Evo VI shape onwards - questions

[Pentoman]

Hi,

I'm thinking of switching cars and rather like the evo 7 and onwards for being quite pleasing on the eye. How are the runnings costs for these (I know what fuel consumption will be but everything else?) Are they higher than, say, a BMW 3 series? Are they tough or a bit fragile and is there a lot of expensive things to break especially if you drive it hard?

Are there any niggles or worries that make it an effort in mundane daily usage? Finally, as a second 'fun' car is it a waste dragging round 5 seats and a saloon body; would I be better off with an Elise or MR2 and saving some runnings costs? Would they be more fun at lower speeds?

[Wadeski]

Yes, more epxensive than a 3 series. closer to an M3 (but then again, so is the performance).

No, its not silly to have one as a fun car. They are a lot of fun.

Yes, as MR2 or Elise would be more fun at low speeds. You need to cane Evos a bit to really get the most from them, otherwise they are a bit bland. Rewarding if you cane it, though!

[flatfour1]

Evos are expensive to run and maintain compared to an MR2 just because of the insurance tax and ( relatively frequent) servicing costs. When you factor in consumables like brakes and tyres on a hard driven Evo things get worse. Then there's the fuel consumption figures for a hard driven Evo ( space shuttle is a word that comes to mind). Evo ownership is not for the faint hearted or light walleted but will make you smile like a Cheshire cat.

Edited by flatfour1 on Monday 20th April 20:38

[*Kosta*]

Evo ownership is not as expensive as you might think, especially if it's gonna be a 'toy'.

I use mine as a daily driver, and servicing isn't expensive at all.

www.lancerregister.com - plenty of info on here

[flatfour1]

*Kosta* said:

servicing isn't expensive at all.

Fish live in trees and eat pencils and cars run on gravy.

[youngsyr]

flatfour1 said:

*Kosta* said:

servicing isn't expensive at all.

Fish live in trees and eat pencils and cars run on gravy.

I spend less servicing mine than I did on my Audi S3.

The trick is to avoid dealerships, use independents and ask around for good deals on parts. For a 10K a year car the servicing would work out to around £400 p.a. with the odd bill of £500 for major services every few years.

New front pads are £150, rear £100.

Front discs £500, rear £100.

Tyres are only 17", so a full set can be had for £400 fitted (Falken 452)s.

Make no mistake, it's not a cheap run around, but when you can show an M3 a clean pair of heals and compete with Caterhams on sprint courses, what do you expect?

If you know where to go and what to buy, an Evo is a cheap way in to a reliable 400 bhp.

[rsstman]

flatfour1 said:

*Kosta* said:

servicing isn't expensive at all.

Fish live in trees and eat pencils and cars run on gravy.

my friend has just sold his evo9 fq360, servicing cost him £150 from a main dealer every 4500 miles, tyres were cheap compared to my ST as the wheels were only 17`s and in the 13k miles he had it it never needed brakes or anything else.

in contrast the 2nd service on my focus ST was £240. although it only needed doing every 12k miles.

[*Kosta*]

flatfour1 said:

*Kosta* said:

servicing isn't expensive at all.

Fish live in trees and eat pencils and cars run on gravy.

Have you owned one?

[Silver Pellet]

flatfour1 said:

*Kosta* said:

servicing isn't expensive at all.

Fish live in trees and eat pencils...

Racking my brain trying to think where that quote originated from...

[Pentoman]

youngsyr said:

flatfour1 said:

*Kosta* said:

servicing isn't expensive at all.

Fish live in trees and eat pencils and cars run on gravy.

I spend less servicing mine than I did on my Audi S3.

The trick is to avoid dealerships, use independents and ask around for good deals on parts. For a 10K a year car the servicing would work out to around £400 p.a. with the odd bill of £500 for major services every few years.

New front pads are £150, rear £100.

Front discs £500, rear £100.

Tyres are only 17", so a full set can be had for £400 fitted (Falken 452)s.

Make no mistake, it's not a cheap run around, but when you can show an M3 a clean pair of heals and compete with Caterhams on sprint courses, what do you expect?

If you know where to go and what to buy, an Evo is a cheap way in to a reliable 400 bhp.

Thanks for that, the specific parts prices are useful. A step up from what I have ever had before but so is the performance so...

Are the FQ330/360 more expensive than 260s on these sorts of bits anyone know? Otherwise not a lot of point with a 260.

[youngsyr]

Pentoman said:

youngsyr said:

flatfour1 said:

*Kosta* said:

servicing isn't expensive at all.

Fish live in trees and eat pencils and cars run on gravy.

I spend less servicing mine than I did on my Audi S3.

The trick is to avoid dealerships, use independents and ask around for good deals on parts. For a 10K a year car the servicing would work out to around £400 p.a. with the odd bill of £500 for major services every few years.

New front pads are £150, rear £100.

Front discs £500, rear £100.

Tyres are only 17", so a full set can be had for £400 fitted (Falken 452)s.

Make no mistake, it's not a cheap run around, but when you can show an M3 a clean pair of heals and compete with Caterhams on sprint courses, what do you expect?

If you know where to go and what to buy, an Evo is a cheap way in to a reliable 400 bhp.

Thanks for that, the specific parts prices are useful. A step up from what I have ever had before but so is the performance so...

Are the FQ330/360 more expensive than 260s on these sorts of bits anyone know? Otherwise not a lot of point with a 260.

All of the Evo 7-9 are very similar, with minor tweaks in every carnation to extract more power/improve performance.

Probably 90% of parts are interchangeable between those cars, so there's no real difference in running cost between the 260 and the FQ360, with the obvious exception of fuel and insurance.

