I have a 08' Caliber SRT-4 currently for a daily/work car. I have always been into the AWD thought; but never really wanted to join the crowd until I drove a friends evo... Needless to say the bug has bitten me HARD.

I have a Built 96' 240 s14.5 that I've built from the ground up thus far. SR swapped with built head, upgraded turbo, fully custom celled fuel system, stripped, full suspension, standalone; the list goes on and on.

Hope to learn a bit; possibly switch my daily to a Evo preferably and MR...

 

Welcome to the site. I have a GSR but heard great things about the SST in the MR. Awesome cars, never regret for a day buying mine.

 

really looking at the 8's/9's for the 6 speed.

 

Ahh gotcha, i do like the 9's also. The MR's seem easier to find too, just heard a lot of things about the transmissions going out in them if you start to do work. Don't really know form experience on that but something a few buddies were saying.

 

had a 2003 srt-4 neon with mods then to a 2006 evo 9 and drove it till it had 108,000 miles on it with no major problems just had to replace front struts and rest was just maintenance and now just purchased a 2011 ww gsr evo

 

Nice, I love my caliber I/E/MS1K - Roughly 330whp/360lbs/ft. It is a highway machine and still gets in the 24-27mpg range. I just really can't hold onto a car for more than a year without getting the itch to change it up.

 

Welcome! I love the EVO! You will love the awd.

I have an evo X MR and i love it. But no matter what you get you will love it. All evo, all day (coming from a former WRX owner)

Even this morning I was walking away from my car with a smile on my face, shaking my head at how much fun it is.

 

i have both high powered fwd and rwd cars, now an EVO... needless to say, the EVO is so much more enjoyable than either of my other cars

 

the 6 speed MR's are alot less durable and are more prone to transmission problems.

try looking int a GSR or if you want just the bare minimum like i did, look for an RS. I dont regret my evo one bit!

 

Post some pics of the nissan.

 

I have 90k miles on my 6speed. Just over 400whp. And i track my car ALOT. No tranny issues.. Tranny problems are driver error not mechanical. Hence some peoples shep 5speeds are out in 5k miles. Goodluck!

 

Jump on an Evo and never look back.. you wont .. Trust me..

 

Thanks for all the positivity! I am going to daily/work car use of what I get. So the power will be set to the 330-350whp pump gas range.

Also the nissan is down right now; but I have some older pictures of it. I have it currently down for an engine refresh, new trans (had a 2nd gear grind), repainted the front end, redoing my wiring hanesses, adding new motor/trans mounts to solid, adding an ASD hydraulic handbrake (rear), eliminated the proportioning valve and added a Wilwood click type, replacing the LCA, steering rack, and other bushings on the car, and made a custom removable core support for the front for ease of service/swap in the future.

This was when I did the front end swap - the bumper I got in the deal is gaudy. I traded a stock zenki front end and $250 for a fiberglass s15 front end, CF hood, and S15 spec L headlights. Also dropped 75lbs in the process.


Currently have a wingless trunk on it.








The front over fenders have been retrimmed sice that picture. I am running 1"1/2 adapters all around.

 

Welcome!
Nice Nissan, my friend has one nearly identical to yours, I actually thought it was his for a second.

Are you on the Calibersrt-4 forum? I frequent there, mostly for the street racing section, as I get a hoot out of the V8 fanatics that come to talk smack, lol.

Good luck with the search!

 

From a comfort standpoint, I think the Caliber SRT is a better choice than a CT9A Evo. Definitely has a softer ride, longer gears, cruise control and good A/C. My buddy had one and I got to drive it a bunch of times. The seats weren't too bad either. Overall I liked it as a comfortable cruiser

Performance wise, I didn't really understand that car much. It's supposed to be a performance car, but it will break the front tires free even easier than the Neon which basically means you're not going anywhere. It also had horrendous torque-steer (even though it's supposed to have some kind of limited slip) and body roll. The steering was numb and vague and the chassis doesn't seem to communicate much of anything to the driver. It just felt like a very slapped together car to me. Again, performance wise, as a DD I thoroughly enjoyed the car.

Also, I would ignore what people say mostly about the 6spd unless they are speaking from actual experience (a lot of people aren't. They are talking about things they have "heard" about the 6spd). I have owned 2 MR's and neither one had any kind of tranny problems. The one I have now makes mid 300's and the tranny shifts great. I took the car to the Tail of the Dragon and put it through it's paces several times and it didn't skip a beat. There are also a lot of people on this forum that have put some serious miles and serious racing on their 6spd and have had no problems. Technically I would say the 5spd is stronger, but I wouldn't say that it's as concrete of a difference as some people make it out to be.

At the same time, I prefer the longer gears of the 5spd. You are shifting all the time in the MR and that gets a bit tedious to me in stop and go traffic.