Car Auto Design

The EVO treatment represents a midlife upgrade for the 848, now entering its fourth year of service. While the list of engine and chassis enhancements can fit on a sticky note, the performance gains are intended to benefit racers and street riders alike. This is an important point, because the 848 EVO replaces the current model and becomes the sole 848 offering for '11. While periodic updates are to be expected among competition-based machines, the surprise here is that a red 848 EVO carries the same $13,995 MSRP as its predecessor­, while the matte-black version here is $1000 less.

We obtained the very first EVO-spec bike to arrive stateside and promptly put it through our full street and track test regimen. Strapped to CW's Dynojet dyno, the EVO produced 118.5 rear-wheel hp, a mere 1.5-pony increase over the 848 we tested this past year. While engine performance fell short of what we had anticipated, the EVO still outmuscles its closest middleweight-class rivals by nearly 10 peak horsepower. The tuning alteration has shifted peak output closer to the 11,000-rpm rev limiter while sacrificing a couple of ft.-lb. of torque throughout the middle of the rev range.