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Age Old question WRX vs. EVO

5K views 33 replies 19 participants last post by  yelljack 
#1 ·
I have had my rex for 4 years now, I have been tuning it for the last 3. I get the question all of the time WRX vs. EVO? Correct me if I am wrong. With comparisons of the two in the "tuner" mags, the EVO comes out on top... however Best Motoring choose the STI, feel of the car was what it came down to. Has anyone looked at the EVOs safety specs? Absolutely terrible! Engine longevity... terrible! So, here is my explaination to those who ask the question. If you want a car that goes faster buy the EVO. If you want a car that goes fast, is survivable in a crash and the engine can handle more than stock performance, WRX. Anyone.... what else are the selling points?
 
#2 ·
i think alot of the evos selling points are all the publicity. Everyones knows the name EVO most likely from fast and the furious. i personally like the STIs alot better, the EVOS have an ugly ass interior and the STI just seems like a better all around car. Now if this was about the new EVO and STI... i might have a diff oppinion
 
#3 ·
After watching countless Top Gear and 5th Gear episodes, I love how they all conclude the EVO usually comes out on top just a bit. But even when it does, they still prefer the STi and cannot explain why. In perspective, (in America) the EVO would not be here if it was not for the success of the WRX.

That being said, there's nothing wrong with the EVO




...if you're into that scene.
 
#15 · (Edited)
After watching countless Top Gear and 5th Gear episodes, I love how they all conclude the EVO usually comes out on top just a bit. But even when it does, they still prefer the STi and cannot explain why.

Well, Hammond, May, Clarkson, VBH, et al. are pretty mediocre drivers, only Tiff is the true driver of all of them, and I think the magic AYC of the EVO is the tipper in performance facts and times. But they are seasoned enough to know that the AYC is helping to turn the car, and know (in my personal opinion) that the STI takes a little more skill to drive, so they probably have a bit more respect for it.

I have driven both STI and EVO, and the EVO just feels....sterile to me. Like it a computer with four wheels. No soul, no character, it is just a little TOO perfect and polished.
 
#4 ·
Absolutely terrible! Engine longevity... terrible!
Now that is BS. The 4G63 engine is a great long running engine you need to do more research before you say things like that!! also the evo is a safe car may not be the number one safest car but its not a dead trip. I have had two other cars with the 4g63 and all have gone to 150k or more. If anything the wrx has a worse engine, parts are more and the tranny has problems. But that by NO means are the two cars "evo and wrx" bad cars when you look at what else is on the road.
 
#5 ·
As I read the first post again i get very pissed off. There are hundreds of engines that are putting out 100+hp more then stock and have been doing it for 50k or more. I have just over 340 awhp on my evo and guess what it has 75k on it and 40k have been at that power level. 26psi with stock turbo, I would like to see you get anything close to that with a wrx. shit all i have done to it is a tbe,air filter and mbc with a tune.

Now STI is a ever different storie but you only said wrx and you have a 02 wrx so im taking that as that. STI have a down side and up, going out and saying flat out that evo are junk is not even close to the truth.. everything has up sides and down and the STI has some of its own.
 
#8 ·
no 75k with alot more then stock power and there are ones with 150k on them and one that i know of with 160k that all have 100hp or more so saying they dont last is bs. I haven't seen as many wrx with that many miles and that much power with stock blocks,turbos and pretty much everything but exhuast and fuel systems done.
 
#9 ·
lucky, you have a valid point, granted I am a wrx fan, but my best friend owns an evoVIII iwth 340 awhp, and it has 110k on the odo, 70k+ has been with that power level, and it runs like a beast, we autocross together a few times a month, he drives my subie some days, I will drive his evo, we both now post around the same times, and I only have 17k on my odo, while he is at 110 and running strong, hp wise, stronger than me!

