Thinking of buying a 2001 EVO 6 to replace my Alfa.
Has anyone on here any experienced with owning an Evo as a daily driver?
Im not an evo owner, but have a Subaru STI v5 type R, which was brought out to combat the EVO6. Its the 2 door Jap car which the P1 was based off, but its much better than the P1 and I think also better than the EVO6.
Im also selling it at the minute, so let me know if you are interested. I would greatly reccomend trying both as you will then see how good the Type R is. They also look a lot better being 2 door! Mine is grey and I have just spent over 11k on the engine with top dollar Roger Clark parts and MoteC to get 350 bhp. Its low geared so the acceleration is as fast if not faster than anything on the road. It currently has 350bhp, but with a turbo swap will get closer to 400.
I’ve got quite a bit. I’ve had a couple of Evo VIIs and helped start up and run an Evo club.
They have lots of good and bad points, firstly if you’re after a VI i’m guessing it’s a rally history look you like, but the VII onwards are ‘better’ cars but I know lots of people still look warmly back to Tommi’s VI.
As a daily drive it varies tremedously. A standard VI is well behaved, pretty comfortable, and very practical. Mileage is an use, you have a four door saloon pushed into performance it was never intended for, so bits do wear out.
Brakes, bushes, diff are common problems, the service interval is only 4500 miles (it needs a specialist to do it properly too) and it needs the services (esp. the AYC in the diff.).
If you go down the tuning route, you can make good power gains easily, coilovers and mild brake upgrades work well too, but they’ll all compromise the daily drive-abilty.
Hopefully that’s of some help.
Jules
This is a serious question - how many miles per annum would you envisage doing in the Alfa replacement?
I had an EVO V1 before the Exige - great car, but ridiculously expensive to run once you’re doing more than 10K miles pa.
If it were me, I’d get a Soda Octavia RS - again, I’m being serious.
Here you go…
I got the 2.5 litre engine conversion done about 500 miles ago. I spec-ed it like that as my intention was to get it to 400 bhp with a different turbo later on in the year. The conversion was done my RE Motorsport in York - the guy there is one of the top 3 subaru mechanics in the country so the work done was exceptional.
2.5 Modification by RE Motorsport:
- 2.5 STI Block with STI Internals
- Roger Clark Motorsport RCM Uprated oil pump
- APR 11mm Studs
- Roger Clark Motorsport RCM130 ultralight flywheel
- Roger Clark Motorsport RCM324 Headers with Woof coating
- Roger Clark Motorsport RCM04 Induction kit
- APS WRX-HOE/R1 Exhaust 995-019-100
- APS WRX High Flow CAT
- Fuelab 51502-1 EFI Regulator
- Sytec (Walbro) 225 fuel pump
- AP Racing organic clutch
- Motec M800 OEM ECU Supplied and Fitted by Owen Developments
- New V5 STI P1 inlet manifold
- Boost Control valve 3 port valve OEM
Standard type R kit:
- STi intercooler water spray (auto and manual)
- STi 5 speed close ratio gearbox
- STi short shifter
- STi Driver control centre diff (DCCD)
- STi grey/red suede bucket seats
- Power steering
- Twin airbags (not always present on STI V5s)
- Aircon / climate control
- Electric windows
- Electric folding mirrors
- Factory tint on rear screen and quarter windows
- Rear wash/wipe
Other Extras:
- Braided Brake Hose and ends
- Pagid Blue Brake Pads
- Tint on driver and passenger windows
- Intercooler protector grill
- Defi Gauges (oil temp and pressure and boost)
- 17" Rare Rim alloy light weight wheels and Toyo T1-R tyres
- Thatcham Cat1 alarm
- Tracker
- CD player
Performance as measured by Owen Developments (top mapping people in Oxford) during mapping:
- Power 345 bhp
- Torque 322 lbft
History: - David Hendry Cars imported the car when it was new from Japan
- Was first registered in the UK in January 1999
- Service history from David Hendry Cars and recently by independent specialists Scooby Clinic and RE Motorsport
- HPI clear
- 54,500 miles
Can post you pics, please drop me an email.
