you guys all drive evo's.. so shhhhh.

 

I read through this and I have a couple of things I'm mulling over before my purchase:

What's the scoop on the 6sp in the MR. What HP level does it start to have problems at? I plan on doing slight mods now *TBE CAI and tune/boost controller*, but may get frisky down the road. I'm thinking 300-350 WHP at most, will the MR 6spd be trash after 15-25K miles?

As for the clutch is there any difference in that between the base IX and the MR. The RS is out of the question for me since it won't be a track only car, and to be honest it may only see the track a few times in it's life. This will be strictly for me to have fun in and get around town reliably.

If this is available elsewhere don't beat me up too badly ;-) I did a search but found some opionions...do we have some facts or at least some tuners out there that found some break points.
Thanks guys and gals.

 

dont hate on the rs....its the best bang for the buck.

i dont track my car and it wasnt so hard to put a radio n speakers in the car and the power locks. only thing missing is power windows and i can live w/o that.

another reason why i got a rs is because not alotta people own rs's.
i think the rs r rarer than the mr

 

The RS is the fastest.

 

i basically have the exact mods u described and have 65000 miles on stock clutch with no problems with the tranny. drove from Chicago to Los Angeles in 2 days and back while taking a trip up pikes peak on the way. i drive pretty spiritedly and it is a daily driver. love the 6 speed and its smoothness and the suspension rocks. especially on long trips. i drive to st Louis all the time as well as indy. i have an mr and don't regret a thing.

 

I'm also interested in how much power a 6-speed can handle before reliability becomes an issue.

I've had a bunch of project cars over the years, sometimes as many as 3 or 4 on the road concurrently. I need to retire my current DD project car, which is just too expensive to maintain on my current budget ...so I'm shopping a new DD with a warranty for the next few years, after which I'd like to mod the **** out of it (e.g. depreciated Evo IX --> donor car for next outlaw project). so far, Evo makes the short list of cars that can tolerate being driven aggressively without falling apart.

Obviously the RS is the car to start with if I'm considering lots of mods. However, my current thinking is I'd prefer the comfort of the SE or MR for the life of the warranty. HID headlights are nice too, for cutting the crap mist and fog in New England, especially since I drive like a M*******!

One cool thing about the RS: walk into a Mitsu dealer and say "I'm really looking for an RS. I already have a daily driver" and they ask, "would you look at an SE if the price were right?"

 

the RS is way more rare then any other one.
if you don't bealive me, just go out any local meet...
hid lights kit around $300.

 

I agree it has the same engine turbo ect...but that works for you but won't work for someone like me that wants A/C ABS ect..because it will be a daily driver and my wife may want to drive it once in a while. Plus power windows locks ect...I'm wanting in a car. Now if I could have the car be dedicated to performance then yeah....I'd go with the RS

 

Look at all the MR fan boi's

 

I'm keeping things open all around save for the RS *Just because I want the basics like A/C, radio ect..* I just don't know which way I'm going to go Evo IX, SE, Sun and sound or MR.....The big thing for me is how the Tranny will hold up to some mods and what folks think of the clutch on the IX, and how they stack up trim to trim or are they all the same.

 

06 RS have AC. The radio is prewired so preatty straight forward to install ANY stereo you like. If you go big places, like best buy or circuit city etc they even will install it for free.
so no worry in this issues.
the factory stero is sucks anyway.looks like something from 1995 ...

 

no one can give you a real answer to this but yourself. What are looking to do with your evo and what do you in it?

A few of you said that while cruizing in your MR, its at a lower RPM, but isn't the first 3 gears the same as the RS/GSR? and if you look at the MPG mitsu gives, both cars have lower MPG than MR. I don't get it, but it's printed all over. I think its just more fun with 6spd.

 

not hating, but it sounds like the mitsu marketing department got you too. just because the marketing around a particular trim level leans one way or another doesnt make it so.

to say the RS is THE track car is BS - i would put my money down and bet that over 90% of the people on this forum would get around a track faster with ABS. the SSL package doesnt suddenly transform an evo into a luxury car, though it is the heaviest of all evos. and because MR stands for "Mitsubishi Racing" doesnt turn it into the bar none fastest evo when people that get paid to test cars got, at best, a marginally better track time - a differential that is offset by driver ability.

i guess that people think ABS is for tough guys and MRs are for "fan bois" considering no one has yet to seriously address that lacking ABS is pretty important. or that an 80 lb difference btwn the MR and RS is insignificant.

 

american rs's have air conditioning....just not japanese spec rs....japanese rs is literally bare bones...no brembos...aluminum steelies....no radio no ac....but american version got a/c with pre wire radio n speakers.

04 has a/c and i love it cuz my old honda didnt...muhahaah

 

haha, look who has a sunroof on his evo.