So I went to a certain local Mitsubishi dealership this past week for a test drive. They have a silver 03 Evolution with 15k miles for sale. It was adult-owned and looked to be in pristine shape. This test drive was more for my gf, as she is looking to get a 2nd fun car.

We waited all week to take it out so that it was 100% dry out. She wanted me to drive it first because she isnt a manual trans expert, and she wanted for me to give her any tips on how to drive it smoothly. Of course the salesman went with us, which was fine by me. She really wasnt planning to buy this particular car because she prefers the MR. But she wanted to see how she liked the driving dynamics, etc.

OK ok on to the good stuff. As I backed it out of the service bay it felt strange. The clutch was engaging all the way at the top and wasnt grabby at all. I had to check a couple times to make sure I had it in gear, because it felt like it was in neutral. So, I made 100% sure I was in first and let the clutch out all the way, this is while MAYBE being at 1500 rpm. Theres no way it should have kept running, but it did start to move, so I thought maybe there was just some moisture on the flywheel. Upon taking it out onto the road and trying to accelerate it would hit boost & fly up to 6k than drop back down and then start to go. It was even slipping horribly in 5th gear if I floored it at 2k rpm.

Anyways, I of course could smell the clutch after 30 seconds and decided to take it back. No way I wanted to get blamed for it. So I grabbed the 1st turnaround and tried to limp it home. No such luck. I was doing good until I had to slow down for a light (I was desperately timing them to continue momentum), and even rolling at 25mph 5th gear it wouldnt go anymore. I luckily got it off the road and into the beginnings of a turning lane. We sat there, 1/4 mile from the dealership and waited to be picked up. The smell from the clutch smoke was rancid, to say the least. So the other salesguy shows up and of course tries to get it to move. Whatever was left of the clutch was tthen put into the atmosphere, as if revving it up to 5k in 2nd gear was gonna make it go when it wouldnt move in 5th at 2k rpm. He even had the nerve to joke about how we were gonnapay for the new clutch repair. He was a pretty typical used car pindick.

So basically I wasted 2 hours, drove it maybe 2 miles, and now my clothes smell like clutch smoke. Awesome Mitsu, just awesome.

I have the feeling some porter kid beat the shit out of it, or they didnt inspect it well enough when it was traded in. All the radio stations were def old person'ish, and the salesguy even gave us the number of the 40'ish Doctor whom owned it previously, so I doubt it was abused by him. Oh well, I guess someone will get an Evo with a brand new clutch for free. Lets hope this one lasts more than 15k miles.

 

As I mentoned in the other thread, my friend has an Evo. He's now on his THIRD!!! clutch and he ony has 24,000 miles on the car. The worst part is that he rarely is ever abuses the clutch. He's only done a hard launch 3 times in the life of the car.

The Evo is a fun car, but I'd stay away due to the mechanical problems many have been experiencing. I'd recommend the STi over the Evo, even though I like the styling of the Evo better

 

Yeah its too bad, cuz the Evo supposedly handles better and def looks tons better than any Subaru. Her confidence is def hurt, thats for sure. Maybe I'll search for some used STi's, I'm sure there are some out there already.

I told her to just get a 50k mile LS1 camaro 6 speed. Power + reliability = good first "sports" car. She wants something different tho, since everyone has a Mustang/Camaro in Detroit.

 

The Evo is a ton of fun to drive (it does better than the STi at AutoX from what I have seen), I also think it looks great. It's just not extremely reliable and I don't trust the stability of Mitsu... It's a shame because it was leading my list for my Z's replacement for a long time, but I think I'll prefer an STi

 

The EVO's stock clutch sucks but an aftermarket clutch will fix that problem.

 

Sti>evo

 

My friend's second clutch that broke was an aftermarket clutch.. I forgot the name, but it broke relatively quickly. Luckily he was able to get his $$ back from the manufacturer which was nice customer service.

 

Stock yes, modded no.

 

Which aftermarket clutch did he use?

 

As time has progressed, I've grown less & less fond of the Evo and WRX. While their motors scream performance (and their bodywork screams rice ), their econobox heritage is a bit too apparent.

BTW: If I had to get an F-body, it'd be a Trans Am (WS6 preferably). Camaros have no style, IMHO.

 

I can't reach him at the moment, but as soon as I hear back I'll share the name of the clutch

 

sounds like the car was driven hard, dropin the clutch at high revs

 

Saw him today... The clutch was an Exedy Racing clutch

 

Damn shame about the EVO. I was actually thinking of getting one as my next car.

 

My coworker has one and its damn fun, but there is no way I could drive it everyday. Add the Mitsu problems and I would be staying away as well

 

All things considered, I would probably only buy the EVO if I knew a good mechanic who has worked on the EVO in the past (read immigrated from a country where the EVO has been available). Mitsubishi is too unstable at the moment and I'm sure they'd look for any way to avoid paying for a warranty repair if they could.

 

i know a couple of loacal evo and sti guys. They all agree that the sti is built light years better than the evo, but the evo has so much more highway pull then the sti. This thing is awesome up top, but yeah, they have tons of problems though.

 

If you can wait (I think) till 2007 Subaru is going to re-do the WRX. I saw the prototype of it and I liked it. It doesn't have the big nasty bug eyes. plus usually when a company updates a platform means more HP.