Hello everyone. I own a 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX SE, which I purchased new a few years ago. It currently has just over 33,400 miles so far, and is still completely bone stock, with the exception of the stock-sized Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs that I had installed on the car at around 25,000 miles when I decided to take off the OEM Advan A046s (which still had enough meat on them for me to sell to another Evo owner). Here it is (from 2008):



I only owe about $1,300 on the car, which should be paid off by the end of the year, if not sooner. I've had this urge to pick up a second vehicle since I'll have some extra dough. Originally, I had considered a pretty broad range of cars: something used (like a 1997-2001 Integra GS-R or 1999-2000 Civic Si, though it would probably get stolen), something along the lines of a project car (like a 1999-2000 Civic hatchback which I'd hopefully do a B16A or B18C engine swap with, though it would probably also get stolen), something a little more luxurious (like a 335i, though it would be a lot pricier, especially since I would regret getting anything other than the turbo'd model) or something that is performance-oriented in a different way (like a 2011 Mustang GT, since the new V-8 almost makes the GT500's motor seem superfluous, but the model I'd want would end up being well into the $30k range, which is a lot for a car with a sub-par steering wheel and unsupportive seats). I felt like getting a really sporty car that didn't eclipse my car would make it redundant to me, so I figured I'd shoot for something that's a lot more practical.

I've narrowed things down, and the Fit Sport seems like a pretty decent choice. While I am getting within arm's reach of 30, I could really care less about going for luxury (as I did drive an E320 from 2005-2006 and don't really miss its amenities, though they were nice and it made a great date car), and I really like the car's practicality. I don't mind driving stick, but I'm the type of person who has zero faith in other people's abilities to drive a manual transmission, so I'm pretty much the only person who ever drives my car... meaning that if we go out in my car, I'm going to be the designated driver. Having a car with an automatic would help me feel more at ease with other people driving it.

So, in a really long post, that's my story.

 

Get a Fit and mod the life out of the EVO

AMS GT40R kit is in order, along with moton suspension, 18x9.5 +22 Volk TE37's (mag blue), Evo dave fender mod, Project µ Brakes, maziora bride seats

Done.

 

Haha... I'd like to keep the Evo as more of a pleasure car/track toy that I can have fun with whenever I want to. Since I've made it this far and kept it stock, I might as well just leave it alone and enjoy the warranty without any hassles, as a lot of Evo owners who bring their cars in for repairs tend to get claims denied when the car is modded beyond intake and exhaust. Also, I like being able to drive by police and not worry about getting bothered, especially here in Southern California where breathing funny can get you hassled. However, once my factory warranty runs out, that is a different story... I may start toying with the Evo a bit more, though it depends on the market at that time. If people are paying top dollar (within reason) for bone stock Evos, then maybe I'll consider getting money out of it, since people are even payint decent money now for used but stock Evos, since most have been modded. Granted the Evo is no Supra in terms of engine potential, but it's the same story, how most Supras are modded to hell and back, but the ones in good condition that are pretty close to stock will fetch good money.

 

dude its pretty potent, the 4g63 is one of the strongest engines ever made, right up there with the 2jz and rb26

 

I wasn't doubting the engine being potent, I'm just saying that it's not going to have the crazy tuning potential that the Supra had... a lot of those are running around with 600+ hp, daily driven. Not that it's impossible with an Evo, but once you go past 500 hp, it's not as easy. But like I said, IF I mod, I'm going to hold off until much later. I drive pretty conservatively most of the time, so the times when I do haul ass, it still surprises me.

 

So... was that link supposed to give me more insight?

EDIT: By the way, I'm visiting some family this weekend and staying there until Sunday, so I may test drive the vehicle.

 

UPDATE: I ended up test driving a Honda Fit Sport this past Saturday. I liked the ergonomics of the interior, but I was hoping that the car would have a bit more power. I could be wrong, but I felt like my girlfriend's Corolla was faster, plus the Fit has slightly lower mpg estimates, though I still like it more than any other commuter car on the market right now.

 

Perfect thread for me to reply to. Heres what I come from:

97 trans am vert
04 stage 2 srt4 plus other mods
03 lancer evo 2.3 L stroker motor with gt40 turbo and TONS of other mods
just traded for 2010 fit: 2005 .50 trim built engine srt4 with tons of other mods

I just made the deal yesterday and I havent looked back.Ive been wanting a fit for the longest time and heres why. I cant remember who said it, maybe the motoring god Jeremy Clarkson, but its just so much funner driving a slow car fast than a fast car fast imo. In the fit you can give it all shes got and drive 9/10's almost all the time. In my other fast cars I kept thinking to myself shit whats gonna break when I get on the gas today. And that kept me from getting on the gas because I didnt want to break stuff and have to buy crap. Plus with the gt40 and the 50 trim the around town fun nature of the car sucked because if you were romping on it youd be doing 90 in a 35 in no time. Which is jail time where I live and at the slower speeds the turbos werent spooling and thus you werent having much fun till you got on the hwy. The stock evo's are great for around town though. I used to be into the high horsepower game 500+ but it just sucks after a while.

