Well, Ive driven my S for 28k miles without a single issue.

I would rather not give that up...

 

My old television was made by mitsubishi.



Another thing to consider with an Evo, Mitsu loves to deny warranty work due to your hard driving. Rather you drive hard or not. There have also been several articles in reputable magazines about Mitsu checking enthusiast website for people who are auto crossing and denying all claims after that.

Just a heads up.

 

If you want the Evo, get it. Evo reliability, in general, probably isn't as good as that of the S2000. But it's nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be.

A good friend of mine bought a '03 Evo when it first came out here in the USA. Within a few thousand miles, it needed a new clutch and 3rd gear synchros. The dealer replaced both under warranty. Since then, he has put over 30k HARD miles (and I mean hard, he races and beats the living crap out of that car) on the car, and absolutely nothing has broken. The car was decently modded for about 20k of those miles, but has since been returned to stock.

I'd say there probably were indeed some quality and reliability issues with the Evo early on. But defective parts aside, the car holds up fine, and can take quite a bit of abuse.

Remember, there are good and bad apples with every car, including the S2000. You'd think from reading S2Ki that S2000 transmissions and differentials were failing left and right. Don't expect the Evo be as reliable as the S2000 in the long run, but don't get scared away by a few horror stories, either.

 

Honda > Mitsubishi

 

one thing to consider is that if you park your S at a college parking lot, there's a (decent?) chance it'll get vandalized. with the soft top and all, it'll be very easy to break into, and for some reason it seems other students who are bored, drunk, envious or whatever like to pick on the S. not speaking from personal experience though, just what i've read on these boards. from a practical (e.g., sleep at night) standpoint, you might be better off with a car that doesn't stand out as much, at least while you're in school. maybe you should ask your parents if they're willing to keep your S at home for you and get yourself a beater for school.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

I went down to the local dealer and I must say I wasn't too enthused with it in general. Maybe two salesman outside and a 6 bay garage. Then I was flipping through this binder while waiting for the salesman and they lost a few billion dollars last year. I just didn't like the feel in general.

I did however sit in an 05, it was sick. Leather Recaro's, center diff control, more hp and torque etc etc.

I would gladly trade my S for an Evo if I could be sure the reliability would be atleast somewhat close. The tranny seems to be a real big issue and is somewhat disconcerting, even though the S is notorious for the diff I have launched mine time and time again with no issues.

I am alittle weary about buying used now however. The Evo is built to be driven and you can pretty safely assume its been driven to hell and back. I dont know if its just your average dealer talk or not, but the guy at Mitsu said it was imperative to break the Evo in correctly, and if you dont you could end up with issues down the road.

 

I spent about an hour Saturday night driving my friend's 03 EVO VIII. It's got 272 cams, full exhaust, boost controller, etc etc. Makes 330hp at the wheels on 93 octane. It was very fast. No turbo lag to speak of. AWD = lots of traction.

But it was definitely a Lancer at the end of the day. Seating position was way too upright, Recaros or not. The shifter was very far away and felt like rowing an oar compared to the S2k. The steering wheel felt good but the steering was very vague compared to the S2k. The only things I really liked about it were the acceleration and the traction off the line.

I was going to buy an EVO before I got my S2k, but did not because the Mitsu dealers were all asses. Now that I got to drive a modded EVO I don't regret the choice.

The EVO looks good but the S2k gets a lot more attention, especially from the ladies.

Having an EVO -and- an S2k would be a different story, though.