Mitsubishi’s crown jewel line of cars has undoubtedly been the Evolution line of cars, especially the Evolution VIII. A prominent figure head in the world of rally and touring car championships this car has become a legend in motorsports. In the streets many people have hailed this cars as one of the top tuner cars in the scene next to other legends such as the Mazda RX-7s and Nissan’s Z line of cars.
The car comes in three variations, the stock variant, the MR (Mitsubishi Racing) and the GSR (Grand Sport Rally) versions, the differences between each I will cover. Of course, this car isn’t one to shy away from the eyes of gaming and pop culture. This is a car prominently featured in the early days of Gran Turismo and made people want to buy this “dream” car. It’s also featured in Wangan Midnight, Initial D as well as Fast and Furious. So, let’s dive into detail on what makes this car so appealing to gamers, gearheads and everyday people.
Looks: 10/10
Starting from the back you see agressive looking rear lights that really stand out from its pre facelift model, the Evo VI and has a darker shade than its more recent predecessor, the Evo VII. It comes with a stock spoiler that has become iconic in the Evo line (And of course a bolt on spoiler in the more street friendly Lancer GLX) with almost every edition since then sporting the same wing (Except the Evo X). The rear diffuser is also distinct in every Evo after the facelift. This rear is also essentially the same in the Evo IX.
Move to the front and instantly, you become entranced by those headlights. It’s like an angry stare at the other cars telling them “get outta the way slowpokes!” It has a feature that it’s predecessor, the Evo VII was lacking and that is a bigger hood vent which gives air to the engine. The hood vent in the Evo VII pales in comparison to the Evo VIII. However, the bumper vent is slightly smaller in the VIII than the VII, sending slightly less air into the intercooler than the VII did. I love the addition if the triangle to cover vent near the headlights, it gives it a more complete finish to the Mitsubishi emblem that the old one never had.
Stock, the car came with Enkei rims and the MR package came with BBS rims to give people that racing feel. The MR package also had a little cheeky addition, the sunroof so you can take your kids out for a drive and let them see the sky while you drive, something not many sedans today have.
Modability: 10/10
The looks of the car are already amazing in on itself so imagine the fun people can have tricking out this car!
As mentioned before, this car has become one of the pinnacles for Japanese tuner cars alongside the likes of RX-7s, Supras and many other JDM legends. If anyone says they haven’t seen a modded Evo VIII be it in Need For Speed or Wangan Midnight they’re lying.
From the front, there are options to add canards, lower the front lip and, of course, a classic carbon fiber hood. Top that off with sponsors all over the place! For the sides there are a multitude of options. You can buy a side splitter on the doors or if you’re creative, hire a detail artist and paint a dragon over the side of the car, it’s really up to you. Swooping toward the rear of the car you have the most obvious trait, the rear wing. The stock carbon fiber wing looks good enough but trust me when i say almost every wing available in the car market will look good on this car. Another option can be to take out that wing entirely and it can still look good! As for the rim choices any rims that have 5 spokes or more in my opinion (Preferrably Enkei, HKS, OZ, or Watanabe) are the best, top it all of with a sick underglow and you’ve got yourself the ultimate Evo VIII!
Engine Performance:8/10
Under that vented hood lies an engine that most JDM fans might have heard of. Or maybe you might be wondering about this engine and saying “This isn’t like a rotary! Nothing looks special about this!” Indeed it is not a rotary but under the hood is what’s called a 2 Litre 4G63 Inline Four engine with a five speed manual transmission that is turbocharged (although i can’t seem to find the turbocharger in this one. Well, it’s hidden in there somewhere). It might look like Inline Fours or Inline Six’s you see in city cars but this one is special. It makes a respectable 276 horsepower and 295 lbft of torque. It’s 0-60mph time is pretty astonishing, 3.5 seconds! It does 9 seconds on the quartermile and 12 on the halfmile dragstrips which is pretty crazy for a road car. Mind you these are all stock and it’s not even the MR or GSR versions.
