The car should be significantly lighter. The Evo just weighs WAY too much. Start with some decent wheels that don't weigh 24 pounds each!

But seriously, before Mitsu should even think of moving upscale, they need some serious changes in their quality control. My Evo's alignment, for example, was WAY off. This kind of thing is just not acceptable.

Emre

 

You're kiding, right? The Volvo S60R/V70R active suspension sucks big time.

Volvo invited me and a couple of the other directors of the BMW Club to test the S60R/V70R when they first hit the market. The test was held at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant, which is our home track (and my personal favorite). The active suspension was absolutely horrible! Overdamped and undersprung. Very poor body control.

You can't make a suspension that goes from cushy soft to hard as a rock where the only variable you can control is the damping stiffness. You really need different spring rates for those different settings, otherwise you just get the kind of crap we experienced at Tremblant.

The Evo's suspension is one of its best features. I hope to God Mitsu doesn't screw with it.

Emre

 

Ditto.

 

I would definitely stay with the EVO anyday... but it depends on your market.. the EVO is obviously an enthusiasts car. For people who dont' mind a stiff suspension and a little extra road noise. The M3 as previously stated is a compromise of performance and luxury. The EVO is definitely not gonna take any prizes in the luxury category. All in all the M3 is a great car in it's market and it has done very well within it's own right. They don't cater to the 6'5" driver at all however.. but if I were to make an EVO better I would give it more low end torque and some sort of active diff. a la Sti or even better a *real* MR as I'm sure we're bound to get some sort of watered down USDM version like every other car in the states.. That would be about it. The EVO 8 is a near perfect car as is and IMO really doesn't need to much work.

 

good stuff

 

I have both cars but there's no way in hell I'd keep the Evo over my M3.. and you can't use the pricing and mods to compare.. how about you compare a cheap Civic with $5k mods which blows both cars? Or better yet a sportbike?

Evo is my fun car.. M3 is the real treasure. Most people come over to talk to me about how nice my M3 is.. Evo gets ignored routinely except by car enthusiasts (M3 gets ladies, car enthusiasts). Evo gets mocked by coworkers, M3 gets praised.

Evo rocks as far as mods, pricing.. and guiltless fun (I can drive it hard and not worry).

These 2 cars are totally different but OVERALL, I'd keep the M3 if I had to pick one. In fact unless I mod this car, I'm totally getting bored with it and will probably sell it soon.

I understand and respect REAL car enthusiasts who know the 2 cars and respect each for what they are. They trully know. Those who knock one car vs. the other annoy the hell out of me. And since this is an Evo board, there's more M3 knocking.. so I'm balancing things out.

It's like people who make fun of the Porsche 911... so what if u beat it quarter mile, whatever.. if u drive it u know how great the car is. Ignorant folks always use pricing.. it's not all about the money. If you had it, you will get what trully makes you happy.

 

So true. In my line of work, I really wonder why the F I bought an Evo over an M3.

 

I like porsche 911. That's my ultimate car to have when I have a real job, the 911 turbo Ruff.

I like M3 too, but I would never buy it. It's like buying a house, too much upkeeping.

I think people are misunderstanding the point of this forum. It's about "what would be the next step in EVO", and not "EVO's better than every car in this planet".

I was hoping someone would come up with some crazy ideas about EVO XX. How it would be like sorta thing. Not the usual, bolt this, bore this and make it faster and handle better.

I was looking for exotic components for the car, how would manufacturer make the car realistically reliable and unbelievably fast.

I can't imagine getting 100,000 miles out of EVO, while I think you could easily do 100,000 miles in M3.

Everyone knows how to make it faster, but it's hard to make it faster and be comfortable at the same time, while making it easy to maintain and reliable.

You feel me?

 

[QUOTE=meanmud]It is true. Looking at cars as mechanical design.

 

What line of work is that? But yes, depending on what you do, you can't show up in a riced car.. and expect not to turn off a certain pct. of clientele..

 

I am a consultant.

 

Same :-)

I have ZERO upkeep on the car.. it comes with free maintenance and haven't had any issues. I love it.

Exactly.. there's always a few in every car brand that thinks their car is the best.

Well you know they try to improve the Evo on every iteration... but I doubt it will be made to be something like an M3 where it target luxury, M sport, etc. market. Their niche is a nice one..they will have to make something completely diff. maybe a spinoff like Lexus and Infiniti is for Toyota and Nissan. Who knows though.

Not too sure, too many things to do.. but yes could be fun.

Yeah I'm wondering when my clutch or something else will break.. good thing is it's relatively cheap to replace right?

I got you.. I was just responding to balance things out here. Too many die hard tunnel vision car fans.

I feel ya.

 

The only time a Civic will be faster is if you convert it to AWD or RWD and it's going to take a lot more than $5k in mods to do that.
Strait line performance is not the only form of racing.

Here's where you described why you and most people have that car. Status, chicks, attention getter.
Although I like M3s and think they look very nice, to me the above was one more reason why NOT to get an M3. Or a screaming colored car for example.

I can see that you're mentioning driving clients around. I'm not sure what kind of clients you have and I'm not going to go into it but M3 only fits 2 people comfortably, driver and one passenger.

The company I work for, clients are taken out in the S-class Mercedes, 7-series BMWs and Lincolns but not coupes.

 

I think the EVO is great just the way it is.

The aftermarket is the place to look for solutions to the low-end torque problems. Sure they have the FQ300 and other faster models in Europe but they charge a premium for those modest HP gains. You can easily better those figures for much less money with tuners like Vishnu, Works, Buschur. These guys (and others) are coming out with their turbo upgrades too!

The seats are the best seats I've ever had in a sports car. Very supportive (for spirited driving) and comfortable. My previous favorite seats were the NSX's.

I've made several long trips in this car and the ride was not bad at all. The only time I sense the firmness is immediately after driving a different car. Other than that, I don't feel it is too firm at all.

Modifying an M3 to the 350 -400 whp power levels is going to be much more expensive than the EVO - if the M3's engine can even handle that much power.

The room inside the EVO (for backseat occupants)- no comparison.

If you are mainly interested in getting looks and compliments then the M3 may have an advantage there. But is that why we buy our cars? First and foremost, they are meant to be driven and enjoyed (fun factor).

We've already discussed the superior handling (plus we have AWD for the adverse conditions).

As far as the weight goes, I think it is also great. When you start getting into very low curb weights, your chances of survival in a collision drop significantly. It's a great safety benefit.

BMW can't even claim better reliability on their side, quite a few of the early E46s had engine failures, remember?

 

I personally like the RSX seats. They're the best seats I've sat on, then SRT-4 Viper Seats, then EVO... Suprisingly, Ferrari 360 modena seats suck ***, for the money you pay for that car...

I don't think you get the chicks because you drive a certain car. If you do, you know what sorta chick they are (gold diggers).

I like girls who don't like my car, but likes me.