Hello all,
My wife totaled my Z a few days ago and I am/will be soon in the market for a new car. I am thinking something cheaper this time (read as used) and definitely more practical. I also do not want to lose the ability to mod it at least to a degree. Thats what has brought me to the X GSR.
My only real turn offs to it are the apparent reliability issues. Im not opposed to working on the car myself. My wifes Mustang doesnt have many stock parts left on it and I have done 100% of the work. But I also dont want to have to replace a motor out of nowhere either.
The other thing is the mileage which seems pretty poor although I am looking at options for a taller final drive to help it out since I only drive on the highway.
This will be a DD and will be what my wife and I use to go on vacation, that sort of thing.
My main questions are how many of you have had your AYC pump fail or your timing chain stretch?
I dont plan on modding too heavily. Probably down pipe, intake, tune, and maybe a slightly larger turbo. I wont be going over 400whp for sure however.
Are there any large differences between the 08s and 10s when it comes to reliability?
Thanks for the help.

 

Well lets just put it this way. I have a Evo 8 2004, 77,000 miles with 400WHP. I have only one issue so far, I run out of gas way to fast at full throttle I changed the clutch once because I learned to drive stick on this car. I race it all the time. No issues at all. I have many friends with EVO X and non of them have any issues at all. It also depends on how you drive and how you take care of your car. Simple as that.

 

^ yes, i run out of gas way too fast at full throttle. cant stay out of boost haha. but i have an 03 74k miles and no issues. original clutch. just changed the serpintine belt 1000 miles ago. dry and cracked due to dry *** CA weather.

 

To answer some of these questions I will say this. the Ayc pump goes for the fact people don't change the fluid frequently enough and **** gets sucked into it causing it to get clogged. From the experiences I have seen that has been the case. The timing belt is important being yes they will stretch, so do yourself a favor and spend the 120 bucks and get a Gates kelvar belt and keep it from doing that. Differences between the 8-10. The 8 and 9 weight way less. They can handle the power better, and don't feel like driving a brick. Now for the x here is the thing. Out of the box it will handle much better, being it is heavier, the stance of the car is much better, and the advancements in the YAW are much better. Itw ill feel like you 370 did. Being I sell Infiniti's I am use to the way the G37 is and it is impressive how it feels during corning etc. Now with that said its no where near what my evo is, but its pretty impressive as it is. So in my opinion if you want a fun car that will handle mods better, and not having to sleeve the block, stick with a 8 or 9. If you want a car that handles better but is eh to drive go for the x. I have driven both styles of cars and I prefer the 8 or 9 being feels a lot faster with a lot less into the car itself.

 

To me it doesn't sound like he interseted in the older generation Evo, but instead is concerned about the diffrences between model year 2008 and model year 2010.

 

Ha. No im not particularly interested in the 8s or 9s I do like reading about them anyway so thank you for the posts. Im not planning on going all out with this car. I will need to leave it fairly close to stock to ensure reliability since our other car is a mustang that eats parts all the time. At most I want is about 400 with 350 being more realistic until I get a few more cars.
Whats funny is one of the things I really like about this car is I can get my favorite tire again. Hankook V4 ES H105s. The tire options on the Z were pretty terrible.
Thanks for the replies guys keep them coming.

 

Well, EvoM is a predominantly 8/9 forum so you're going to get a lot of people suggesting 8/9.

I have now owned 2 Evo X's and love them. The cars are not luxury cars by any means but as a daily driver they definitely have more going on than an old 8/9. But that said - you're not looking into those cars so who really cares!

As far as problems with the X goes - the AYC pumps and timing chain issues are a little blown out of proportion. You see them on the forums as every issue explodes and everyone jumps on it. I'd say 25% of owners are on these forums and there are an absolute ton of stock X's running around with 0 problems.

You can easily attain 350whp with the stock turbo, some basic bolt ons and tune. The car will handle great and be a blast to drive. If you want to go nuts on the motor you really don't need to spend much more than building the motor/trans for an 8 or 9.

Personally, I'd buy the X and do it again and again.

 

Thats good to hear. I know how the forums will blow something up but I wanted to be sure before I go jumping off into it.

 

Ok 1 question. What are the buttons below the shifter in the GSR in all the pics I see there is only 1 button on the right which is the AWC. The other two are blank. What goes in those?

 

I think on the MR version the three buttons are AWC, "Sport mode", and the intercooler sprayer. Don't quote me though.

 

it depends on the car. The north american models don't have an intercooler spray feature.

If an MR has steering wheel controls for audio it will then have an AWC control under the shifter, but the other spots are blank I believe. The traction control button is usually on the dash to the left of the wheel. The SST selection button on an MR is part of the bezel for the shifter as well.

There are quite a few unused button locations on the X that allow you to use those spots for your own switches and what not. For instance - I'm installing an aftermarket trans cooler on my car and will be using one of the blank switch locations for the on/off switch on the cooler.

 

I always wondered the same. I watched a number of Evo videos and Evo review videos before I bought my car, and I never seen anyone cover those buttons. I don't believe they do anything. Perhaps they have a use on the regular lancer?

I know for sure they don't control the normal/sport/ssport modes. That is controlled by a switch looking button located close to the shifter. Also I'm pretty sure there is not an intercooler sprayer option from the factory. I looked at a few more video's and in all of them those two buttons are dummy buttons:

at :39 secs

at :39 secs

at 2:34 mins

at 3:18 mins

 

Your going to miss RWD. No more fun in the rain, or peeling out. Hahaha

I went from a G35 Coupe daily driven (including winter) to an Evo X.

Anyways, I think one of the buttons is for the inter cooler sprayer.

 

Haha yeah Im afraid I will miss RWD. On the other hand it will be nice to have something practical for once. lol. Ive been test driving for the past two days.

My favorite so far has probably been the Merc GLK350. I just dont think I want to lease though. The other thing I really liked was a 13 Subie STI. It was a very enjoyable car although the wife unit hated it. She thought it felt like my old Cobalt lol. I thought it felt pretty nice though.

Im not going to buy until I drive some EVOs. What sucks is the closest ones are in TX... On the other hand Im looking at getting new so thats a plus I suppose.
The Subaru dealer was a total *** clown however. They feel like an STI is some magical unicorn. It is pretty ridiculous. After the act of Congress to go for a test drive (it was a 13 used with 5k btw) and several please drive it easys by the manager. The salesman drives it off the lot and proceeds to drive like an idiot in it. We pull into a parking lot and he thinks its a good idea to try and drift. All 4 tires squealing as he spins it around at about 30.
I will happily drive to TX and buy from a dealer there.
I didnt realize I didnt post pics of the Z. Here are some before and afters.


The local Nissan dealer had this in the showroom. So of course I had to roll around in it and make go fast noises..

 

I didn't like the Z's due to only being limited to 2 seats only, but also the blinds spots are horrible! I love my Evo X so much power so much fun driving it. It handles so good!