Zeus

I guess I was "lucky". The first thing I had to replace one the Evo was the clutch... at 40k and WELL over an extra 100whp. I have to say the Evo has held up quite well to my "abuse". I absolutely do miss the R though, and I wish could I have justified the $1000 a month in payments alone to keep them both. I loved the R, and wish I still had it for the weekends. However, I'll never have a 2WD car again as a daily driver. It makes that much difference to this old man. There is nothing like having to "slow down" to 80mph in the standing rain and still feel as secure as on a bone dry day. Even though I think the R was one of the most fun, and enjoyable cars I've ever driven, it would be wrong to say that it is "more" than my Evo out on the road. As far as Manufacturers go though, Mitsubishi is utterly the sorriest experience I've ever seen. I've accompanied people in to have work done, and I thought I was going to "go off". I've never had my intelligence so insulted, or so wanted to cause someone such bodily harm. Mitsubishi is definitely "The worse backed cars in America"!

hooptie157

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

haha I dont believe you Brian. I went for a run in your car while at Dan's BBQ and you beat the **** out of it!! I still think most (maybe not all) problems still come from abuse. The car is very hard to drive slow, it begs you to boost it.

I drove my gf's MR to work today </TD></TR></TABLE>

Ryan,

Did beat the **** out of it such as launching or just drive it fast? There a BIG difference. All I did was take you guys for a fast ride, took some turns fast and broke hard once. Is that not what the car was designed for?

RTW DC2R

yeah you didnt launch it, but still beating on it, with modifications and extra power, its gonna take a toll.

hooptie157

Ok I'm gonna Need you to describe your definition of BEATING to me.

MPH

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ryan, who thinks problems with these cars (any car for that matter) is related to abuse. </TD></TR></TABLE>


I agree. I have no problems with my Evo. It's just like any other car, some will suck and some will be fine.

mr_b401

Wow Zeus. 40k mi on that stock clutch. You got lucky on that. Mine lasted about 11k until it started slipping baaaad. Mind you its never seen 1 damn launch and had the easy break-in before the 600mi. mark.

And I agree. The service is absolutely horrendous. Its almost as if they purposely teach those guys to be a-holes to their customers I swear.

Anyhow, good luck with your Evo..as its truly 1 awesome ride...

RTW DC2R

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hooptie157 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok I'm gonna Need you to describe your definition of BEATING to me.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Just get another R and stop bitching. Never shoulda sold it anyway

mr_b401

Okay let me chime in on this one. I agree with ya man.
Those saying its due to "abuse"...all or mostly "abuse"..blah blah blah...Im not hearing you anyways... Unless you have experienced it somewhat "long-term" or have been around it a lot, I wouldnt comment...simple as that. I could find numerous fellow Evo owners who could vouch for me that its not related to abuse...so enough of that.

I've NEVER launched the car...still to this day...have not. It has not seen 1 track day. The 600mi. break-in procedure was also done. All oil changes are up to date. All recommended maintenances are up to date as well. Except for the bov which I myself installed, the few mods on the car have been installed by a reputable performance shop... doesnt sound like "abuse" to me...I TOO would not not of posted this thread if I indeed "abused" my car. That would be just plain ignorant on my part.
A quick run down of what I think abuse would be:
-NOT performing the recommended oil changes ALONG with the necessary maint.
-Driving on the streets CONSTANTLY as if I were on a racetrack.
-NOT keeping an ear out for what sounds like mechanical problems..pretty much just "neglect"
-Launches as if I were at a drag strip
-just not keeping an ear or eye out
...theres plenty more but you get the picture

Lets face it. As Brian stated above.. its a rally-bred street car, pretty much.
People dont buy these cars to mosey around in as you would in lets say, an Echo.
For those who dont know..this car is fully capable if not more capable of performance #'s in the supercar category. You just have to drive one...hard..by yourself, on a nice twisty stretch. The Evo has proven itself over and over again that it is indeed THE car to beat in its price range...& to be honest with you, it will probably continue to as long as the Evo platform is around.

With that said, I DO drive spiritedly. I DO work the car from time to time. But damn I didnt expect things to break on me AND not have Mitsu "back" me up. Honestly, right now... Im afraid to drive it like its supposed to be driven...I might end up breaking something else... Then again, what a waste of $ & car.
I guess I didnt think of the LONG-TERM ownership with the Evo. As I stated earlier, there ARE Evos mechanically fine and there ARE good Mitsu dealerships out there. ****, seriously all the props to them. Its just very unfortunate that there are waayyy too many bad cases.

I mean cmon now, there are too many polls/threads on Evo sites like:
- "Those who are having the tranny decel noise"
- "Those who are having rotor warping issues"
- "I cant beleive everyone's clutch dying less than 10kmi"
- "Warranteed Brembos?...peeling calipers"
- "CF wing paint peeling"
- "Wheel well paint chipping"
- "Mitsu & our synchros"
- "Broken TC"

AND SO ON AND SO FORTH believe it or not...

See...theres just way too many scenarios. And Mitsu somehow cannot keep up with all the issues. And most wont pretty much deal with helping us...from my & 2 of my friends' experiences at least.