So, yes, i feel that there are always upsides and downsides to all vehicles. You just need to choose what it is that you feel is the lesser of the two evils
remember certain key points though:
the EVO motor(4G63) has been around a LONG time and those tuners out there know their shit when it comes to that motor, WRX's are newer, and with the WRX, the 2.5 is EVEN NEWER, so it might take some time to fully tweek the engines safely. Granted, if you have unlimited dough, you could take any motor on any car to the absolute max, but in the case, the point I trying to make here is that in time the technology for the engine will be fully reverse engineered and everything will be understood way better, and the current go fast bits technology that we have available to us will become increasingly more cost effective. So choose your weapons wisely, but your words more0so.
Matthew
 
#10 ·
correct! the 4g63 has been around around since 1990! its obvious people would simply keep observing and observing and testing to make the engine faster, stronger, better. For example as we all know 1990-1994 eclipse 4g63 engines were way better built than 1995-1999 4g63 engines due to them trying to reduce the weight of the crank and size by up to 20mm! thus created crank walk, from these mistakes mitsubishi fixed this and stopped all production of the eclipse and then released the evo to america with the same eclipse engine but rebuilt with a 16g turbo and better internals.

The point im trying to state here is you cant compare technology that has been researched for almost 20 years, to a ej25 that has only been around since what? 2003, 2004ish. In the end as we all know it is all on how you drive your car to see how long it will last, i have my share of mitsubishi problems and such which is why im leaning towards getting a 2007 wrx. Happy tuning everyone!
 
#11 ·
i am also in no way biased towards the WRX(well, not COMPLETELY), I did used to own a 98 GSX eclipse, I loved it, but the greyhound that ripped it in half felt otherwise about it.

both are GREAT cars, one must once again though, decide what they want out of it, then make a decision.

and if cost is an issue, the ralliart lancer is coming, which I heard the new one will be turbo'd and AWD, but not for sure, if tht is the case, then hell yeah, then people in the WRX(not STi) market will have a better time looking at turbo AWD bang for the buck.

ps...the ralliart is supposedly going to run between 22-25k new
 
#12 ·
same, im not biased at all. ive driven both and can say that i like both equaly, but would end up driving a wrx or sti as my daily street machine. firstoff, the evo is a very capable track machine with samurai sword sharp steering and great track suspension and not too much understeer. I would choose the evo as a weekend track going car. Its steering and suspension work are "too much" so to say for daily driving, not to mention the interior is not great in any terms. Seeing as how i never go to the track (went once) i love the wrx and sti for street and daily driving. They both have a lot more comfortable ride an tollerable steering for street driving. They both obviously have phenomenal after market support so looking for parts shouldnt be too difficult. Bottome line , if you want a great car for track days and for amateur racing, go with the evo. If you want a great daily driver that you can add mods to thats comfortable, easy, and fun to drive go with the wrx/sti.

here are pros and cons (in my oppinion) of each car

Evo pros
-Suspension is nice and stiff
-Steering is sharp and precise
-Overall very capable circuit car

Cons
-Not suitable for street driving
-Interior is very bland
-Guzzles gas

WRX/STI pros
-Excellent for daily driving
-Very nice exhaust note with aftermrket system
-Great grip for all types for weather

Cons-
-Hood scoop for 04+ is too big
-Understeer on the track
 
#13 ·
My question is:

Lucky, why are you addressing people on a website called WRX tuners in such an angry tone? Of course we support WRX's more than DSM's. I'm sure there's mad sh*t talking about WRX's on DSM tuners, but that's reality. I have nothing against DSM's, but I think you're outnumbered here.
 
#14 ·
personally i like the wrx, wrx sti and the evo. they're all awesome. but when the issue is pressed, i have to pick the wrx over all of them. sure the evo beats the sti in performance and they both beat the stock wrx, but on my budget anything over $30K is a fantasy. the wrx looks great, performs admirably, and it's not that expensive. i give a nod of respect to anyone driving any of these cars. but my heart lies with my own wrx.
 
#16 ·
The evo looks so cheap and geared toward as someone else said "Fast and Furious". The whole interior is plastic, it looks like a dressed up SRT-4. The WRX/STI interior is warm and inviting. Also if i'm paying 30000 for a car it better have a nice interior. The only thing your paying for in a lancer is the name. Plus the car is really hard to work on. My buddies own a large performance shop here in orlando, and when the evo's came to the U.S they had a customer that wanted new clutch and flywheel put in. They said that it was such a pain in the butt to work on. Sorry if I offended anyone with a lancer, but my heart is with the subie. Also do a search, how many suby's do you see used for sale vs the evo, or gst,gsx. That will tell you something right there. when people buy a suby they buy it for life.
 
