True. I drove an A4 z28, and around town, i rarely hit 3krpms. On my old 5spd 5.0 mustang, i'd shift @ or around 2500rpms...sometimes at 2k rpms. Broad tq provided ample pull at just about any rpm really. In my old 99/90 accords, you couldn't get anwhere without exceeding 3,000rpms and so a lot of those smaller engines require high rpms and short-gearing to make power and get the car going which in turn sips more fuel.

For their power levels, nothing from the import-competition really touches the Lsx engines in fuel economy.

 

Hmmm, I'm surprised by the insurance. I've talked to several guys out here (St. Louis) and they all found the evo much cheaper to insure than other v8 sports cars. When I called my insurance company to first sign my car up, the lady said "4 doors and a 4 clyinder, this shouldn't be too much" I was paying $170/mo on my alero so my insurance only went up $10.

 

Maybe the Evo gets pooled in with the regular Lancers at that insurance co.?? higher MSRP would make insurance higher than a reg Lancer. When you called to insure it what did you say? "Hello, I'd like to buy insureance for a Mitsubishi Lancer"?

I know Integras were always more than Camaros. I paid $1600 a year for my '94 Z28 when I was 20 back in 1999, full coverage.

 

Another point that bears being brought up is the modability of a forced induction 4-banger. This isn't so much an import vs domestic issue b/c of the srt-4, but still seems relevant here. A simple stage 1+ evo will chew up a vette and retains stock reliability and driveability. I'm sure the SRT-4 is the same way, especially from a roll. It's easy to get these cars in the mid 12's. My g/f's GTI picked up a good 40hp from a simple $300 chip. Granted, a v-8 has alot more potential, but it's so easy to turn up the power with FI.

 

Insurance rates are based on the number of claims for a given car. V8 Fbodies always end up wrecked by some idiot, hence the high insurance rate. A Corvette has cheaper insurance despite it being smaller, better handling, and more likely to be wrecked by an inexperieneced driver.

Have you ever priced insurance for a Honda Civic? All those ricer tools have jacked up insurance rates by wrecking them. My friend pays $180 a month for insurance on his 98 Civic.

 

slt, how's your driving record? That obviously contributes to higher premiums...my record is clean, but if you've gotten a ticket or two I could see $180 for the Evo.

 

Dont know about that one. An EVO is an impressive car - but back to personal history - even a standard LS1 fbody vs a GSX with a "Big" 16g turbo and all the supporting mods is a hard race to win. Yes the DSM will win if it launches the **** out of it - but you do that on a regular basis and you will break a LOT of stuff. Getting an EVO to the 275awhp-300awhp it takes to really be able to fight a C5 off the line and launching hard is pushing things decently, and I wouldnt want to own one for 50,000 miles with that power output ever again.

The 4g63 is a great engine - but reliability was never it's strong point. Cheap Power is

I clocked a 98' GTP Grand Prix saying 41mpg on the highway. I didnt believe it so I checked with the distance we went and the fuel when I filled the tank. It hit 39.9mpg. For a huge 4 door sedan with an automatic and a heavy engine, thats nothing to sneeze at either.

My lt1 got 31mpg on a highway trip for 4 hours to and from a wedding when it was bone stock!

The S2000 really DOES need another gear- BUT when doing testing for the window sticker, they dont cruise at 75-80mph like owners do... So the rating is better then you think. If it were as easy as adding a gear, they could easily add a 6th gear to get a lot of mpg... But it just isnt the case. The S2000 just doesnt like low revs no matter what you do.

 

My record is clean. I know it has something to do with where you live, My insurance went up $15 month when I moved from my little cow and corn college town back to St. Louis. I'm also 25 and unmarried. I knocked one of my wheels off on a curb last year, but Progressive didn't count it agaist me and my rates stayed the same

 

Please expain. I've never heard of any problems other than the crankwalk way back in the day. I would say its very reliable.

