I went on another test driving for the sake of test driving escapade today. I went to the Mitsubishi dealer in hopes of trying out an EVO. First the guy asks me what cars I'm looking at. I tell him RX-8, 350Z, S2000 and maybe an STi but I think it's ugly and don't like the regular WRX. So then he sits me down and pulls out a kind of ratty copy of a Car & Driver article with an EVO vs. STi comparo where surprise surprise, they liked the EVO more. This was kind of a cheezy touch, seeing as the Acura dealer I was at earlier in the day licensed an article from Automobile Magazine where the TSX came out on top and reprinted it in a nice little brochure.

So then the guy tells me that in the magazine, the STi is a little faster but that's because Mitsubishi had to limit power to 271 hp because that's the legal hp limit for the car's weight, and that the car actually makes 300 hp and is actually faster than the STi. The car weighs almost identical to the STi, and I flat out told him that I was only maybe looking at the STi. Next he tells me that in Japan there's the regular version, and I quote, "a hot version with like 500 horsepower but it would be illegal for them to import it." When he asked me what color I'd be interested in, he suggested red "because it matches the brake pads." How the hell would I see the brake pads? The calipers are what he meant.

Then he has me sit in the floor model and tells me that the seats are "racing seats" with no mention of the word Recaro even though it's right there. But he did point out the intercooler spray button that "sprays the coolant and stuff, and that bumps the horsepower up to 300 when you turn it on." Maybe I should have told him that the STi has the exact same thing. Next he claimed that the Enkei wheels (the one freakin brand name of all the goodies on the car that he managed to drop) were made out of titanium!

After all that, he takes me out to the lot and shows me the three cars they have sitting there complete with $6k dealer markup and says he'll give it to me for $100 below MSRP. Oh and yeah, little note, if I wanted to test drive it I would have to agree on the price ahead of time. Now even if I was possibly going to buy the car, how the hell would I decide upon it without first driving it? I would never sign any sort of financial document before buying a car. That, and all the warnings and crap that Mitsubishi puts on the thing to make it supposedly appropriate for USA consumption, just piss me off. There's a label on the windshield from the factory that says "this car has low ground clearance" and another one that talks about the clutch being finicky. Seems to me that if Honda, Nissan, and Mazda (dunno about Subaru and the STi) are all able to sell quasi-exotic sports cars for about 30 grand with no special warnings or crazy sales policies then Mitsubishi should be able to also.

Oh well, fuck the EVO and fuck Mitsubishi. I'd be damn happy with an RX-8 for that money and don't need to drive some econobox on crack that all the stupid little ricers are going to rev at.