#17 ·
lucky, you drive an EVO! I am sorry if my ? pi$$ed you off.... but that is why I posted it on WRXTUNERS.COM and not on EVOTUNERS.COM. I have been driving a REX for 4 years now, I know th animosity amongst the suby and EVO crowd. I know an EVO with not a whole lot of miles (upgraded turbo) that ceased an exhaust valve. And the end all is a race that the cars have to meet a set of tuning rules IOT compete WRC, look at the past standings. And thank God they don't import the Focus Cowsworth RS
 
#20 ·
very angry when reading this post. i come from dsmtuners and over there we do not bash any other cars/engines. i must say thought that the 4g63 is one of the most powerful 4 cylinder engines that has ever been in the united states. the 4g63 can make up to 500whp on the stock motor and run low 11's all day long. besides the fact that how many eclipse/talosn do you see with well over 100k miles and still running strong and smoking your a** at the track everytime you go. i love the STi its a great looking car and hanldes amazing and I do prefer it over the evo but I could never buy one simply because Ive been tuning dsm's and the 4g63 for so long now so why switch it up. but please until you have owned a car that can make 500whp on a stock motor and still make track passes please do not bash. thanks !Thumbs Up
 
#21 ·
Alright already, if I say I was wrong will people who don't own wrx's please stop reading WRXTUNERS.COM forums and get pissed off???? I don't know what you discuss on DSMTUNERS, I don't own one, so I don't go there. Nor, do I go to EVOTUNERS, 'CUS I DON'T OWN A F#$%ING EVO. So, why are you on this site? Maybe, it is to do what you don't do on DSMTUNERS.....talk sh!t.
PS. Shepard just ran a 7.72 1/4 mi, in his DSM. Check out FPs site the video is there!Thumbs Up
 
#22 ·
about what you said missionx

wow if you think your stock engine will last at 500 whp with stock internals your car must not be a daily driver AT ALL... let alone most 7 bolt 4g63 engines dont even go past 120k... some even die at 10 thousand miles, trust me ive built my share of eclipses and not one of them is pushing 500whp both gst and gsx, the most my friends and i have ever put together was a 493 hp gsx 2.4l stroker and it crank walked in a year after 19 thousand miles on the engine and tranny. Sorry i dont mean to crash this post what im saying is 4g63's both have pro's and cons, but simply the 4g63 has a strong bottom end its cast iron for christs sake but the internals still lack. you cant even go past 270 hp without upgrading your clutch, and we all know dsmers get act 2600 lbs pressure plates which only decreases the life of an eclipse engine even more. When i look through different wrx websites and see wrx's with 500 hp and stock internals im truely amazed on how much power these boxer engines can hold and produce. The 4g63 simply lacks at that, sure go ahead and say "well overbore.net sells 6 bolt engines that are cryo treated against crank walk" thats what they all say but do you have 3000 dollars for a new engine? and if you do get a 6 bolt stock motor no way can the internals hold up to 500 hp at all SAFELY. the ones we built needed eagle rods and fp cams.

Sorry for the long post but please, mission x dont ever compare numbers like that, you of all people as a dsmer should know that HORSEPOWER SELLS! its the reason why those v8 mustangs with 400 hp and blower kits wonder why they get smoked by a 16g eclipse producing maybe 300-350. its not about simply horsepower, i find 0-60 times and 1/4 mile times the only way to determine if a car is fast because horsepower just makes money, speed is the only thing that counts in my book.

and for the record, the reason why dsmtuners doesnt bash on anyone else's engines is because ALL THEY DO IS SPEND TIME FIXING IT because i sure as hell know all of my fellow dsmers spend more than 50% of our time working to get money to fix it or are actualy spending our own time fixing it and lemme tell you, it was worth it...

