ok my man here goes my two senses.......I am also in the military, not the Army but the Marines and I know that the army deployments sometimes are 12-14 months. Before you get any car consider this that you will probly have to leave it in someone else's hands for a while and I am not sure if you are married or have ppl you trust like that close by. I got a used car, not an evo right out of basic so when I left for three deployments, I really didnt worry about it so much. Now that I've been in for a while, kinda have a better feel for stuff and married now, plus all that deployment money saved up I got my Evo! still have my first car too (My gas saver lol). Havent had to leave her yet but might have to soon......just a few things on the military side to consider about the evo because its an investment man, and slowly it becomes a way of life......lol

 

How is it more overall? Sure, the drivetrain services do cost more for the TC-SST models (Lancer Ralliart and Evo X SE/MR) compared to the row-it-yourself GSR, but from what I've seen when looking at quotes, it's only a $200 difference per service (which is to be done every 15k miles, so once a year or so), but that's it. All other related costs of ownership still make the Evo more (i.e. tires, brake pads, insurance, car payment, etc.), unless I'm missing something.

Yes there are. I have a bone stock Evo IX SE, just as stock as the day I bought it off the showroom floor (minus the obvious things like its brake pads and tires, which are to be replaced). My previous Evo was also bone stock when I traded it in for this one. They're out there, but they're just harder and harder to find.

 

i say get it but get it tuned and put a mbc under the hood an down the boost to what ever your comfortable with then when u get more experience u can turn it up and chances are you will be to lazy to go under the hood to turn it up if some one tries to race you or if you have friends in the car {thumbup}

 

ok im in the same boat as you im an E-2 so i got a 2011 Lancer Es
Great car dont get me wrong just slow lol. Has gud warranty and cheap insurance
If i cud go back i would get a five speed GTS
you can always turbo that later and you can mod it YOUR way
or get a RA But money wise GTS is gud car

 

OP sounds like me last year! I've driven around in my parents' corolla for 6 or so years before buying my first car under my own name. Which is my current evo. If you want something of this caliber you need 1. self-control 2. available money for all the costs you're not forseeing right now 3. time (lots!).

I consider myself very restrained, even compared to people many years older than me. But I've still gotten myself in very dangerous situations in my car. Age and experience is a valuable thing. And even if you're perfectly able to work on cars you need the time to do so. My free time is very short and I hate feeling like I spend every hour of free time on my car. I don't regret my decision at all, but in retrospect if I had a choice of buying it again I'd probably wouldn't and go for something like a TSX or something. Like RockmanX said don't live for your car.

The ct9as can also be a dangerous car. It WILL make you feel like Aryton Senna if you're new to performance cars. And then you'll push it to the limit way too much, at which point it sometimes behaves weirdly and can kill you. On stock suspension the tail will wag under heavy braking, its got lift-throttle oversteer like a fwd car, there can be huge body motions when trying recover from drifts, etc. I've never had that feeling in subarus or econoboxes but the first time I pushed my evo to the limit I felt it and realized it could be dangerous.

 

Anyone with their wits about them would never purchase an Evo as a first car (sorry... don't mean to offend). You simply aren't capable of operating a car like this without a good amount of experience.

I got my first Evo when I was 22 or 23. It wasn't properly an Evo until I was maybe 25. If I would've bought my new IX MR straight away... I would've taken it back. This car scared me sh*tless the first day I really had it and I KNEW what to expect.

 

idk why you guys are saying the evo is a scary car ^

I got my 350z when I turned 16, drove that for 2 years, then bought the evo.

The evo felt kinda slow... and even now with 300 whp it still feels kinda slow (everyone who rides in it says otherwise) but then again I grew up around fast cars so idk maybe that had something to do with it

IF YOU WANT AN EVO, GET ONE

 

First off, I'm jealous of anyone who had a nice car as their first car.

I started with a Sunfire GT, then an 08 Lancer ES, and then this Evo.

If you don't own and drive an average car first, how will you appreciate how great the Evo is? You need lots of experience first. Get those fender benders and things out of the way first in cars where it doesn't need to be fixed, or is really cheap. You need to get those wake up calls, and panic situations out of the way before you're in a car like an Evo.

Expensive cars = expensive fixes.

If you have the money, I wouldn't go past the ralliart, and even then that's a fast car for someone without lots of experience.

Or used wrx would be cheaper. AWD is still good to have.

 

The Evo isn't "scary" the responsibility of owning a car like the Evo is scary. If you think otherwise... you're simply illustrating my point.

