I have a $25,000 wallet for an EVO and I can say that I am positive I am going to go with an VIII or IX. However there are some things to consider and I would like some opinions on how to go about EVO shopping. I only have $25,000 total, financed @ 2 % so this is the budget including taxes, registration... bla bla bla.

Q: Would it be in my best interest to snag an MR if I found one that was a good deal or would it be beneficial to take an VIII or RS? I have heard that the 6 speed in the MR is not something many want to deal with in terms of durability

Q: Would I be smarter to buy a 2003 or 2004 for a good price and keep $5,000 in the bank for mods and or cover my *** money in case something needs to be replaced instead of spending MORE and getting a 2005 or 2006 but having not so much if any safety net?

Q: Would you buy a stock, well taken care of RS over a GSR in any year? They tend to be cheaper with less miles and more often left stock than the GSR considering it takes a very specific crowd to be drawn to the RS?

Q: Modified or stock? Stock is now hard to find so would it be that risky to buy an EVO that did indeed have mods? I never thought it'd be hard to tell if someone took care of, or did things right. It seems pretty easy to tell when someone half asses things

Q: Pre purchase inspection, what is it worth? Who would I take it to? And how much of the story does it really tell?

Q: What else is good to know stuff when looking for or buying a used EVO that I am missing?

I have thought about an MR because I hear the ride quality is better, not that I couldn't handle the GSR suspension but something not so jarring wouldn't be bad but I wonder if it is worth the price of having a weaker drivetrain than the 5 speed. I also am a HUGE fan of graphite gray and I know that it's either an 05 MR or an EVO IX, both which would put me at the more expensive end of things.

 

For the 6 speed MR vs 5 Speed, it depends on what you want to do with your Evo. I personally think that if you doing bolts on mods the 6 speed isn't to make that much of difference. When they were new at the Dealer, I wouldn't pay the extra $4-5K for a MR. Maybe its just me, but tis doesn't seem like their is that much of a huge price difference is regular GSR, SSL (3K option), & MR.

I personally probably wouldn't buy a RS, I hate crank windows and sucks have to lock/unlock all 4 doors, the crank windows is the deal breaker for me. However, tts more of preference thing. That holds true for the 03/04, 05, IX, GSR, SSL, MR, color choice etc.

I prefer unmodified cars. I would consider a modified car if apear to be well taken car, the mods were done cleanly and were one I would consider myself. I would be much more worried about a modified car though, and would look it over fine detail. I have seen a lot more unacceptable hack on modified cars. I don't care if a dealer did the mods either, they hack them together to. On highly modified cars, I find a lot of them to be someone else's problem. You have to be able to be prepare to fix them and/or willing to work through the issues.

I check out my own cars. If I am travelling a long distance (ie flying), I would offer to pay an Evo owner (if possible) to inspect the vehicle.

 

There are a few advantages to buying a 2005. Front LSD, 10.5 turbo hotside, and ACD. But a 2003 can be just as fun and usually just as fast depending what you want to do with it.

Buy an RS only if you can deal with a car without small conveniences like stereo, power windows, dome light, oh.. remember it doesn't have ABS which can be helpful.

small mods are ok. Intake and exhaust no big deal to me. It's once the engine is modded that I would be cautious. Usually it's ok but it doesn't always go well.

pre-purchase inspection? I have no idea. Most of the things you can check yourself such as shifing smoothness and gear box sounds. If you question the engine or if it has high miles, it might not be a bad idea to have the compression checked.

Finally, as far as an MR riding better than a GSR -- I would think that's subjective anyway. Besides, if you ever plan on doing real performance driving you'll be swapping the stock setup for coilovers anyway so it won't matter wither way. I have heard that some people have had issues with the 6-speed but most are fine.

Lots of things to consider. Most of it is just up to your personal preference and how much you want to spend.

 

these guys pretty much answered all the question for you.

imo try and find a stock or nearly stock (exhaust, intake) evo. it took me 6-7 months to find the right car, dont jump into the first one u find. have patients and u will no whats the right one for you.
i bought mine with just a cat back from a dealership down in new jersey. my car had one owner and he was 45 years old. bought it with 20,000 miles. i kicked the salesman in the ***** for the car and paid $22,400 out the door with taxes, registration, and dealer feels.

if you have any questions feel free to pm me

Dan. F

 

Don't buy a MR - it's all street cred for no reason. The IX RS is a fantastic car, if you're a raw performance kind of guy. If not, look for a non-SSL GSR or a SE. I owned both - a RS and a SE.

IX.

Regardless of the car you choose, have a PPI done at an Evo-specific shop. Stock is best, but many cars were put back to stock after being modded, hence the former piece of advice.

Please see above.

Please see above. An Evo-specific shop is crucial!

There isn't enough space to go into it. Search for specifics and then look at a posters past thread/posts to see where he's coming from. All comments are not created equal, even though they look similar of the screen.

Regardless of what you read on the forum, there isn't a night difference between the two suspensions. I've driven/owned both on the same car for thousands of miles. As for MR, there's a reason why few experienced Evo folks buy them. Good luck.

 

check his thread history, he loves to start new threads like this every week.. waste of bandwith imo..

 

Kind of like the post you just submitted? You had nothing constructive to contribute... there is only one waste of bandwidth I see here. Now go somewhere else