shelleys_man_06

I was reading the August 2004 issue of Sport Compact Car, my only window to the outside world, and something caught my eye. Apparently, Mitsubishi is planning on releasing the EVO MR, which gets 4 extra hp (sarastic yippee), an extra gear (does it need one?), a reduced weight (haha you're fat) and a slew of other features I can't remember (bowling screws up the memory). What do you guys think of this? I hear the EVO actually benefits with the extra gear. Does this super rice rocket need all this good stuff? Do you guys think this will affect the RX-8's following? IMO, I don't think it's a good time for the DSM crew to release another version of the EVO. If you've been living under a rock, Mitsubishi is in some serious trouble with our dear friend, the government. So tell me what you guys think of DSM's latest pokemon (pocket monster).

KC_Prelude

The Evo MR will be a great car but I would never buy a mitsubishi ever due to their often horrific quality and shameful business practices. I don't think it will affect rx-8 sales in any way since so few of them will be sold here and the Evo MR will be more expensive.

www.mitsubishisucks.com

murix

The MR is only $33k and an excellent piece of machinery which I think you would have a hard time beating in terms of performance for near twice the money.

That being said, the stock EVO is superior to the RX-8 in terms of outright pure performance so I am not sure why the MR would have any effect on the RX-8.

Performance was important to me, but the total package was even more so.

This applies to a whole lot of other cars too. You would have to move up to a Z06 or an Elise to find similar performance numbers.

These are all limited production sports cars too.

Too bad the EVO is built by Mitsubishi.

thew

EVO is crap ! .. dont buy there stuff ever...

and still i say.. I can out drive my 8 over any evo !!

its all in how you drive the car.

P.S. Mitsubishi sucks

murix

On a lot of short twisty roads I think we can do well, but on a road track with a good mix of straights and sweeping curves, it is possible, but you better be one hell of a driver.

I do think the RX-8 has a better balance and the potential to be a better handling car, but the EVO is pretty much set up from the factory.

HeelnToe

I sometimes wonder if Mitsu gets a bad rap regarding quality.

I beat the crap outa my 98 Eclipse GST for 75,000 miles, and the only "failure" was the coilpack. Overall, the car as very solidly built. I was pleasantly surprised.

The Evo though, I'll admit, has a different quality "feel" to it - at least on the inside. That gauge cluster is one of the most hideous pieces of instrumentation I've ever seen. It's odd, but the normal Lancer - especially the Rallisport - seems much nicer inside to me.

People don't buy Evos for their luxurious interior or quality feel though

thew

but 75k is not really that many miles. so if you were hard on it maybe that= about 100k ?

I would hope any car could last untill at least 150k
...

murix

So how do you explain the crankwalk issue that plagued so many Eclipse's yet Mitsu did their best to not acknowledge it? I would consider that to be pretty unreliable to know my car could potentially need a new motor even if I drove it normal.

They are rough on transmissions too.

Mitsubishi is a low man on the totem pole when it comes to quality. I have been there done that and have enough friends from the Mitsubishi camp. They did a better job in the early 90's but really lost the plot as of late.

The EVO is a great engine and suspension stuck in a crap car. Too bad really.

PUR NRG

Huge plusses in the EVO MR: front axle limited slip diff and center AYC (active yaw control). Those two features alone make the MR worth it.

Thew, in our local SCCA autocross the EVOs routinely get better times than my RX-8. Simply no contest.
________
WENDIE 99

Ike

PUR NRG has it right, it's not just 4hp and an extra gear.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...&highlight=EVO

Shelley's, DSM no longer exists and hasn't made cars for nearly a decade. Also, the crankwalk issue only existed on a couple MY DSMs.

shelleys_man_06

Yeah. I forgot to mention the AYC and the front LSD. Sorry about that. I have no disdain for the EVO, in fact, I say kudos for finally bringing out the EVO after seven missed ones . As a faithful RX-8 owner, I just wanted to express my concerns of bringing in future rotary lovers. That's okay. People are free to buy whatever they want. Who am I to say what is best? About the name DSM: I normally don't keep up with name changes. Sorry about the mishap IkeWRX. I've been using DSM because Mitsubishi is too long. No hard feelings bro .

PoorCollegeKid

The MR gets the ACD (Active Center Differential), not the S-AYC (Super Active Yaw Control) that non-USDM Evos get. The S-AYC is replaced with an EGR pump in the USDM models for emissions reasons, so there is no physical space for it without removing this pump and failing emissions.

