Depends what you really want in the car.... honestly you should go to mitsubishimotors.com and see a list of options where the RS, GSR, MR and SE are all compared side by side. Your best bet would be an SE as it has the aluminum roof (no extra weight of sunroof), bulletproot 5 speed, HIDS, etc. Its just like having an MR only with a 5 speed, but they only come in an 07 model. If your budget is around $25K (good luck!) I would suggest trying to find a good price on a VIII MR or on a IX GSR. Unless you are strictly racing u wont probably want an RS (no power windows or locks aint baller). The MR 6-speed tranny is fine unless you want to road race and push 500whp all the time, oh and more importantly as long as you use OEM daiqueen fluid u should be fine- not BG fluid! Then you get all the good amenities plus HIDS, aluminum roof, Bilsteins, BBS- and as far as weight is concerned the MR only weighs 20 LBS more than a regular GSR, but if you get the GSR with sunroof/leather/HID (SSL) package that adds somewhere around 60 LBs to the car and its heavier than the MR and only like a grand or so less brand new... minus the BBS/Bilsteins/6speed! For the price range you are looking at it may be hard to find one that meets all your criteria, so seriously consider what kinds of mods you plan on doing and if you plan on driving it daily driver with possible occasional tracking or versus using it for a strip/track only car, compare them all side by side- things like wheels/suspension are easy to upgrade and you can replace your headlights with HIDS for a few hundred dollars too. Sorry for the long *** response, hope that helps!

 

actually, it's stronger in gears 1-3 and for drag racing, it's weakness is 4th gear being smaller and breaking due to excessive heat fatigue from road racing.

if i was buying an 06, i'd go with the SE since it has everything the MR has EXCEPT the 6-speed(i would prefer a 5 for track use)and bilsteins, vortex generator(they're cheap anyway). the only reason i bought my MR in 05 was because i wanted the aluminum roor(not a do-it-yourself kind of mod), wheels, power windows/locks, suspension, and HID's and that was the only one that fit the bill. the 6-speed is actually very nice for daily driving, shifts smoother than the 5-speed, but is limited for heavy track use. the SE would've been the perfect model to me, just would need to add suspension which is an easy do-it-yourself, not too much $ mod.

 

I look at it this way, 60lbs in the grand scheme of things is nothing. There are many ways to lighten up the evo, with small battery kits, losing the spare, lighter exhaust, etc. When looking at a 3300 lb car, 60lbs is a drop in the bucket. It is worth it to me to have the creature comforts that I prefer. How fast your car is ultimately comes down to your mod choice and tune.

 

I wouldn't buy an evo. I'd invest it and get fatty returns with the companies I'm investing with now.

 

i love my ix gsr but if you need the latest and greatest you'll always regret not getting the MR.

 

the RS is cool in theory but then i get to thinking - if anyone other than you drives the car, will they be safe? it isn't that hard to strip a car out; putting stuff into a car that didn't have the equipment to begin with, though, isn't as convenient. and though ABS-less sounds cool, it isn't cheap if you ever flat spot a tire or do worse.

then the next thing to consider are the wheels. if you like the GSR or RS wheels, then perfect. i do not and knew i would change them. i did like the diamond black BBS wheels though and knew i wouldn't change em so it was cheaper in the long run than a new set of wheels and tires.

i just don't believe in the SSL. leather and sunroof just really don't go with an evo, in my humble opinion. you can buy bilstiens off of another forum member. the SE is a pretty good value, assuming you can still get one nowadays.

 

I got an 06 MR with all options (except sun/sound/leather) brand new a month ago. I have driven all the models from the VII to the IX. I would say definately get the IX over the older models (no offense). I also feel that the 6 speed is smoother than the 5 speed. Sounds like your dedicated driver. Power window motors dont really weight that much anyhow. I love the car, definately made the right choice.

 

Bump on the regular GSR version, MR are awesome though and SE package is kinda nice too

 

get an se... lightest model other than the rs... and has the nice HID's from the mr.. plus cool red stitching on the interior.. =) but seriously.. the 1000 dollar difference between the gsr and se is worth it to me. HID's, aluminum roof, bbs wheels, and red stitched interior make it well worth it to me..

 

Whatdo you want your car to do?

Do u likethe feel of snappy steering? If i were you i would test dirve all 3 and see for your self. Thats what i did

I ended up with the MR and paid a few thousand more but because of the better suspension i feel like its a totaly different car from the normal evo.

The steering is so quick! i love it!

Test drive them all, but if u want my 2 cents i say MR for sure.

 

damn i didn't know they actually have a Normal Edition. lmao

 

is there a difference between the SE 5 speed and the regular GSR 5 speed?

 

same 5speed

 

Since this is a topic that has been beaten to death (and look at me, adding to the beating! lol) I want to point out that people typically support what's in their driveway.

That said, as others have mentioned you need to get the one that's right for you. The great part about buying an Evo is that, no matter what, you're guaranteed to get an amazing car that most can only wish they had.

For me, I fell in love with the MR SE (MR with the added appearance package) as soon as I saw it. It had an aggressive look the GSR's didn't quite have, with an even shinier interior. And yes, I admit, I wanted the one with ALL the goodies. With my last car I bought cheap to save a few bucks...money that eventually went into buying all the stuff I could have gotten right off the bat.

My main concern was the transmission. I had heard so much trash talk and couldn't decide if it was justified. So, rather than listen to owners on the net, I talked to people in real life (some Evo owners, some not) and literally all of them told me not to worry about the transmission problems I'd read about online. Unless I pushed that car to the absolute max at full boost for hours on end with about 400+ hp, I wouldn't have any problems. Of course there will be isolated incidents where something goes wrong, but the same goes for the five. No, for my purposes (spirited highway driving, possible occasional track use, and modest mods) the six would be perfect. The Evo, after all, excels in the twisties.

So that's the end of me defending what's in my driveway lol Before you buy, give it some thought and ask yourself what you will really be using the car for. Don't be like some people and convince yourself you're going to build up some track-going 500+ hp monstrosity (for which you'll need serious transmission upgrades regardless) when you just want to have fun on the road. On the other hand, don't blow all your money on visual goodies if you know you're going to the track every weekend.

Trust me, whatever you get, you're going to love it.

 

If I have to do it all over I would get the RS or the GSR. Wait for the Evo X. Also look for pentagon car sales for the military people overseas. You should be able to save the TAX.

Carlos