Oh well, Japanese will never export their good/high quality cars to USA. Believe me. They always keep the best car in their land. Wait, Europe gets good car also from Japan. I don't know why we always get the low cars compared to Europe and other parts of the world. It is cuz of US emission or custom?

 

The Evo VII RS2 that I had the pleasure of ripping a few times had a 5 speed not a 6. Let's just say that it was MUCH faster than my Evo VIII.

 

Do you enjoy clean air? It is a lot harder for a car company to hit the specifications for the US than Europe. This is one reason that there are not many rotary powered cars, they are very inefficent thermodynamically thus they are hard to tune to pass emission. Plus most Americans are not willing to pay the price that most Europeans are for a quality car. Example: The Evo VII GSR, not for sure about the VIII, came with climate controll in Europe, notice we didn't even get the option?

 

EVO VII GSR from Japan with a 5 speed is probably faster than a 6 speed MR we're getting here in the US.

 

no actually I wish I was there! I am from wisconsin.....actually milwaukee to be exact....but live in the crap hole of the earth...Springfield, Illinois. This is just a cheesehead talkin....please don't take offense at that comment if any of you are from IL.

 

Clean air? I don't think we really have a clean air. I think, US doesn't accept good quality cars like Europe cuz they want their own produced cars to be on top. Like Viper or Corvette or other high hp American cars.

 

For the most part the US does have cleaner air then Japan and most of Europe. However, there is a huge push in Europe right now to clean up the environment, so before long they might have cleaner air. If the gov wanted the US cars to be on top then they would have never allowed any foreign cars into the country. Anyways this is getting way .

 

Okay, I feel as I should step in.

All 2005 models are being equipped with ACD. Period. The RS, the GSR, and the MR. This has been stated. It was probably done across all trim levels to simplify things (notably ABS).

Gears 1 and 2 in the 6-speed transmission are identical to the 5-speed. 3rd is nearly identical. The major changes are the 4th and 5th, which will be considerably quicker. 6th becomes the new overdrive. Granted, for autocross events, you'd never see the difference (where you shouldn't even be shifting into 3rd). For most legal driving, you'll never see a considerable difference either, except out west a bit in low population area. The folks that will see a difference are the folks running at the track at speeds of excess of 80mph.

The addition of S-AYC at this point is still rumor at best, and I'm still skeptical. Though I guess I could be surprised.

All models will have a larger turbine nozzle, and revised wastegate.

The MR does have a different suspension that is tuned by Bilstein that is reportedly making some considerable gains on the track. Though no one is saying it's the best suspension in the world. Stick in the Ralliart suspension or any other aftermarket solution. No one is stopping you.

The MR does have an aluminum roof panel and door beams. The difference that will be seen is negligable. These are largely conversation pieces to me, or "well, that's neat".

Aside from this, the differences on the MR are cosmetic, or items that are optional on the GSR such as the the HID headlamps, and the upgraded sound system. Badging, exclusive color, the BBS wheels, the MR accessory package are pretty much the remaining differing items.

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Why did I get the MR? I won't be modifying the car much until after I get a new house. So I want my daily driver to be largely warranty-backed. The most it'll see for track time is autocross, with a few rare excursions to Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen.

After the house, I plan on getting a daily driver and relegating the MR to track duty. That's when I'll see what the aftermarket has to offer, which by then, there should be tons of options for the entire USM Evolution VIII lineup.

And last, I don't mind a bit of exclusivity. What about the Audi TT ALMS? The current Mini Cooper MC40? The Porsche Boxster 550 Edition? No real performance gains folks, just trim level items, and low production numbers.

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All you '03 and '04 buyers get something that no MR buyer will have -- having had the opportunity to enjoy the car as long as you have. 18 months of prior ownership isn't an option for the MR folks.

You can also modify your cars to your heart's content. No one's stopping you. But for right now, considering I need to rely on my beast every day, most of my fun will be limited to onramps, a half-dozen autocrosses a year, and a handful of track events. So I decided to choose the slightly better out-of-the-box solution for now. In the end, it probably won't even matter that I got the MR, but hey, it's my choice.

 

Agreed. There are three "roadblocks" if any, to getting a foreign car into the country.

1. Safety regulations
2. Environmental regulations
3. Tariffs

The safety regulations are VERY stringent in the US. There's actually a proposal in regards to the engine being a certain minimum distance from the front bumper, and the hood. This is to help reduce the extent of injuries in a low-speed collision with a pedestrian. The ramificiation is cars such as the M3 and 350Z would immediately fail to meet this requirement. If this proposal passes, any sports car in this market -- and even some "sporty" cars" -- are going to be limited in their future design.

Environmental regulations are a pain too. Remember we didn't get a few goodies in the Evo since they had to work out their placement in regards to the required fuel vapor recovery system? Yes, regulations for "ground-level ozone" I believe were the problem. Our gas regulations are pretty ridiculous as well -- due to different state and federal policies, there's around 50 different "varities" of gasoline available in the state, all to meet differing requirements. We're still lax on diesel though, notably as to the amount of sulfur we allow. If diesel fuel requirements were as strict as Europe, some cars like the new diesel Mercedes-Benz E-Class would be sold in all 50 states, as opposed to the few states that prevent it due to emissions regulations (which is largely a part of our higher sulfur content diesel fuel!)

