How to Replace an Evo? (It's a what car)
How to Replace an Evo? (It's a what car)
Author
Discussion

Dan_1981

Original Poster:

18,113 posts

229 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
Had an Evo VIII for just over a year now.

FQ320 with stage one mods. So almost 400bhp.

And its amazing. Its quick, its spacious, it handles brilliantly.

But ideally I need to change, we're getting married later this year and I could do with releasing a couple of £K in cash. Also I could live with something that needs servicing just a little less often. I can live with the insurance which isn't too bad, and I do fairly low miles so consumption (whislt often horrific) isn't too big a concern. However regular servicing, and consumables being fairly expensive are costing me a fair bit.

Or maybe I just fancy a change?

But what on earth do I replace it with?

Budget will be £5k... OK an absolute max of £6k.

I know the chances of being able to go faster are pretty slim, so maybe all out performance is not what i'm looking for.

I don't have many rerquirements - only really need two seats, consumption not too important, don't have a garage so it needs to be happy living outside. I like reliable cars. I hate cars that go wrong and leave you stranded.

So far i've considered:

350z - quite taken by these at the moment - would need to be azure blue or the yellow gold colour.
Clio 197 - spoiler required.
Megane 225
Boxster - am i at pig end of the market?
E46 M3 - Be lucky to get one for £6k and don't think it would cost me any less?

Really running short on ideas after this.

So PH - how do you solve a problem that is an Evo?

Or do I just keep it?

texaxile

3,797 posts

180 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
M3 would put you at the crap end of the market I reckon. You'd get a convertible for that but not a decent coupe. Also, keeping the bloody things on the road can be an expensive hobby.

Dare I say it, you could get a decent Scooby for that, a late model too. Easier servicing, not so expensive to keep on the road and although a standard scooby is certainly no EVO 8 MR, it's still an option.

Mazda 6 MPS?. Again, 4WD and not common. Not without their problems though.

I keep on at the Mrs about an EVO, but I also have an old A176 lancer as my classic, how do you find the EVO behaves as a daily?.

Good luck, I envy your current choice of car, you'd be hard pushed to find anything that equals it I reckon, especially for 6 grand.

2manycars

2,751 posts

208 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
texaxile said:
M3 would put you at the crap end of the market I reckon. You'd get a convertible for that but not a decent coupe. Also, keeping the bloody things on the road can be an expensive hobby.

Dare I say it, you could get a decent Scooby for that, a late model too. Easier servicing, not so expensive to keep on the road and although a standard scooby is certainly no EVO 8 MR, it's still an option.

Mazda 6 MPS?. Again, 4WD and not common. Not without their problems though.

I keep on at the Mrs about an EVO, but I also have an old A176 lancer as my classic, how do you find the EVO behaves as a daily?.

Good luck, I envy your current choice of car, you'd be hard pushed to find anything that equals it I reckon, especially for 6 grand.
What makes you say that keeping an E46 M3 on the road is expensive? Apart from servicing, they're relatively cheap compared to something with similar power output.

DanielSan

20,044 posts

197 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
Can get a nice Evo 5 for £5-6k now. All the same thrills but you've released the required cash biggrin

V8RX7

28,982 posts

293 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
E36 M3
Supra turbo (would be an Auto though)
Skyline RWD

scottdd

39 posts

166 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
Keep EVO, service it less.

Win/Win.

350nick

65 posts

178 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
I could definately recommend a 350z if you can live with 2 seats and a small boot. It will probably feel quite slow after your evo as its got a really linear power delivery and is quite heavy. Really nice cars though and sound great with the right exhaust.

Of the other cars you mention I find the renaultsports tempting as a more practical option. The megane seems to be depreciating really fast though. I love m3's and boxsters but potential costs scare me off!

Boots819

39 posts

164 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
Dan_1981 said:
Had an Evo VIII for just over a year now.

FQ320 with stage one mods. So almost 400bhp.

And its amazing. Its quick, its spacious, it handles brilliantly.

But ideally I need to change, we're getting married later this year and I could do with releasing a couple of £K in cash. Also I could live with something that needs servicing just a little less often. I can live with the insurance which isn't too bad, and I do fairly low miles so consumption (whislt often horrific) isn't too big a concern. However regular servicing, and consumables being fairly expensive are costing me a fair bit.

Or maybe I just fancy a change?

But what on earth do I replace it with?

Budget will be £5k... OK an absolute max of £6k.

I know the chances of being able to go faster are pretty slim, so maybe all out performance is not what i'm looking for.

I don't have many rerquirements - only really need two seats, consumption not too important, don't have a garage so it needs to be happy living outside. I like reliable cars. I hate cars that go wrong and leave you stranded.

So far i've considered:

350z - quite taken by these at the moment - would need to be azure blue or the yellow gold colour.
Clio 197 - spoiler required.
Megane 225
Boxster - am i at pig end of the market?
E46 M3 - Be lucky to get one for £6k and don't think it would cost me any less?

Really running short on ideas after this.

So PH - how do you solve a problem that is an Evo?

Or do I just keep it?
350z please
please

Caulkhead

4,938 posts

187 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
Dan_1981 said:
Had an Evo VIII for just over a year now.

FQ320 with stage one mods. So almost 400bhp.

And its amazing. Its quick, its spacious, it handles brilliantly.