the only problem is, im not 16 anymore, i cant stay home after school or skip school to tune my car anymore, i and alot of other people here have to work, goto school, and its just too hard to keep up with a dsm. dsm's have alot of problems because they were built for racing, and with racing comes problems. I for one am switching to a wrx soon because i see a wrx as a more settled down car with the power and RELIABILITY i am looking for.

again sorry for long post
 
#26 ·
Sorry for the long post but please, mission x dont ever compare numbers like that, you of all people as a dsmer should know that HORSEPOWER SELLS! its the reason why those v8 mustangs with 400 hp and blower kits wonder why they get smoked by a 16g eclipse producing maybe 300-350. its not about simply horsepower, i find 0-60 times and 1/4 mile times the only way to determine if a car is fast because horsepower just makes money, speed is the only thing that counts in my book.

and for the record, the reason why dsmtuners doesnt bash on anyone else's engines is because ALL THEY DO IS SPEND TIME FIXING IT because i sure as hell know all of my fellow dsmers spend more than 50% of our time working to get money to fix it or are actualy spending our own time fixing it and lemme tell you, it was worth it...

the only problem is, im not 16 anymore, i cant stay home after school or skip school to tune my car anymore, i and alot of other people here have to work, goto school, and its just too hard to keep up with a dsm. dsm's have alot of problems because they were built for racing, and with racing comes problems. I for one am switching to a wrx soon because i see a wrx as a more settled down car with the power and RELIABILITY i am looking for.

again sorry for long post

Its is long but it really does sum up all of this. Afterall this is a opionated topic and the OP is getting alot of dsm converts on here. I am one myself and will defend my soon to be crushed 1G, I loved the car and it was fun to drive. I am just like you, tired of screwing around with it and ALWAYS working on it to correct some issue. I wanted mpg, power, reliabilty and something fun to drive not something on jackstands 5 days out of the week.

I am by no means a ardant evo or wrx fan, I like both of the cars and they both have their pro's and con's. Afterall it just comes down to what "you" want, not what someone else thinks.
 
#23 ·
I have always liked the GSX, I was actually a little pissed that mitsu doesn't rally it. Honestly, it is about styling for me, my 1st suby was a 2000 Legacy GT. If I would have known that they were turbocharging the EJ25, I would've kept it. To me the bugeye slightly resembles the 80s Porsche 911, the headlights. If you were to ask me to choose between the EVO X, and the 09 WRX. The EVO X, hands down, of course I wouldn't abandon my bugeye. And, I am not going for big HP, if I wanted that I'd buy what 14 million (or more)other Americans are driving a mustang. Hell, I refuse to get rid of my EJ20 and TMIC, cause every heavily modified rex I see has a EJ25 and a FMIC. I may buy the stroker kit when I rebuild it, but I'm keeping the stock block. If it is good enough for WRC it is good enough for me. My rex is to maintain streetability.
 
#27 ·
most definately! great minds think alike =) Dont get me wrong i will always have respect for dsms they are simply power houses, if i had time and money and didnt have to goto college trust me i wouldnt be selling my eclipse soon. Just a few more thousand dollars in a month and i should be ready to get my wrx =) I wonder if im kicked from the dsm tuner site lol? btw did i ever mention this forum is alot nicer than the dsmtuners? too much flaming to be honest lol
 
#29 ·
The biggest misconception about DSM's is that they are unreliable. That is completely untrue. My DSM has had absolutely NO major problems. It holds the horsepower i put to it JUST fine. The problem with DSM's is not the car. It's the people working on the car. They are very affordable cars so poor/dumb people buy them and put STUPID mods or the wrong mods on. If you do things the right way and in the proper order you will have NO problems with DSM's. Everyone i know that has a DSM that has broke on them is their fault. It's either because they made a mistake in putting parts on or have a really shitty tune. My friend will NOT listen to me and his car has broke down like 5 times over the past 8 months. He has put over $5000 into his car and mine is just as fast as his and i haven't even put $1000 into mine yet. I'm not trying to bash on the DSM community but it really is the people's fault. Not the cars. I don't have respect for WRX's at all though. My buddy has a '06 and he has spent more money fixing his car than he has paid for it so far. He's already gone through 2 trannys. His turbo has already blown and he's had numerous engine problems. All of this in about 30,000miles and a completely stock car. Doesn't quite sound like reliabilty to me. My "unreliable" DSM has over 100,000 on the clock and it pulls WAY harder now than when i first got it and it only had about 50,000 miles on it. I don't know about STi's because i don't really know anyone who has one or who has had one for an extended period of time.

