Are 03's really that bad?
 

It seems like a lot of threads have something negative to say about the 03's. If your buying a used evo, people say to avoid it like the plauge. WHY? I know people have broken things on their cars but IMO its because of lack of/wrong kind of maintenance. Or people beating the sh*i out of the till they break.
I have an 03 that I have had since new and raced every summer, all summer long. Drag just about once a week and autox/road race when I can usually a few times per year. All I do is maintain my car. Proper fluid changes, and no problems.

How many of the blown t/c's were because someone tried doing awd donuts, launching like ist a front wheel drive or something crazy that would break any car?

What other problems do the 03's have?

Mine has no issues real issues. Runs great

Many people wouldn't take it as a daily driver, since it could be beaten on..badly.

Uggh if someone is telling you to stay away from 03s thats dumb. Evos evolve but there is nothing wrong with 03s at all in terms of "problems"

alot of people compare the 03 with the 05 and 06s, i had a 03 before i bought my ix. power is hands down better in the ix, looks could go either way and the seats are more supportive. besides evos in general are run hard, if you do get a 03 LOOK it over real good before you buy. 03 are getting cheap and with the aftermarket to support the car you can have a real nasty dd, for less then what alot of people paid

there's really nothing wrong with them, people just love to hype it up. My friend in NorCal has a red 03 with 88,000 miles on it, LOTS of track days and basic mods. Hasn't had any problems, and replaced the stock clutch at 55,000 miles.


really people just LOVE to make a big deal out of a few bad cases.

Before I bought my IX I drove an '03 that must have been beat the entirety of its 3 years. The car was slow as dirt, but maybe it could have been attributed to the intake and BOV being aftermarket. Still, I refused to pay $26k for something that had holes in the dash(gauges probably), smelled of smoke, and ran like crap.

Maybe others have experienced this when shopping for an Evo and don't want others to waste their time only to find the same?

Quickest/fastest Evo VIII's in the country are all 03's.
Coincidence,I think Not.....

Of course '03's are the fastes, but thats just because people have had them the longest. The IX has WAY (read: way) more potential than the VIII. Still the VIII is one hell of a car.

Not a coincidence but 3 years of modding them. Nothing is wrong with 03s but they arent inheritently better either. To the guy that test drove a smoked out one- that outta tell you something about the owner not the 03.

No it doesnt it makes more power with light mods but cams arent out yet (and when they are they will be more expensive) and tuners are going to have to figure out the best combos for power and Mivec. There is great potential the Mivec assembly wont hold up to big power- that is yet to be seen. Besides the rumors of updated ringlands the IX has MIVEC and a bigger turbo for light mod superiority. Other than that its a 05 EVO

Kinda makes you wonder if the all the previous generation of EVOs were released in the States, would everyone be ragging on them as much as what is happening to the 2003 VIII. The beauty of the Evolution is that it contiually gets better with each new model, even within the same version ( EVO 6, EVO 6.5, EVO 6.5 TME anyone?). It's great that all the people with EVO IXs don't see some of the same issues as seen with the VIII, but I for one am very happy with my VIII. As long as it is not beaten on recklessly, with regular maintenance and common sense, the car should not have any major problems. Mine was bought brand new as well and has been trouble free since then.:D

The main reason people keeps saying that the '03 were problematic was because that was the first year it came out and people drove the **** out of them. Never buy a used Evo because most likely they were driven hard and the owner either wanted to upgrade or couldn't keep up with the payments and drove the crap out of it before the repo man got it.

'03 no problems, WITH the exception of problems caused by myself.
I didn't realize that until a lot of people started commenting, relative to their performance driving habits, they consider my style very smooth. I think it comes with the sport/dirtbike riding background.
For instance once I had a Mitsu. tech. go and drive my EVO with me. First thing I noticed is him hamfisting the shifter, versus picking and placing the gear. Yes, studying performance driving techniques helps.
Keeping up on the EVO service log really extends the life of the car. At least yearly tranny, and x-fer case fluid changes, regular oil changes and checks, sum up to a happy car I suppose.
That's probably why I'm still on my first clutch, and T-case.
~J.

i agree with this guy^

the first model of EVO came to inexperienced hands, alot of abuse, wrong fluids, and inappropriate maintenance is what increased the incidence and prevalence of problems in EVO's of 2003.

now a days people know how to launch, or dont launch, know about diaqueen fluids, no how to maintain this high maintenance cars. as a result the incidence is continuing to go down and along with this is the innate improvement in the car bu tmostly its the owners and website like this that shows from trials and error of what to do and what not to do.

all the proper mods and experience with that was all from the '03. i bought 03 brand new in 05 (unregistered new evo never sold off of dealer lot) im applying 05/06 knowledge on how to take care of the car, what fluids to use, what mods are good, and thus the car runs flawlessly.

there are alot of factors, its not the car itself, it sthe circumstances at the time the 03 evo was released. thats the reason to stay away from them, not the car or its design.