Jules
This is a serious question - how many miles per annum would you envisage doing in the Alfa replacement?
I had an EVO V1 before the Exige - great car, but ridiculously expensive to run once you’re doing more than 10K miles pa.
If it were me, I’d get a Soda Octavia RS - again, I’m being serious.
Pesky,
Im doing about 20K per year, its not the running costs tHat are worrying me now though, its the 2 grand insurance they all seem to want!
Looks like I might be staying with the Alfa for another few miles!
By the way Rob…whats a SODA Octavia RS…is that a Skoda with a bit more FIZZ!
Jules
This is a serious question - how many miles per annum would you envisage doing in the Alfa replacement?
I had an EVO V1 before the Exige - great car, but ridiculously expensive to run once you’re doing more than 10K miles pa.If it were me, I’d get a Soda Octavia RS - again, I’m being serious.
Pesky,
Im doing about 20K per year, its not the running costs tHat are worrying me now though, its the 2 grand insurance they all seem to want!
Looks like I might be staying with the Alfa for another few miles!
By the way Rob…whats a SODA Octavia RS…is that a Skoda with a bit more FIZZ!
20K per annum is hard work for an Evo, that’s 4-5 services a year. Aside from the cost, I found that getting it to and from the specialist on such a regular basis for service was pretty inconvienient too. If you want one as a daily runabout then something like standard VIIIMR maybe a good option.
There are few companies that are good for Evo insurance though, mid 20’s with good history will still be about �1000 though.
By the way Rob…whats a SODA Octavia RS…is that a Skoda with a bit more FIZZ!
Oops - but good point well made, Jules
Jules
This is a serious question - how many miles per annum would you envisage doing in the Alfa replacement?
I had an EVO V1 before the Exige - great car, but ridiculously expensive to run once you’re doing more than 10K miles pa.If it were me, I’d get a Soda Octavia RS - again, I’m being serious.
Pesky,
Im doing about 20K per year, its not the running costs tHat are worrying me now though, its the 2 grand insurance they all seem to want!
Looks like I might be staying with the Alfa for another few miles!
By the way Rob…whats a SODA Octavia RS…is that a Skoda with a bit more FIZZ!
20K per annum is hard work for an Evo, that’s 4-5 services a year. Aside from the cost, I found that getting it to and from the specialist on such a regular basis for service was pretty inconvienient too. If you want one as a daily runabout then something like standard VIIIMR maybe a good option.
There are few companies that are good for Evo insurance though, mid 20’s with good history will still be about �1000 though.
Yeah another good point, its only 1 service on my Alfa!
Looks like the EVOs costs are going to be prohibitive so maybe i’ll just keep the Alfa until the Racer comes out next year!
Great car, bomb proof engine & mechanicals. Brakes will warp if you track it.
The 4500mile service is to change AYC fluid, you should be able to get that done pretty cheaply by an independent. so I don’t see that running costs should be that expensive really.
You can also get 370hp out of 'em for a couple of grand, without threating reliability!
Sorry to keep banging on about Subaru’s but I looked at this before nuying mine, as I was going for an EVO originally. However, I went with the Subaru as the service intervals are every 7.5 rather than 4.5 for the EVO. The Subarus are also much less expensive to service.
The car Im selling at the moment was my second Subaru, I bought it 2 years ago. My wife did about 20,000 miles in it in during the first year we had it, commuting to work down the M1 - with no problems. It did not cost that much to run over this period, ie brakes, tyres etc only just changed now, 2 years later. Only cost issue was fuel, as it only does 20-25 mpg.
The wife now has a new Subaru wagon for commuting and I only use the car infrequently to go to work (I have a company car)…so I would reccomend a Subaru for doing 20k per year, but not an EVO.