Is an evo a ridiculous idea?
Discussion
I currently drive a 330d and half of me wants to keep it forever, I doubt any other car will be such a good allrounder. But I also want to own different cars. I have always like evos and have been looking at evo 8's. Not so bothered about it being stupidly high powered so prob just want a standard fq-320.
The thing that's nothing me tho is will it just be impractical and annoying? I do about 15k a year and I'm not sure I'm up for all the servicing, petrol and maintenance. Especially when u can get a diesel Beemer eith similar (ish) performance with twice the mpg, a fraction of the running cost etc. Also imagine that price will continue to plummet due to recession and petrol costs.
I used to have a kit car and promptly sold it, realising I value practicality and comfort quite highly.
Still want one tho!
The thing that's nothing me tho is will it just be impractical and annoying? I do about 15k a year and I'm not sure I'm up for all the servicing, petrol and maintenance. Especially when u can get a diesel Beemer eith similar (ish) performance with twice the mpg, a fraction of the running cost etc. Also imagine that price will continue to plummet due to recession and petrol costs.
I used to have a kit car and promptly sold it, realising I value practicality and comfort quite highly.
Still want one tho!
I don't think they are as bad to run as some people say. I used to run around in my brother's Evo 6 TME running about 370BHP. It was not the most fuel efficient thing but wasn't too bad in general driving.
However, each time I drove it I got a real thrill, acceleration was ultra quick and its ability to corner - well that was something else. I used to drive it around in London and it was a super quick A - B car.
We had some coil overs on initially but switched over to some Evo 8/9 suspension as the ride was too harsh.
Not sure whether any diesel would come close to the brutal acceleration. From factory it did a sub 5 second 0 - 60MPH, but with a bit more power it was about 4 seconds dead.
Sure the diesel gives you a good MPG figure and some decent performance but for outright agility the Evo has it truly beaten.
Drive one, you will be impressed.
However, each time I drove it I got a real thrill, acceleration was ultra quick and its ability to corner - well that was something else. I used to drive it around in London and it was a super quick A - B car.
We had some coil overs on initially but switched over to some Evo 8/9 suspension as the ride was too harsh.
Not sure whether any diesel would come close to the brutal acceleration. From factory it did a sub 5 second 0 - 60MPH, but with a bit more power it was about 4 seconds dead.
Sure the diesel gives you a good MPG figure and some decent performance but for outright agility the Evo has it truly beaten.
Drive one, you will be impressed.
Great cars in my experience, have owned 3, IV, VI and a VII.
I personally would't want to do 15k a year in one coz as you know they love the juice in a fashion and love regular servicing, one of the reasons I own a banger aswell for my work run, 54miles round trip.
Found all 3 very reliable cars that always put a smile on my face.
I personally would't want to do 15k a year in one coz as you know they love the juice in a fashion and love regular servicing, one of the reasons I own a banger aswell for my work run, 54miles round trip.
Found all 3 very reliable cars that always put a smile on my face.
I've got an Evo 8 and had a 330d as a runabout. What do you want to know?
Evo servicing is 4.5k mile or 6m, whichever is sooner. (This is for ALL Evo 8's bar the 260, despite what Clarkson says.)
MPG will be 20ish if driven saintly. 18 if driven properly. 16 on a hoon. 8 on a track.
The performance of the 330d is not "ish" similar to the Evo. Not even slightly. Yes, the 330d can steam down a sliproad, but the Evo would leave it for dead on any road with corners.
The BMW probably has a higher top speed too, but that's not what the Evo is for. It's geared for B roads and it works tremendously well for that job. It's not built to be a long distance cruiser, which the 330d is. Which is why I had both at the same time because they are so different they are good for different jobs.
Anything else you want to know?
Evo servicing is 4.5k mile or 6m, whichever is sooner. (This is for ALL Evo 8's bar the 260, despite what Clarkson says.)
MPG will be 20ish if driven saintly. 18 if driven properly. 16 on a hoon. 8 on a track.
The performance of the 330d is not "ish" similar to the Evo. Not even slightly. Yes, the 330d can steam down a sliproad, but the Evo would leave it for dead on any road with corners.
The BMW probably has a higher top speed too, but that's not what the Evo is for. It's geared for B roads and it works tremendously well for that job. It's not built to be a long distance cruiser, which the 330d is. Which is why I had both at the same time because they are so different they are good for different jobs.
Anything else you want to know?
