pangaroo

GOod Luck Viper2Evo, Im working with my local District Manager on this. My clutch started to slip at a bit over 1000miles. I was just finished with break in and never launched the car despite getting hit up on the streets. So to all those who keep on saying its the driver... NO its the clutch. It might not be a problem with all cars because I do know a few people who drive it hard and have not had problems, but there are still quite a large amount legitimate cases where the clutch is failing.

Either way.. I amazes me how so many people are happy with selling a car with an inferior part and just say replace it with an aftermarket clutch. As for other people saying what do you expect for a 30G car...as someone else mentioned.. didnt bring the car out of the kindness of their heart, they are making lots of money on this. This clutch issue just seems to me another gimmic is using to make MORE money through parts. Replace it with another piece of **** stock clutch, or get a real aftermarket clutch, void you warranty, and pay us later to replace the tranny. Seems like an awesome business model since so many people here are happy with getting inferior parts.

If I new I would loose the warranty for just enjoying the car I would've just gone to motorex and bought an r32. Sorry for the long post, but viper2evo, if you wanna know how my clutch problems pan out with the DM, drop me a PM.

evomk8

Man, you are just a troll.
You don't own the EVO, you don't even own a .
You jump at any thread bashing this car and the company that makes it and add your blurb.
You're entitled to your opinion and that's fine. However, the continuous bashing that appears in the vast majority of your posts is unwelcome.

In regards to this thread. Remember this is the first U.S. EVO.
In Europe, this car is very often used for its intended purpose, rallying. The clutch was designed to handle that kind of abuse. NOTE: rallying occurs to the vast majority on LOOSE surfaces.
Further, most EVO buyers in Europe do not leave their car stock.

Did make a misclculation by using the same clutch as in European models, because they assumed U.S. buyers would mainly use it for rallying, rather than street racing ? It would say yes.

viper2evo, I understand you frustration and disappointment with this. A clutch is expected to last a bit longer than 5000 miles. Appreciate the fact that the EVO is a 30k car, not a 80k car (even though the EVO has no problem competing with them).

As a European myself, I find the tendency to scream lawsuit to be the kneejerk reaction of far too many. I am not saying is innocent. or that you are wrong. However, there are other avenues.
Also understand that we should still consider ourselves lucky to have this car here. There is a fear with some of the fans that will discontinue imporattion depending on the U.S. response. Hence the defensive responses by some.

I hope you get what you want out of your EVO.

Peace

Street Surgeon

iTrader: (3)

Oh, and ask RRE (road race engineering) about their exedy clutch, or Sport Compact Car.... Heh, apparently they suck. I know my ACT 2600lb pressureplate, the 6 puck disk, throwout bearing and alignment tool can be found for around 400 shipped, and that's used on DSMs that run 9s so I'm pretty sure that's good enough for me

1QWKEVO

iTrader: (3)

manm it's amaising how many people don't know jack about mechanics and the design about this car, if anyone says this car's clutch was built fine you should turn your Evo keys in and go buy an SRT4 or something.... The evo's clutch has a "synthetic" disc, anyone know what synthetics are used for??? This car was built for rally racing not off the line street racing. The clutch system adn drive train was designed to be used in abnormal condition which is why this car came factory equipt with ACD and YAW, by mitsu removing these components and adding a locked 50/50 center diff... well you can see what the effects ahve been. The reason this car hasn't been brought over for now is not because japan was hessitant about it, its the fact that they would need to remove some of these components to get it into the US, US has too many damn standards that some vehicles can't comply to. Hence R34 Skyline.... You really think it takes $40,000+ dollars to convert a car like that when no parts are changed when compaired to an evolution which takes about $3,000 to convert... Anyways Mitsu has no right to tell me how I drive my car, My definition of driving and their definition of driving is not the same. If they are going to claim that this car is "Fast", "5.1 0-60" and all the other hype about it's power and speed then they need to be ready with what is going to follow it. My buddy took his Maxima out for 2 years and raced it ever week or every other week and went through several trannys.... Nissan finnaly bought it back and returned every dime, becasue his difinition and their definition of abuse was different.

Instead of taking Mitsu's side on this and saying hey go ahead ands try and prove yourself in court, why don't you take the consumers side who shelled out 30-40k on this car and say hey mitsu try and define what abuse is with all your racing advertisement on this car. I'd liek to see what judges would have to say about this. If the car is sold as a Race inspired car, then my first assumption would be that people are going to take this car out and race it or atleast test what it's got.

BTW my friends maxima when he took it in for the last time on warranty before they bought it back, his flywheels was completely blue with large heatspots on it.... dealer still bought the car back.

