Surferjer:
Lotus says right in their manual that to best appreciate the car's attributes, it should be driven on a track. Yet they voided my warranty on a synchro issue for autoxing. f*ckers.

I think if you buy a car and decide to autox, you are on your own for drivetrain issues. I know I basically don't have one, and that is that. But it pisses me off when they encourage you to participate in any form of motorsports and then f*ck you over when you do. The fact that Mini has a motorsports division is encouragement to participate. How many f*cking Minis do you think you've sold for them? Probably quite a few

Autocross and track days aren't much more strenuous than spirited road driving.

People are trying to commit fraud all the time by modding something beyond their knowledge, end up blowing something up, then de-mod it and try crawl back to the dealer for a free fix. Then companies try to crack down and end up overcompensating and piss off owners that actually weren't trying to defraud them.

It depends alot on the dealer.

What a bunch of bullshit. "Our cars will do this, and we'll use that aspect to sell as many as we can, but if YOU do what we did to sell you the car, your warranty is void"

How the fuck can that even be legal.

As a matter of contract law, the manufacturers are right for denying the warranty claims.

However, this smells like some sort of viable class action lawsuit under consumer fraud law, i.e. advertising particular merits of your product and then voiding the warranty when the customer uses it accordingly.

track days aren't much more strenuous than spirited road driving

I think 99% of problems are owner inflicted not "racing" inflicted. Case in point my evo see's spirited driving. Hell it sees a lot of time sideways in a given commute day. I do it smartly though. I slip and slide with the clutch. I never pop the clutch or jam gears. I always get it up to temp before doing donuts in a snowy parking lot. I also change my fluids all the damm time. Where I grew up a kid has an evo 9, newer than mine less miles. His is always in the shop. It will be in the shop a lot more in the future, he had all the drivetrain fluids changed at jiffy lube.

$489 IS BULLSHIT. Its $70/case for 3 tx/rear flushes. $9/quart (3 quarts per tranny flush). Mobil1/OEM filter $25.

Why are you getting a thermostat on a new evo?

I agree with most of what you said, but this made chuckle. When I do track days and HPDEs, I'm driving a FUCKLOAD harder than I've ever driven on the street. I've never gone through a set of pads and rotors in a day on the street, nor put significant wear on a set of tires in a day on the street.

Mitsu thermostats are the best quality t-stats I've ever seen. I love them and will only use them. Still why is the dealership replacing a stat on his new evo? I've never actually seen an OEM t-stat fail but I'd imagine you would have to stick around for 10 years and 150,000 miles before doing so.