Hey guys!

Looked at a 2011 Evo X GSR tonight and just had a couple questions for people who know more about evo's then i do. The car currently has about 30K miles on it, looks very good.

After getting some numbers figured out, I took the car for a test drive. Started up the car and went through the gears at idle, they felt a bit notchy compared to my current car (Mazdaspeed3). Once i got to 5th gear however, I had to really put some power behind it to make it go all the way in gear. It felt almost like something was blocking or preventing it, and i was pushing it past it.

Once I took the car out on the road, shifting felt better overall, still not quite smooth though. 5th felt a tad better at speed, but there was still some obvious resistance.

So, is this normal for the evo's? I love the car, but after that test drive I wouldn't sign the papers til I had a better idea if this was normal or not. I have a hard time thinking much could be wrong with it with such low miles.

Thanks for any help!

 

If it was cold, possibly that would account for it. It is notchier than most cars, but 5th gear shouldn't fight you.

 

Welcome to a Mitsubishi tramsmission. We hope you enjoy your stay.

But for real, they're all notchy. I don't have a speed 3 but I have a Mazda 3 GT with the 2.3L and even with 180k miles it shifts smoother. Same with my Hyundai also with 180k miles, that takes less effort than the Mazda actually. New model civics are also butter.

But the evo, much like dsms, will always feel notchy and need more effort. Personally I like that better. It's a lot more satisfying grabbing the next gear and feeling it go in, and knowing exactly what gear you're in by feel. Generally once they warm up they're a bit better but cold is pretty harsh.

I've owned mitsubishis for almost a decade and they're all like that. Old, freshly rebuilt, all have the same "feel" I would say.

 

Yeah the notchiness isnt something im too concerned with. My biggest issue is the 5th gear not shifting smoothly at all. All the videos Ive seen, no one seems to have an issue shifting to 5th, so i m not sure.

 

Oh my bad I must've overlooked that. Yeah no issues with 5th here either, transmission has 140k miles and it was always good in all gears including 5th. Is the car on the stock shifter mechanism, like bushings, etc, does it have a short shifter do you know?

 

I suppose it's possible it has a short throw...I wasn't paying much attention to the throw while I was driving it. The only aftermarket parts I could actively see were an intake, strut brace, and a rally art shifter.

slept on it and still can't imagine what could be the issue. Did some research and couldn't find anything pertaining to it. 5th gear drives fine when it's engaged, just getting it engaged feels like it takes much more force then the other gears.

having the dealer take a better look at it. If I were to buy it, would I be protected if I found more to be wrong with it?

 

I've noticed that my gears are a little tougher to engage in cold weather. I have no idea why, but once it gets going there are no issues. Just to be safe, have someone look at it if possible and go from there. Also, look into warranty information if you're worried about being protected if something were to go wrong.

 

I don't think it's a good idea to force it into gear.

I let it warm up a bit and skip gears that refuse to engage when cold. In warmer weather it's fine though still a little notchy.

 

Depends on what trans fluid is in there and the outside temp. I have MT-90 in mine and on a 30 degree day it does no like to go into gear when I first get in the car. Gets much better after I've driven for a few miles. It's pretty normal for these transmissions.