The MR and GSR engine however gets a significant power boost and of course, upgrades on the car to handle all those buff horses. It has a whopping 405 horsepower, a 129 horsepower increase. It also has 355lbft of torque, 60lbft more than the stock version. That’s quite a lot to fit in the same hood. In addition to all that power the MR and GSR were generally more stripped out than the normal versions. It didn’t have power doors, power windows or a radio to make the car lighter. What they added was a limited slip differential, Bilstein shocks for improved handling, BBS alloy rims, a carbon fiber MR shiftknob, changed the 5 speed manual to the 6 speed manual and blacked out the rear lights. Improvements were made to the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)as well as the electronic four wheel drive system. Weight reductions on the roof panel were made to lower the centre of gravity. All these mods resulted in the car being able to almost outrun the Lamborghini Murcielago in Top Gear on a wet track (The Murcielago was on a dry track) and it was faster than an Audi RS4 and a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S. All this power comes at a hefty price though. The gas mileage of this car is known for being one of the highest and least efficient of any road car being an astonoshing 20 mpg! That’s more than almost any other car on the road today!
Those living in the USA get a slightly toned down version of the car. The stock version featured a slightly less powerful 271hp 4G63 inline four engine with less torque and less acceleration. The boost timing was also lowered significantly from the Japanese counterpart to adhere to the strict regulations the US has. In short, the USA has made the Evo VIII less fun to drive, but hey, an Evo’s an Evo.
Practicality:9/10
One look at the Evo line of cars and you would see that this isn’t exactly a sports car. It looks like your average sedan with a good engine and that’s because it is. Mitsubishi never wanted the Evo line to be made exclusively for rally racing in the first place so they built the cars with the premonition of family fun and that is exactly what’s reflected here
The picture above is the stock seats. The car is a five seater which means it can fit a decently sized family. The MR and GSR versions are relatively the same. They have Recaro bucket seats in the front in case the driver wants to go for a joyride with his friends. There’s air conditioning and a radio equipped with state of the art subwoofers for a rave night in the car but as mentioned before, the MR and GSR didn’t have that.
This car is pretty ok for a road trip. Some customers did complain, again, about the gas mileage but that shouldn’t be a problem with enough cash. There are however some other problems such as blown headgaskets from time to time and cruising on turbocharger boost which might lead to some other problems if you’re unlucky.
The boot is fairly spacious for a sedan, like your average city taxi size. It can fit up to five of those big bags or maybe two Samsonite luggages, perfect for dropping off your family at the airport or hauling a cello to a school performance.
As mentioned before, fuel consumption is a pain in the ass. The fuel tank itself is pretty average sedan size but the amount of gas that turbocharged 4G63 guzzles is unreal, 20 mpg! That means if you’re on a road trip you have to fill up 3 times every hour assuming you’re cruising at about 90kph! That’s a lot of green paper going bye bye. One point down on practicality for that.
Maintenence wise it’s not really a problem. It. usually entails oil changes, air clean filter cleaning and other routine maintenence in intervals of once a year. So this car is pretty much hassle free.
Price: 7/10
Here in Singapore the most available Evo is sadly enough an Evo X. Evo VIII are sadly near impossible to find in Singapore. I only see Evo IX and Evo X. on sale and even then, with good condition it’s pretty expensive. SGD 75000 for an Evo IX MR with mods with 5 years worth of Certificate Of Entitlement (COE) left. Average Evo Xs with no mods already cost upwards of SGD 100000-200000. So it’s a nope for project cars in Singapore anytime soon.
But in the USA people are pretty lucky. You can get a pretty good condition Evo VIII for USD 7000-13000 which is very cheap for a project car or a daily driver! A far cry from. the exhorbitant amount that Singaporeans have to pay to get a similar car.
Overall:8/10
If you don’t mind the exhorbitant price offered if you live in Singapore or the horrid gas mileage, buying this car is a good investment. Demand for this car has been on the rise lately and a lot of people have been begging for this car so it’s a good time to buy the car before prices soar like a rocket. This car has been in the hearts of many JDM fanboys be it from gaming or movies and it’s no surprise that a lot of people want to have this car. What do y’all think of this car?
Thomas' car reviews 