Hey guys,

I'll give my English perspective on things....

i think a lot of people are trying to compare apples to oranges here, The Evo is and was never designed to do 300k miles! It is like the Ferrari in that regard, it is built for a purpose which it fulfills extremely well, but it isn't built for out and out longevity. Its only recently that Ferrari have been building cars specifically designed to tackle the daily driver demands of some people, and they have been building performance cars for a lot longer than most!

I have had a number of Evo's, BMW's, Mercedes, Fords, Renault's etc... all of which have been bought with a particular premise in mind. If i want something for pure speed, then there are a lot of cheap options from all manufacturers... if i want something that combines performance with luxury then it would be the BMW's, Merc's, Lexus's.. etc... however, you will pay a premium for it.

For me, the reason why so many people feel the Evo is such a good choice is because of the following:

1- it is a true 4-door car with a good sized boot (trunk), this means you can not only fit the whole family in, you can also pop down to your local Albertsons and get the weekly shop in comfort.

2- it offers performance that is comparable with today's 'super cars' to a degree depending on state of tune

3 - it handles extremely well and takes care of less experienced drivers due to its 4x4 traction and hardware/software technology.. so it flatters even the worst of drivers.

4- it is relatively inexpensive when compared to other models from rival manufacturers which would offer similar specs i.e. BMW M5, Merc AMG, in the UK Honda do the 'type R' and the 'Spec R' set up which is the high revving v-tec engine which they put into some of their larger cars, but these are not much less expensive and don't offer the tuning potential that the Evo does.

5- the Evo offers a blank canvass so to speak when it comes to tuning. get a stock one and there is a myriad of options to choose from to tailor it specifically to your tastes and needs.

People who have to ask about its MPG, or its longevity imo really shouldn't buy one, the main point of having a sports car that in theory out performs Ferrari's, Porsche's etc... is that it 'Performs' and this comes as a trade off to longevity to some extent, as well as its fuel efficiency. That said, look after it properly and it will still last a long time... abuse it and it will break....thats not much different to most modern cars in all honesty though.

A good analogy to put it into context.... you wouldn't buy a thoroughbred race horse who was tuned to perfection, every aspect of their being was to race and dedicated to speed and control, and then make it pull wagons all day? lol.... you just have to make an informed choice of what it is you can afford and what it is you expect / demand from your cars. The running costs of Evo's are probably alot higher than the average vehicle... but then again, i have never heard anyone refer to the Evo as an 'Average Vehicle'

just my 2 pence worth!