It's not a dick measuring contest. Its a 2 ton car that is capable of making any driver think they're a driving God when they're not. There are and always will be consequences with this. Hence why you youngins are paying insane amounts for insurance.

 

^ And also crashing the cars too.

 

I've driven a ton of fast cars without any incident ever... I've had 1 at fault accident involving another car, and 1 involving just myself. Both were in slow cars. I've driven everything from 1200whp Corvettes to 800hp Civics, modded STis/Evos, ridden some very fast bikes (turbo'd ZX6R is the fastest) and never had any problems. My 2 accidents were in a lifted truck and an almost stock 240SX. Go figure.


That's what he was implying...

 

Vivid... I'm not implying or suggesting that someone couldn't handle a high performance vehicle. I'm not suggesting that someone is more likely or less likely to get into an accident in a high performance vehicle.

All I'm suggesting is that owning a vehicle like the Evo requires a greater level of responsibility than it takes to just own a "regular" car. In the US, driving is already taken as such a joke, or with such a low amount of seriousness it's sickening. When you compare what our license testing is like compared to that of other countries (Germany and Poland come to mind) its essentially non-existent.

IRL I'm a commercial pilot as well as a flight instructor. The amount of education required to get your private pilot certificate is only 40hrs of flight time. But if you look at the statistics, many pilots have many more hours than that when they get the cert, and even then... many pilots find there's a steep learning curve.

My point is simply that an inexperienced driver will fare better with a lower powered car than with a high performance car. Age does not = responsibility though, and some will certainly fare better than others.

I drive my beater way more insane than I drive my Evo... because I know with the Evo, I have a target on my back so to speak.

 

My .02 for the OP's ?'s...

Is the Evo a good first car? If so, why?... I would say just answering the question YES the EVO would be an awesome first car, but so would a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. In your case and as many people have already said it's probably not a good idea young troop. I remember what it was like living in the barracks and living paycheck to paycheck(1st-14th & 15th-31st) and having one of those disappear because of a car note and insurance. So your basically trying to go out, have fun, and jus live life for the whole month off 1 check... no bueno . That crap WILL make you wish you never bought it. Plus maintenance, gas, and the unknown i.e. what if an family emergency pops up and you gotta take leave. And as an E-2 with what, a few months to a year in? Face it fam U DON'T MAKE ANY MONEY yet and you won't until you've got about 4 years in and hard stripes. Hell I bought mine back in 03 and I had been a SSG for 2 years when I picked mine up and I never regretted it a day... until 2 months later when I deployed for a year for OIF 1&2 and I couldn't drive it but I still had to pay for it every month. I didn't like the car very much then, but after I got back and I got to spend all the cake I had been stashing for a year on her, those were good times. You want to be in a position to be able to do stuff like that and you're just not there yet. And please believe U R GOING TO DEPLOY, so you may want to factor that into your math guy. Jus sayin.

New or used?... If you are in love with VIII or IX's you really don't have a choice other than used. New would be better because then at least then if something breaks Mitsu will fix it. Hopefully with you being in AIT you will be too focused on learning and you won't have too much free time to be out practicing 7K launches Not that you do that.

What's the most miles have you guys had without any major problems?... It depends on what you consider major. I have heard some horror stories when it came to the VIII's and IX's back when they were new (03-06) now with the X's not so much, as the bugs of the previous versions have pretty much all been corrected by this point in time.

And, is it really worth the money?... If it is trully what you want then you will never be disappointed with your purchase man, point blank period. Take care of it and it will take care of you; but beat on it daily and launch it regularly and it WILL leave you on the side of the road very often. As with any other car

 

In it's stock form an Evo is quite manageable

 

I'm new to this whole evo thing too. But instead of jumping onto it, i decided to start off with something less expensive then work my way up. I started off with a 99 LS integra and i did not regret it. I mean being a young driver (i was 17 at the time) i was more prone to get into a accident since i was still a newbie at driving. I mean maintenance is cheaper. If the car breaks down it was easier to find parts since there are so many for hondas. If you have the money and you think you know how to drive the car the right way, then do it. If not then don't. Everyone is different, and i know i was terrible at driving manual when i started out. My cousin was in the same position, but he wanted a 330i. he was a spoiled brat and debated if he should get a beater or a nice car. He's 18 and He got his 2006 330i and ended up getting into a accident with it a week. So i guess what i'm saying is that, if you think you can drive the car and you can handle the maintenance its going to need and drive it then go for it. If not, buy a beater and get that later.

I'm 20 now and it took me 3 years to finally got the car i wanted. I just wanted to take it one step at a time. But like i said everyone is different.