exaltd wrote:I'm very hesitant about going turbo ... I hope to learn how a turbo works and how to maintain them
I have a Turbocharged car and there's very little between a non-turbo in terms of maintenance. Modifications will require a different train of thought (eg: wide open cams in a non-turbo will give power, but wide open cams in a turbo that isn't producing much more power than stock will cause your air/fuel to be blown all the way through your cylinders and into your headers!) but, like the non-turbo cars, there's always "set rules" and guidelines as to what will and won't work (like my example).
In short, maintenance is almost no different, it'll drink more fuel (a boost controller will let you turn down boost when you don't need it so less air = less fuel = less power = cheaper to run for daily driving), but I think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
Let's face it, the Evo's are niiice cars

My personal opinion though is that the X is a little harder to modify as there's a lot more electronic components (the throttle for example!) and the ECU controls a lot more. After doing some research when I had my CJ, this caused me a whole heap of headaches. I'm happy now because I can jump on pretty much any parts website and visit more or less any car store and they will have things that I can buy off the shelf that will work!

It's a good feeling! lol.
If you're chasing pure performance:
If it were up to me, I'd get an Evo 9 or earlier (9's are sweeeet!) because it will be mechanically easier to modify. Also, the X's got a bit heavy (and let's face it, no one wants to gut an X. They're just tooo nice!). Or wait and see what the 11 has to offer.
If you want a sweet daily that will stick to the road like glue, go for the X (remember though that it's a "new" car and there are probably faults and bugs that haven't been found yet, unlike an older car). Also be aware that if you get an X, it'll probably still have a warranty for you to consider. This will limit the amount of mods that you can do without voiding the warranty. This shouldn't be a problem, however, because I personally wouldn't modify the X too much. As I said before, it's a sweet daily driver. It has a nice interior, and with a sound system like Big Dave's it'd be fooly syk bro!
And there's one more thing. If you choose to save, in a few years there may be another car that you really want (maybe the FT86, or the new Silvia if they get around to releasing it) and you'll have the money ready to buy it!
Oh, and I totally agree with Graham.
Graham wrote:Save for the evo

at the end of the day if you do up your ES it's still an ES and not an Evo
Hope this gave you some (more) food for thought!
Oh, and if you need to know anything about turbo'd cars, drop me a line (email prefered)