JohnBradley won't steer you wrong.

 

Sorry, I meant they (english racing, anyone there)

 

I don't drive my car hard very much at all.

The evo 5spd is nothing compared to the STI 6spd.

And, reliable to one person may mean something different to another.

 

Right, it does mean different things. So it's important to clarify by what you mean by reliable. I haven't heard of very many evo's leaving people stranded. To me, reliability is the car working and getting you from point a) to point b). Not a mod / performance part going bad because of being driven hard or modded.

A friend of mine in McMinnville owns an 04 STi. He's had 2nd gear go out on him 2 times now. Not sure if it's a 5spd or 6spd though. Point is all cars have issues.

With that being said, most people are still on their stock transmissions no problems what so ever on the 5 speed evo. The exception to the rule was the 2003 5speed.

But to call the evo not reliable is laughable at best. It is a very well built machine, especially for the abuse that 95% of them go through.

You've straight up scared Bryan into thinking STis are better than Evos and to run the other way. This debate has been gone over many many times on this forum so I'm not trying to start it here. But we all know that during the VIII / XI years, the Evo won every shoot out.

The one thing that does have going against it (and I can't say how this works for subu) but most dealerships suck with the warranty crap.

 

I do think STi's or subarus in general are more reliable. But more fun? No. Faster? Hell no.

And your friends STI tranny is a 6spd (all sti's have 6spds) and those trannys seem to be "bulletproof" for mild horsepower/tq so he must not know how to drive or just got a bad apple.

And I agree the evo is a well built machine, but with the little problems i've had, i would not call the car reliable. But I will keep driving it and fixing the little things because thats just what we do.

 

hey my car isnt reliable! hell i probly have one of the most unreliable evos out there along with jake

in the past 2 months Iv spent almost 3k just to keep the dang thing on the road

but whatever I dont care! I still love my car

 

But that's the thing, it's the problems you've had. Most people haven't had the problems you've had. I think everyone here will admit that you're the exception to every rule .

Every manufacturer has lemons. This is why there are lemon laws. Sometimes a car just goes through the factory and comes with issues. Happens to every company, and everyone that buys cars. Unfortunately it happened to you. Personally, if i was having as many issues as you (i only know about 1), I would have sold the car and got another one. But just because you have problems doesn't mean everyone does. But just because I'm not having problems doesn't mean other people aren't.

You also have to remember you're on a forum of enthusiasts. A lot of these users come on only when they have problems, so reading stuff here can block out all the good ones that last a long time. But really, most of the people around have had a very good reliable experience with the evo.

I encourage bryan to do his own research on here and search for reliability threads. You'll quickly find that the evo lasts a very long time. There are a lot of evos out there that have broke 100k with only scheduled maintenance.

 

Evos are as reliable as you want them to be. If you take care of the car and are really proactive about your maintenance it will be very relabel.

As with any car the more you mod it the less reliable it becomes.

 

There are tons of people with bad trannys at semi low mileage (3rd and 5th gear). Tons of people with electrical problems, and tons of people that had to replace their tcase with semi low miles on it.

If my car was a "lemon" it would of had problems earlier than 50k miles.

We just have a difference of opinions, and thats fine.

 

But there are tons of people who haven't had to replace their trannys, clutches, or transfer cases. Just because there were problems doesn't mean that the majority of evo drivers had problems.

The transfer case was usually people that were rough on them, and launching them (or putting bad fluid in them to get the evo whine).

That's the first I've heard about 3rd gear going out. I was always under the impression it was 5th gear. Maybe that's an Evo IX thing only?

It's just like Billy said. The car is as reliable as the driver makes it. Take care of the car and the car will take care of you. It's that simple with the Evo.

We may have a difference of opinion but you're scaring someone off who would be a great addition to the group and likes the Evo. Now he's under the impression that Evo's are total **** and fall apart all the time. That's the thing I want to stress, they don't, and help this kid get an Evo.

 

yes they are very reliable cars, the cast iron motors are bulletproof and will run forever with the proper upkeep. Unfortunatly i bought me car used. the turd that had the car before me didnt deserve to be an evo owner he trashed the car and traded it in, the shop detailed it and put it on the lot. a month later everything started breaking down on it and I was stuck with cleaning the mess. My advice is if its used, take it to aaron and have him inspect it even it it costs some dough, better to be safe now and spare your self the headache that I'm still going through not to mention the huge hole in my pocket after spending so much money on it.

 

+1 on the buying used. Really have ER look over the car.

 

If its that simple my car wouldn't be acting up I fixed my electrical problem btw. Thank goodness.

And I told the guy my honest opinion, and regardless if you like it or not, its my opinion.

I'm sure you wouldn't be fighting this subject this hard if it wasn't your car he was thinking about buying.

 

Actually Jake, I sold my car to another person today. My car is gone, and he didn't buy it. So don't attack me like that. He called me after I sold my car and told me he's thinking of not getting an Evo now because of what you said. I think that's a shame.

I don't know what your electrical problems are... but I've been through every single wire on an my evo. It is not a complicated car when it comes to electrical. And one thing is for sure not many people have had electrical problems. Also, if you get your hands on a tech manual... they give detailed instructions on how to go through the electrical. It's incredibly simple with that tech guide.

 

+1 on the electrical fix jake