PS fessing up and adding after market clutches will void your warranty, thats why people want to fight this thing out. My friends VR4 has over 50 launch from 5000-6000 rpm full throttle launches on it, clutch holds up fine enough to hit a 12.8 run time after time... so don't tell me the clutch in this car is fine. our cars only put out 271hp and weigh jsut under 3300lbs. The Vr4 is putting out around 375hp and weights about 4500lbs and has slightly bigger tires jsut to add to it.

BozzEVO

The problem here is, put a inferior clutch, and while you can fight with them all day long, why would you want to go through the hassle of getting another one with the same crappy quality back in? Sure you won your warranty and even satisfied your principal, but then your back at square1, a crappy clutch even if you get a new one. See where i'm going with this?

The argument really should be for to recall existing clutches with higher quality clutch.

batty

iTrader: (5)

Hmm not to add fuel to the fire. But i bet i could destroy any cutch by doin 0-60 times over and over and over. My friend bought a centerforce clutch destroyed it 6 months. As far as eclipses go. Dude i replaced my whole trans and clutch. Its just the nature of the beast and luck of the draw. Seriously I drive my car slow on purpose. I know I have the power and other drivers know it. I just cruise take turns nice and tight. To me 0-60 times are cool but here in NJ you need good brakes From the stop and go not 0-60 times. Modding cars is a expensive hobby. I mean the professional by the top of the line axles and snap them in one run on the drag strip. thats just how it is. And for the STI comparsion i would rather have a weak drivetrain then a pinging engine.

footsouljah

hmmm big difference between evos made around the world and U.S spec ones. First off we launch hard and u can pretty much say not 1 evo here hasnt been to the strip that a enthusiest owns.
o yeah thats also after the japanese have already taken the **** outa 1/2 the evos we get with odometers wound back

so i cant understand the clutch problems in the U.S, but then again i have no experience with a evo 8 but i do know the evo 1 -3 were the best and after that they seemed to get weaker.
the evo is also renowed for its clutch here we have no such problems - exhaust, filter, chip hello mid 12 secs 50,000 kms later

and EVOMK8 mitsu didnt release the evo so 50,000 boy racers could go rally racing they just brought the rally race to the streets i didnt think euro models had weak clutches either. clutches would wear on any surface.

My guess is they messed up by trying to cut back on costs and are now turning a blind eye on U.S eo owners. a recall is in order. someones gotta sort it out. maybe u guys been driving automatics to long -sorry my bad
just buy an aftermarket clutch - u will want one in the long run anyways. u wont get **** outa court because the court wont understand the problem all they will see is worn clutch = reckless driver and tell u to **** off.

GoEVOGo

For me, regardless of the problems that some people are experiencing or will experience with the clutch and gearbox, the biggest downer for me is the "feel" of the clutch and transmission. It just feels lumpy. It simply does not inspire confidence for performance driving on the road. I don't want to worry about downshifting on an upcoming corner and grinding a gear. If fact, because of all the worries I have yet to take the car on a real nice canyon run. For a real clutch, drive the C4S - you know that thing is overengineered. Why is 2-3 syncros needed if it's causing people to shift slower and grinding?

I have driven the C4S, BMW, Toyota Spyder (over 15 years) and have never grinded in any gears. It has happened a couple of times already in the EVO - shifting from 1-2 at 3000rpm (definitely not hard, and even after the gearbox has warmed up). I don't do ANY clutch drops or hard launches. Sometimes, putting the gear into first I will feel a slight grind if the car is not perfectly stationary (rolling slightly forward in traffic) - which is totally annoying. I have had a similar experiences with the Renault, which is known to have a weak single plate clutch (if I remember correctly).

Now I am thinking that to make the EVO more bullet proof we'll need to install aftermarket clutch, transmission and other stuff (count in the cost of the voided warranty)....hey we're at the price for a used 97 C4S......hmmmm which car would you rather be driving? May be I should have kept the C4S - long story tho.

JRock

If would be a decent business and own up to their problems and fix them, lawsuits would be entirely unnecessary.

If wanting a new car to actually be a worthwhile purchase and at least moderately more reliable (and spend less time in the shop than a used car) makes me a troll, so be it. I think you just live in a fantasy world where you don't want to hear anything except praise about the car and are all angsty and upset because people are not accepting of the ridiculous problems the Evo currently has that are going unaddressed by .

edit- you know what, the more i think of it the more ridiculous it is that you would go so far as to post to take Mitsu's side in this. and you even said you dont live in the US so you are no more valid posting in this thread than I would be as a non-owner. I am a potential USDM Evo8 owner though, and that's more than you are, so shut your hypocritical mouth with your garbage about how I shouldnt talk since i dont own one. THE VERY REASON I DONT OWN ONE IS BECAUSE OF THESE ISSUES that are going unresolved by .
To stick up for Mitsu is truly pathetic and more trolling than anything else said in this thread.

