Let's be real here: nobody buys an Evo to get the same yuppie attention as they would from say, a Mustang, but some would argue that the Evo has at least some level of notoriety among the people.

Over the past year and a half or so of my owning an X, I'm still surprised at the amount of people who ask what kind of car I have, because they are literally clueless as to what it is. Most don't even know it's a Lancer (maybe that's a plus?) or even a Mitsubishi.

One came close, after asking, literally "Is this, like, a little Lancer?", directly after which her boyfriend started comparing it to his FWD V8 Monte Carlo, and during which I had a nice internal laugh.

Even my Uncle, who I consider to be a car guy on account of his building and racing drag cars, didn't know what type of car it was.

Truth be told, I have had only ever had two "non-car people" recognize, at least in question form ("Is that an Evo?") what type of car it is.

Is this about par for the course, or is there just a lack of commonplace Evo love around this part of the country?

 

Standard. It's a good show of why Mitsubishi is failing. The general public doesn't even know their flagship model...

 

Thanks for the insight. It's actually kind of depressing when you consider what a deal it is for the performance it offers, even if the interior leaves much to be desired.

I suppose none of that matters now that Mitsubishi is on its way out the door, though.

 

It's a speciality vehicle. What I mean by that is only the people who know/understand what it is are the ones who know and understand what it is. I wouldn't go as far as to label the Evo as a rare vehicle, but it is certainly more rare to see than say a mustang. Hell I see more Porsches and corvettes where I live than evos. It really only appeals to the kind of person that loves it for what it is. Don't bother with older domestic guys trying to understand.

 

My father who is a car guy mechanic and all did know anything about an evo. When I was first buying the car he didn't think it would do well in the snow, LOL. Now I have an evo and have modified he knows whats up. Most of my friends knew what It was though, maybe the younger generation knows it better

 

You can thank Gran Turismo lol

 

It is in my mind a rare car. Especially the 8/9. It's very rare to see one on the street compared any other common car. I see a good amount of Xs. And I can't believe I still have people ask if it's a Subaru. Even my wife sees a wrx and says "hey there's your car" and I've had it since 2007.

 

I also think it depends on what part of the country your in. Im from southern cali and i see them fairly often when i go home to visit family. But i live in Saint Louis, mo and i hardly ever see any evos here be it 8 , 9 or 10

 

I never really cared if people knew what it was or not when I had an Evo... all that mattered is that I liked it. never really bothered me if some guy thought it was comparable to his monte carlo

 

Both my mom and dad have only owned 4-door grocery getters and SUVs for their whole life. (But being old-school, they do know how to drive a manual.)

First time seeing my car --
My mom: What a preposterous decision to spend (Porsche) 911-kind of money on this thing. This is for trashman(?). Do you ever stop being disappointing?

My dad: Our son needs to subscribe to a car magazine or something. Millennials these days don't know nothing about cars.

After driving the Evo X --
My mom: OMG! This is so much fun! So now I know why you bought this. You want a car-toy!

My dad: Wow this is so fast! So much faster than even the (Audi) A6. Hmm... I wonder if the (Audi) A8 can go as fast as this.


Other than my parents --
Random co-worker: Wow you drive such a sporty car!
Random local business tycoon (with a supermodel in his arm): Hey did you just get an EVO?!
Random accountant at Christmas party: Is that car parked outside an E.V.O.?!

So like, I'm okay with my Evo, ya know?

 

Its extremely well known here in NZ and Evos 1-10 are everywhere. Even on my daily commute I always see a black 6 and another blue 5 plus a few random silver 4s. I only live 10 minutes from work.

Was on my lunch break just before and there was an old man driving a Evo 10.

Has been a staple part of a boy racers diet since the early 90s here. Definitely up there with all the Skylines and WRXs

 

Neither of those things bother me either, but coming from the GM W-body platform (Grand Prix, which the Monte shares) I know how large the performance delta is between the two cars. Stock-for-stock with a FWD LS4, there's not much difference in a straight line, other than launch behavior, but when you try to put them both around a corner, two very different things happen.

I wasn't about to spew off a bunch of information to this guy about how the cars are in completely different classes performance-wise, because that would've been unnecessary and excessive; it just gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside knowing that, to normal people, the Evo seems to be rather benign, save for the spunky styling, so one might possibly call it a sleeper of sorts -- performance incognEvo, if you will

 

I think people point of view varies significantly based on region they live in. There are far more Mitsubishi dealerships or dealers that sell Mitsubishi in the Northeastern and far West Coast(Cali)- then say Kansas. Being a niche vehicle this doesn't help as well. You will see far less of Evo trim on dealer lots than say a Outlander. I think in the past two decades Mitsubishi is becoming in mainstream media more like Daihatsu and Isuzu when they became to fade away from general public conscious. I'm not sure if the slight negative public relations of Mitsubishi playing a part in Pearl Harbor doesn't go well with some redneck Americans. That's if they know of the connection at all. Does anybody think the relations between Mitsubshi appliances sends a negative subliminal thought in Americans minds when they think of Mitsubishi?....that message is I don't want to buy a appliance. I think Mitsubishi needs a PR team; one the focuses on language design that their vehicle will forever project, North America HQ team needs new -social media, community outreach, investments,etc.

 

I'm the original owner of 3 not-so-common imports and after 20 years in metro-Detroit, I guess I'm used to it.

"What kinda cawr is dat, izit like a mini Viper?" (95 delSol)
"That's a nice Focus!" (02 Civic Si)
"Is that one of those Subarus?" (13 Evo X)

 

Everyone I know that isn't a car person often thinks my track car is a WRX.