But ideally I need to change, we're getting married later this year and I could do with releasing a couple of £K in cash. Also I could live with something that needs servicing just a little less often. I can live with the insurance which isn't too bad, and I do fairly low miles so consumption (whislt often horrific) isn't too big a concern. However regular servicing, and consumables being fairly expensive are costing me a fair bit.

Or maybe I just fancy a change?

But what on earth do I replace it with?

Budget will be £5k... OK an absolute max of £6k.

I know the chances of being able to go faster are pretty slim, so maybe all out performance is not what i'm looking for.

I don't have many rerquirements - only really need two seats, consumption not too important, don't have a garage so it needs to be happy living outside. I like reliable cars. I hate cars that go wrong and leave you stranded.

So far i've considered:

350z - quite taken by these at the moment - would need to be azure blue or the yellow gold colour.
Clio 197 - spoiler required.
Megane 225
Boxster - am i at pig end of the market?
E46 M3 - Be lucky to get one for £6k and don't think it would cost me any less?

Really running short on ideas after this.

So PH - how do you solve a problem that is an Evo?

Or do I just keep it?
Keep it or go for something similar, but a bit more refined and subtle but still capable of being great fun:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

Then fit it with a decent exhaust like this so it sounds better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CTf5_BwHAE

smile

deltashad

6,731 posts

227 months

mrmr96

13,736 posts

234 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
scottdd said:
Keep EVO, service it less.

Win/Win.
Until it sts itself because you didn't service it?

Shinobi

5,129 posts

220 months

Friday 8th February 2013
quotequote all
Very tricky question, to be blunt NOTHING will tick all the boxes like an Evo. I owned one, tried a 350z lovely car but not an Evo its so slow in comparison and if you are used to the boot and seats you will miss them like I did. so i got a better Evo a FQ320 MR this time. incredible car as you know but chasing the power I owned a 600HP R32 GTR which was a lot faster but not as nice a package, bought a DC2 for a bit of fun and it changed my whole perspective of cars. I started to enjoy the driving not the speed and the performance, ended up with a monaro now and haven't looked back. Drove a mates 410BHP VIII the other day, incredible machine and I don't think much could touch one on the roads in terms of grip and power. But I've moved on, I will always believe Evos are THE best road car around, I respect that but I don't need to own another.

I digress, I would reccomend something fun like a decent hot hatch so you still get some nice handling and a boot etc. The Clios have always got very good reviews, if you fancy something different a 350z is a lovely car, very nicely weighted and you really feel like you are driving it. I was to misguided to completely enjoy mine at the time.

Good luck

Efbe

9,251 posts

196 months

Friday 8th February 2013
quotequote all
Dan_1981 said:
Had an Evo VIII for just over a year now.
options
what ever you do, make sure it's not a straight or similar replacement. you will only ever be disapointed.

go for something quite quite different.

wilbo83

1,552 posts

195 months

Friday 8th February 2013
quotequote all
How about something like a rotrex supercharged gen 7 Celica or ep3 type R?

philmots

4,666 posts

290 months

Friday 8th February 2013
quotequote all
You'll be able to pick up an eary Megane R26 for that.. Under 6k.

Probably closest in character to your Evo.. Handling is nothing short of superb. When mapped they go pretty well too. Probably not far from a standard Evo.


sealtt

3,091 posts

188 months

Friday 8th February 2013
quotequote all
"And its amazing. Its quick, its spacious, it handles brilliantly."

The last thing you should be doing is selling your car, that's great you found one you like so much and you should do something else to free-up the cash. e.g. cut back spending in another area, etc.


MacW

1,351 posts

206 months

Friday 8th February 2013
quotequote all
I'd go with the Z.

I may be biased though.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

220 months

Friday 8th February 2013
quotequote all
Dan_1981 said:
Had an Evo VIII for just over a year now.

FQ320 with stage one mods. So almost 400bhp.

And its amazing. Its quick, its spacious, it handles brilliantly.

But ideally I need to change, we're getting married later this year and I could do with releasing a couple of £K in cash. Also I could live with something that needs servicing just a little less often. I can live with the insurance which isn't too bad, and I do fairly low miles so consumption (whislt often horrific) isn't too big a concern. However regular servicing, and consumables being fairly expensive are costing me a fair bit.
If you don't do many miles, how come you need to service it so often? Also is there a way of maintaining it cheaper? Aren't most services just an oil and filter change? If so, then where are you getting this done, or more importantly how much is it costing you?


If you do want to change I think you need to accept that almost anything will be a step down. So buying something similar you'll always end up comparing it to the Evo. e.g. classic JDM Impreza STI's are pretty awesome, but will likely feel older and arguably not as good as your Evo.

If you can live with this then no probs. If not, then maybe you need to look for something completely different, something that offers a totally different kind of thrill? That way you'll not compare it in the same way.


Maybe some open top motoring from an Elan M100 Lotus? Is a VX220 in budget? Or go to the other end of the scale and get a dirty great jacked up tonka toy style 4x4!

Pasteurised

324 posts

182 months

Friday 8th February 2013
quotequote all
Has anyone said Impreza yet?

V8RX7

28,982 posts

293 months

Friday 8th February 2013
quotequote all
Shinobi said:
tried a 350z lovely car but not an Evo its so slow in comparison

bought a DC2 for a bit of fun and it changed my whole perspective of cars. I started to enjoy the driving not the speed and the performance

ended up with a monaro now and haven't looked back.
So you didn't like the 350z but do like the Monaro which is even heavier and slower witted ?