I find my 05 to be plenty of car. When I bougtht it the IX was only a month away, but I wanted the 0% and nice discount off msrp. I have added just a few bolt on's (tbe, mbc, walbro, k&n drop in, xede, cams and cam gears). The cams are huge in most VIII's. On the dyno the car did 375/380 on race gas. I am very happy to drive a 05'. However I do find the ix bumper to be better looking. I think the interior is a wash, I like the two tone wheel in the 8 and the seats in the 9 unless you have the ssl like I do the seats are the same. For mild tuned evo's the mivec seems to be smoother. It also seems the 9 has more topend on the drag strip. I am looking forward to seeing some of the 9's run 11's locally with bolt ons. I have only read about 11's on evom and. I live in so cal the biggest evo market in the country and i have not yet seen it. Not that 11's have not happened. For me I am waiting for the x.

 

Well I'm a 8 to 9 owner & I did lose in the trade in , about 5g . I went from 29k in rs to 36k rs out the door (after taxes etc.) in less then 6 months .The big difference was the seats. after more than an hour, my legs would get tired in the 8 ,9s seats are much better, way more padding & they still hold you in.Mivec is dope in the low end, spools quicker, no need to down shift.Stock I ran 14 flat at palmdale's 1320 in the 8, in the 9 I ran 13.5 stock, with power going all the way to redline,were the 8 would stop pulling at 6700 rpm ,seemed to struggle to redline.The one thing that I didn't like was the transmisson was a little choppy felt like I wasn't holdind the clutch all the way down sometimes when cold ,goes away when at temp,but ratio of gears is better in 9 then in 8 . Taillight's are cooler aswell as the headlights ,don't let me remind people about the rims in the 9 . 2006 evo 9 rs 30k . Insurance $255 a month. Gas 3.60 a gallon. Satisfaction, priceless.......