I found an evo IX in my area, and I'm going to test drive it tomorrow.

GG IX with 30k roughly price will likely be somewhere in between 20-25k. Second owner, clean carfax/autocheck.

The guy says that the timing belt was changed out at 15k miles due to some clanking noise. Any idea what that could mean down the road? High chance the car was abused early on? I want a car I can take care of and build the engine down the road, not one I have to do right away. Timing belts usually last 60-80k miles.

It does have some slight body work that would need to be done. Scratch on the bumper and small dent on rear door. But it really doesn't look like it's been modified from what I can see, none of the tell tale signs(wiring holes for guages/timers), the windows aren't even tinted. Looks more like it's lived a life of a car that just wasn't immaculately maintained then a car that was beat up on.

Also he was hesitant to let me do a test drive. Is that just somebody actually being protective of there car or likely just trying to hide stuff. I've never even considered anything like that before but I've seen it a few times since I started looking for an evo. People have said they don't want the next owner thinking there car was destroyed by people test driving it. Still sounds shady to me.

Thanks guys,

 

i definitley wouldnt do any deal without a test drive!!!! never know what could be wrong or how its gonna drive unless you actually drive it

good luck though

 

Yea, a test drive is needed. Also, you can check a couple of other things:

Are the Brembo's still bright red or faded? This usually indicates hard abuse.
Does the rev limiter stop at 5k RPM (stop car, put in first gear, hold in clutch and rev). If its not, the car has been flashed and may be tuned improperly
How does the interior look? Faded seats?
Have a shop perform a compression test-Always a must

Lastly, there are alot of very clean evo's in the private for sale section on these forums...

 

Just go for a ride and ask him to drive.

This is what I've been doing for my evo. I let the guy know I don't want anyone breaking parts or abusing it.

I gave it some harder driving to make him feel better. The buyer even admitted it might be a bit much for him to control, but he did want to see that it had good pull.

Things to watch for when he's driving is difficulty in shifting/grinding.

TC whine.

Wobbly steering wheel during driving/braking.

Pops or misfires.

Again, I totally side with the owner, I don't want idiots messing with the car when I don't know it's going to be sold. I also don't want liability for a crash/damage.

Good luck!

 

you know brother, i came to learn that Evos are a dam strong vehicle, this car was made to take abuse, specially the engine 4G63 is one dam strong engine for being a 2.0,,, however like any systems things can go wrong.

good preventive maintenance and your on your way

 

Thanks guys,

Jjsevo8 I think this is some great info, I never would of thought to check the brakes, the 2-step is a good check also.
I've been looking at some of the ones in the for sale section as well, and I agree most are very clean and nice, but the fewer mods the better. The GG IX SE in Cary, NC is particularly nice, but way out of my $$ range. Also I've owned a car that somebody else modified before, and it was a real pain trying to troubleshoot and hunt down problems that would end up being something like an improperly mounted probe that broke off and was causing problems.

Apagan01, yeah, I agree I think they are strong engines as well, just wanted to know if there is anything I need to check since the timing belt had to be replaced early.

What's TC whine? I'm assuming it's a whining noise, but is there anyway to differentiate it from any other standard whining?

 

isnt the factory 2step 5,500? Thats what it was on my IX when i bought it...

 

I thought it was at about 5,200 rpm but it could be 5,500 rpm

 

good luck on getting your evo!

 

Thanks, hopefully it will all go well.

 

Just keep looking there are plenty out there bet you it was abused that why he replaced the timing belt at 15k probably to many hard down shift's and miss one's to try ebay or auto trader.