you start out with better gears and like others said - you would replace most of the go-parts anyway.

 

I was debating this as well when I bought mine 2 weeks ago. I personally like the front bumper of the Evo8 more than the Evo9. I like the seats and I love the gearing. If you can afford the extra 5 to 8 grand go for the 9, but because your debating I think your tight on a budget. That extra money helps alot when buying the car. I would say you would be almost as equally satisfied with the Evo8 as you would with the Evo9. For the money you could change the things you don't like for sure.

 

I should have clarified a few things in my original post:

I really don't plan on doing to much modding, atleast for awhile, only because of school. And the fact that once you start, its like crack....WHichever I buy will be used as my DD and will be driven long distances so reliability is something I want. I will probably do a few minor power mods, but nothing special. I'm both on budget and not, only because I'm moving soon, and I have not decided if I want to spend the majority of my cash without knowing my living arrangments (who needs an apartment, sleep in the evo).

posted this last night at like 3am, and its not 4pm, and this many replies? Thanks everyone, its really helpful. As much as I'd like a IX, I figure in a few years when I'm in my career, and the VIII is paid off I can always buy one and have 2 evos

Still not sure... I'd like to get into an 05, but the 05s are generally in the price range of a IX. So 03/04 is my best bet. Maybe. Kinda. Unsure MI sucks for evos...

 

pick up the 03 u wont even know the difference if u dont plan on modding right away. if u dont have the money to mod it u wont have the money to be racing it risking breaking so ull never really feel the extra lil hp the stock 9 had of the 8

 

buy what you want!!!

and if youre really a cheap-a$$ then get a 8 and put a 9 bumper on it

 

does the 04 VIIIs have the ACD?

 

^^^no they dont

 

acd is on 05-06 also i think if your planning on doing lots of road tripping the 9MR might be best with the extra gear really helps in that department. Now you cant go crazy with the hp gains as the tranny is not as strong as in other evos but as you said your not going to do any heavy modding so this might be the best one to get. you can always do a 5 speed swap later like most do.

 

spend the extra $ on the 9. i did it and im alot happier(i think) then i would be if i owned an 8. i like the 8 front bumper. i like the fact of having a 9(last year before the car lost all its appeal of being an evo.) plus your driving a 2006, still have warranty so long as the milage is under 60k..
-warranty
-graphite grey(05mr,06.)
-better seats
-better, lighter oem wheels
-what are your goals with the car. daily... id get a 9, tbe/cams/tune youll be at 400wheel on pump.
im glad i bought a 9. dont let people tell you the mr is no good. i love my mr and have had not one single transmission,center diff, or rear problem with the car its comming up on 50,000 miles and im getting ready to do a clutch.(i autox it every event possible.). these are good cars, but can be a handful at times.(traffic) and NO CRUISE CONTROL!!!..
-buy an 8... and buy a 96-00 civic a/t as a daily
- or be a trooper and get a 9 and be ballin all the time and dont worry about the milage you rack up.

 

mivec is a plus.

I however like my 05. All the best things from the 8's for the final year.

 

I love My VIII, I've driven both the 8 and 9 and I prefer the 8. Personally I dont care about all the fancy stuff, thats why I got an RS. Power NOTHING and lighter weight...and I use it as my dd. Even though I dont have power windows or locks ro cruise control i still love it, but not having cruise in a dd sucks cuz you have to pay attention to your speed all the time.

 

y would u say the mr is better for highway driving? i think its worse cuz u have to shift one extra time then on the 5 spd and there is no difference in mpg at all...

 

you can paint the blue middle portion black. there are a few people on here who have done this. with the money you save you can mod your VIII and be less in debt. it actually looks really nice and can be done in an day for less than 20 bucks. It has always seemed to me that all the evos with the most impressive #s are VIII's. I dont kow why you dont see a lot of IX's past the 700 whp mark, maybe im wrong though.

 

ur partially correct on the trans. both transes will break if u beat on it but if u think about it mitsubishi had to cram a whole extra gear in that casing.. they had to make room somehow thats y it has a weaker 4th gear.. i beleive its the 4th gear. its definatly a smoother shifting trans no doubt.

 

rpms are lower so the droning is not nearly as bad. I'm at 3k at 70mph for context (not sure where the 5-spd is, but I don't think it is too far off).

I'm not sure about the mileage item - I easily clear 300 miles on a fillup if I'm driving mostly freeway (again, more context as I'm not sure about the 5-spd). That involves some spirited driving - I can't cruise at 70mph constantly. I have never done a straight fuel economy fillup because honestly, what is the point!

The 5-spd definitely has a stronger 4th and I think better gearing in general for the strip. The 6-spd is supposedly smoother, but I haven't done both.

blk is right though, a lot of people quickly dismiss the 6-spd for power. I am at ~500whp now on my 6-spd (need to get retuned without the HFC, where I hit 470) and I plan to keep that number going up! I don't do a lot of heat cycles at the track, which is the problem that I hear people run into with the 6-spd.

Also, I think a lot of the high hp cars out there are VIIIs because of one of the big reasons the OP is asking about - price. When you are building a high hp car you might as well save as much money as you can on the original platform when you are going to be swapping most items out anyway. They've been out longer too, so shops and owners have been building them up over time - I don't think anyone went straight from the dealer to 900whp.