Last are tariffs, which really, the effect nowadays is negligable and is factored into the cost of doing business in this market. I really don't consider this a factor.

 

Ahh, finally after wading through the B.S. there were finally a few good posts to read.

For those of you calling B.S. on me driving a 6 speed Evo VII, where did I state that the car was stock? The car was a autocrosser in England with a built Dog Box trans. Like I said, I'd rather have the 5 speed any day. And whoever above me stated that people "want the best and newest" hit the nail on the head. Most people won't ever understand the use of an extra gear.

As for the AYC and ACD, you can keep them. The AYC computer is a pain in the *** and always seems to malfunction (also from an Evo VII).

Back to my original post, a "real" Japanese car meaning one that isn't tuned down for the U.S. market. The nay-sayers will never understand that an auto company will not bring these cars over here because the market is not rich enough for them to invest the time and money. And for those who will bring up "but the Evo was supposedly never coming", it didn't take much for them meet crash standards here. Just look at the nose of and VIII and compare it to a VII, all they did was stretch it out, the cars are nearly identical.

I'm not bitter about the car at all, I'm bitter that a lot of bandwith is wasted on people complaining about something that hasn't even been finalized by Mitsu. Same thing happened back before the current U.S. model Evo came here. Keep wishing for the Japanese/Euro supercar that you think is the MR, you aren't getting it here.

 

Some of the tuning down (and maybe most of it) came from the ECU, and the fact that us Californians have to use 91 octane gas...or as we call it, "pee water."

 

two words, gear ratio, based on where the engines trq and hp reach their peak on the rpm scale, the extra gear will make it so when shifting perfectly you should hit the peaks perfectly and therefore have little or no lag where as in a 5 speed the gears drop too low to maintain such an effect.
If youve ever driven a 6 speed celica GT-S you should know what im talking about, the gear ratios are so close together that if shifted correctly you never lose the full advantage of v.v.t.l.i. and the second cam will always be spinning

and the fact that your basing all this on what sounds like to be a custom car makes me sick first off and secondly, do you honestly think mitsubishi was sitting there going "lets add another gear and trick people"?

-matt

 

I don't know what you're yapping about but has already posted specs on the 05's
Everything seems to be there with the exception of the SAYC
That seems good enough for the majority of the people here
Also this is a message board where people talk about stuff, you don't like a particular thread then don't click on it and this isn't your site so don't even go on about the wasting bandwidth BS

 

just to correct the little piece on the evo IX and X' there will be no such thing. the reason they called the evo 8 here the "evolution" is be cause they will eliminate the confusion they will have later. ex. EVO XIII, XXVI, or XXIV. its just too confusing for the public so mitsubishi of north america has thrown the whole roman numeral idea away.

I own the '03 evo and me being 16 when i bought the car... i am grateful mitsu brought it here at all. i waited for 8 years for them to bring it on u.s. soil and it happened to be when i got my license. i anticipate the MR to come here also. it strives the older ones to make their car faster and/orbetter. it gives us compittion. i mean how many evo owners are excited as hell when they see an sti to mess around with. my friend is waiting for the MR to come and i am very happy for him.

even though the MR is great in every aspect, the car will still be a market opening for mitsu and subaru. every single evo has been sold in the u.s. that was around what???4500 of them. correct me im not even close. the MR is the booster for mitsu. the awd turbo window has been open for only 3 years and sales are very successful. BUT remember...... the evolutions is not what keeps the mitsu company alive. its the galant and the eclipses/spyders. evos came in 2nd throughout this year.

for all the haters out there....... theres nothing u can say or complain about to stop it from comming so y not just...... dont say a thing.

 

As a club racer, the only real differences between the two will become evident on the track in a full out race car. Yes the aluminun roof Will make a difference, but only on a stripped out car. If you are building a race car you will throw out a lot of the suspension stuff anyway, so all the trick Bilstein stuff is irrelevent. The six speed MAY be a difference, either positive or negative, depending on the track configuration. Is it techinical or a power track? Too much shifting loses momentum or multiplies torque out of the corners. Will the six shift as clean as the five or be as strong? Big difference is the Quaiff front differential. Definate advantage on the track. Wish I had one on the 8, even on the street, But almost all won't need it even on track event days unless they plan to pass someone with two wheels on the grass. So my advice to all 8 ovners, don't sweat it. None of the new stuff will make much of a difference unless you plan to build a car for SCCA T1 or are in need of even more bragging rights than you already have. Even if the Japanese don't send all the good stuff over here it probably is more than you need, and if you do need it for a race car, you can get it. You gotta love the great technical stuff in a taxi cab format. Kinda reminds me of a hemi road runner type package. Ultimate bragging rights there, even if the car couldn't turn or stop. Be happy Mitsu even brought it over. Just have fun and don't worry about details that really make no difference to you overall enjoyment of a great package.