Buy the fit buy an scca membership...keep the fit stock and road race it and have the time of your life knowing its you making the car faster every lap instead of the car making you faster. Theres no doubt in my mind I could lap ANY of my other cars faster around a track than my fit but theres also no doubt that eeking another second around a track out a fit is going to make you a better driver. In the fit I just feel like it is a car that puts you in the middle of everything. Let me explain

SRT 4's are motor cars. Your in a quick straight line car with mediocre handling.
Evo's are fantastic handling cars-fantastic driving cars period...but all I can say is that inbetween corners and straights I just wasnt smiling that much. I had to be focused I had to be tuned in to everything I did to the car.

With the fit, I smile when I drive quick. From one turn to the next it may take me longer to get to that next turn but I am having the time of my love upshifting through the gears and when that next turn comes up I have a great time downshifting and rev matching. Its just a unique package of everything that to me makes a car great. Handling, brisk acceleration in the first 2-3 gears, ergonomics, driver viewpoint, and gearbox. Yesterday after I watched my big turbo srt4 drive off I got into the fit and I smiled as I threw it through a few corners and hustled some gears. I havent smiled that big as I drove a car since my stage 2 srt. Yet my smile didnt fade when I got to some corners like it did in that car.

Also did you drive the auto or the stick? I really hope you drove the manual coming from an evo lol. As far as the acceleration I think the corolla is about on par with the fit. Itd be a drivers race imo but wait till you hit some corners and the fit is going to trounce the corolla. I had an 03 corolla and I drove it like I stole it but its no where near as rewarding of a drive as the fit. The corolla's drivetrain when pushed is just so reluctant. Its like "ok Ill go faster but I dont like it". The fit's powertrain is like its having an orgasm when you romp on it. Test drive a manual again, find some windy roads, if a salesperson comes with you (hope they dont) then just dont give a damn what they think. Worst they can do is take you back to the dealership and order you off the lot but theres more than one place to buy a fit lol.


wow this has been a pretty long post but hopefully its helped you a bit, but trust me, you wont regret a fit

 

The Fit would be a great 2nd car and leave the Evo to be safe in a garage. The car is not the fastest thing around but unless you intend to go over 100 mph you should not have a thing to worry about. Mine is a DD plus my weekend show car - it is hard but somehow it has made it through with not much problems. I have a 2007 Fit which I fill up every 2 weeks and it only likes regular gas so it saves for itself in the long run.

Cat

 

A lot of that doesn't really apply to me because my Evo IX is still completely bone stock, so its day-to-day ease of use is still pretty good. I've resisted the modding bug for well over four years throughout the ownership of two Evos (though I only had the first one for a year), so it won't be hard to continue resisting it throughout the next few years. I'm not worried about anything breaking, and if anything does break, I still have two years left on the bumper-to-bumper warranty and seven years left on the powertrain warranty. My abstinence from modding is definitely going to pay off in one way or another, plus I appreciate the car more for what it is since I drive rather conservatively on the daily grind... though of course that changes for a few moments whenever there is a freeway onramp or when a fun car happens to fly by.

But that generally applies to any car that you keep stock as you continue to drive it and enhance your driving abilities, whether it is an Evo, a Fit or a Miata, though obviously some cars are more forgiving than others.

I don't know if that applies to me. I'm pretty happy with the car in those same scenarios, and with the Fit, it wasn't meant for that type of duty, and that's definitely not why I've been considering one.

I actually drove the automatic, and for good reason. While I realize that the manual scores slightly higher mpg, I wanted something that is easier to scoot around town in. Obviously driving a stick does not bother me (as I enjoy it), but I don't feel like I need it in a car that I'm just going to DD with no intention of actually pushing hard. Also, as I had mentioned in my first post (or at least I thought I did), having an automatic means that almost anyone else could drive my car, so I can take the car out and not worry about handing the keys over to someone if they end up having to be the designated driver. Not to say that no one else in my circle of close friends can drive stick, but hopefully you'd understand why I wouldn't readily hand them the keys to my car... not just because of how fast it is or how unfamiliar they might be with the car, but I really don't want people to screw up the clutch or something since not everyone who knows how to drive stick really "knows." Obviously they won't break it from driving it poorly one one occasion but it is my baby. So a Fit Sport with an auto is what I would get, if it came down to it.

Actually I feel as if the Corolla might be a hair quicker, or it at least feels that way. (I'm comparing both cars with automatics.) I know that you had a 2003 Corolla, but this is in reference to the 2010 Corollas, which actually have a noticeable bump from the previous ones. My girlfriend owns a 2010 Corolla (which I do get to drive rather frequently whenever we would travel more than 50 miles or so), and before that, she had a 2004 Corolla (which I also drove a lot for similar reasons). But again, while I would definitely love a zippier car, I'm not trying to drag race anyone.

