Hi there, I need some advice from other Evo owners. I recently bought a 2006 Lancer Evolution MR from a local Mitsubishi stealership. I paid 28,000 out the door and the car was in great condition with 45,000 miles. They told me it had new brakes, but two weeks later I had a shaking steering wheel and I took it to a mechanic who showed me the brake pads and rotors at the end of their life. The car didn't have new brakes.

So, 28,000 out the door and my Evo already needs brakes.

1. 1050 dollars installed for new brakes. This includes 4 new rotors, all new pads, and shims.

2. Fast forward 20,000 miles and the car now needs a clutch. 1400 dollars installed (includes new flywheel).

3. The heat shield on the down pipe just broke and it's rattling like crazy. I'm guessing 150 to have that fixed.

4. 60k service. This set me back 1000 dollars from a local Mitsubishi tuning shop.

So, now I'm up to, 31,600 dollars for a 2006 Lancer Evolution MR with 65,000 miles and it's completely stock and looking like it needs tires pretty soon.

Is this normal to have invested this much thus far? Should I sell it while I still have some money in my bank account? Did I get ripped off? I just want to hear from other Evo owners to see if my situation is normal or if I have been paying way too much. I'm new to the Evo world so please forgive me for being a fool. Thank you.

 

It seems normal, you got to pay to play.
It sucks that they lied to you about the breaks

28 is a lot for a 45k mile evo. I paid 23k for mine and it was almost brand new 2003 evo 8 with 22k miles, and this was 5 years ago.

Personally, I think you should do a little more research before you sell your evo or buy another one. You can find some AMAZING deals on evo's here on the forums "for sale" section. Give it a look.

 

You said recently you bought it, but you've put 20k on it? How long ago did you buy it? None of the things you have mentioned are crazy, and maintenance costs add up, especially if you don't do the work yourself. It sounds like you just need tires and you've got a well maintained car.

Selling it now if you recently bought it would result in you being really upside down. My thought is you should get tires and keep it a while. You shouldn't need anything else for a while unless you are driving it hard. Even then, brake pads are relatively inexpensive and easy to install.

 

And, my friend recently told me that the 6 speed in an MR is not going to last me, he said it will go out and when it does I'll have to spend about 4000 for a new transmission. I'm just really freaked out about all the costs adding up. With new tires, my car will be in good shape, everything will be tip top. But, if the transmission goes out I'm going to be in big trouble since this is my daily driver. I just don't know how worried I should be about that?

 

You are at stock power levels, so I wouldn't worry too much. Also, what you would pay for a trans. rebuild will be less than you would lose selling the car now.

 

Sell the car. The trans will last as long as you want it to, don't beat on the car

 

You shouldn't be worried about your transmission atm. The 6 speeds start to be troublesome when higher HP numbers are reached.

 

Thank you all for your help and advice! I really appreciate it

 

What did u get done with ur 60k? I just paid 820 for mine. Just curious if u got more done for a g than i did or if u just got boned.

 

They said they changed all the belts, all the fluids, spark plugs, etc. I guess everything the service book called for?

 

28 is a lot, but it sounds like you pay for convenience and do not have time to push pennies, which is completely understandable and OK, so in that case, yes, the numbers are normal.

the 6 speed is the way to go, many enjoy it for DD, which is exactly what you use the car for. Be thankful you have that extra gear!

this will show a recent argument. Many people are quick to say the 6 speed is bad. Lots of people that have them say otherwise:

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...ad-6speed.html

 

You could have bought aftermarket rotors and pads and installed them yourself and saved a ton of money. 20k on a clutch is good, so you have 60k on it now with the oem clutch.. Sounds like it lasted a long time to me, I smoked mine at 47k and I bought it with 45k on it lol. The heatsheild fix is just to remove it and be done with it, not gonna hurt your car.

Learn how to do basic wrenching on your car and you will save a ton and shop around at performance shops that are know how to work on evos and they charge half as much as a dealer

 

Thats a little pricey. Brakes are pretty easy to replace on your own unless you are really not mechanically inclined.

I hope that wasn't the stock OEM clutch they charged that much for.

Just replace it with something quality

Again that sounds a little on the high side.

You got ripped off on initial purchase. Seriously If you've been taking your car to the same stealership then I'd say they have been just giving it to you raw with no lubricant.

Sorry to hear. This is one of the reasons that I always say if you buy a used Evo you need to have some money set aside for a clutch and or TCase repair.

Good luck

 

You just paid a little too much on the purchase price in my opinion.

The rest of the stuff is kinda normal.

These cars get very expensive if you don't wrench on them yourself.

 

OP, sell the car. This isn't for you.