Get one bought, keep the beemer and decide what to keep in a few months time. I think once you get bored of fraping around everywhere it'll just become another car and you'll hanker after the beemer again.
sounds to me like you need a cheap track car. Buy an AX and eats evo's for breakfast...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe_q4uAcYqY
sounds to me like you need a cheap track car. Buy an AX and eats evo's for breakfast...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe_q4uAcYqY
I spent three years and like 36k miles or so using an Evo 7 as an everyday car. I now have a 330CD and I think the BMW is a better car for using as your only one. It can't come close in terms of performance, and you'd be kidding yourself to ever believe otherwise (you'll see 400 out a later Evo with very little effort and that's before you get near a corner). It is however pretty capable, decent to drive, comfortable etc. For 95% of the time I do not miss the Evo.
Evo is pretty dull, very frustrating and tiring to drive at anything less than flat out. When it's pushed hard it's astonishing, but most of the time you're so far under it's limits that it's frankly boring (because as fast as it might be, getting stuck in lines of traffic is inevitable)..
Running costs are on a different level too. Individual services aren't bad, but they just come up so much more frequently and that's where the cost comes from. As a second car, it wouldn't be bad but at 3 per year it's noticeable imo.
If you do get one, make sure you get the geometry checked and a full fast road setup done. The difference that can make is massive, some people seem to neglect that.
Evo is pretty dull, very frustrating and tiring to drive at anything less than flat out. When it's pushed hard it's astonishing, but most of the time you're so far under it's limits that it's frankly boring (because as fast as it might be, getting stuck in lines of traffic is inevitable)..
Running costs are on a different level too. Individual services aren't bad, but they just come up so much more frequently and that's where the cost comes from. As a second car, it wouldn't be bad but at 3 per year it's noticeable imo.
If you do get one, make sure you get the geometry checked and a full fast road setup done. The difference that can make is massive, some people seem to neglect that.
e8_pack said:
Get one bought, keep the beemer and decide what to keep in a few months time. I think once you get bored of fraping around everywhere it'll just become another car and you'll hanker after the beemer again.
sounds to me like you need a cheap track car. Buy an AX and eats evo's for breakfast...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe_q4uAcYqY
Pulled away on the straight but the Evo caught it easily on EVERY corner!!sounds to me like you need a cheap track car. Buy an AX and eats evo's for breakfast...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe_q4uAcYqY
I've never has an Evo but had a standard Imprezza Turbo (220BHP) a few years ago which was quite often 'matched' by lesser cars on the straight, but came into itself on twisty roads or when overtaking.
mrmr96 said:
I've got an Evo 8 and had a 330d as a runabout. What do you want to know?
Evo servicing is 4.5k mile or 6m, whichever is sooner. (This is for ALL Evo 8's bar the 260, despite what Clarkson says.)
MPG will be 20ish if driven saintly. 18 if driven properly. 16 on a hoon. 8 on a track.
The performance of the 330d is not "ish" similar to the Evo. Not even slightly. Yes, the 330d can steam down a sliproad, but the Evo would leave it for dead on any road with corners.
The BMW probably has a higher top speed too, but that's not what the Evo is for. It's geared for B roads and it works tremendously well for that job. It's not built to be a long distance cruiser, which the 330d is. Which is why I had both at the same time because they are so different they are good for different jobs.
Anything else you want to know?
Sounds like u are the right person to get advice from! I might be working away soon without a car so car would just be used at the weekend so it might be the right time to go for the evo. Evo servicing is 4.5k mile or 6m, whichever is sooner. (This is for ALL Evo 8's bar the 260, despite what Clarkson says.)
MPG will be 20ish if driven saintly. 18 if driven properly. 16 on a hoon. 8 on a track.
The performance of the 330d is not "ish" similar to the Evo. Not even slightly. Yes, the 330d can steam down a sliproad, but the Evo would leave it for dead on any road with corners.
The BMW probably has a higher top speed too, but that's not what the Evo is for. It's geared for B roads and it works tremendously well for that job. It's not built to be a long distance cruiser, which the 330d is. Which is why I had both at the same time because they are so different they are good for different jobs.
Anything else you want to know?
As others have said tho, I'm not interested in a tiring drive. BM is an auto and I like relaxing in it. I had a track car and not bothered about going on track anymore, just like blasting my daily driver now and then on a good stretch of road.
torqueofthedevil said:
Sounds like u are the right person to get advice from! I might be working away soon without a car so car would just be used at the weekend so it might be the right time to go for the evo.
