Just wanted to say hello to everyone in the forums, and thanks for all the informative assistance. I purchased by '02 OZ Thunder Grey about 3 months ago, and have been on this site reading what you all think about the car ever since. I really didn't do too much research on the car, I just let my intuition do the sale for me. I work about 40 miles away from where I live, so in the 3 months I've had the car I've put about 7k miles on it.

This poses a serious problem I would think, as to I'll be looking to put alot of money into mods within the coming years. I'm on track to hit about 25-30k per year, maybe a little more with my out of town travel. If I were to eventually invest in a turbo kit for this car, I would think I would just be committing suicide on my car's engine with all the driving I do to work 5 days a week.

Should I just pay the car off relatively quickly and invest in a '03 evolution 7 next year / year after, or risk putting all the mods into this one?

Any and all advice and opinions would be helpful as to this is my first car in which I actually have an interest in modding.

Thanks alot, take care all.

 

why would u buy a lancer and then buy a lancer evo....that seems pretty dumb to me. you jus got a new car...so use it. and who says you cant turbo a car and use it as a daily driver? puttin a turbo on a lancer or any other car can easily withstand ur 40 miles drive to work everyday. you jus gotta get everything you need with the turbo to make sure everything works and prevent problems from occuring.

 

First off I didn't know about the Lancer Evo until after I purchased my OZ. Like I said, I didn't fully do any research, my previous car died..I had to get a new one, period.

Regarding the drive, I just have been told by others that 80-100 miles a day on a turbo'd engine can seriously destroy the life of the car. I'm a total noobie when it comes to this, which is why I was asking for input.

40 miles is alot different than 80-100..i drive 40 miles one way to work.

Peace

 

If you can afford to, get an Evo 7 once it gets here... use the regular Lancer for commutes and the Evo for weekends and getaway drives. There's going to be a much smaller aftermarket for the regular Lancer and while you could drive an aftermarket turbo'd car lots of miles daily, you'll have to be very sensitive to any changes in how the car drives, etc. I would do a lot of research on aftermarket turbos and learn the ins and outs before going ahead with a kit. Little problems with always arise. The same problems may occur with an Evo, but you'll have a factory warranty to fall back on.

Mark

 

Don't worry about using a turbo car for a daily driver. In Japan all the people who have suped up cars use them as daily drivers. My brother in-law has a 800hp Toyota Chaser that he drives every single day to and from work plus races at night most of the time. I wouldn't give it much worry but do understand the more you do to a car the more maintanence it requires. I'll have to get some pics of his car and put it in the other car forum.

 

Thanks for the input, I guess I just got some bad information. My understanding was that a turbo'd engine requires alot more maintainence, and since I'm no expert I'd have to get that professionally done. I'm sure that can get costly ? So I guess the real question is would it just be cheaper to shell out for an evo, or hook up my OZ and then have to pay all that maitenance over the next few years.

Also, would you recommend getting a factory installed turbo kit, since it probably comes with a warranty ?

Take care

 

DigitalJunkie,

Congrats on the new car. I find it funny that people in here bash other people for buying the standard Lancers. Isn't this the Lancer forums and not the Lancer EVO forums? Anyways I'm sure there will be turbo kits coming out soon for the Lancers, although it is correct that installing a turbo on a lancer doesn't make it a Lancer EVO, not everyone needs a car that performs like an EVO if your happy with the Lancer OZ and just want a little more Zoom in it I'd say get the turbo kit when it comes out. There are some things you should know before hand though. Installing a turbo on such a new car voids all factory warrenty. Some Mitsu dealers won't even touch you car once it's been modded so you will have to either have a friend that knows how to fix cars or learn yourself. High Mileage on your car sohouldn't be a problem as long as you do the required maintenance, oil change, Timming Belt, etc. I hope you took the time to break in your new engine right it'll show down the line if you did or didn't. Hope this helps.

Kidice

 

I agree totally with KidIce. I have a 1989 Colt Turbo (Mitsubishi Mirage) with 190,000 miles on that little 1.6L engine without any real problems other then normal maintenance, and that is the key with a turbo engine. Change the oil every 3000 miles max. Use synthetic if you can afford it, and cool the engine down properly before shutting it down. Not doing this is probably the greatest reason for premature turbo failure. If you don't like waiting to cool the engine down, install a Turbo Timer. If the install is done by someone who knows what they are doing and your not pushing for silly HP, you shouldn't have too many problems. You can almost count on having to work out some initial bugs though.