If you have a turbocharged car one of the best ways to pick up a few extra horses and make things easier on your turbo is to upgrade your intercooler.  GReddy has a pretty good history with intercooler upgrades so if you’re rocking an Evo X I’d reccomend their 33F intercooler kit.  It’s wider than stock and has bigger inlet and outlet end tanks (70mm).  Besides the added performance it just looks fresh behind the front bumper!

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Over the weekend I was invited out to Willow Springs Raceway by Buddy Club for a private media track day.  Buddy Club brought out Yasushi Kikuchi (the driver who clicked off a 53.6 second lap at Tsukuba Circuit) to give esteemed media members ride alongs in their 50% carbon fiber bodied Nissan GT-R.  They also opened up the “streets of willow” track to us so we could do our best impressions of Kikuchi-san in our own cars.  Mitsubishi was nice enough to once again put me behind the wheel of an Evo X for the occasion.  This time around instead of an MR I got the good ol’ five speed GSR model.

The downside is that it was raining for pretty much the entire day which made for quite the slippery track.  Which made me extra glad that I was behind the wheel of an Evo X!  While FWD and RWD cars were struggling to find grip, I could do no wrong in the Evo!  Sure I slid around a few times but there was nothing that the Evo couldn’t save me from.  The car was literally braver than I was.  It welcomed the slippery surfaced off-camber turns of the infamous “omega corners” and asked for more.

This further solidifies my opinion that the Evo X in any trim, is worth the money.  It really is a great all-around car.  It has livability, nice features, looks, and performance that is more than enough for the street and just enough to have loads of fun on the track (wet or dry).

Unfortunately I couldn’t take a ton of pictures because of the rain (I have but a lowly rebel which isn’t weather sealed) but I did snap a few shots and some shots of my ride for the weekend.  Enjoy!

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As I mentioned a little while back Mitsubishi USA was kind enough to loan me a Evolution X MR not only to drive to SEMA in but also to tool around town a bit to see what I thought of it.  I’m going to start off with my impressions on the car’s looks, because well, we’re all a bit superficial in that way aren’t we? Just me? Whatever, let’s move on…

The first thing to note is that this isn’t a “regular” Evo X (AKA Evo X GSR).  This is an MR edition which stands for “Mitsubishi Racing” from what I surmise.  However if anything the MR is more subtle in appearance than its brother.  Gone is the giant wing normally found on the GSR, as well as the contrasting black grille which is color matched on our particular car.  Also instead of the aggressive Enkei wheels found on the GSR the MR features BBS RGR-esque wheels.

The Evo X’s body lines do hold on to some of its inherent aggression which gives the MR trim a sense of reserved strength.  Almost as if to say “I have nothing to prove to you.”  Personally, I dig that.

The interior in the MR that I received was fully loaded with all the options.  There is leather all around, including the SST shift knob and emergency brake handle.  I got the full 710 watt Rockford Fostgate sound system complete with subwoofer enclosure in the trunk and touch screen navigation system, as well as the obligatory Recaro bucket seats.

Based on the price point ($37,995), performance (which we’ll get into in another post), and toned down looks one could assume that Mitsubishi is going after the BMW 335i buyer.  Based on the superficial aspect alone I would say that the Mitsubishi is at least on the same level as the 335i but that is a subjective area.  I love BMW’s but the current 3 series is a bit vanilla so looks wise I’d say the Mitsubishi Evo X MR edges out the BMW just a bit.

In the next post I’ll get into the performance aspects of the MR as well as my experience driving it to Las Vegas and back.  Stay tuned!

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It has been a long while since I’ve posted any Password:JDM goodies but that hasn’t stopped them from continuing to produce some fresh stuff.  Right now they have a special going on in which you can pick up an entire Mitsubishi Evo X carbon kevlar engine packagefor just under $1,400.  That isn’t bad considering the quality of these carbon kevlar pieces!

So what do you get in the package?  It comes with: cold air intake box, aluminum MAF with velocity stack, high-flow reusable air filter, radiator cooling plate with integrated ram air scoops, engine cover, spark plug cover, and all the hardware you need to mount it on.

Swedish suspension gods Ohlins who are mostly known for their top notch race-only suspension set ups have finally decided to release a line for street cars!  They call it the “Road And Track” line (hopefully there is no lawsuit pending) and as the name suggests these coilovers where designed for street and track double duty.  Pictured above is their package for the Mitsubishi Evo Xand it looks just as beefy as they’re track-only applications.  So far, I haven’t heard of the new Road And Track line being available here in the states but look for that to change soon.

We showed you a previewof this a while back and now the Cosworth Evo X Intercooler upgrade is officially available.  According to Cosworth their upgrade kit will take less than 30 minutes to install with simple tools and increases flow by 55% over stock!  Thats huge!  That kind of improvement will cost you though as the MSRP is set at about $1,300.  You know how it is though, got to pay for quality.

On the way out of XDC Irwindale over the weekend I spotted this flat white Mitsubishi Evo X in the Fujita booth.  Upon closer inspection I realized that the entire color scheme was a wrap! Even the carbon fiber roof!  It looks like the owner of this particular Evo got a jump on the new Wraptivo designer vinyl wrap product from Mequiars.  It is crazy how legit it looks when its applied correctly!  I have a feeling we’re going to see a lot more of the Wraptivo treatment in the future because this is just too fresh to not catch on.

Just got word from Evasive Motorsport’s blog that they just got some carbon fiber Craft Square mirrors for the Mitsubishi Evolution X.  They are pricy but you pay for quality!  They look so serious! I love them!

Engineers are awesome.  Why you ask? Because they are always taking good things and making them better!  Take Cosworth USA for instance, I just read on their blog that they are producing their own take on the Mitsubishi Evo X intercooler that will bolt right up in the stock position.  They also revealed that a mandrel-bent intercooler piping kit will be available soon as well.

Mitsubishi fans throw your hands up!  COBB Tuning finally dropped an AccessPORT unit for the Mitsubishi Evo X!  It comes in just under 700 bucks and has 126 tuning maps available with undoubtedly more on the way.