As others have said tho, I'm not interested in a tiring drive. BM is an auto and I like relaxing in it. I had a track car and not bothered about going on track anymore, just like blasting my daily driver now and then on a good stretch of road.
As others have said tho, I'm not interested in a tiring drive. BM is an auto and I like relaxing in it. I had a track car and not bothered about going on track anymore, just like blasting my daily driver now and then on a good stretch of road.
No worries.I used to run the Evo as my only car, doing about 15k/year and it was the cost of fuel that was killing me on the Evo, more than the servicing and tyres/brakes. You can get decent plain discs from Camskill for about £100/pair, but spend decent money on brake pads as that makes the performance difference. Then servicing is about £200-300 a pop depending what needs doing. Tyres are 235/45/17 which are pretty reasonable pricewise, so long as you're not buying trackday tyres. (Stuff like Goodyears are about £120/corner which I think is reasonable for good branded normal tyres.) The tank holds like 45 litres, so the cost of filling with V Power is about £60, but then you only get about 200-250 miles per tank. (I tend to start looking for a fuel station when I get to 200 miles, because I only ever buy Shell V Power or if there's none of that then BP Ultimate.)
So that got a bit tiresome, just using it for commuting on the motorway. I felt like I could be driving any car just for hacking to work and back, and so the expense of running a car like the Evo to do boring driving made no sense. Hence getting a 330d as the runabout and keeping the Evo for weekends and trackdays.
So you can run an Evo as a daily, doing 15k. But it will be a different world from a 330d auto. The Evo doesn't have cruise control, and the gearing means that in 6th you'll be about 3.5k (ish) at 80mph, so just on the boost threshold. It's a fantastic car, but don't go into it with any misconceptions about it being relaxing to drive, it's not! You can take it easy, but the way the boost comes in, the clutch and the suspension are not conducive to relaxation!!
A better compromise would be something like the 335i or an M3 or something like that which can do the cruising but also lend itself to the thrashing. I'm a believer in having "the right tool for the job" and it's something which I apply to my cars as well. Personally speaking I'd rather have 1 car for one job, and a another car for another job so that neither is a compromise. But for many people it's a much more sensible proposition to have one car which is a compromise and therefore will do both to a reasonable extent. The 330d is a reasonable compromise, but switching to an Evo will be going pretty much to the end of the spectrum! (Yes, bike engined cars and trackday specials, and stuff like 7's/caterfields are further on still) But maybe you should consider an M3 if you want a good compromise?
Dr Imran T said:
I don't think they are as bad to run as some people say. I used to run around in my brother's Evo 6 TME running about 370BHP. It was not the most fuel efficient thing but wasn't too bad in general driving.
That's the problem. You took it down to the shops a few times. You didn't exactly live with it. Buy one, fuel one, service one and maintain one and come back in 12 months and tell us what you think.Some good had advice has been handed out so far so despite owning quite a few evos I don't feel the need to add any more. I will say though if you're concerned by budget and costs, don't buy one. Only buy one if you feel you have the means to fix it if something goes wrong. A rebuild is in around £3000, so tread carefully.
Mastodon2 said:
As much as I dislike diesel cars and love Evos, an Evo is not a car for 15,000 miles a year in!
I've done it for the past 4 years with no major problems A bit thirsty mind. Motorway commutes can see almost 30 MPG though if driven sensibly.
If you use a specialist for servicing it is not expensive at all. My services cost between £150 and £250 a time.
Edited by *Kosta* on Monday 28th November 12:40
For 15K a year you will be bankrupt.
Your looking at 3 service's a year, the intervals are every 4,500 miles or 6 months which ever comes first.
Ideally if you want to keep the magic of the evo. See if you can keep the BM as a daily hack and take the evo out weekends/none work related commutes. You'll have so much more fun in it that way. Otherwise the not so good fuel consumption will get tedious sooner than you expect.
Your looking at 3 service's a year, the intervals are every 4,500 miles or 6 months which ever comes first.
Ideally if you want to keep the magic of the evo. See if you can keep the BM as a daily hack and take the evo out weekends/none work related commutes. You'll have so much more fun in it that way. Otherwise the not so good fuel consumption will get tedious sooner than you expect.
*Kosta* said:
LeeThr said:
For 15K a year you will be bankrupt.
Well, i've done it for the past 4 years and i'm pretty certain i'm not bankrupt!The only reason i've stopped using it every day is that I bought a diesel Focus as my dogs were ruining the back seats in the evo.
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