Yahoo Autos This Crazy Sleeper Mitsubishi Evo Has 650 Horsepower at the Wheels
Back in 2003, the Evo VIII was the first Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution to officially make it to America. That car had a 271 horsepower two liter turbo engine, and when some tuners turned it into a 405 horsepower car in the United Kingdom (dubbed the FQ400. You can guess what FQ stood for), it became faster around Top Gear's track than the Lamborghini Murcielago.
But if you remember that episode of Top Gear, you also know that extra power came with a useless clutch, turbo lag the size of Texas, an equally massive turning circle, a horrible ride and fuel consumption of four miles per gallon. Needless to say, those happy British buyers were only allowed to fill the FQ400 up with Shell's most expensive pump gas. If that's what 405 horses at the crank look like in an Evo VIII, how about 650 hp at the wheels?
This particular Evo is a fully built machine running on E85. It has a custom engine, a racing suspension, a useless clutch and a five-speed gearbox to make sure it's a pain on the highway. It rides okay, stops okay, but does something so well that it makes you forget its faults in an instant: it accelerates out of this world, trying to tear off its own four wheels, shaking the body and refusing to go in a straight line. On "conservative boost," this monster has a redline of 8500rpm and becomes uncomfortably fast well under that engine speed. Raw, violent, terrifying fun. Hold my non-alcoholic beer!
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