I thought VWs were made to last longer than you? Maybe not.

 

Psha!

Since I got my 2002 GTI 337 these were the problems I've had.

Drivers seat broke
passenger seat broke
dash lights out
gas pedal broke
wheels rusted - replaced - then rusted again
ignition coils failed
water pump failed
coolant temp sensor failed
battery failed
positive power wire on battery corroded and needed to be replaced
won't start in the morning. dies on idle.

Its currently at the VW dealership being fixed since it broke down on the side of the highway on Monday. My warranty is almost up, and since I don't have an extended warranty, I'm not interested in keeping a car with so many problems.

 

Side note, I found out all of my stereo components will fit in the evo.

Woo!

 

I was almost considering a R32, ok. the hell with VWs.

Now was all that natural? or did you pick up the car and throw it off a cliff?

 

... i came within a pubic hair of buying a used evo from a local dealer that had it up on ebay for $26500. Had only a few thousand miles on it.. and some mods. I sat a day too late and it was sold. I later talked to mark at Turbotrix and he said that he remembered that car. Turns out, after the mods the dealer wouldn't fix the noisy transfer case, so he ditched it and traded it for a cobra.

My advice.. go over it with a fine tooth comb. if you know an evo driver, bring him with you for a test drive. Evo's make lots of noise, sometimes its hard to tell what's normal and what's not.

DOn't be scared, but don't be stupid either...

i ended up getting a new one, just worked out for me.

good luck and welcome to a fun world.

 

all natural.

vw =

 

big problem...too many damn tickets....

 

Only thing you need to worry about with any AWD car is the transmission. Contrary to what many believe it doesnt matter if its a skyline r32, Eclipse GSX, Evolution, doesnt matter, the transmission is like plexi glass. It will go through a beating yea, but it is still weaker then any RW or FW drive car.

Only other problem you may have will depend on your driving. Constantly dropping the clutch/ drag racing will burn your clutch by 10000miles. Not like it really matters though if your gonna replace it.

EDIT:: You really wont have to worry about either of the above though unless you rally race, drift, drag, autoxing really hard, circuit racing ect. If your using it as a daily driver and you keep it slow when you first buy it let everything break in you will have very little if any problems with it.

 

Take it to the race shop in your area and see what they charge to perform an inspection. Tell the seller that it's a condition for you buying the car. I don't know about cars and it's the best $50 I can spend when buying a used car.

Ask for service records and proof of oil changes. There are a few threads regarding the recalls on the Evo. The recalls were for minor issues. Do a search on this site and make sure your owner had those fixes performed. It's an indication as to whether your seller cared about the basics.

 

Make sure the car is for you or you will be disappointed! i've heard plenty of bad and good things about this car. The car is great but there lots of small things that MIT could have done to make this car better.

This is my first and last MIT car.

 

IMHO that's a borderline deal. At $25K for a used one, I'd be looking to get a new one. If a new one is definitely out for you, then I'd keep looking. $20K or less would be my price point for a used Evo. The real question is always WHY is this car being sold used, a lot of them are sold because the owner beat the $**t out of it, has noticed something starting to go bad and wants to dump it instead of wrangling with Mitsu to have it fixed...

... be vewwwwy vewwwy caweful...

 

First off let me say that the car itself has fantastic performance, no one can say otherwise. BUT, with that being said lets be honest with this guy. Anyone who reads EVOM regularly loves the EVO of course, but lets list the items for this possible new friend so he can make an informed decision. IMO these items come up more than they should. Do a search on any/all of these key words and you will see the facts.

Search the words in quotes.

"Clutch" is for sure weak, contrary to what some may say. SuperHatch no disrespect friend, I know how to drive, and did not launch the car and my clutch started squeling at @2000 miles. One person posted that Mitsu intentionally made it weak to protect the rest of the drivetrain. If so, this means they underdesigned a part to protect an underdesigned part. There are MANY other theories and ideas on this subject.

The ECU is throwing bad codes on some cars ("PO300" "random misfire" is the most famous) there is a few theories on the reason for this, and some fixes have worked, some have not. There is a reflash expected at the end of May to fix this, but they said one was due in February too.

"5th gear syncros" have been know to be faulty, some have been covered under warranty, some have not.

"Transfer case" see above.

"Brake shuddering" "warped rotors" Some seem to think the rotors may not be warped but in fact the OEM pads are too soft and depositing material on the rotors making it feel as though they are warped. You be the judge.

Some have had no problems, some like me, have not been so lucky. I have had clutch problems (replaced with Exedy single plate), my car throws the PO300 code, and my brakes shudder, knocking on wood for the other stuff.

And that was very good advice from an earlier post, to have a racing shop take a look at the car, and/or if you can have another EVO owner drive it. The recalls were minor, really nothing to worry about, have a local dealer do your first oil change and have them check things out then.

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but this forum is for information, not sugar coating. He can read about driving the EVO on beatiful mountain roads and stoping at bed & breakfasts in Car & Driver, he deserves the truth.

 

I bought mine in October of last year, used. It had 1,700 miles on it and I paid $25,000 (plus tax and tags). I'm no expert, but from doing a little reading here on evom you will probably find the following items that might come-up or are already present on your car.

Look out for grinding while shifting or poor synchro engagement - could be a future indicator of problems.

Look out for paint chipping along the driver's side rear door (body side lower area) - this seems to be a common paint flaw.

Clunking in the front struts while going over bumps - may be an indication of damaged/failing strut.

I may be forgetting some things but, overall the EVO is a great car. It brings a smile to my face every time I drive it!

 

speeding tickets.

 

How about a compression test?

I don't think I'll ever buy a used car again. I had so many probs with the teg.

The only used car I'll prolly get is a used supra. heh..

Wow it sounds like this car has a lot of probs even with slight racing or not.

I figure it isn't too reliable. Big issue for me.