Hey guys, I want to buy a Evo and I was looking at somthing around the 2004-2005 range and I have heard some good things and some bad things about evos. I was told they go through a clutch every couple 10k's and need maintence often and tires replaced.
But I am not gonna be drivin this thing hardcore, just around as a daily driver.
The only downside I see to this car is that insurance is a *****. Being younger im lookin around $4,500 a year. Not really sure if it is worth it or not.
I do have $19,000 in the bank right now so I wont be having to make payments or anything.

I have driven mine daily (snow, rain, wind, hail, etc) for the last 2 years (almost). Other than doing regular maintainence, clutch and tires the only other money I have spent is mod money.

Seriously, as a daily driver it has been reliable and more importantly a fun car. Other than getting stuck in Chicago traffic and having to play with the Exedy clutch, I have no issues.

Sounds to me like you still more for the total investment that it takes to own an evo, I would look at the yearly cost, some websites like edmunds.com make assessments on the total cost of ownership which will give you the bottom line. I would say the evo is a great daily driver, when left stock and driven appropriately. But, in all honesty the cost of ownership could be higher than you anticipate.

if you launch alot expect it to go out early, but there are some guys who have made it last like 80k miles. its a decent DD.

It has only been undriveable on me once. I track mine from time to time etc. As far as insurance...I pay 85 a month with 0$ deductibles all the way around.

Seth

hmm yes it can be daily driven.. and can you please search... this just came up a couple days ago...

I have put nearly 30k on my car and have replaced my clutch once... i have the Excedy Twin disc and am in LOVE with it....

The daily drive isnt too bad... but this is not my kind of road trip car... its a bumpy ride ( with a sportier suspension) and there is a bit of cabin noise.... ( but what do u expect from a 'lil rally car?)..

maintenece-wise its not too bad... and if ur not going to be track/auto-cross oriented.... then its no big deal at all.... just tires, oil / fluid changes.... and car washes.....

It's a very reliable car if you don't abuse it. As a DD, the main draw back is the harsh ride and lack of cruise control IMHO. However, paying $4500 a year for insurance is crazy. I would look at something else.

My car was my DD for the first year and a half I owned it. I have ad it 2 years so recently it got demoted from the DD only because I am doing the 50trim turbo kit and a bunch of mods now and I now live in an area where it snows in winter. the car handles being a DD very well. I even drove the car from Tampa Fl to Ma then back again and then moved from tampa Fl to Ma and drove it back up again and the car was packed to the roof with my junk. I put 42k on the car as a daily driver never tracked it still had the stock clutch but I did need new brake pads cause stockers suck around 31k and new tires at 21k. I recently upgraded to an exedy twin HD clutch so when the stock came out I expected 42k miles later it wouuld be pretty much spent plus i launched the car quite a few times but the cluth surprisingly had lots of life left

If you keep it maintained it should be fine. I have never had a problem. You are the only one to know if the insurance price is worth it. To me it seems like the insurance expects you to pay off the price of the car. For that amount you can get about a $20K 60month car loan (~6.5%). Just something to think about.

The EVO is a good daily driver, but if u arent going to race it then I wouldnt get one. This car has made to perform on the track, not public roads. Just my .02 c

My OEM clutch had 60K on it before it started to slip. keep it maintained and there should not be any issues. Good luck finding a 04-05 evo for 19k too.

I continue to mod my EVO...fun, a bit of an expense...but worth the drive...don't get pressured into something that you don't want to work on. The big kick is not trying to out mod but enjoying what you find suits you...the EVOM community has been a great help in teaching and searching...lots of experience out here...if you have doubts...look around for a bit.

They don't go through a clutch every 10K miles, I don't know who told you that. Mine lasted over 30k miles and I had over 60 hard drag strip launches and over 300whp. If you really abuse the clutch, it will go out faster.

The tires can last for a while too, as long as you take care of them, meaning you rotate them every 3,000 to 5,000 miles and make sure they have correct inflation in them. But with that said the stock yokohamas are known more for their performance, there are other performance tires that last much longer than yokohamas, but they do not offer the same performance.

Yeah insurance is a b*tch, sorry

As for brakes, well I am not sure about others, but I need new pads by 22k miles.

But yeah as far as I am concerned, the EVO is a very durable car. Nothing out of the ordinary has went wrong with this car in 32k miles (knock on wood).

My Evo is my daily driver, and it's by far the best car I've ever owned in every respect. I don't take it to the track - I drive it to work, to church, I cart my family around in it, etc. It's a totally appropriate car for that - and when you get on it, it goes!!

Having said that, driving it isn't cheap. The cost only begins when you buy it. Plan to spend at least 2-3X what you spend in maintainance on a normal car. Performance parts aren't cheap, and they wear fast, but you get what you pay for.

My recommendation is this - don't look just at the car and insurance. If you can easily afford: the car, the insurance, 2-3X normal maintainance cost, and 93 octane gas (20mpg average) - then you can afford it. In my mind there would be nothing worse than having the car and then not be able to take care of it correctly. I am shocked sometimes when I read about people trying to cheap out on the maintainance side. If you're going to buy the car - plan to spend some money on the back end too. You need to treat the car right if you want it to treat you right.