Subbie's and DSM's are both REALLLY amazing cars for what you pay. They really don't compare with any other car out there. You might try and argue for audi's or SRT4's. But audi's are way overweight, too much fancy crap and way under powered. Not to mention they can't handle many mods from the factory. SRT4's aren't AWD and driving a high HP fwd car is just stupid. They really just don't compete. Subbies and DSMs are all around cars. They can compete in any race. All other cars can either only compete in something with turns, something with no turns, or a race where you have to start from 60mph or they'll just get mad wheel spin. It's not really a question of which is better between DSM or subby. The real question is when will someone else make something that can comete with them? Maybe the 2008 models of the EVO and STI will show some seperation between the 2. Until then, it's not which is better in terms of stats. Because they're dead equal. It's more or less a matter of personal style and for that, you should never ask for some one else's opinion. Then it's no longer personal style. If you don't want independence then move to a communist country. They'll make up your mind for you on everything.
 
#30 ·
I have 82k miles on my rex, never had any problem. Anyone can blow any turbo, especially not using a turbo timer or raising boost w/out added fuel. I have a friend with an '03 that has been thru a turbo, and a rebuild, and he doesn't drive it nearly as hard as I do. I replaced my stock clutch at 80k miles and that was with my wife learning how to drive MT on it, not to mention the clutch dumps at the track. It is true the wrx has a weak tranny, which is why I haven't been to the track since I started tuning it.
 
#31 ·
i have noticed some cars have better luck than others, especially 2nd gen dsms, so your telling me your engine will be reliable at 130k miles? we have 2 show car eclipses in my city both with basic bolt ons, cat back, intake, recirc bov, and one had rod knock at 122k miles and the other had an ecu that took a crap on him on the freeway and his engine would not stop revving past 6500 rpms and ending up blowing the head on his car. mind you these cars are show cars so driving them fast and hars is impossible because their ground clearance is under an inch and they dont want to ruin their new paint.

Just because your car does not have problems does not mean that everyones will be the same, and yes every part i have installed i know i have done right, and we got our tune from GST MOTORSPORTS so we dont have shitty tunes.

Mitsubishi had alot of flaws in the design of 2nd gen dsms and only a few flaws in the 1st gen, we are not talking about evo's here we are talking about dsms correct? It's not our fault that chrysler built the dsm engines in america and made it the way it is. Of course your going to defend your dsm because its what YOU own, i defended my eclipse for the past 2 years and once i got a taste of what else is out there your start to notice that maybe its time for a change. some people are different, hey if you have all the time in the world and make the money needed to repair and fix your eclipse than happy tuning, but like i said myself and alot others dont have the time anymore to be putting time into fixing them.

I'm not bashing on dsms im simply stating the truth, that there are alot of flaws, just like how subaru has flaws in their tranny, in the end it is how you drive it. but seeing two cars crap out from daily driving, not spirited driving or racing of any sort and seeing them collect dust in their garage makes me think twice if i really want to keep going forward. My eclipse engine is as 120k miles and i can already feel that my car is slower thanit was last year at 110k miles. It's almost as if my car is screaming and giving out everything its got before it ends up like every other 7 bolt dsm engine out there that dies before 130k miles.

btw some of the points i have used i did not think of myself, i remember talking to the founder or i think the main moderator of www.dsmsource.com , he had a dsm as well and switched over to a 2004 wrx and stated why it was time for a change for him.
 
#32 ·
erm ... hey guys have you seen the new evo X concept vs new mazdwrx ? gosh! i dont know! now the evo is gonna be miles miles miles!!!! like sea and sky! i say that because at present people know evos can be tuned to huger numbers than the sti but the sti melts hearts because of character. i think it's lost it.
 
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