Already have

 

I doubt the Evo will be as reliable as the S2000 in the long term, but it's not as unreliable as popular opinion would have it, either.

A good friend of mine has a '03 Evo with about 25k miles. It's been moderately modded for most of its life, and he absolutely beats the living hell out of it - launches, runs at the drag strip, etc...you name it, he's done it multiple times, and continues doing it. His best time so far is 12.4 in the 1/4 mile, and he averages between 12.5 and 12.7.

Granted, he did lose the synchros in two gears about 3k miles after he bought the car. But he got the entire transmission replaced under warranty without hassle. You just need to find the right dealer. I believe this early synchro failure to be a factory manufacturing defect, because his new transmission has taken the same abuse for over 20k miles without a hitch.

The only thing this guy's car has worn out due to hard driving is clutches. He's on his second one right now. That's going to be the case with any car driven this hard. Other than that, the Evo takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

 

I thought Mitsu has that new 10 yr warranty, 3 yr free maintance, etc. As long as you don't abuse it, you should be fine, I'm guessing.

 

While I don't doubt that the S2000 is more reliable I will say that you don't see too many S2000 that add 100+hp to the wheels. In the EVO realm it's quite common. We all know that a FI engine is easy to make more power. It's easy to make more power but it's also very easy to screw things up.

For example, I've read a few threads where EVO owners are adding just a boost controller and preaching to turn the boost up and hold 19-20 PSI to redline with no supporting modifications. You be surprized how someone can buy a 30k car and then cheap out on the modifications.

There was also another thread talking about removing a pill that's in one of the lines from the blow-off valve. With the removal the EVO's boost spikes to 22-23 PSI and then bleeds off to 16.5 PSI. It's cheap and ignorant mods like this that can give the EVO a bad name. These kinds of modifications can certainly lead to blown head and worse.

The OTC cars were probably all set up for drag racing rather than road racing. You forget that peak numbers help sell these stage upgrades. Most of the tuners really target drag racing in which you don't need to worry about heat building up. Vishnu was able to make it through the OneLapOfAmerica ok. The reliablity is all in the tuning.

 

Very good point!

[QUOTE=AbusiveWombat,Oct 22 2004, 02:54 PM] Vishnu was able to make it through the OneLapOfAmerica ok.

 

25psi .... thats why the intercooler hoses popped off.
For the record I am NO LONGER and Evo owner. I traded the car in 1 week ago with almost 19k miles and never had one single major or minor problem with the car.

When I sold my S2000 for the Evo the S had almost 65k miles and again I never had one single problem.

My point is anybody who abuses any car will have problems. If driven normally most of the time and driven hard only a fraction of the time you will not have problems.

 

What's interesting is the new EVO MR has a 5K rev limiter when the clutch is disengaged. I guess this is Mitsu's way of avoiding damaging clutch drops on the new models. FWIW why are people assuming the STI is much better ? When it first came out the STI had notorious problems of detonation/pinging at 400 RPM STOCK on 91 octane. I had an occurance where it was when the STi's came out and we were tracking up at Streets of Willow, and they had a couple of guys with a brand new STi with about 700 mi. on it. When they pulled in they were talking/complaining about detonation at 4000 rpm. Found out later that they had blown the engine of the car that day.

 

I am living in Japan at the moment and I must say that Mitsu's woes are a common conversation topic, but people certainly pay a lot to be "seen" in an evo. Old Evos are worth more than most Stis, some 32 and 33 GT-Rs, and tremendously more than Supras and RX-7s.

 

My Sti so far has been a LOT more reliable then the S2000's I had and I have double the miles on my Sti then I had on my S2000's when I sold them.

 

I think in the case of the S2000, Evo or Sti... its how you drive it. If you drag these cars they will break. This is where most break downs have occured. If you modify them... same thing. If you buy it, keep it stock.. dont drag it (Id say AutoXing is pefectly fine)... None of them will have problems.