Dan Trent: An Evo with a difference catches Dan's wandering eye

Indeed, much as I love my Subarus my instincts tell me I'm probably actually more of an Evo man at heart. I haven't actually driven anything earlier than an Evo X (this needs to be addressed) but everything I understand about them points to the Mitsubishi's frenetic character and more pointy handling being right up my street.

Which Evo to pick though? I actually found an Evo I in my first dip into the classifieds and that looked an unusual and rare pick. But £6K for a car that would appear to need a bit of work ranks as a lot of money for novelty value. The Vs and VIs seem to be the point the Evo line really came good, the much coveted Makinen Edition having collectable future classic status written all over it. Even by the standards of the genre these Evos are wild looking machines though. I've got pretty sturdy denial but, I think, one of the things that tips me more to the Subaru side is the relative restraint of the looks.

For the Evo VII, VIII and IX things took a (relative) turn for the restrained, at least visually. I rather like the idea of the VIII 260, a UK special based on the juicy MR-spec car but in a milder state of tune and with a toned down rear wing. There was an equivalent Impreza STI Spec D (for discreet) too. But I'm painfully aware there are an awful lot of Evo variants out there, both UK and imported, and I confess to being somewhat confused as to which I'd like best And then, last year on a trip to Japan, I saw one of these. Yes, it's an Evo IX wagon. No, before seeing it in the metal I had no idea such a thing existed. Here was an Evo focusing all that intrigues me about the car into one practical package, overlayed with a character and eccentricity that I just find really appealing.

And now a big import specialist down the road from me in York has one for sale. Well, more than one in fact. Having been tempted by this rather lurid modified example this black one caught my eye though, mainly because it's a manual (many seem to be autos) but also because it looks absolutely badass. OK, the bonnet vent and front bumper are very much Evo but from there back it becomes much more understated, anonymous even. There are red Brembos lurking behind grey wheels (I thought Evos used Enkeis but these look like BBS) and the official output is around 280hp driving through Mitsubishi's clever three-stage centre differential. Wagons don't get the fancy Active Yaw Control rear diff that's a defining feature of Evo saloons and gives them their trademark agility but according to this review by friend, colleague and Japanese car expert Peter Lyon the extra weight of the estate body means this isn't a huge handicap. 

Evos are temptingly tweakable and extracting ludicrous power out of them isn't that hard, so long as you accept the infamously short service intervals 400hp out of a 2.0-litre engine demands. Given the stealth looks I'd wager the standard 300ish (word on the street has it official Evo outputs are often somewhat understated…) would be enough to be going on with. It would take a lot to tempt me out of my Forester. More to forsake a lifelong Subaru fixation. But I think this unusual Evo could be the one to do it…

Images courtesy of Pistonheads