garrick70

My BBY Evo is now 2 weeks old, and broken in. I cannot tell you how much I love this car. After 2 months of agonizing over the Evo or STI. I can hosestly say the Evo was the right choice. I had a chance to drive both back to back, and was amazed by the Evo's immediate nature. I just came home a few hours ago after a 2 hour drive on California mountain twisties, and will probably smile in my sleep. I am not a street racer, but cannot wait for my first trip to Thunderhill raceway in Northern California. I have never owned a car that actually feels like it is communicating to you while you are driving it. Absolutely amazing, and the best purchase I have ever made. I hope this helps!

Lee_K

Sure.

I'm happy to share my opinions about my Evo with everyone. Just this morning, as I was driving my kids to school, my ten-year-old blurts out of nowhere, "I love this car."

Can't beat that!

Lee K

siberian

LOL, ironically, I'm right now IMing the wife... who would really rather have me get a civic if we're gonna have a baby in a few years.

How old are the youngest, if I may ask? Any probs using it to haul the kiddies around?

I keep pointing out it's really a Lancer - a family car! Four seats! AWD for safety!

And hey, with that suspension, we'll never have to burp the kid

If it just had side air bags, she'd be sold. Of course, you could dodge a sidewinder missle with the dang thing.

OK, so it's a teeny bit more expensive than a civic, but...

Ludikraut

iTrader: (17)

Priceless!

bullfrg

iTrader: (42)

My son is 20 months old and it works great for hauling him around. The back seat space is one of the reasons I picked this over the STI, ever try to sit in the back of a WRX? I wish too that it had side airbags but I figure this is not the car we use for traveling so it is ok, you choice could be completely different based on your priorities.

Lee_K

I have two boys, one 10 and one 12. They have been the most enthusiastic supporters for the car. While they were very upset with me when I decided to remove the wing ("But Dad -- it's so cool!"), they realize how relatively rare the car is, how performance-oriented it is, and how it keeps showing up in all their racing video games.

As a family car, the Evo is suprisingly versatile. The back seat room is truly impressive -- I've had two 6 foot adults back there (I'm 6'3" myself and didn't have to move my seat up to accomodate them) and they remarked at how spacious the car is, considering the overall size of it. Compared to other cars I considered (TSX, WRX, RX-8), the back seat room is superior. For hauling the family around, the Evo does very well. It is better than the Civic, for sure. I suggest letting your wife sit in an Evo's back seat and see for herself. It has the child safety tether attachment points, and the middle seat has a shoulder harness. The trunk is pretty big, too.

Now, the interior of the Evo gets a bunch of knocks for being cheap. It certainly is not upscale, but I can't say that it is as bad as everyone says it is. I don't like the red on black guages (no one does), the trunk release and HVAC controls feel very flimsy, the carpet is rental car thin, and the floor mats are definitely low budget. The car is quite buzzy, but compared to my wife's first generation CR-V, it is actually a bit quieter. The transmission whines, there is a bunch of tire roar, and the engine growls when pushed. But that all gets back to my posting from yesterday about elements that add to the driving experience. For people that like cars, this is stuff that we want to hear.

I've had a lot of exposure to luxury cars, both as a driver and a passenger, and while they are very nice and quiet and go about their jobs with little fuss, they bore the heck out of me. As the car design art regresses to the mean, they all tend to seem alike -- at least to me they do. The line between Lexus, BMW, Acura, Infiniti, Mercedes, Cadillac, etc. gets very blurred. Nice cars, to be sure, but boring to me.

The Evo is none of that. It's loud, raucous, more than a little juvenile looking, and very, very capable. As I've repeatedly said before, it's not for everybody. It appeals to a very small percentage of the driving population. My non-car enthusiast friends can't understand why I didn't get a 3-series BMW. It's almost what's expected of a middle-aged dad. But for those that really like cars, the Evo needs no explanation. They know how formidable it is, how uncompromising it is, and how utterly cool it is.

Lee K

eclipsegs2k1

Nice post Lee, very well said, and that also goes to everyone else that's posted in this thread. Everyone has made a good point and these kind of threads are the ones that prospective buyers need to read because everything that has been said is true. It's too bad that alot of prospective buyers get thrown off when they read about a bunch of drag racers and/or guys who abuse their Evo's complaining about the clutch or whatever.

Ludikraut

iTrader: (17)

I did a bunch of research (read: lurking ) on these forums before I made my decision to buy an Evo, and one of the things that really impressed me was how few complaints were posted. Let's face it, we all (at least 99% of us) beat on the car every now and then ... hard not to when you've got that imp on your shoulder encouraging you and the devil riding shotgun ... but discounting serious abuse, this car seems to hold up very well.

All I can say is - go buy one already! and have yourself a and a

svillata

Is the Evo a drivers car? I commuted 187 miles to work this morning, on HWY 49 from Oakhurst, CA to Auburn, CA. take a look at a map. 187 miles of twisty 2 lane, some of crazy canyon suicide, other parts of it rolling meadows of green grass and nice sweepers. Could have taken the freeway instead. Didn't. Its a truly wonderful DRIVERS car. The first 10 days I had it (one year ago) my wife and I took it on a 3500 mile roadtrip through the southwest, which included some fun on dirt roads. Great drivers car. More fun, more enjoyable, more smiles then anything else I have ever driven. Its not perfect. But it is great to drive.

__NiTe__

iTrader: (1)

Ok, well, I'm just gonna add my comments about how great the evo is, just like everyone else (peer pressure gets to me). The evo is a really nice car. I mean, there's nothing wrong with the instrument cluster or the interior. The interior is an interior. There's no pleasure to be gotten from looking at a more "classy" interior. Sure, it might look cool or feel more comfortable, but who really needs that? It won't make you feel good in any way, really. I drive my evo as a daily driver. I'm at 9K miles and haven't regretted it yet. The only thing u might regret once in a while is choosing manual over other auto cars when ur stuck in 2 hour traffic. Besides that, evo is a great car. And you won't really get that many fights if you're not looking for them. I've only been provoked two or three times since I got the car a year ago (by STi's and such)

erikgj

iTrader: (2)

My 3 and 6 year old girls just love mine.

siantjab

iTrader: (2)

I have a five and three year old and they love Daddy's new itsubishi.. From day one they dropped the M and for some reason it stuck. But yeah, I get the same question all the time from my oldest, "can you pick me up from school in the itsubishi?". I drove a real nice Lexus before the evo and she seems to like the itsubishi better.

It's great for kids. And beleive me, kids don't mind bouncing up and down at all. ;-D

expatevo

iTrader: (1)

If you want to know the youngest child, I traded my two door Acura CL Type S for my "family sedan" four door Evo three weeks before my daughter was born on April 7th last year. She sits there quite happy being bumped around by the ride!

WestSideBilly

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, but does he drive his green beans through his mashed potatoes while eating dinner?



Glad to see your young'ns appreciate the car - and that they have a dad.

Schmitty

I absolutely LOVE my Evo. I sit in the Recaro drivers seat, start the engine, and it just says "hi". I know exactly whats going on with the car at all times. I have never felt so in tune with a car as I do the Evo.