LOL! Go swifty! I was in a similar boat to you just before I bought my evo, but was facing slightly different circumstances. My 2G was turning into a maintenance nightmare. I had a 35r but nothing to really tune it and get the potential I needed out of it, so I was facing a big pile of money needing to be spent in mods before the car would really be fun again, and even then, it had this overheating issue. I needed a reliable DD and in the end it was a trade off for power vs reliability, but I was surprised with a stock car that handled great, stopped great, had comfy seats, and my wife actually liked it.
The sky is the limit with evos, but if you take it slow and keep the modding reasonable (see our mod your evo $100 at a time thread), its hard to give the DSM the nod here. You can make 260-320whp reliably and fit 4 friends in the thing. I am not nice to my car and it has treated me well (for the most part). I boost on it at least 10x per day if not more, each one is a little mood-adjuster that keeps me happy and sane. No it is not the fastest thing on the planet but at the same time it beats the piss out of a lot of other heavily modded cars.
So yea, really all I gotta say is 16g powa ftw, my evo makes me smile. You've driven it, you know what its like!
But on the flip side, remember....its still a car and still got some dsm-esque things hiding in it. Lucky for you, you have the experience of the other evo owners on this board to lean on
