My evo never had much of a problem not having speed and responsiveness down low.

I would shift from first to third and then right into sixth. I never had an issue with waiting for a response. Going on the freeway or the highway going 65 if I needed to pass someone i just stepped on the gas and by the time I passed them I was at like 110 or 120 in some cases lol. It just went and it would revv extremely fast.

Do other people have an issue with no power at low rpms??

I would hit boost at like 2300-2500 it wasnt full boost of course but it was there all the same.

As for the sixth gear. I was still around like 2800 at 65. It didnt change how fast your engine was going at 65.

If they do come out with a evo that has a 6 speed manual (traditional). I will be trading my PB X for it. I may take a bath on it but to me the 6th gear would be worth it.

Sounds like you just adjusted your driving style to fit the power band. Nothing wrong with that at all. However, it's still a pretty gutless engine unless you really give it a lot of throttle to get that turbo spooling.

You've got to be exaggerating about doing 110mph that quickly in 6th gear, too... . Don't get me wrong, the EVO IX is a quick car.. but its power is far from effortless. I'd rather have fewer ratios and stay in the meaty part of the power band longer. The thing rockets to redline so fast with these short ratios that one is left feeling that it could easily compensate for a slightly taller gear reduction in favor of better driving dynamics.

the MR will be in auto

I just traded in my Mazdapeed6 for the Evo. That car only came with a 6 speed, which was fine with me...until I found out how often I needed to shift, then it was simply annoying. Don't get me wrong, I've had 6MTs in the past and loved them, but they were on European cars with V8s and huge torque bands that were geared to cruise easily in final gear at triple digit speeds. The other case where a 6MT might make sense is when your torque comes in a narrow powerband. Neither of these apply to the X. In fact, one of the things I like the most in it is, unless you are at a dead stop or on the highway, all you need is 2 thru 4. For example, on my old Sierra Cosworth I had to shift down to 1st to round tight corners in order to stay in the turbo's powerband, but in the Evo, second is usually plenty good enough.

just wanted to say to the one guy that posted on here the evo was infact made in 2007 just not in the usa.

It would be nice, but probably wont happen.

I'm sure if Mitsu had spent as much time and money on developing a "follow orders", beefy, traditional manual 6spd, it would've been very good and strong. The cost could've been far less than developing the self thinking SST also. And they would see more evo's flying off the lots. This is the main reason why I haven't bought one yet, because I plan on doing a turboback, but don't want to hear it droning loudly at freeway speeds and I'm not too sure about a self thinking automatic that wants to be a manual.

With how many cylinders shut off? The evo isn't designed for touring or long trips. It was designed for performance.

There's no point to having a sixth gear in an evo unless you just want to start breaking things faster. A built 5speed is stronger and will hold up to the power and if you don't plan on upgrading and say that your car is a pure daily driver and still want a six speed then you shouldnt have bought and evo x or even an evo at all.

Yes they did, they just didn't call them that in the US. They just made an extra helping of SE late in the model year and called them 2006s to avoid having to re engineer an outgoing model to meet 2007 saftey/emissions requirments.

The size contraints that made the 6speed weak in some cases does not mean the same thing for the X which is all new. They could very well be developing a 6-speed for some future release.

2010 Evos will still be X's.

Look at the STI trans. When they build one like that in a X, it will be my new car.