I've wanted this car for about 10 years, but it came to the States just a few months late, I needed a car back then so I took out a lease on a Civic. Now I'm nearing the end of my lease and looking to buy an new Evo. I heard some pretty bad stories about the Evo's, how the transmission would break down and the clutch would wear out within the first 10K miles, and the dealership would refuse to replace them. After doing some search on the net this seems to be a problem for many Evo owners, however, it seems to me that almost all of the transmission/clutch problems I read about online are coming from the '03 models of the Evo, was this because of some improvements Mitsubishi made since that year? Does anyone with a later year model of Evo experienced such problems as well or perhaps heard about them? I'd appreciate any inputs on this subject, thanks in advance.

 

I have an 03 and still on stock clutch and tranny, no issues with mine. I feel it is how you drive your car which determines how well the stocker holds up and what HP you have.My sons friend has a MR with 1800 miles on it and had the dealer replace his clutch already.

 

Well most of the people that posted complains about their Evo had problems first occuring when they had around 5k miles on the car, they all claim their cars were driven w/out any abuse and that's not hard to believe since it'd take a while to break in the engine. I'm posting this thread in hope that the problem was perhaps in some manufacturer defects that only exists in the '03 models and were fixed for '04 and '05 year models of Evo, 'cause if I buy this car it will be my everyday driving vehicle and I don't want make repeat trips to the dealership like most of them did, that's totally unreasonable for a car that cost about 30K.

 

I had a couple minor issues with my 03, but nothing that caused any real problems...and nothing the dealer would do anything about. I loved the car, traded to an 05MR and have had no problems at all. The only issue I had was my heat control stuck a bit and I had a grind going into 2nd the dealer said they never felt. Other than that, the normal rattles were there...but not enough wrong to not want to keep one in the family.

 

i had my evo for 2 yrs now and still in stock clutch and tranny with 28800 miles. no problem what so ever. im selling it though because i need to pay some debt to clean my credit so we can refi our house and get low rates.

 

hello and welcome.
get the evo.
you wont regret it

 

Well thanks for the input folks, I'm planning on a test drive on Friday. Gonna go check out the STi also, since the dealers are next door to each other.

 

that has to be a sight ^^^^ i wonder if any competition on test drives at the same time

 

PM me or email me how much youre looking to get for it, I'm trying to find a black, bby or white one.

my email is my name here at gmail.com

 

same as this guy but i have the grind in second and third and a "kick" every once in a while shifting out of first, dealer cant replicate according to them although the mechanic that test drove it this time said my clutch that the other mechanic said was fine 1500 miles ago is now going,

 

My '03 Evo has been my daily driver for 18 months now, with 20K miles. Other than a leaking battery (replaced under warranty) and a squeaking passenger door panel, the car has been flawless. If you look at the post entitled "My 75,000 mile review", you will see that these cars are remarkably robust. You always have a chance of getting a bad sample, like any other car, and you will break the transmission or clutch if you abuse the car, but I have to say that the Evo is very, very reliable.

link

 

Most of the problems I have been aware of were with 2003 models. I know people with 2004-2005 models that have had no problems. They give it regular maintenance by the book and don't beat on it every second of the day. I had a '97 Eclipse GSX and treated it that way and it was fine for the 45k/almost 5 years or so I had it for.

 

sent you a pm.

 

Well it was quite a week I had. Went down to south Florida to visit the parents, stopped by the dealer (Lehmen Mitsubishi on 441 and Countyline rd in Hollywood for those live near by) to see if they had an Evo MR, was told there prolly isn't one available in the entire state of Florida. So I ended up test driving the Evo VIII, it was everything I thought and more, then went next door to the Subaru dealer (Also Lehmen) but they didn't have an STi on the lot and I was told they won't get one for a while... There isn't another Subaru dealer within 45-60 mins of drive, I took it as a sign and sat down with the Mitsubishi dealer and got a price with a monthly payment plan. I'm not an accountant or anything, but that payment plan seemed way off the price, so I left. I went to a different dealer (forgot the name, on 441 just south of Sawgrass Express Way in Coral Springs) the next day, it's the same story over again. The salesperson gave me a price that sounded awesome on paper and a payment plan along with it, when asked what APR that payment plan was under he simply dodged the question by saying "Well it's gonna be around 3% maybe 4%..." I knew it was a lie based on the numbers, went home did some research/calculation online and the payment plan he gave me was actually >11%!!! I was pretty discouraged at that point, thought maybe it's better off to talk to my bank first and get a loan straight from them and negotiate only the price of the car with the dealers. Then day three came around, I didn't really have anything planned so I went by a third Mitsubishi dealer (Bill Seidles Mitsubishi on University Dr. just south of Griffin road in Davie) and didn't expect much to happen, then I was totally surprised about the way they do business there. No number games, no dodging questions, the salesman gave me a price up front, didn't even talk about a payment plan until he sent me to the financing agent, showed me APRs on his monitor from all the banks they have available (They actually went to the banks' websites), picked out the lowest one and then worked out the monthly payments. The price he gave me on the car was actually a little bit higher than the two previous dealers, but the monthly payments were about $50-$60 lower. By that time I've already done my own calculations and the one he gave me was higher by only $5 (my calculations were based on equations that are really used for real estate properties so it can be a little off but not much). I was really impressed by the way they do business there, and when I found out they actually have an Evo with the color I wanted on the lot, I was sold. I drove to see the parents with a Honda Civic, and I came back with a '05 Evo VIII, thanks again for all the help you guys gave me, I couldn't be any happier right now with the choice I made. And if any of you live around the Fort Lauderdale area thinking about buying an Evo or a Mitsubishi in general, make sure you check out Bill Seidles, it's prolly the best deal around.

 

Congrats on the new ride.
Yeah there's always dealership doing shady business around. Glad that you found it out w/o falling into their trap.
Now just enjoy the car!!!