Advice on Buying a Higher Mileage Evo X MR
 

Hey guys!

So I found a super affordable 2008 Lancer Evolution MR, and I am hoping you all could give me some advice. It is completely stock besides lowering springs. The only downside is the mileage, which sits at 120k. The possibly good thing is that I can get it for less than $14k. The guy is trying to get out of payments, so that could be a partial reason for the price. I live 700 miles away, so it would take a flight to make it out to look at it. I bought an IX this way before, and it works out perfectly. I noticed in the photos that it is missing the splash guard underneath the front bumper, and wondering if that is something I should be concerned about? Any other advice on problem areas or possible flaws I should be looking for would be greatly appreciated!

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The car looks pretty good for its age. I would not worry about the front bumper. Maybe the current owner had a front lip installed before.

Be sure to take the car to a reputable local dealership (like a Mitsubishi or Nissan dealership) for a complete diagnosis before you buy. It costs you only ~$100 and can prevent potential financial blunders.

I'd fly and test drive! :D

I actually just bought tickets (round trip, just in case) to go take a look at it. Its definitely is not perfect, but it would be nice to have a "Drive" option on the gear stick for DDing. My VIII's clutch gives me a pimp limp...

I'm pretty sure the MR has an auto mode that will drive like a standard automatic.

Looks pretty good. Only thing I noticed from the pics, other than the lip, was the plastic red power terminal cover in the engine bay is missing.

I noticed that as well, but I have seen that piece missing on a few Evo's. Honestly I just need it to get me 700 miles, then id be happy!

I'm also in the market for a high mileage MR, I wish I could find a deal that good. I'm seeing a lot of MR's just over 100k miles and they're still asking for $20k.

Nice, just got back in the game with a X MR. Also relatively high mileage at ~87k, but the thing is solid , clean, in good shape top to bottom. With the exception of a little plastitip and the Evo 7-9 roof fangs (or whatever you call them) the thing is stock and looks to have been mostly stock most of its life. It has GSR rims and cloth interior, but the price was right. Now for some loving and a summer filled with lapping days at High Plains.

Wut

I also will be headed to HPR this Thursday, but I'll be in my VIII. When you take your MR to the track, do you have any problems with the transmission getting hot, and do you have the factory SST in the car?

Selling the drivetrain, wheels, and seats from this car would probably cover the selling price of the car... The only reason not to buy is the fear it won't get me home!:dunno:

Nice, jealous you're already getting days in at HPR. I've only had the car for a few days so I need to do a shakedown and fluids before I'm ready to hit the track.

And that's definitely the risk in picking up a car on first site and driving it 700 miles--you don't know if it's going to make it 700 miles. But for the price, even if it breaks down you could have it towed somewhere close and then shipped home. A deal like $14k is worth going out of the way for given that price, and if it's not beat to hell when you see it. And given the mileage I would expect having to throw some money at it to get it where you want it in the first place. Just my thoughts.

Regarding my car, to the best of my knowledge it's the stock SST in there. And since no track, I've yet to see if the thing overheats (although I almost expect it to). And I didn't see an upgraded (or added) SST cooler, so I'll be adding one of those as well before I see you out there. Enough people have reported getting the SLOW DOWN reprimand at the track so I'm just going to get one in there before I start pushing it. The car does have 87k miles on it so I'm not going to drive it like I stole it... yet.

thats a GREAT price, hope u pick it up soon.
ask about service records, if he had the belt recall done and if he had all the fluids done already. at 120k he should have his second set of drivetrain fluids done. 60k miles for regular driving.
also see if the timing chain has been done.

1. What's the belt recall? Seat belt?

2. Timing chain. TLDR; was there a recall on the earlier models to replace the chains?

The owner will be taking the car to Precision R for an inspection tomorrow. I spoke with them about working on Evo's, and they have done work on a fair few of them. Not an Evo-specific shop, at least they have experience working on X's. Again, I have round trip tickets so I can bug out if it ends up being a phishy deal. Here is the shop's webpage URL's.


https://www.facebook.com/PRECISIONR/


http://www.precisionrperformance.com/HOME_PAGE.php