Time flys. I vividly recall picking up the first Evo 9 in Tucson from the showroom. It was a Grapite Gray and it was a head turner because some people thought it was a MR, not the case.

The car was great and it took us to a decently fast 12.2@110.5(Phoenix) with a modest $1100 budget. Everything was good, good brakes, good handling, good compliments from people and good performance, OK stop! that is every thing that I have to say about the word good.

On a constrasting note, the gas mileage was perhaps the worst gas mileage we ever had in a car, it did not matter if you drove slow or fast, it was always bad gas mileage. The insurance was inexplicably high but then we realize how many people kept crashing their Evos so that was the answer.

We made out first long trip, Tucson to San Diego was hell, noise was high and comfort wasn't to the task for long trips, needless to say gas mileage was .....

Then the clutch went bad at only 16K, then the tires were bald at only 15K, then the brakes were worn to the metal at 15K, the 5th gear was grinding all the time and despite I did all the oil changes and gear box oil changes and what not, the idea of going though all that made us go and get a different fun daily commuter with 90% of the fun and 10% of the troubles.



After searching and searching, Evo9girl thought that she will settle with a 2007 VW GLI with DSG. Here is a link with pics

http://evoixgrl.blogspot.com/

I hope you guys like it.

As I sarcastically mentioned before in other posts, I was truly sick and tired of waiting for the Evo X. Mitsubishi motors has been a teaser. I went to the dealer xxxx times in the hunt for a Evo X , maybe one day I will have a Evo X, who knows.

Too bad Mitsubishi Motors had the Evo X in the streets for 2 years now and still haven't launched/released.



Carlos

 

I talked too much crap about the Evo (sorry guys). We have plans for a ECU chip. Chips are known to put serious increase HP on this engines (50hp/60lbtq plus).

We got the DSG because it is trully the best semiauto ever put in to a production car, fast as hell shifting, precise, quite.

The DSG tranny is also 3 tenth quicker than the 6 speed and it also gets you 2 mpg better in town. Additionally it comes with launch control from factory.

The equipment is amazing and the insurance is roughly $40 less. I can't fairly compare the gas mileage because the Evo is made for performance therefore the injector size, fuel pump, and mapping and all that is more agresive so I expect worse gas mileage on the Evo, but it is nice to not have to refill as often. Now we can go easily 330miles per tank.in town when on the Evo we were getting about 220miles per tank.

Carlos

 

With all due respect Carlos, the problems you had with your IX are not uncommon and something you should have expected from the beginning. It is not as if you kept your EVO IX stock and it never saw a track day or drag strip in it's life.

The clutch is weak on the EVO, especially when the EVO is modded and raced, a clutch replacement is something you should have expected. This is not your first EVO so I am having a hard time figuring out why an ACT clutch or something wasn't in your immediate mod list plan as soon as you planned on modifying. Some people as myself, would rather wait till clutch problems arise and then go from there, but I cannot and would not say I am surprised that my clutch is starting slip, in fact I am more surprised it lasted this long.

The brakes I must admitI thought would last longer, but hey for the bite they have, it is something I would be willing to put up with, and brake pad replacements really don't cost an arm and a leg.

Yokohoma tires have awesome grip and performance, but anybody who knows tires can tell you the tread life isn't very long for Yokohoma tires, so why is this surprising? When I bought my EVO IX I was fully aware of this, and expected their early demise and had decided that I could either replace them with expensive Yokohomas again that will not last long or go with very good performance tires (not as good as Yokohoma) and a longer life (less expensive too). I decided to go with the latter, since I am most interested in drag racing and not autocrossing and track racing.

My point is, that your complaints of the EVO are normal problems that you should have known before you even bought an EVO. I tell anybody I know who is interested in the EVO that the EVO can be an expensive car to own and it may be a 4-Door Sedan but it is more sports car than a lot of real sports car are. I believe you should have been looking at a VW GLI from the start, not a EVO. And 90% of fun and 10% of problems with a VW product, puuuuhlease, you must have not owned a VW product before, I can tell you some horror stories.