I don't know if I'd describe it as an orgasm, but then again I didn't drive the stick. But I still doubt your analogy haha. I appreciate your input.

Exactly, that's why I want a Fit. Something economical and good on gas but not a bore to drive but not so sporty to the point where it ends up making me owning it as a second car redundant since I already have an Evo (especially since I'd feel stupid buying another sporty car that wasn't faster than my car).

 

The Fit has a reputation of being an all-around car. It's well balanced. It may not be as fast as most coupes, but it has so much space for a micro car. It's a great family car and with affordable after market parts it becomes an unorthodox racing machine. I don't how many times someone has dared me, "Will it fit in the Fit?" Again, more power would be nice (especially with four people in the car), but 90% of the time it's only my wife and me driving at once. MPG is between 35-39 (shifting at 3500+). An EVO would be NICE! However, not so economical as a daily driver.

 

Im assuming that you saying the 2010's have a noticeable in reference to the 2.4 xrs model as the 1.8 liter base models still have the same exact horsepower rating as they did in 2003.

Thats a good reason to go with an auto as well because I know its limited me with my past few cars of who I trust to drive my vehicles.

Just an opinion that I thought would help you out but it seems as if none of it did.

 

I was talking about the LE (with the 1.8-liter). Those Corollas are very close in terms of power output... the 2003 had 130 hp and 125 lb.-ft while the 2010 had 132 hp and 128 lb.-ft. It might only seem like peanuts, but the 2006 was slower than the 2003-2005s because power had dropped to 126 hp for some reason (probably emissions-related reasons), so I guess when you only have X amount of hp and the car is as small as it is, every little bit counts apparently. My girlfriend's 2010 definitely feels SLIGHTLY quicker than the 2004, and I don't think it's my imagination, as I didn't know that they had different hp and torque until maybe several weeks after she bought it when I did my research.

 

I guess I forgot about the 2 horsepower increase, my mistake.

 

^ Haha... DONT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!

 

I have a Z06, and made the same decision you are pondering.

It gets good gas mileage, is reliable, and tires are like $400max vs the $1800 I just spent to replace the 'vettes. Plus they last a lot longer.

Another bonus to getting a second car, is you can consider collector car insurance. I use Grundy for the vette, and it's like $350 for an entire year (I'm 25). It's agreed upon value too, so I say what it's worth and if something happens I get that value and not some stinkin' KBB value. And I don't know the laws where you live... but with a car insured under collector cars ins, you don't have to do emissions. Which comes in handy when you mod the hell out of it, which if you're anything like me, you will.

 

^ Good point. But yes, I'm familiar with collector car insurance... I do manage an insurance agency for a living Thanks for the input, definitely a perspective that I hadn't thought about!

 

One of the receptionists in my office actually bought a black Honda Fit Sport automatic (shipped to Orange County from Valencia), and she let me drive it. Apparently there's a lot she didn't know about the car. It was definitely a fun trip to lunch, haha.

 

I might ask why do you want a second car in the first place. It seems u don't drive much by how many miles are on the Evo. So it seems to me u are just wanting to blow some extra cash due to the evo almost being payed off. Why not keep the evo as a dd seeing you dont travel much. And use the extra cash for buying a house,savings trips to other countrys. You could put the money a Fit would cost toward a house that you could rent out and make money off of. Or use it for retirement later on or for vactions to other exotic places. Who knows it just seems there would be better options to spend the money on than another car when you barley have any miles on the Evo.

 

It's my own personal choice. It's not the most sound financial investment, but it's something I was considering because I can. While I appreciate the advice, I was just looking for opinions on me getting the Fit as a second car, not on what is the best thing to do with the money. (But if you must know, I do have an account with money set aside for a vacation to Cabo San Lucas next summer, and then another one to Greece in summer 2012.)

Though my current car has pretty low mileage as it is considering it's a daily driven Evo (I actually hit 34,000 miles on Friday), I really would like to keep the miles down on it, and I don't mind getting a second car, as it's well within my means to get one. That's not to say I'm going to do it today or even committed to it, but it's something that I had been pondering since paying my car off a couple of weeks ago. Also, while the Evo doesn't get driven that much (in terms of overall mileage), it's partially because whenever there is a longer-distance trip, I usually end up taking a more fuel efficient car. For example, whenever I visit my family over the weekend (which is usually 200-250 miles), I'll bring my girlfriend and we'll take her 2010 Corolla, or if I go to Vegas with my friends, we'll take my friend's Camry (roomier, more comfortable for the long trip and more fuel efficient) or someone's SUV (much roomier and still more comfortable but beneficial if we are taking lots of luggage) rather than my car. So I do travel a lot outside of my daily commute, but more often than not, my car ends up not being the one chosen to do recreational travel duty.