Soure: Road & Track, as well as anybody in the know.

One of the aspects of the Evo that Mitsubishi attempted to address was the ride quality. Hence, the MR has different suspension tuning to reach that desired ride quality. Yes, ride quality was improved. Yes, no performance was lost, but was there any performance gained?

If you don't care about ride quality, does the MR suspension offer any improvement over the standard suspension? Suspension tuning is a matter of taste anyhow, so it's a moot point.

From a performance standpoint, the MR should weigh less if it were really meant to address performance. Why the 6-speed? It's to get better gas mileage on the freeway, another weakness of the Evo that Mitsubishi attempted to address.


To each his own. I'm not saying the MR Edition is a bad car. I'm saying I would never get one if I wanted all out performance with no compromise.

Now if we had an MR FQ400, that would be a different story!


I don't know why everybody is getting stressed out though. I want very specific things in a car: no-compromise performance, simplicity, lightweight, low cost. The RS does all that.

If you want smooth ride, pimp factor, exclusive model name, performance with a few compromises built in for driveability, then the MR is definitely for you if you can afford it.

I do not want a heavier and less reliable 6-speed, a costlier and less reliable ACD, power equipment, trim pieces, higher price tag, added weight, more expensive wheels to get stolen/curb, so on and so forth.


Not saying that one is better than the other, just different. Any automotive journal will tell you that the performance difference is so miniscule that driver error will eclipse any noticeable performance difference. 99% of drivers will be unable to tell due to their level of skills and experience.

 

Wow the votes are still pretty close.

Officially I don't think anyone really knows which is faster.

I guess the only real way to tell is having a professional track driver drive both then let the numbers tell the story. And for those of you who say the suspension is more refined in the MR, in actual fact all your really saying is if I put the same suspension on the RS the would be the fastest.

If you guys are going to argue in this debate come up with some solid facts to back up your claim.

 

and the runner's are neck and neck!

 

If the poll were use to judge basis on which car is faster then it would be a tie.

 

50-50 split

Maybe we can get somewith an RS to go head to head with an MR

anyone up to it

 

^^ then you introduce driver error though

 

Maybe we can introduce a professional driver to drive both cars

 

The RS is almost 100lbs lighter than the MR. it will be faster.

 

If Bush wins, the MR is faster.

If Kerry wins, the RS is faster.

Or we could just flip a coin. Actually, I think the weight advantage of the RS over the MR is more like 50 lbs. The 88 lb. difference between the RS and VIII that I often see quoted assumes that the RS has no A/C, but all RS in the USA have A/C.

 

Ok you call it

Heads or Tails

heads the MR
Tails the RS

 

i am curious... will they ever make an RS with MR status?? like power, handling, tranny ****?? i was just thinking about that.. it may be a stupid question but i'm just wonderin

 

I still say MR is faster because of the gearing I think it more than makes up the 1/10 of a second that the RS would have gained with the 100 lb difference.

 

All else being equal, with both cars being driven back-to back by an outstanding driver, the RS (with it's lighter weight (85 lbs), lack of ABS and stiffer shocks) should have a SLIGHT edge on most roadracing tracks. However there may be exceptions if one or more of the following conditions is very prevalent on the track:

1. The track is very bumpy (Softer MR shocks help here)
2. The track has several sections with speeds of 115-135 mph (where the MRs 5th gear will give superior acceleration than the RSs 5th gear)
3. Very high speed corners that are NOT flat-out, for example, Turn 2 at Brainerd International Raceway (MR's Wing will have a downforce advantage)

The RS's lack-of-ABS Advantage is best exploited by drivers that really understand and can execute on-limit Trail-Braking corner entries where an ABS equipped car tends to be less effective.

Also keep in mind the following:
1. MR drivers can easily disconnect the ABS
2. RS Drivers can easily add the Wing.

As for which one is faster in a straight line:
The RS of course, because less weight and less drag (lack of wing) will outweigh the high speed (115-135 mph) gearing disadvantage. But then why on earth would anyone buy an EVO for something as pointless as Dragracing ???

 

The 6-speed RS in Japan did worse than the 5-speed. I'm not sure if they ever figured out why. My theory is the down shift complication.

I don't have he pleasure to test both cars out at the track.

All in all the RS is best buy for track use and mods. But the MR is perfect for every day use

 

nice post, and the truth