 

I respect you a lot Carlos, so I hope what I say doesn't anger you, but dude you go through cars like candy. Perhaps you should learn a little more patience and smart buying before you buy a new car. That BMW 335i is very nice, but hey not so far in the future you can get a BMW 135i coupe with the same exact engine, 200 to 300Lbs less, and a much cheaper price tag.

2009 BMW 1-series coupe

 

I loved my MK III Golf when I had it but I hated it. I wish you luck with your VW.

I think your "problems" (other than the 5th gear grind) were expected, but I too at times would like a softer, more easy car to drive at times (traffic etc etc).

Good luck, and have fun

 

oh man, i used to have a gti; it was good on gas, and had a nice interior, but that was it. The power sucked even with modifications, and my trans went at 30,000 miles because of a part that had disintegrated. Thought this would be covered under warranty (wasn't modified at the time) and they turned me away! i know mitsu isnt any better but i have owned many vw's and will never again because they are just unreliable. The main reason however that turned me away is because i know someone in my area that had an airbag go off while driving... and it caused serious damage. That prompted me to just get rid of it. But good luck with your new purchase

 

How bad was the MPG?

This seems like one of those experiences where a few things go wrong within a short amount of time and it taints the entire car owning experience. Shoot, I had trouble with my battery cable staying connected. It was such a trivial matter yet at the time I still considered getting a more reliable car even though everything else was troublefree. It was just irritating.

But to go through brakes, tires, and clutch within 20k miles....that hurts.

 

i had a mk4 gti with about every bolt on possible i had the decent gas mileage . but the tranny blew like crazy, i had it race built and the **** still blew no i can drive my *** off but i guess it cant handle the power, the evo is a very high matience car, if u drag or autox it takes the life of everything on the car, cars are not supposed to be modded , they come from the factory to the most reliable standards, why do u think they void warrantys?

 

I appreciate your comments and I value them in a positive way. I honestly know for a fact that you care about me and your critique is a positive critique.

Thanks about the BMW 135 news, I was aware of it but definately I wasn't going to buy it. The 135I in my opinion does not look like the 335I, meaning that the 335i looks much much better, again, this is my opinion.

I in fact feel that BMW is playing "their drums of war", if they happen to release their AWD BMW 135I Twin turbo I think that it will make any Evo sweat. It will definately be neck to neck with the Evo X, remember, BMW is claiming a mid 12 sec 1/4 mile and a 4.5 sec 0-60 as well.


You are so right about me changing cars. I do buy cars very often and I also get tire of cars very often as well. I think that within the next 2-3 years the BMW will be old news and I will perhaps be looking for a replacement but this is something that has followed me since I was a teenager.

You are again correct about the research on the Evos, I knew they were high maintenance but honestly I thought they will last a bit longer. It is hard to argue that a clutch is bad when I did hundreds of passes at the track.

A local mechanic(evo member) was going to do my clutch for a reasonable price plus I was going to reuse my old Evo8 Mr clutch assy to that I only had to resurface the flywheel and put a new disc but the main decision was more like from Evo9girl.

At the end of the day you can put all the pieces of the puzzle together:

- Eclipse GSX replaces the Evo 8 MR and becomes my track "biash"
- Evo9girl gets a replacement more suitable to her needs (insurance,gas mileage,lower maintenance cost and almost trouble free shifting)
- On a different note, I get the BMW to drive it everyday with the comfort that this car has

You know I am not gone from the comnunity, I am always link to this forum and waiting for the Evo X release so that I can observe its performance/reliability/price/modding world.

Thanks again for your inputs!



Carlos

 

Nice choice with the Vdub...my friend has a 07 gti in the same color... and he also has the dsg tranny that thing is smooth as butter. Too bad the experiences with the IX were that horrible

 

It wasn't that bad of a car, it just the rapid wear of components and other things undirectly.

Carlos

 

Car just came from the dyno:

193whp /203tq Mustang dyno bone stock on 91oct. Car is rated at 200hp/207 flywheel.

I did my calculations and it seems like around 220-220hp to the crank. This is the same dyno in which a bone stock MR put down 217whp/250lbtq(awd) or a 04 STI put down 228whp/238tq.

Carlos

 

My 07 gti netted 197hp and 207tq on a dynojet if I recall right.