"Whatever car you got, you can make it as fast as the Evo X..and at a fraction of the cost"...This is right up there among my favorite Top Gear videos, but I'm very disappointed by the result.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Toi8CV0550
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MllM2R196ZY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JMkkNPVvbc

Discuss:
What did they do wrong?
What would you have done different?
Could they have done it (without Nitrous) if they picked a different car...like a good old civic?

6/21/2009 12:49:45 PM

I saw that episode. It was a good concept, but I thought their execution was horrible. They wasted a lot of money on stupid stuff and didn't really give it a chance.

6/21/2009 12:58:26 PM

should have been done monster garage style where they could sell off parts to get $.
they spent over half the budget on wheels tires and brakes!?!?not under estimating their importance but there's no way those shoulda came before power. they said the 0-60 was 2x that of the evo. so adding enough power to match the evos 0-60 would have shaved off at least 4.5secs

seems like Mitsubishi funded that episode.

6/21/2009 5:08:20 PM

It's easy as hell to make a car faster than the lancer AWD.

Not that I would know!!!!!!!!!!!!

6/21/2009 5:20:19 PM

you can't polish a turd...

6/21/2009 7:14:35 PM

i know they sure did try though. they did a good job on the lancer AWD but like you said still a turd.

6/21/2009 9:04:13 PM

new season started tonight btw

6/21/2009 9:12:55 PM

just skimmed through the new episode.
I'm just a casual Top Gear fan - not a fanatic. But they revealed The Stig - that's a pretty big deal, right? Or was it widely known already who it was?

btw, the Ferrari they tested smoked every single other car

6/21/2009 10:48:46 PM

^MS is not really the Stig, its a joke.

6/21/2009 11:01:18 PM

oh..... so that was just a gimmick to get Shumaker on the show? (i didn't watch to the end of the interview. I'm not really interested in listening to him)

I'm not really "in" on any of the racing or car jokes or secrets

[Edited on June 21, 2009 at 11:14 PM. Reason : .]

6/21/2009 11:13:57 PM

nice!!

parts of car will randomly catch fire

and splitter can be used as firewood in case it gets cold


[Edited on June 21, 2009 at 11:30 PM. Reason : .]

6/21/2009 11:18:11 PM

need more power and reduce the weight further, the brakes were a waste of money

6/21/2009 11:53:04 PM

its schumacher

any enthusiast worth his salt should know how to spell his name!

6/22/2009 12:02:25 AM

does anyone know why mitsu kind of crippled the evo X? the IX was such a great performance machine I cant figure out why they would go backerds....... Seems so simple to at the very least make it faster in a straight line.

6/22/2009 12:28:19 AM

I believe (could definitely be wrong) that the Evo IX was the last production model with ALS. While it's never been legal on US spec cars, the ALS setup in j-spec and euro spec, as well as dedicated track cars made a huge difference in real performance.

6/22/2009 1:06:34 AM

you can polish a turd but if you don't have enough power in your car to get it going fast enough to reach the limit...there is no point in making it brake or turn better.

should have been some sort of power adder first then suspention then tires and if it has a braking problem theeeennn the brakes...

6/22/2009 8:42:11 AM

It's such a short track I don't think brakes wouldve mattered that much, plus it's just one lap. They should have done tires, lightened it (free), suspension, supercharger. Unforunately they'll never get a 3 liter fwd van to handle that good. I wouldve taken more glass out too. Those bigger rotors and rims just added more weight.

6/22/2009 9:03:54 AM

Haven't watched the video but...

Quote :

"you can polish a turd but if you don't have enough power in your car to get it going fast enough to reach the limit...there is no point in making it brake or turn better. should have been some sort of power adder first then suspention then tires and if it has a braking problem theeeennn the brakes..."

isn't exactly correct in general. Just because you don't have the power to reach insane top speeds in the straight doesnt mean your lap times won't greatly benefit from being able to brake a lot later and in less time AND enter and exit turns at a faster speed. In my opinion the first thing I'd do to a car is suspension/brakes. No sense in adding all that power if you can't slow/stop the car or handle it in a turn worth a damn.

6/22/2009 10:59:13 AM

tires first

I don't know why they went with brakes first. Maybe some new pads and SS lines at most for a one-lap deal.

[Edited on June 22, 2009 at 11:29 AM. Reason : ]

6/22/2009 11:27:27 AM

^I just assumed they would already have the appropriate tires on the car since its the most obvious. But yeah...everything else doesn't matter if your only contact to the ground sucks.

6/22/2009 11:44:40 AM

they could have done much better. its so cheap to add a good suspension to a early 90's Japanese car.


I think my coilovers were 350$ and the 10lb rims were 200$. Azenis are only 66$ each. I struck out this week at the junk yard but sooner or later ill land some good brakes for all 4 corners (any NSX part outs around ). Its just so stupid easy to start and stop 2000lbs.....

6/22/2009 6:46:58 PM

the X seems to lap slightly quicker than the IX (the electronic gizmos seem to help). It's still soft, flaccid, and ass-ugly, though, and I find it hard to believe that it responds anywhere nearly as well to mods. It just doesn't seem all hardcore and frantic like an Evo should be. I'd rather have a IX.


The IX never had active yaw control in the U.S., I believe because the emissions stuff or some other faggotry couldn't be packaged along with it. Still, the IX is easily the most idiot proof car I've ever seen to drive stupid hard and fast in.

[Edited on June 22, 2009 at 11:37 PM. Reason : not an issue of legality for the AYC]

6/22/2009 11:36:48 PM

shoulda used the NAWZZZ!

6/22/2009 11:38:12 PM

needs a sneaky pete on it

6/27/2009 11:34:16 PM

Quote :

"isn't exactly correct in general. Just because you don't have the power to reach insane top speeds in the straight doesnt mean your lap times won't greatly benefit from being able to brake a lot later and in less time AND enter and exit turns at a faster speed. In my opinion the first thing [b]I'd do to a car[b] is suspension/brakes. No sense in adding all that power if you can't slow/stop the car or handle it in a turn worth a damn."

THIS WAS A VAN.... i agree suspension needed to be done but a 12sec 0-60 car will never be swift and has a shit-ton to gain by making power. If it lost 2 seconds by putting brakes on the car... power is obviously its deficiency

6/28/2009 4:16:41 PM

Quote :

"isn't exactly correct in general. Just because you don't have the power to reach insane top speeds in the straight doesnt mean your lap times won't greatly benefit from being able to brake a lot later and in less time AND enter and exit turns at a faster speed. In my opinion the first thing [b]I'd do to a car[b] is suspension/brakes. No sense in adding all that power if you can't slow/stop the car or handle it in a turn worth a damn."

THIS WAS A VAN.... i agree suspension needed to be done but a 12sec 0-60 car will never be swift and has a shit-ton to gain by making power. If it lost 2 seconds by putting brakes on the car... power is obviously its main deficiency

6/28/2009 4:16:41 PM

that show is still on?

6/28/2009 9:11:55 PM