Meet up today whilst at work (by total luck) with an old friend that i have dealt with long ago before seeing the light and joining the Volkswagen bandwagen.
I used to be a fan Of Peugeot's, had a couple of 307's and 407's for my sins.
Anyways cut a long story short, Havent seen him for about 6-7 years having moved away and now back in Durley (hampshire.)
His Peugeot dealership now has Mitsubushi under his wing. So low and behold, he has this sat on his driveway...................
its the Evo X 330 SST. Yes Matt, another hi performance company that offer it with a Twin clutch.
Looks an absolute animal 3500 miles on the clock,shame it wasnt the 360 or even the 400 version but never mind, looks like a right angry S.O.B.
We got chatting and told him what i drove bla bla bla, and much to my surprise he said," here's the keys go for a blast and see what you recon "
. I cant remember him saying the recon bit as the keys where already out of his hand and in mine!!.
So dumped my Skyvan on his driveway
, and that was me off for a wee jolly to see what this Monster was like and how it compares in Performance to my Eddy.
Took it around the back roads near by, and have to say it was nice in someways but a let down in others.
Im sure Redrobin has driven one of these a while ago, but it left me abit disapointed tbh.
Standing starts were really good, traction was incredible, but power around 50+ was abit breathless in feel.Compared with my Eddy, its just felt abit Gutless in a straight line, but a hell of lot better in cornering.
On the twistie bits, it hung on like a leach, very jumpy and jolty over bumps, very skitish, and not as able to deal with poor road surfaces as the golf generally feels on most surfaces.
The Paddles were in fixed positions, which ment that if you wanted to take a corner at speed, you would have to move your hand from the wheel to upshift, which annoyed the hell outa me!!.The VW design of rotating with the wheels rotation allows without moving your hands from the wheel to remain in full control all of the time.
The Sound system was nothing short of amazing, cant remember its name, but has the sub in the boot, with powerfull speakers to handle the sound.
Seats where gorgeous, full race Recaro's and extremily supportive.
Gearchanges in sport mode, where to be honest, very jolty again and no where near as smooth as the DSG.
We both agree'd its a better car with the Manual as the SST just isnt suited to this type of car.
I can now crossed this car off my list of ones i want to drive. I can only think the 300 version is even worse in performance, and that the 360-400 ones are the ones to go for.................. but at near £50k, thats Nissan GTR territory.
Oh and if you thinking whether its a good size family 4 door that will fit 4 full size adults with lots of legroom, and room for some Big bags in the boot..... then again forget this car.
