2005 Lancer Evolution- Peleg's test drive and conclusions

[Peleg]

Well, the moment I was waiting for. Test drive the 2005 Evo MR and see what the competition is doing.

The first thing that really got me is the price. Starts at $36,000. This dealer marked it up by $6,000, so $42,000 is what they are asking for. Too expensive if you ask me.

I came by there with my Acura, which they agreed to give me $5,000 for, not too bad.

I left there shortly telling the guy I will only consider buying it if I get to drive it. He calls after an hour and says:

"What kind of Subaru do you have again"?

I get this big grin on my face. "STi" I reply.

"Oh....hmmm....I see I see....why don't you come down here with it and you can drive the MR". Ok.

I drive down there. I get near the dealership and I got a crowd waiting for me. The owner of the dealership is there, asking to drive the STi, the sales manager and a few other guys gather around. The owner of the dealership just wants to checkout the clutch and make sure everything is good with my car.

I'm hesitant, but I was like, ok as long as you don't abuse anything.

He drove the car for about 60 yards and parked it inside the dealership, under a cover. Nice guy.

He asks me which car I'm interested in, there are 3 MR's in the show room. "This one", I point at the graphite MR.

His salesman pulls it out and let it warm.

Enjoy he says, you'll be driving this car home tonight. (this dude is confident isn't he?)

I take it out. The great comfort of the RECARO is just un-real. I will repeat myself again: How come Subaru didn't go with these seats? This is a no brainer. The driver position is pretty good, a little lower than the STi. I like it.

The shifter feels pretty good, short throw, not mushy and not too notchy, just right. I drive slow, shift to 2nd, let her warm up.

I play with the Differential controls, pretty cool stuff. Otherwise pretty standard Lancer Evo "strictly business" interior. I'm a simple guy, luxery is nice, but I can live with this interior, and did i mention I LOVE the seat!

The ride is actually very comfortable, not as stiff as the STi. Engine is pretty quiet. So far I'm impressed. (excluding the price)

"Go stright here" says the sales manager. Going stright leads to the Concord airport. Hmmm...an airport....hmmm....nice long runways...a big grin is on my face now. This could be it, I can at least have enough space to get her to 4000 or so ,and see how she pulls. To my disappointment, I can't enter any runways, and we stay in a big parking lot. I manage to find a good lil stretch and go. No hard launches or anything, I respect the car and the person who will be buying it, so I don't want to kill the clutch.

I take off regularly and punch it.

2000 RPM - Hmmm.....common baby, GO!

3000 RPM - Ok...I think I'm starting to feel something here...

3500 RPM - The turbo is starting to kick in pretty hard.

4000 RPM - Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeha!


Let it go at 4000, although he said I could have taken it to 4500, it's a new car with 6 miles on it.

Overall impression of the low end power (Obd are you listening):

Good, but I think the STi pulls harder and from a lower RPM. (2700 or there abouts) and that's what really got me. The car isn't fast enough down low where I like it, I'm not getting my neck snapped instantly when I punch the throttle.


Drove it back to the dealer. Ofcourse they tried to offer me a trade, but it's too expensive.

They tried to match my STi payments, but for 72 months @ 42,000 before tax, license etc.

Bottom line: I like both cars, but I love my STi. The Evo MR is a bit pricey IMO.


Happy Holidays!

[Peleg]

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[Peleg]

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[BlackTrack]

Love both cars, but I'd go with a Crystal grey STI with the WRX spoiler.

[SmoothZ]

Nice writeup.

However, no matter how I look at it, I still think it's fugly. I'm sure it looks good in a rally race, though!

I think for $42k, I'd rather buy another Z or a Vette.

[3 FIFTY Z]

Very nice writeup.

One thing, the MSRP is actually only $34,999.

I'm glad to hear it really rides as smooth as they say it does. on the low end pull thing, I have had the chance to run my brother's EVO and STi through the gears a few times (off the street of course ) , and I can say that the STi does have it better, and it should.

A smaller VF34 turbo with a TMIC configuration, on a 2.5L boxer, compared to a 16G w/ FMIC setup on a 2.0L I4. The EVO doesn't necessarily "wait" for throttle, but the low RPMs aren't great so it seems like the mid-top pull sneaks up on you, and it's not quite the neck-snapping experience in stock form, but still a rush. It just depends what kind of acceleration feel you're looking for.

I can't help but wonder if the sort of lag is more noticible from the MR's larger 10.5 hotside compared to the 03 and 04 EVOs. (where they picked up the few extra horses and lb ft.). It did help the top end performance, and does allow it to respond to mods better, but it may have affected it in the lowest RPMs.

Good writeup.

[Peleg]

Those RECARO seats are so incredible, I'm now thinking of selling my STi seats and getting RECARO's directly from the factory, they do come in blue/gray.

I was just wondering if the price tag of $845 is for 1 seat or a pair.

Can someone check the link and maybe tell?

http://www.recaro-nao.com/index_frames.html


Also, where can I sell my stock seats at??

[Umich350zguy]

sh33it, i want an MR

mitsubishi dealers are sharks, don't even try haggling..marked up to 42k?

thats ridiculous but common of most shitsubishi dealers

but DAYUUUMM , thats a performer MR

[fineout]

its for 1

[StillenChrgd_Z]

Originally posted by Umich350zguy
sh33it, i want an MR

mitsubishi dealers are sharks, don't even try haggling..marked up to 42k?

thats ridiculous but common of most shitsubishi dealers

but DAYUUUMM , thats a performer MR

YAY!! go sell ur Z and buy a mitsu! that way u can annoy the EVO forums!

[Peleg]

Originally posted by fineout
its for 1

Is there a way to modify my seats??


845 for one??

