OK im looking to buy an evo, i found a 2003 evo with around 50k miles, private seller, and im planning on taking it to a mechanic before i buy it to see if its been taken care of.

However, I've heard both sides that mitsu is either reliable or its really not. I just wanna know if anyone has had common problems with evos and what they were, or if theyre reliable

I just dont wanna spend 15k on a car and have all these problems after

 

50K is low miles! It should look and drive like its brand new. And to answer your question yeah Chevy is better than ford. :P Don't worry so much just have it checked out. The 4g63 is a proven power plant that has been around for years. You have evos and dsms with stock internals running 400hp reliably everyday on motors with 100k.

 

You need a mechanic you can trust, as long as they are a good one it doesn't matter where they work. Anything obvious should be just that, obvious.

IMO you'd be better off going to look at it with someone that knows about these cars, maybe check on your local board. Other than that as long as it drives with no funny noises, shakes, etc. Makes good power, and doesn't look like trash its probably in good condition.

Big things are look in the engine bay for dents on the inside of the radiator, marks on the heat shield and its bolts. Loose wiring, things like that. This can tell you if the car was once modded and then put back to stock. Once again though, as long as it runs strong and looks nice, its probably ok.

When I bought my car it ran strong and looked great, tuned out the engine had been pulled, after some looking it was a warranty issue with the engine being completely replaced at 8k miles because the balance shaft bearing ate itself.

 

thanks guys, yeah im gonna meet them at a mechanic to have a pre purchase inspection to be safe

 

You want a PPI done at an Evo-specific shop. Check the applicable regional forum for references. Good luck.