Mitsu Evo Thought Experiment

I was driving the wife's Kia Soul and I was at a red light next to an Evo 9 that was heavily modified. (Man was it cool) I thought it would be funny to challenge him to a race. I didn't of course, but it got me thinking. Was there any established type of race where a stock Soul could beat a tuned Evo 9?

I thought and thought and came up with: an eco-race. Who could drive furthest on 10 gallons of gas? Slam dunk right?

But then I occurred to me that the Evo might have a chance there too. Since it was heavily modified, mods would be allowed for the Evo. What if they put skinny Ecopedia tires on it and hooked up the computer to tune it for economy? Maybe even disconnect the turbo and RWD? It is a little 2 liter after all. Could it be tuned to run at 40mpg? Hmmmmmm.

Highly doubt it, an Evo can literally make gas disappear faster than a Corvette. It would have to be de-turbo'ed for sure.

Can you make build quality and longevity into a race? Soul would probably win that one.

So as a comparison, I had a Dodge Colt GT with and EVO 3 motor in it and if I was just cruising with the cruise control on and no hills, I would eeek out 30 MPG.

In reply to bmw88rider:

That's a lighter car with FWD and not AWD like an Evo, right? Another issue is how rich the factory tune is on late Evo's, at least here in the USA. A friend's Evo X will cough black exhaust momentarily on a shift when run hard.

Based on that car and just being a passenger, I'm not sure why people run these on the street if they don't plan on at least occasional track days. His has the DSG gearbox which I don't think helps matters.

A Dakar style race might favor the Soul. Sits higher, bigger tires, but this would only work if the Soul can be modified and the Evo cannot.

Cargo capacity. That's about all I can think of, how much crap can you shovel into the back of it.

That was a lighter car but it was pig rich from the factory as well. I had soot on my car more often than not.

I was just throwing that out there to say that even with a lighter FWD car, the 4G63 was no mileage queen of a motor even out of boost.

Mud drags? Ya ya ya, AWD, but what if the EVO gets stuck? Then the Soul might just win. Maybe.

GameboyRMH wrote: Highly doubt it, an Evo can literally make gas disappear faster than a Corvette. It would have to be de-turbo'ed for sure.

That's not a good comparison. Driving a Corvette tamely will net high 20's / low 30s highway.

$/mile over essentially any length of road or duration of the race, that was easy

tuna55 wrote: $/mile over essentially any length of road or duration of the race, that was easy

Not necessarily. If you take a Evo, drive it a mile, put in storage, and sell it 10 years later, it'll be worth considerably more than the Soul that you did the same with.

You can race the warranties. I guarantee, yours will win at the dealer.

pinchvalve wrote: I was driving the wife's Kia Soul and I was at a red light next to an Evo 9 that was heavily modified. (Man was it cool) I thought it would be funny to challenge him to a race. I didn't of course, but it got me thinking. Was there any established type of race where a stock Soul could beat a tuned Evo 9?

Rallycross. "Tuned" implies modified in all the ways you don't want to for trying to drive on rough, limited-traction surface with many tight linked corners.

Never underestimate a bone stock Neon. I don't know where a Soul would rate but it's probably a beck of a lot better than some slammed laggy over-tired POS.

(I didn't just call Evos POSs. I call "tuned" cars POSs.)

Race to depreciation?

That was a lighter car but it was pig rich from the factory as well. I had soot on my car more often than not. I was just throwing that out there to say that even with a lighter FWD car, the 4G63 was no mileage queen of a motor even out of boost.

4G63's can make decent to incredible mileage with a better than stock tune and some other changes. A friend of mine had a FWD turbo Laser that he was constantly tweaking to increase MPG's. Lots of attention to detail and careful driving, plus some serious ECU tuning for lean burn cruising and a taller 5th gear. He was averaging in the mid 40's over years of driving, with a best in the low 50 mpg range. Car info and years of mileage logs here...

High MPG Laser

Did I mention the car was also making over 270HP to the wheels and more torque?

The same principals can be applied to an EVO, though it weighs a few hundred pounds more and has AWD.

Cross country. No radar/laser detectors or CBs or speed trap apps. Driver's license sealed in envelope with opponent's signature on it.