 

I wouldnt say crankwalk was an issue way back in the day - it's still out there with cars now. Granted most of the cars that will walk have, but it's still there. There is the fact that lifter tick was really mild and annoying. Never much of an issue - but it took them till late 1999 to produce a lifter that wouldnt tick. There is the issue of the balance shafts, if they jumped the belt a little you'd spend forever trying to get them right... once you figured out what the problem was... To the ECU's in the 1990-1994 models having faulty capacitors, to the water pumps siezing (which didnt happen more then many other cars, but it did happen) to cams getting slightly off and you'd loose sensors. Perhaps the manifold studs getting stuck in the head and shearing off at the surface to the manifold. Transfer cases leaking all the time and dealers not even able to fix them after there was a safety recall... And mitsu never fixed the problem though the recall was done pretty quick! 9 years later they never fixed it!

Perhaps blowing transmissions, driveshafts and transfercases during hard launching, having the base idle set screw getting lost or not in right and spending forever trying to figure out what the problem is, and then spending $15 to order a tiny little screw...

Perhaps having the piston oil squirters clog with coke in the system from the turbo and under high boost you blow a piston... Perhaps it's getting the clutch to feel right and never being quite able. Maybe the $160 o2 sensor burned out because you ran too rich or too lean. Maybe it's having a hose blow and hitting fuel cut... and running dead lean and blowing the motor...

There werent a HUGE list of nasty problems aside from crankwalk, but modding a 95-99 turbo once you put more then 300whp and a heavy clutch meant you probably had a 25% to a 33% chance your motor was going to nuke itself. And rebuilding that block would never fix the problem... You'd need a new block... But the 4g63 is, and has been, a tempermental little powerplant. When it runs, it runs like nobody's business. But when it doesnt run, it's headache after headache finding the problem, getting it fixed, and getting back to driving. That said I still love the cars beyond all reason.

The "new" 4g63 in the EVO and the 4g64 derived engine in the SRT4 are better, but it's the nature of the beast.

 

Guys have been consistantly running 400hp on stock intenals with the current 4g63 without issue. New headstuds and rod bolts are all you really need to shore it up. Lifter noise is still there. The open diff on the '03s were prone to blowing out on hard launches, but the limited slip in the new one's seems more up to the task, although if your drag racing an Evo, you probably bought the wrong car. We'll see how well MIVEC works with a turbo when the Evo 9 comes out later this year.

 

Totally. Good to know they solved the diff thing. The 4g63 always had great guts. Guys pushing 400hp to the wheels on stock internals blew the headgasket, went through oil, blew cv shafts... but the rotating assembly always held together. As long as nothing went wrong it was great. Just when it went wrong... it went wrong with enthusiasm.

I'm interested to see how MIVEC works as well - but I'm a fan of keeping things simple, and though there are gains - I dont think the added complications are worth it.

 

Soooo... the SRT-4 is going to a Mitsu engine? And dropping the Chrysler 2.4?

Is that a good thing?

 

What are the imports gonna do about HP ????

I think in the Asian imports anyways you are gonna see hp #'s skyrocket . There has been a longstanding agreement between asian carmakers to not exceed 300hp even though their engines were capable of much more . There have been overlooked exceptions over time . But one car that recently came out ( I dont rememeber what car from the article I read , maybe it was a new acura model ) broke that agreeament with its advertised horsepower rating as well as the STI's and Evo's . The agreement was that if one manufacturer broke the hp agreement then all bets were off for everyone . SO I think its safe to say , your gonna start seeing power figures well north of 300 hp from the asian import brands soon .

 

I think you are dead-on accurate...imports (whether from the east or the west) have never been just about HP, but you can bet that Nissan, Toyota and the rest will not simply stand by and be left in the dust or loose market to the USA Big Three.

Having lived long enough to see how bad things got (in the late 70's and early 80's) this is a great time to be alive if you are a car guy!

The best thing is, as long as all the manufacturers are fighting for market share...we all win!