Ike

It's not a name change really, DSMs (Diamond Star Motors) were only produced and offered in North America as a joint venture with DSM and Mitubishi, DSM ceased to exist when the last Talon rolld off the line. You couldn't really consider DSM synonomous with Mitsubishi even when they were producing cars. If you want an acronym for Mitsubishi use MHI (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) and non car geeks will think you're smart No offense intended by this post, just putting all my useless car info to good use :D

Ike

BTW: It appears Mitsubishi isn't going anywhere any time soon. They just got 4 billion in investments from 3 different sources and they plan on cutting their workforce and production, creating new models, and having fewer platforms.

Hornet

I can tell who has driven the Evo by their posts. I think I have enough time in both cars to "HONESTLY" say the Evo as it is now will have its way with the RX-8 in the straights and the twisties (I've shot around enough curves on boost in the Evo to know). The only area that the RX-8 will take the Evo in is the straights at triple digits even though the Evo has a higher top speed (the Evo takes a long time accelerating once it's over about 110-120mph). I'm suspecting the addition of the gear is going to help with acceleration up top which is why the Evo probably benefits (basically gears 1-4 are set up for quick acceleration and now they will be able to set up 5 for better acceleration). The MR is going to be an improvement over what is already a performance beast. If the S-AYC is going to be on it it will have the same effect on the Evo that the DSC has on the RX-8. The average driver in an Evo will be able to push the limits with less driving ability. I think the STI drivers will definitely need to distinguish the 2 Evos before they pick a fight with one!

Hanzo

I don't think this will effect RX-8 followings since this car is build for a different purpose than the RX-8. People who buy RX-8 want a good combination of performance and looks. Evo buyers are all about hardcore performance, don't really care what it looks like.

shelleys_man_06

I like the sound of that Hanzo . You're right. EVO buyers and RX-8 buyers are two different people, so I guess it's not right to compare the two. Apples and oranges.

Hornet

Not all the time they aren't!

R8N8SIS

evo 8 will outperform the rx8 even at the handling department. ppl who choose rx8 is because it is more luxurious and looks better. (my gf prefer me to drive my rx8 when we go out).

shelleys_man_06

That's not necessarily true. For instance, I bought my RX-8, not because I wanted a luxury car. My old 01' Toyota Celica GT-S was luxury. The reason I purchased my 8 is because I wanted a car that I could build over the years. Sure, it's nowhere near as powerful as any EVO, but the RX-8 has tons of tuning potential. But, compared to the EVO, the RX-8 is pretty luxurious if you ask me .

AbusiveWombat

How do you know that the RX8 has tons of tuning potential? So far, the market has been very limited and gains have been tiny (except CZ1).

shelleys_man_06

Because I believe in my own car. You have an EVO VIII, and that's fine. The RX-8 has only been out for a year, and Mazda is pretty secretive about how to tune it. See, most people are impatient by nature. The EVO has been out for about a decade, if not longer. The only difference between, say an EVO III and the EVO VIII, is the generation of 4G63, some suspension/driveline changes, and a facelfit. The RX-8 starts off on a clean-slate. It's a whole new ball game for the SE3P. Most people don't understand that. I am wiling to wait for what kind of tuning opportunities my RX-8 has. For me, the first thing to do is to figure out how the PCM behaves. Only if you can solve that, then the door to the tuning world can be opened. It's not like slapping on a bigger carburetor. If interest for the car dies off in the coming years, it's because people refused to wait. It's not like you're going to die tomorrow. Hold your horses!!

shelleys_man_06

I hate to sound redundant, but that's the way it is.

AbusiveWombat

From my point of view the RX8 does not have that much potential. At least for those that are on a reasonable budget. Forced induction may be the only way to get real power out of the Renesis but the stories of people breaking 1st gear in stock form brings up questions about the drivetrain strength. Can the driveline take an additional 60-100hp? If it can't, that's going to cost a couple more grand....which would take FI out of the reach from most normal people.

Who wants to spend $10k+ for an additional 60-100 whp? And that's not even bring up the question of reliability.

The real hope is that Mazda will bring out a MazdaSpeed version with FI . But this begs the question of if they will do it and can it pass emissions. They had enough problems with getting the Renesis to pass, adding FI will only make it harder.

Magic8

At this point, I really question Mitsubishi's survivability as an auto company. They are deep deep in the red, and I don't know how they plan to pull themselves out.

Cost cutting is coming real fast and only viable plan for survival is tied to heavily on the U.S. market. Something is going to give, and with that many unknowns I would be hesistant to purchase any of their products, no matter how good it is.