Modified by bRian_0053 at 5:58 PM 4/15/2005


Modified by bRian_0053 at 6:03 PM 4/15/2005

RTW DC2R

Nearly EVERY person I know that drives an EVO races it in some form or another. I dont know many people that dont abuse them. I beat the **** out of my R and guess what, it breaks, and I fix it. Granted some are having various problems even if not beat on (just like every other single car on the road). But mostly, IMO, it is related to abuse. Things like chipping paint could be anything. Hell, Acura paint doesnt have the best rep and I know from experience my PY paint scratches very easily. Warping rotors could just be uneven pad wear or hot spots on the rotors bc the pads werent broken in right. Im NOT saying things dont happen for no reason, but I AM saying I think a majority of problems come from abuse and people just dont want to own up to it.

mr_b401

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Nearly EVERY person I know that drives an EVO races it in some form or another. I dont know many people that dont abuse them. I beat the **** out of my R and guess what, it breaks, and I fix it. Granted some are having various problems even if not beat on (just like every other single car on the road). But mostly, IMO, it is related to abuse. Things like chipping paint could be anything. Hell, Acura paint doesnt have the best rep and I know from experience my PY paint scratches very easily. Warping rotors could just be uneven pad wear or hot spots on the rotors bc the pads werent broken in right. Im NOT saying things dont happen for no reason, but I AM saying I think a majority of problems come from abuse and people just dont want to own up to it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry to sound blatant, but do you work for Mitsubishi or something? Have you been trained by them? Because you sure sound like you do.

Yes I agree that chances are...If you DO "abuse" the car, its very likely something will break. On the other hand If you DONT "abuse" the car, chances are its very likely something will NOT break. Still no one has tried to define what they think "abuse" to the car is...

And for your statement: "Granted some are having various problems even if not beat on (just like every other single car on the road)." &gt;&gt;&gt;Just like every other single car on the road ey? Maybe so to a certain degree. But broken TC's, premature clutch failure, synchro grinding, etc etc. are just NOT ACCEPTABLE. The car has approx 17kmi on it. You might think...maybe its just a lemon. If thats the case (which is not) then I know of NUMEROUS Evo lemons...just not so. The paint, yes its paint chipping. But for the love of God, chipping at 6kmi??? Brembo red caliper paint looking like total **** at approx 15kmi? Now in regards to the warping/pad uneven pad tranfer to rotor you mentioned: It happened at 8k...they replaced them..fine. Again a few k later on brand new rotors it happened again...If this is a Brembo rotor/pad issue, then Mitsu should be backing up their customers to get these problems resolved...sadly enough, they're not.
That's where Im most pissed off at. If the car is going to prematurely show signs of failure for certain partss,they should be respectable as to say, "OK lets see what we can do for you". Most of us bought our cars new, therefore we should be granted full customer service & not the opposite.
If I treated this car like **** and negelected it, I WOULD own up to it, believe me. **** I wish it was because of me beating up on it...at least I would know its not the Mitsu product & its just me...

Skeletor

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SMZ GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Umm, the STi costs LESS than the Evo MR.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I meant RS, my mistake.

Zeus

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bRian_0053 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wow Zeus. 40k mi on that stock clutch. You got lucky on that. Mine lasted about 11k until it started slipping baaaad. Mind you its never seen 1 damn launch and had the easy break-in before the 600mi. mark.

And I agree. The service is absolutely horrendous. Its almost as if they purposely teach those guys to be a-holes to their customers I swear.

Anyhow, good luck with your Evo..as its truly 1 awesome ride...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I beat on mine much harder than many... luck had little to do with how long the clutch lasted. I still have the OE unit here as a conversation piece. It still has over half it's friction material left on both sides of the disc. It just could not handle the last torque infusion. Both the PP and flywheel showed light heat damage after driving it for a few months that way. One of the first things I did when I bought it was to pull the fluid restrictor out of the slave cylinder... to allow me to feel what is happening with clutch engagement. The down side to doing that is you can kill a transfer case real quick if you dump it.

96dxB16

I've got 16,000+ miles on my OE clutch, its as good as the day I bought it, perfect. I don't think luck had anything to do with it, possibly "bad luck" in your case.

boosted dc

i too own an 03' rally red evo, have over 36k miles on it and only very slight problems. im also experiencing the paint chips near the fender wells of the back doors but for the 04's they have some new clear film to protect it which can be had at the dealer for like 8 bucks for each side. My front brembo's also began to chip a little and it was due to the stupid mechanic at my mitsu dealer not knowing how to bleed the brakes correctly so the brake fluid dripped onto it. my mitsu dealer replaced them w/o giving me any hassle. my clutch has finally began to slip but its most likely cause ive began driving the car real hard lately. my only real complaint about the car is the poor quality of the paint job, i maintain it meticulously and yet paint chips are all over the car! the carbon fiber on the wing requires delicate care, i think it needs some kind of special wax, i use jet ski wax and it works perfect. im pushing close to 300 whp with my car on stock cams and runs just like it did when i first broke it in. i really believe most evo owners are abusing their cars way too much and are just trying to get a freebie by having the dealer fix their screwups. dont get me wrong, im not trying to protect the dealers, more than 60% of them are asses but i just think some evo owners should take more responsibility, thats all.

