Okay, so my cousin traded in his turbocharged RSX for a brand spankin new silver Evolution. I am so impressed with this car. It definately lives up to the hype. We have been waiting all week for the 500 mile break in and it finally came today. A guy he works with bet him 100 bucks it could'nt beat his SS. Well, as much as I love his SS I new he was in for it. That freakin evolution had at least four lengths on him by 120MPH. I had read the EVO was anywhere from a 13.0 car to a 13.4 second car in the quarter. The race was from about 40 MPH and we did it twice to dismiss excuses. I was truly astounded. The SS is basically stock but I'm betting with some more break in this car is a 13.0 car. It's hard to tell for sure, but from the passenger seat it feels faster than my coupe. I'm assuming since it's all wheel drive it would whoop the SS even harder from a stop. I love this car in every way. About the only downside is the stereo and no cruise control. The seats are awesome, hell I'm all giddy and the damn car is'nt even mine. We'll see, but my wife will really have to put her foot down to keep me out of this car. For the money it can't be beat. I will test drive the STI for comparison though. I have been talking myself out of a new car for two years and I finally found something that really impresses me stock. Honda better step up. It's been raining, but he's gonna take pics with his new digicam tomorrow. Amazing, simply amazing for it's price. The Mazdaspeed Protege I test drove last month does'nt hold a candle. It is $10,000.00 less though

 

My friend did a cat back exhaust, intake and reprogram ECU all for $1000 and ran a 12.5 in his Evo8. I said HOLY SHEIT!

My friend has the Mazdaspeed Protege in orange and I love the way his car handles. It may not be a drag strip queen but Mazdaspeed did a heck of a job setting up the suspension and helps with the LSD.

I was thinking of trading in my Civic for a Mazdaspeed since it's $16K fully loaded.

 

A MSP for $16k??? Did I miss something?

 

(one of the advantages of working at an autocenter) i've driven, the STI, evo8, and the mazdaspeed, the evo is quicker off the line, the sti is faster on the quarter mile and has the best handling, and the mazdaspeed is a joke

the only mazda i would get is the RX-8, and then i remember that its mostly ford

 

I test drove the mazdaspeed and the only thing I was thinking was more boost. I wonder what the mazda could do with about 19 psi (what the EVO runs stock). We'll see. For the EVO my payment would be in the $600.00 range and with the Mazdaspeed it would be in the 350.00 to 400.00 range. Daarsmn these new cars.

 

Oh, I looked at the RX-8 and it's hard but for the same price I could get the EVO. The styling of the RX-8 is bad ass.

 

The Mazda still wouldnt hold against the Evo at 19psi. It still uses a garrett t-25 (not the same one as dsms) whereas the Evo uses the tdo5-16g. Also, once you get used to AWD, you won't want FWD again.

 

For a FWD car the Mazdaspeed cannot be beat. Helical LSD, nice tires from factory, and nice seats. Suspension is much better than what Honda can put together. Plus I drove it at an autocross and I was pretty close to my times in my fully prepared Civic.

 

When at the recent MazdaSpeed autocross events, I test drove the new MSP was impressed by its handling way more than power. Response although was quite quick and the car felt agile. The suspension setup is very good. Speaking to a guy that tunes and works on Mazdas while waiting in line, he said the MSP wasn't made to be a 1/4 strip competitor, (this is obvious) but the thing is I believe the MSP runs at a factory boost setting of 5-7 psi. The guy I was talking to said they have turned up the boost on quite a few to 15psi with NO problems...

Still. Even on 19psi the MSP would not take on an EVO.

 

i've been in both and watched an sti and an evo race each other the sti is faster in a straight line any day as it has more torque with 2.5 liters and 300hp it is alout faster in a straight line they are about the same from a stop all depends on launching but even if the evo gets a jump the sti will walk