It's not just US owners that see this as ridiculous - maybe open your eyes and notice people are posting in this thread from other countries too and they are equally appalled at how Mitsu North America is treating its Evo8 customers.

GPTourer

Right. Like you are REALLY still in the market for an Evo 8. Everytime you post its sounds more and more like you're taking things way too personally. Like someone who has actually ponied up the cash and had the car crap out on them and then the corporation turning there back on them. But you haven't and won't and I will go so far to say SHOULDN'T.

It may take some time before Mitsubishi can determine what a certain problem is. Hell, it took Subaru months after the release of the car to send out a reflash for the pinging STi's. Imagine that. Waiting for Version 1.2 for your car while you have probably made two or three payments and possibly being too scared to drive it for fear of blowing it up. Maybe they're working on a solution right now.

JRock

I'm not sure what you're asking or trying to say, but since you're asking what my situation is - I was all set to purchase an Evo in September. Loved the test drive.

The thing that prevented an immediate purchase is quite simple - the nearby dealer where I know the sales manager and one of the salesmen does not have a Silver with cf wing and sunroof coming in and I would prefer to give them my business since they were kind enough to let me test drive an Evo there. Yes, I am willing to hold off the purchase of something I fell in love with to honor someone who does me a favor.

Now since then I've been reading about all the clutch problems, the rust, and the other issues people are having with the car. I actually got over the clutch problem initially - waving it off as just some drag racers abusing the clutch. Then the rust issue showed up. That's something that CAN'T be due to owner error and made me think back to the other issues that had been mentioned by owners and wonder how many of them are actually 's fault and not actually just your average driver abuse or error as is common on most Internet car forums.

It makes me seriously reconsider spending almost $30k on a car to have such ridiculous issues. I'm sorry, but I will be vocal about it because it's unacceptable for a new car to have such issues. I spent just over $30k two years ago for my current car (it is now paid off) that has been a joy to own and drive. I've put over 50k miles on it in just over two years. One or two minor warranty issue taken care of with no questions. That's a new car experience. The Evo8 for an increasing number of owners is sounding more like a used car experience. If I wanted a used car experience for $30k I'd get a used MkIV Supra TT and still be one up because it'd be a dependable Toyota.

I apologize for derailing the thread a bit with this response but I'm tired of the Mitsubishi defenders around here attacking me for my opinion on these serious issues that has thus far done nothing positive to address or fix them. (In fact the only action I've seen them take is to tell dealerships to NOT honor any warranty claims on the clutch which is more a slap in the face of customers than anything else.)

I certainly will "take it personally" when it's my $30k paying for the vehicle.

GPTourer

But that's my point. If you feel so strongly about it then don't do it. If your tired of all the Mitsubishi defenders, why are you visiting the Mitsubishi clubhouse? Are you going to go visit your favorite dealership where your friend works and rant on him all day about how you feel Mitsubishi screwed up? No. Because you know he wouldn't tolerate it. It isn't his fault, nor anybody that owns the car or sells them. He's got a job to do and that is to sell cars to people who want to buy one, not debate with someone over why they DON'T want one. Keep your money, pack it up and move on. Nobody faulting you for wanting to do that. But constantly ranting about it in here is what is getting old.

FWIW, none of our customers have returned with clutch or rust issues.

Braf

It won't. Buy the twin disk!

mikesevo8

That's the $50 question - do you keep stock components and your warranty, or drop in something stronger and roll the dice.

It's a tough personal choice. I do not advocate any particular course of action.

Every system has a "fuse", and in the Evo drivetrain it's the clutch.
It makes good business sense from POV, when you consider the cost of the other components. But from the owners POV it sucks. That's the reality.

It is certainly within anyones rights to use a stronger clutch, as long as you are willing to live with the consequences. If something else in the drivetrain breaks, you just have to dummy up and open your wallet.

Viper - good luck with you quest for justice. I, for one, want to here how it goes. Maybe if there is enough public outrage, the situation will change. If not for us, at least for those to come...

JRock

I work in the automotive industry as well. Perhaps my experience (including a stint as a Mitsu service writer) is what has opened my eyes to how things work at several different makes and dealerships and knowing what new cars are supposed to be like makes it easier for me to spot ridiculous and unacceptable problems with a car. It is of course worse when it's a car I started falling in love with and had budgeted to purchase.

Look the facts are this:

*There are unacceptable problems with the Evo8
*People have posted upon experiencing these issues and about their experiences with Mitsu dealers regarding these issues
*Mitsu has done nothing positive towards resolving these issues
*Potential customers and (worse) current Evo8 owners see this and speak out about it
*You are here actually trying to defend Mitsu's lack of action (and I guess that means you also support their negative action regarding the clutch issues by blanketing all drivers under the "mis-use and abuse" excuse for not covering their clutches under warranty)

Think about how that makes you look.