Sehc Tib Alli Zerif!!!!!

Not trying to get on this subject but, if your having that many problems with the car then get rid of it. All of my friends and I drive Honda's, honestly I beat the **** out of my car, and it hardly ever breaks. I've snapped both axles before but other then that nothing(knocking on wood). Same with my friends, cars are meant to be pushed to there limits, if they werent then the car industry would fall to the ground.

I dont drive an R, an ek hatch with a c5, I cant explain how I beat on this car, the damn thing just keeps coming back for more.

Zeus

Are you saying bad luck for my clutch "only" lasting 40k?

Rocks

I really enjoyed your story but good sh*t that your getting back into a r

AussieR

Mistus just cannot take abuse like the Suby''s(STi's), Nissan's(S13-S15,R31-34), Honda's(B/K series), GM(LS V8's)... People abuse there cars much more so here than back home(US) and man cars like skylines seems to take unrreal amounts of ABUSE. EVO's are sweet handling cars with good potential but they don't seem to hold togther as well as they should.

It's true that all cars can and will have issues, but freakin mitsus seem to have more issues than most. Better built, better backed??? Give me a break. If some cars are holding together it may be as simple as problems at the build process and not so much a parts problem. Who knows...

137

the evo mr from my understanding likes to be beaten on... however detonation on pump gas sucks.

hecklervtec

The two folks I've talked with that have EVO's, both will give a long list of problems they've had with the car. The other thing that turned me off to them was an article some time ago about Mitsu and/or Subaru (honestly can't remember if it was just one or both of them and can't find article right now) looking through autocross and track registrations online and voiding people's warranty based on they fact they had tracked or competed with their car. I remember one of the owners I spoke with had said there was some talk on some of the EVO forums of guys wanting to register for autocrosses, but having their results listed annonomously. Of course I've had my own issues with Acura and Honda not wanting to cover things too, like a clutch that cracked a little after 20,000 miles. In my case and how it sounds in some of the cases with the EVO, a good dealership makes all the difference.

I'm also not a big GM guy, but I have to give GM and Porsche credit for saying they would not void their customers' warranties for using their car for an occaisional track day. After all these are sports cars and having some occaisional fun should be expected and there's a difference between having fun using the car for what it was designed for and abuse.

In guess where I'm going with all this is I've been really happy with my R and haven't found anything else that I enjoy as much that I can afford. I've been really tempted by the EVO and STi a few times and honestly every once in while one or both pop back in my head. When I moved up to the great white north I was afraid how the R would do and thought maybe an EVO or STi would be perfect. Fortunately, my R does pretty well in the white stuff and is a great track day and autocross car. I'm sorry to hear all the horror stories and hope they all some how work their way out, wether it be finding a better dealership, finding another R, or whatever.

SoR

First off, there can always be a bad car. Reputable shop is not a guarantee your mods were installed/done properly. The fact that you had it modded should have been enough to expect you'll have to have it fixed more often or sooner.
Own my Evo for almost 2 years, no issues at all.
My neighbour down the street has his for 2 years too, 46k miles on it, drives it daily, also has mild mods (300whp) and he's still on the stock clutch.
My other buddy bought his at the same time as me, he's got like 25k miles, also around 300whp, also stock clutch and absolutely no issues.
None of us service it at Mitsubishi because they suck but the car is great and I would buy it again ... well unless of course Honda makes a 4wd 4-door turbo sedan

p nut

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SoR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> ... well unless of course Honda makes a 4wd 4-door turbo sedan </TD></TR></TABLE>

You could turbo the new RL

Mr.TecH7

I love my Evo and my K20a EP3.... but i have to say the Evo is not for

everyone. Hondas are truely better everyday daily drivers (track it all day and

drive it home). Evos have alot higher maintenance than all the Hondas i've had....

I have too much fun with both of my cars...... But my Evo is not a good long term

daily driver!!!! PERIOD

You can't beat the hell out of it (like hondas) and expect to not have any

problems.... ****, same as BMWs, Benzos, and the rest of alot of high end whips.

IBriaIN

well looks like 03 for the EVO was a bad year...because hearing that the 05's don't get that many problems and 04's have that new clear coat for the back wing. Seems like Mitsus are learning from their mistakes.... I pray that the EVO IX (9) dosen't turn out like the 03 years

Alen019

i dont have problems with my evo, altough i only have 9500 miles on my '03

owned a 96 honda accord with couple mods before this, had 135,000 miles when i sold it, ran very well, had timing belt replaced and cam seals

as far as the evo, it has a lot of torque, honda's don't, if there is not much torque, not much will really break as far as tranny

you just have to be a little more careful with the AWD system

reason i bought an evo is just because honda does not have anything to offer as far as new cars, we don't get the new 2002+ integra r, didnt want the s2k due to 2 seater, the honda cars are nice, just nothing else thats sporty right now

the older hondas seemed like more fun