Hey everyone. Just introducing myself as I am currently in the market for an Evo. Already started running into the usual BS in dealing with a vehicle like this. I drove about 2 1/2 hours out to Virginia yesterday to see this car:

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...5&aff=national

When I originally called the guy told me 18,900 on the phone (which I sure as hell wasn't planning on paying). So the pics looked good and I made the trek. Well I get there and immediately the car is dusty and looks like it hasn't been touched in months. The rear bumper is all scratched up and looks like the bottom right end was scraped pretty bad on a curb. On the front end the fins in the vent looked like a couple were a little bent. As I'm looking at everything the sales guy walks up and I ask him about the price and I said "I called they said 18,900". He says "Who did you talk to? That's wrong, it's 19,900". I then ask to take it for a drive, and he says he'll have to run my credit first. So I say "let me look inside first".

I get inside and the interior isn't bad, leather is in good condition. But then I look at the ashtray and it's all scratched up and looks like there's still ashes in there. I look at the dash and it's just filthy and scratched in several places. I sigh and say to myself "wonder if the engine bay is more promising". More disappointment. I open it up and I look down at the exhaust manifold. It is COMPLETELY covered in rust. The guy then offers up that the car was modified but returned to stock when traded in. He goes on to tell me that it was blowing white smoke when they got it so they replaced the turbo.

Needless to say I said "There's no way this car is worth 19,900" and he goes "let me speak with my manager." He comes back and says "He'll do 18,900". At this point I express my disappointment at driving 2.5hrs and said "If i had seen this engine bay I would have not driven in here." To which he replies "They normally take engine bay pics I don't know why they didn't." I retort with "Because it's rusted to ****" and proceed to walk to my friend's car and leave.

That was a lot longer than I had expected but the only reason I drove down there was because all of the pics were very misleading about the condition of the vehicle. Lesson learned: Always ask for engine bay pics!

Edit: Anyway, my name is Zack, and I hope I'll be talking to you all soon.
Second edit: Also forgot to mention I asked if the timing belt had been changed and he had no idea.

 

As far as the exhaust mani being rusted they all are. Turbo cars are bad about that. And g/l with your hunt. It is a pain to find a good one. Try looking on the classifieds on here. Lots of cars get sold on the forums. And welcome

 

yeah exhaust manifold will rust on every evo unless the car is garage kept and never driven also the fins being bent rocks and stuff will bend up the intercooler fins, and the rear bumper being scratched 100$ and it can be repainted at most body shops, it seems like u just not ready to buy a used car seems like normal cosmetic wear and tear especially if the car is and 03 or 04 evo its a 7 year old car so its not gonna be perfect just my opinion

 

^ Was gonna say the same thing, ha.

 

i say its a good thing you walked away, because bent fins on the radiator shows that the turbo has been changed or messed with and this case you were told so, AND that is a huuuge red flag because you dont want a modifie car turned to stock, things are not the same anymore. either leave it modified or keep basic bolt ons on the car. I personally would never buy an ex-modified car just because you dont know what kind of abusement the car has add. Good thing you walked away.

1) never buy from the dealer they are there to rape you
2) look around the forum good guys here that sell nice cars with a history behind it
3) always car fax when it comes to performance cars, for safety reasons too.

 

i couldn't get the link to pop up

 

I'm not above buying a car that has issues, but when a dealer wants to sell a car at the CLEAN/MINT price, it better be clean/mint. It was fair at best, not to mention it was modified then returned to stock. It was a headache in the making and not worth the price they were asking for. Now if they had been reasonable on the price I may have jumped on it. But like someone said dealers are out to rape you.