Be serious man, the MR is hyper capable, but it doesn't have an 'I Win' button. You still have to drive the car to get anything out of it. Now you can put it in S Sport automatic but that will definitely get the looks when you spool up to the light at 5k rpms lol.

 

It's the same interior from a $17,000 econobox, and a crappy one at that.

If you ever go to a manufacturer auto show, ie. LA Auto Show, and sit in some of the other $40k cars, or even $20k cars, you'll realize how ****ty our interior is. It's a night and day difference from a $23k Focus ST interior, and ours. But then again, when you buy an Evo, you pay for the performance, not the comfort, hence why if you at all value comfort significantly, the Evo is not the best choice...

Add an exhaust and all that trim rattle, and I would never drive this car as a daily. Thank god becauseracecar.

 

No rattles here. Maybe because it's still pretty new? I don't mind the exhaust off highway. On the highway it's a little drone-y but it's just another excuse to avoid the highway and take the much more fun back roads.

On topic, seems the evo being an acceptable dd depends on 2 major factors: the importance of fuel savings and where you drive. If you want to save money on fuel, it should be pretty obvious the evo is a bad choice. If you're mostly highway and city traffic, it's going to be a bit more of a chore to drive every day. If you've got mountains and back roads it's going to be barrels of fun to drive day in and day out. So you really need to take your situation into account.

 

i'm 44, and daily drive my MR. mostly suburb/city traffic, get around 16-18mpg.

if you can deal with the gas mileage and small trunk, its great. i love driving it everyday.

try out the seats before you buy - they aren't adjustable for height. i'm 6' tall, and shimmed them with longer bolts because i felt like i was sitting in a bathtub. much better now.

i have the Rockford/Nav system, and this is the first car i've ever owned that i did not replace the headunit and/or speakers. its good enough after a little tweaking to just leave stock.

 

All great replies, fellas. I like the back and forth conversation and the different viewpoints. I live in northern Arkansas. I cant go 5 miles in any direction without being on a great curvy mountainous road, so there is no shortage of fun strips of highway to eat up.

I wouldn't have the WRX over the Evo; it's not nearly as sexy to me...not even close.

Not sure why a leather or "soft touch" interior is so important to some people. Sound deadening can be added anywhere if you need to feel wrapped in quality material. Is there a cup holder? If yes, I'm good.

Been researching a bit and getting mixed results on whether or not the tall wing can be had on the newer cars. Is there a direct article you can suggest that has that info? Thanks!

 

unfortunately the WRX may be my next car. i hate cars that are common and i see everyday, but i'll probably have to give in. will at least wait until the 2016MY, because i'm not going to be a guinea pig for the new engine/redesign. considered a used 911 Turbo, but i'd feel terrible driving it in the snow on salted roads!

soft touch is B.S. - had it before, gets scratched and beat to hell too easily. its a car, not a fancy dinner club. keep your wood and soft plastic. the Evo X interior looks good, is functional, and does what it needs to.

not sure, but you can always do a trunk swap. i like the big "ricer" wing! looks too econobox without it, unless you are really trying to fly under the radar and not attract attention ....

 

if you are even considering the evo - ANY generation you know what you are getting yourself into. ive had a couple year old wrx hatchback and while the sound is great, the reliability of the motor is not... anything much passed very basic bolt on and a tune is starting to open up a can of worms.... I have had 3 very good friends had ej motors that have failed, 2 with a almost brand new cars, 1 had 5k miles on it and the other had 13k. my first 03 evo was making 500 whp and 465 torque for nearly -10k miles on it before I added a stroker for safety, NOT because the engine failed and it performed flawlessly.

The evo is what it is and it does it very well. looking for a upscale interior? you will not be looking into the evo. looking for good MPG - might as well keep looking, care of what people will say when you pull in with your boy racer looking car, evo may not be the option...

looking for a car that does what it is asked of, amazing turning, good power, great seats, great brakes for the price range - it is untouched in my opinion.

as far as speed - there will ALWAYS be faster so who gives a crap.... you can make a pinto blow the doors off of an evo and you can make an evo as fast as a built GTR

I have literally owned probably 30 + cars of all different types and builds. again, 3 evo's and plenty of cars in between and when I was looking at cars, I kept coming back to the evo and picked up a 2014 ww evo.

if it was in my range - I would have probably picked up the new vette. That car is just sex from just about every angle and it gets 28-30 mpg, lol.

once you own an evo and you understand where and why the car was built and what it does and what it is capable of, the evo is a very hard car to get rid of. something about it will keep bringing you back, lol.

Best of luck

 

I think its a great car as a daily. At the end of day you want a fun car to drive and the MR will do that for you

 

I don't like how the WRX looked until the latest generation. Probably because the latest looks more like an evo

I considered trunk swapping my GSR winged trunk with an MR to be more under the radar, but the X is already pretty under the radar here so I think I'm going to leave it alone.

I agree with pretty much all of this except the part about the vette. I come from a somewhat hick-ish area and domestics are the scene here, with one exception... the Corvette. No doubt it has amazing performance, but the running joke here is "if it's even a little humid out, the car just starts sliding all over the place" ... I looked at one when I got my Camaro (the car before the evo) and while they are super nice, I would never own one. If I lived in SoCal I might, since it never rains there.

 

Maybe my standards are low but since adding the cubby covers. real leather on the shift boot, emergency lever, and center console lid. MR leather / aluminum shift knob and hand brake lever, adding the oem navigation I LOVE this interior. Oh also installed a 2014 subaru rear view with homelink, compass, and auto dim.

 

this is a thread thats close to my heart ...lol im 42 years old a vw/audi master tech ,, and an avid tuner of go fast cars ..haha i picked up a evo x mr touring a few months ago used with low miles from a mitsu dealer , it was owned by an 63 year old man and in stock form . car was clean and drove great so i went for it, its a blast to drive and was comfortable . coming from the euro scene selling my 09 vw cc daily , and parting with my b6 audi s4 avant project car , i went ***** deep into the evo . after a couple quirks with it , bringing it up to service ,, i thought the s4 was a maintence pig ,ha the mr takes the cake on that , long story short the dealer will pretty much laugh at any warrentee items the car needs , or my dealer did , non stop issues with the car i bought , trans issues , awd pump failed after 300 miles , all the regular evo crap went wrong on mine within 1000 miles of owning it . it sucks i love the car but it had to go . but even after the pain of my first evo . and my first asian car ,, i went and got a new gsr off the show room floor . from another dealer , i love it and would say go for it , but if you get an mr get it new . that trans scares the crap out of me ! i like things i can fix myself when they break !