Hey all!

After I got rid of my VIII a few years ago I've always been on the hunt for another VIII or IX. My local craigslist doesn't yield many affordable Evos, most are junk/and or way overpriced.

Found an 04 VIII, high miles(176k) but looks clean. The owner is asking $14.900. Seems clean but I sold my VIII(apex silver 130k miles) for $12.900 2 years ago almost. What would be a fair price for this thing? Thanks and cheers!

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/5483121744.html

 

There is a good chance you will have to do an expensive maintenance on this one. All fluids, timing belt kit, tons of bushings, and mounts, tie rods, seals, oil leaks, start to worry about starters, alternators. Just normal car maintenance, but on an Evo this stuff will easily cost you $2,000 just to begin with. I would only buy this car if you really like working on cars yourself. For the price I recently purchase a bone stock one owner super clean Evo ix MR for with 135k miles for 15k cash. For this one I would offer 12.5K, and wont pay more than 13k. The guy I bought the Evo from was asking 17k, and went 2k down when he saw I was serious.

 

But its not as though the bone stock one owner car you recommend exists, or doesn't require the same wear and tear issues that would need looking at like the car that the TS has found.

 

I wouldn't buy one like that personally, but I don't think much more than 10k is fair for an evo with that much mileage... As dtenev2 said theres gonna be a bunch of maintenance required that will be costly... I'd say hold out until you can find a better deal, and maybe expand your search farther. There are deals out there

 

It took me About a year to find, I remember the emotion of having to turn my back on a few, you start to get this sixth sense to knowing which one is your one and the more you look at the stronger the feeling will be when you see the one and know it's your one...

 

Yeah everyone here is right, on my 135k mile Evo that I bought I am doing all the maintenance that I listed.
3 years ago I bought my first Evo with 118k miles, and spent $5,000 in the first 3 months. The money included: New clutch and flywheel, new tires, new brakes and rotors all around, tie rods and alignment, bunch of bushings, timing belt kit with water-pump, bunch of seal, new oil pan, new-used oil cooler, all fluids (evos need lots of expensive fluids), bulbs, clips, bolts, seized pullies, and more minor stuff. + for all the labor I payed the shop.

Now on my second evo I do all my work, but every time I walk in Autozone I spend 30-60$

 

I wouldn't pay more than $12,500 for an Evo with over 100k, especially one that has been modded and has spent its life in the North East.

That said, Evo prices are going up, low mile unmolested Evos are becoming harder to find, and the demand for them is increasing because they are no longer being made. If you can find a mint example it is worth paying a little more out of pocket for because you will get it back when/if you try and sell it in the future.

 

I understand that being high mileage, I'm taking a risk of having to replace a lot of things. My plan would be drop a MAP 2.3 in the near future if I did pick it up. Being as the trans/t case is already done the engine would be next. Accessories and suspension isn't a worry for me, I work for a Toyota dealer and our neighbor is a mistubishi dealer that cuts me cost plus 15% on parts(came in handy with my last evo).

The biggest question is: will he let it go for a fair price. The Evo market in California is absurd, lots of high mileage cars going for $15k+ I'm going to talk to the owner this week and check it out now that the weather's better here. If I can get it for 10, Ill consider it. It's going to be sitting til I can sell my Golf R, then it'll be a daily for a while until I get a DD beater.

thanks for the input. I'll update later this week

 

High mileage evos you're going to end up sticking some $$ into them, especially if modified. I bought my 03 for $10,500 with 140k and it had bent valves. So far I've sent the head in to be rebuilt, head gasket, timing kit, new turbo, updated all fluids, brakes all the way around and still need to put synchros in the trans and little misc things. Rough estimate of parts so far is $2500. If you can do the work yourself you will save a lot of money. I wouldn't pay his asking price though, see how low you can talk him down.

 

I know that feeling bro as you read my thread and story. You just get the feel which one is yours and meant for you. Wish sometimes we had that feel with women too hahaha

 

update:

Found an 06 IX, 100k miles for 12k. 2nd owner(verified by autocheck), he's done the timing belt but hasn't done the drivetrain fluids. It's about 130 miles from me, but thinking about checking it this weekend. Seems like a screaming deal.

He says the timing belt is making a noise and the steering wheel is a little jacked up. I'll have to look into it but if that's the only thing wrong, this is the cheapest IX i've seen.

 

HAHA I was going to say, if only I had that feel when it came to womenz.

That being said, this is correct advice. Don't settle for a car, there's always something else out there.

Now, if this is going to be a project/toy, that's a bit of a different situation.