Hey guys...I'm new to the forums...Love it here tho..Anyways, for graduation(of high school) my parents said I can get a new car for college...Now i know some of u on here think NO teenagers can drive fast cars...but i am not an idiot and i can handle driving them...(best friend has a 94' cobra) which i drive alot...SO....my 2 fav cars out are the '03 lightning or '03 evo....can u guys please give me the plus/cons on both cars and which ones u guys suggest on getting? of course its an evo forum, so majority will vote evo...but just give me insight on both and dont be biased against the lightning....thanks!

 

Should be pretty simple. Do you want to go fast in a straight line or around turns ?

 

very cool. a teen that is honest about not driving like an idiot.

first of all, congrats on your graduation, and a HUGE congratulations on your choice of vehicles. you'll have a lot of fun in college with either vehicle. here's my take on them.

they are VERY different. here's a side by side comparison of the specs from carpoint...

http://autos.msn.com/compare/choose....del2=10515&pt=

personally, i think you'd be better off in the evo. though it doesn't have as much horsepower, a turbo is A LOT of fun, and because its AWD, it might even be faster than the lightning (but don't quote me on that). the evo will outsteer, give you better gas mileage, more interior room, and an optional moonroof to boot.

i've ridden in a lightning before, and they are VERY quick in the straight line, but handling is a different story. because its a truck, you can get some serious oversteer and spin out. it sits a lot higher of course, and honestly, it was fun because it was so different and so rare.

overall, you'll just have to decide which you'd rather have... a truck, or a car. i'd take the evo in a heartbeat and never look back.

one more thing. you're comparing ford to mitsubishi. quality wise and from my experience, you'll have MUCH better luck down the road with something made 100% in japan.

good luck, and post pics as soon as you get either one!

 

FYI, have you test driven the dodge srt-4 yet? its about 10 grand less than both of the ones you're looking at, and is a SWEET car. i just test drove one yesterday. trust me on this, its no neon. go check it out. they have a mopar stage 2 turbo upgrade for under $400 already out too.

 

My dad has a lightning and it is a great truck. If you can't live with driving a sports car (like my dad, truck guy) Then the lightning is for you. If you are looking for better overall performance, then go with the Evo.

 

Evo gets better gas mileage
has more passenger room, faster in the corners, girls probably think its nicer looking, HID lights, moonroof, turbo, awd (lightning RWD)and from looking at the base price ... the evo is less expensive.

Lightning has more towing capacity, truck bed to carry stuff, supercharged v-8. Ok I'm stuck... cant see any other good things about it.. LOL

 

I have tested both rides. Great choices by the way. Pretty simple to me do you want a truck or a car. Yes I thin the Evo is much more fun to drive, but I love the power of the Lightning on the highway.

 

Depends on where you are from. Here in Texas, the Lightning would win hands down in the category of picking up chicks.

 

Very true. I can't believe how many girls check out our cars. I love it.

 

I too test drove an SRT-4 yesterday (red) and I must admit, it's a damn fun car to drive to be had for 19k price. Granted that it had full passengers (4 people w/driver included), it's still pulled pretty hard and can definately tell how much faster it would be if it was just me driving .

On topic, if you like to go fast in a straight line, get the Lightning. if you want to go fast w/handling like your on rails, get the EVO. Going fast in FWD or RWD is just not as confident as driving an AWD. It feels much more solid at high end and doesn't feel like your going to crash it if you go any faster.

 

Yesterday on the streets of Socal, me, Coolguy, and turbonawd were cruising with another WRX, and some other WRX and a Lightning pulled up behind us and revved, since me and Coolguy were stuck in traffic they had to go up against turbonawd, which was unfair since he has the yellow BEAST of an EVO so he proceeded to show them what 22lbs of boost would do to an inferior vehicle while scaring other people with his VTA HKS BOV.

 

hahaha .. NICE

 

My friends Lightning and my stock Evo VIII are a close 1/4 mile race. He has a chip and exhaust and w/o a good AWD launch i take him to about 80mph but after that he is coming on like a freightrain. It was a close race every time but do to his off the line difficulties even with my moderate launch it a close race.I won the majority of the races but when he hooked up sooner he edged me at the 100mph mark.One time we hit slight sweeper at about 90mph and of course i won that race as he had to back off.

 

If you want a truck get the lightning, if you want a car get the evo. As far as the evo getting better gas mileage, I don't know about that. Because the evo's gas mileage sucks A$$!!!

 

ya i know...i mean...i love the way the lightning looks, but u cant beat the evo man...plus i live down in south fla..so traffic is a ***** sometimes..and yah, with a damn huge truck, swirvin in and out of ppl's way is more work with a lightning...evo all the way baby... all i know is that the evo is a tight *** car...only thing i wont be able 2 choose on is a color...i like the silver blue and black....black and blue being first and silver next....just dont know exactly wut 2 get!!! damnit..so many cars...can only own one.... lol