Insurance is the killer, I'd definitely look into quotes before looking at any potential cars.

With the 8 and later cars with the slightly bigger tank, you can generally expect 230 miles of mixed driving from £45 of 99 Ron fuel (at around £1/L).

The other issue is the clutch, the stock one is a weak point on the cars, although it will last for up to 60,000 miles if you treat it kindly. A full power launch can kill one in one go though!

You're looking at £300 labour to fit a new one and then anywhere between £300 and £1,200 for the clutch itself, depending on what spec you go for.

Edited by youngsyr on Thursday 23 April 19:16

[flatfour1]

[/quote]Fish live in trees and eat pencils...
[/quote]


[/quote]Racking my brain trying to think where that quote originated from...
[/quote]

It was from a spitting image sketch circa 1984 with PW Botha talking about how white south africans like black south africans

Edited by flatfour1 on Monday 27th April 09:42

[flatfour1]

500 quid for a set of discs isn't expensive at all is it? 1500 quid for a clutch which will last more than 5 minutes isn't expensive either and 400 quid for the amount of servicing which costs 240 quid on a Focus ST is a bargain as well

Edited by flatfour1 on Monday 27th April 10:28

[flatfour1]

It's definately a case of getting what you pay for with performance Jap cars. They cost more than a run of the mill car, but they are much more fun than a run of the mill car as well. The Evo VII didn't have a fuel tank it had a Zippo in the boot, which made it great for a track slag but not so good as an everyday driver. Evos are fantastic cars though overall

[JollyGrnMonster]

probably shouldn't type this.. but my evo 6 is pretty good running costs wise.. 200miles to £40 with varied driving. .I have played with fuelling to get that but the main consumption seems to be when the car is driven from cold.. so if you do short journeys it will use a lot more than if you do long.
nothing really breaks.. I need to do disks and pads but they have lasted reasonable mileage.

Simon

[youngsyr]

flatfour1 said:

500 quid for a set of discs isn't expensive at all is it? 1500 quid for a clutch which will last more than 5 minutes isn't expensive either and 400 quid for the amount of servicing which costs 240 quid on a Focus ST is a bargain as well

Edited by flatfour1 on Monday 27th April 10:28

You seem to have missed the fact that for those "expensive" parts you will be driving a car that will hand a Focus ST its ass on a plate.

The £1,500 clutch and the £500 brake discs are also the top of the range items; they will take all the abuse even a 450 bhp Evo can throw at them.

You clearly have also not owned an Audi or a BMW if you think those parts are expensive.

[flatfour1]

youngsyr said:

flatfour1 said:

500 quid for a set of discs isn't expensive at all is it? 1500 quid for a clutch which will last more than 5 minutes isn't expensive either and 400 quid for the amount of servicing which costs 240 quid on a Focus ST is a bargain as well

Edited by flatfour1 on Monday 27th April 10:28

You seem to have missed the fact that for those "expensive" parts you will be driving a car that will hand a Focus ST its ass on a plate.

The £1,500 clutch and the £500 brake discs are also the top of the range items; they will take all the abuse even a 450 bhp Evo can throw at them.

You clearly have also not owned an Audi or a BMW if you think those parts are expensive.





German cars are to me what kryptonite is to superman, they do nothing for me at all. The cost of running a Jap rocket is buttons in comaprison to a similarly quick "proper" car, but can surprise the unwary, stepping up from a council estate hero or similar. That is the point I was making

[Pentoman]

I think for the performance the prices are reasonable, and if you compare it to similar performing cars again not too bad at all. But it's easy for unfamiliar people like me to see it as a "cheap" Jap saloon which just happens to have high performance, and that's where it got surprising for me to see the actual running costs. Especially because the magazines make out like it's a budget supercar beater, giving you the impression you can buy it on a budget which is not true at all. Maybe because the mags rarely have to pay to run them and even a 'long term' test is from brand new to about 10,000 miles!!

All these expensive unique parts are what makes them so good I suppose - on my Merc cossie a lot of its bits (brakes, hubs, etc) are from the E class range, so are not unique and thus very cheap. However, because of this the car isn't as good as it could be if all the bits had been designed uniquely for it rather than from the parts bin. I guess that's where the Evo versions came in, bringing us full circle to the whole "Evo" concept....

[youngsyr]

Well, to my mind the Rally Reps are budget supercar beaters - I don't think anyone would expect sub 4 second 0-60 mph times and the handling that these cars have without having to pay something when the parts wear out?

£400 for a set of tyres, £1,500 for a clutch, £500 for a set of brake discs and £400 are a snip of what it would cost to run a "proper" car with the performance, and it could all be had for less if you don't want to extract every last iota of performance out of the car.

The whole reason I've had my car for 2 and a half years and am thinking about getting a second cheaper fun car rather than selling it or p/xing it is because I'm pretty confident I couldn't get something with anywhere near the performance for anything like the same money.

Granted the looks and interior let it down, but when you get it on a nice clear road or on a track, it is just gobsmacking.

What most people don't know about with these cars on top of the performance is the ability to tailor them to your exact needs, with a plethora of aftermarket parts available and even the ability to hook the ECU up to your laptop and change the maps and settings or add features at will.

[rsv gone!]

I run one as a daily driver and do about three services a year, maybe one set of tyres and fuel works at about 22-24mpg overall (I tend to poodle with the traffic on my busy commute).

Frequent servicing is a hassle rather than a huge cost (relatively speaking). In comparison, my colleagues BMW needed servicing half as often but cost at least twice as much.