[3 FIFTY Z]

The $845 was probably per seat.

NASIOC is one of the biggest WRX/STi international forums. It's a really good site in general, and they'll sell pretty quickly there. Just make sure you post a few times so people aren't suspicious when your first post is to sell some seats.

NASIOC

Also, you could consider trying to find yourself some JDM STi seats. They're thinner and have better bolsters (they modified them for us larger americans.) I can't say the Recaro's aren't a better buy though, because you'll be lucky to find some JDM STi seats for cheap.

[The_Z]

Just wait a lil and they will drop the mark up

[3 FIFTY Z]

To my suprise, I haven't seen any marked up MRs after visiting all the dealers in Columbus and one in Dallas. It was the same way when the EVOs first came out. Well, it happens with most relatively low production cars. Now that the limited edition of an already relatively low production car comes out, the dealers think they can squeeze the cash out of people, and in some cases they can. But then some time will pass and they'll have no choice but to head back in the MSRP direction if they want to move them off the lot.

[Peleg]

Originally posted by The_Z
Just wait a lil and they will drop the mark up

That's fine, but I still like the STi's powerband better.

[obd]

hehe, yeah I am listening. Good write up.

I undersand you didnt want to take it over 4,000 rpm's because its a brand new car but I can tell you that it definately pulls harder than the Sti (maybe not down low but in a 0-60 sprint it will beat out an Sti).....and performance numbers attest to that. It is actually faster in a straight line than the Sti (according to real deal time trials done by C&D), not to mention a far superior handling car. Put it this way, the Evo MR has a horsepower deficite yet still kills the WRX Sti on just about every track around, including Nurburgring (and dont give me the WRX Sti RA Spec C time of 7:59 either!!!! because thats a special J-spec only version) so it makes up for it in balance and handling. I saw a track test of a Evo MR vs. WRX Sti PPP and the WRX basically understears while the Evo MR has perfectly balanced nuetral to oversteer in most cases............

By the way, the dealer I was at priced the Evo MR at 36,000 so that dealer trying to sell it for 42G was WAY WAY WAY overpricing it. I garauntee you that he would go down in price. They just put that prive there for the idiots who buy without haggling. Haggling ALWAYS works. My buddy took an SRT4 from 24,000 down to 18,000 in 15 minutes.

I agree, the seats were great!!! The gear shift was the best for me since I drove the S2000. Sti' gear change was pretty much fine but nothing to rave about. Lancer MR's 6 speed was smooth as silk which makes sense b/c the lines are teflon coated!!

I actually hoped to drive the graphite grey MR myself but the only one the dealership had was white. I did my test drive on a cold night just before 7:00 and that white looked AWESOME under the lights at night.


The biggest fault I had with the Lancer MR (and all Evo's) was the gage cluster. It was smallish and poor color. Not super terrible but I expect better because its farly easy to do a guage cluster the right way. Just a bad overall design. I also like the shift beeper on the Sti. Wish the Evo had that.

Did you get to take the Evo MR around any corners? Also did you notice how dead the breaks were? On the one I drove the breaks were deader than a 3 week old corpes b/c they were brand new. I almost overshot a corner trying to slow down. I took the McGregor plaza corner going about 65 mph......haha. Car handled perfectly. Amazing grip. Dealer was like "ok were getting close to home now so make sure you take it easy going into the lot so I dont get in trouble".

On my WRX Sti test drive I was nearly killed (not joking) by the dealer. He took it out of the parking lot and was driving it to a switch point in a church parking lot. On the way he decided to sho us its acceleration as we went around a blind corner. Well at aout 120 mph we fly around the corner (Im sitting in the back behind my friend who is shotgun) and theres a minivan stopped making a left but theres a car coming to other way so he aint moving. Even with the Sti's breaks there is NO WAY he could have stopped in time but instead of going right onto a wide shoulder of grass he goes left and we nearly had a headon. Literally a fraction of an inch involved. Then to make things more ominous minutes later we hit a bird and it splatered blood all over the hood. I was thinking "thats a bad sign" hehehe. Overall I liked the Sti but the Evo MR just felt more solid and faster. My test drive of the Sti was months ago though so Im thinking of testing it out again with the EVO Mr still fresh in my mind to get a better idea of how they compare.

Anyway, glad you got to drive the Evo Mr. I would like to know: If the Evo MR were priced and 35,000 would you take it over your Sti ??

[tHrEeEe FiDDDy]

I HATE u Peleg!!! lol jk I drove a GSR but never a MR yet. But I too love those seats. It just hugs my ass so tight through turns. haha

[Peleg]

Checked out the JDM Seat review.

For crying out loud, those should have been the stock seats from the get go.

[silverbullet]

nice peleg. You can tell you had fun, but still left with all your pride

and money

[Peleg]

Originally posted by silverbullet
nice peleg. You can tell you had fun, but still left with all your pride
and money

Obd,

The salesman kept a folder with about every article comparing the 2, it's like a cult with those 2 cars now, a religion.

I looked at the numbers. Up to 60 MPH, STi is winning. To 60 MPH, they both clocked at 4.7 Seconds.

1/4 mile they both hit 13.3 @10X......

I think you should take another test drive. The STi is one fast mother.

I did feel a bit more connected with the car due to the RECARO's.

Yes, they were way overpriced. My dad laughed his @$$ when he heard about the price and the deal they offered me. He goes: "Please don't tell me you...." Naaa man, I love the STi, plus I'd be losing money on this deal.

If it was 35,000 out the door.....maybe..but I would want to see what happens when you pull the RPM's all the way, and I can't do that to a car with 6 miles, because I would be pissed if I knew someone has done that to me.


So, yes sillverbullet, I stayed with my $$$$ and my pride.

The few, the proud, the STi!