mmmm i like lexus lol just can't afford it lol

 

You have to realize that not everyone can afford an evo right off the bat thats why people mod there lancers. Not everyone wants to pay 35-40k and pay alot on insurance, Not everyone has the income or the credit to do it. I know plenty of people including myself that have gotten a used 02-03 lancer for 10K and dump about 5-6k in to it over the years and it looks, and is just as far or faster than an evo

 

I chuckled

 

It's still not an evo. Putting a body kit and turbo on an economy car just makes it a faster and subjectively better looking economy car. There is a reason why an car like an evo costs 30000$+. More importantly, even with 6k$ into a 10k$ car, it still won't perform like an evo.

 

You also have to consider the fact that... not everybody wants an Evo.

For what an Evo costs, you could build a kit car that would outperform it and look better in the process.

The question remains the same... no matter how many times people say "just get an evo"... the question was can a lancer be built (with $10-15k) to beat a stock evo. I am going to say yes in everyway, except one... the built lancer will be mocked the entire time... even as it crosses the finish line before the evo. simply because the evo has a reputation, legacy if you will. it is inconceiveble to most people that a $15k econobox (with a crappy reputation) can beat a $30k performance oriented... econobox.

 

For 10-15k$ there's no way you could build a lancer to beat an evo in every way. Lets say you try to make it as fast in a straight line as an evo. Well that alone would eat up 8K$ realistically (assuming you wanted a good turbo kit, a well setup motor, etc). Now you want to tackle handling, so you spend 1000$ on coilovers, 1000$ on rims and 1000$ on tires. Well that right there is 11000$. Then you'll need to convert the car to AWD to make it have the same level of grip, add in all the evo tricks, change the steering ratio, the exterior, the interior, etc. which would easily put you over 15000$ and probably over 20000$. The evo is not just a hopped up econobox, it's a car designed for rally racing by a company with a long history of motorsports, it would cost more money to turn a lancer into an evo than it would just to go out and buy an evo. Also, I'd like to see a kit car that can fit 5 adults and has a boot for their stuff.

 

Exactly. I think a lot of people fail to grasp the concept that a base Lancer is designed to take old ladies to church and the grocery store...the Evolution is designed to take driver & co-driver over jumps and down loose gravel tracks @ 120 mph.

To the OP:
I won't go so far as to say modding a base Lancer is a waste...it's your money, so write checks to whomever you want. But at least set realistic performance goals for yourself based on the platform you HAVE...which a is front wheel drive econo car. Setting them any higher is going to leave you sitting in an unreliable, over-boosted rolling coffin that won't find grip even if the tires excrete super glue.

To Never Satisfied:
If both cars are driven by drivers of equal skill, the Evolution will still win in a road race or rally scenario. The base Lancer does simply not have the gripping capacity or suspension geometry of the Evo. In something like an HPDE, the base Lancer has a chance. But if it's a racing genre that comes down to handling and keeping grip, the Lancer will lose...that's one reason why there are different classes in rally, auto X, etc.

 

Ahh, but again we stray from the objective. Nobody said anything about building an evo.

As far as interior goes, the cars are pretty much the same. Not to mention, it has very little to do with the objective at hand.

Exterior styling falls under the same deal as interior.

The goal was to OUTPERFORM an evo, not win a beauty contest against one.

Remember, we are only talking about a bone stock evo as well.

It has been proven that, when properly set-up, a 2wd car can put down just as much power as an awd car and not have much of a problem with traction.

When setup up properly and well thoughtout so that every system works well together, 15k would be more than enough to meet the challenge.

What does seating and storage have to do with a discussion about performance? But, I'm sure you could find at least a hand full of kit cars to accommodate that as well.

 

I beg to differ. If the driver is only experienced in driving a low-power front wheel drive, they will do better in a base versus an evo, which they would not know how to control if things got squirrely. A car that is in a ditch on the side of a rally course can't very well finish before one that is still on the course.

 

Since when has it been proven that a car with 2 driven wheels can put down a lot of power and not have traction problems? Basic physics is against high horsepower FWD cars. Ever been in an SRT-4? They're fantastic from a roll but from a stop they suffer from horrible wheelspin. A great example is the mazdaspeed3, torque steer is so bad in those that Mazda had to electronically limit the power in the first 2 gears. Could you make a lancer as fast in a straight line as an evo? Sure but that alone would eat up a large amount of the budget. Handling would take another massive chunk and even then it still wouldn't be able to outperform an evo.
Modding a lancer is fine, but you need to have realistic goals and be doing it for the right reasons. If all you want is a car that's as fast as an evo and that handles like an evo, buy an evo.

 

Bottom line is that trying to make your car "as fast or nearly as fast as XXX" is foolish.

Enjoy your car. Modify it to fit your driving needs (or just with any part that catches your eye, as many of us stupidly do). But don't get caught up in comparing and bench racing. Because it's all bulls*** and we all know that. I've purposefully avoided posting in this thread for the last 4 days because it's just bickering and arguing and guessing. Waste of time.

Love your car for what it is and what it can be. Now how it compares to some other car.

 

I think the OP has a good idea of what to do now, we could go on forever about this since this is a large topic of arguement on these boards. Enough said.