The car will not clear customs(meaning DOT and EPA approval), and registering is a whole other issue. There are loopholes, which means not legal. Shipping a car in pieces is different and what many have done to import cars but then you still run into the registering issue. So you will not be able to 100% legally drive/register this car on the streets, and no matter what route you take you are risking never even clearing customs. So buy yourself a US spec Evo that you will undoubtedly enjoy and save yourself the trouble and headaches, and avoid the risk of throwing away 15 grand.

Japan will export any car to where ever but once it leaves getting onto your country is your problem, as stated in the warning.

 

Can someone just buy a mirage and a front clip and get everything swapped over? Obviously you COULD, but is it legal to leave it as a Mirage on the registration and just pay for liability so you don't try to screw the insurance company?

I would just use it as a "project/show" car.. maybe drive it like 500ish miles a year.

I've been thinking about doing this after I pay off the X next year..

 

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2007/01...-ix-mr-fq.html


I am looking at a UK spec 2007 evolution IX MR FQ 360 with the speedline wheels, recaros with side airbags, eibach springs and of course the usual bilsteins. It is the last commemorative edition.

 

Wow, thanks for all the replies everyone!

I prefer a 4/5/6 because I do hold them dear to my heart. I love all the Evo's but if I was going to buy one, I would want a older model. I don't care about performance as much.

Yeah...they seem like so much work to import..I suppose I have to wait another 15 years?! Oh god..I can't. I don't want to be 40 and just now have the car I've always wanted. Not like its a super car or anything...sad day.


I heard about the Mirage VIN swap and also heard it wouldn't work because older Evos have their VINs engraved into the engine bay.


I've seen a few Toyata Trueno AE86's, some GTR R32 and even a NSX -R here in Colorado, all right hand drive. Makes me really jealous and also ambitious.



So had no one on these forums successfully imported an Evo 4/5/6? When I did a search only this thread showed up:



https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/la...usa-can-i.html



The website I was looking at is called "Japan-Partner.com"


would dismantling the car work?
OH ....Does anybody heard this story..I think i read in a magazine awhile ago.


A guy bought a frame of a galant or mirage..Bought all the parts for an evo 5 and put it together. It was featured in a magazine. I think the owner lived in Hawaii. If anyone has heard of this story or knows if it, please help me. That might be the only way I could do it..albeit it might be more expensive..

 

much better choice ! but when you talking about special editions the deal is not that simple.

Just between a standard editions rs-gsr- mr , the evos are better as the generation number gets higher. there is no question about that. It is a real evolution in that sence.

But when you by a spec edition, then gets tricky. Like still the most favorible is the GSR TME , also it was based build on the RS trim too. But the GSR based has more "comfort" as much as the VI can be comfortable today standards.
Then comes all those FQ , and other RA made monsters . Like the Zero Fighter etc.

As long as you have a clear unmodifyed special edition, you have something worthy to hold on. Other then that , just try to get a newest version possible. I think that is a best choice.

 

Woo, so many responses...thanks!


Reading what veteran members of this site have said, I can see that it is very risky business.

I'm not very interested in high power. Stock power of any evo is plenty for me. I hold the JDM evo close to my heart, because they are how Evos were meant to be driven. AYC, full specs and a better body.


I remember reading a article in a car magazine...it was about a Hawaiian man who bought a Mirage/Galant body frame, and then imported/Bought parts from a Evo 5. He then built the Evo 5 from the ground up.

For anyone who could remember this story, or heard of it...please let me know! I'm sure I could find/read information about his story that could help me out.



Japan-Partner does offer dismantling services. Would this be easier to do?

I would buy one from the states, if I could find one....

Also what about Canada? Wouldn't they still inspect the car?



Who would I have to contact to confirm what would need to be done to the Evo inorder for it to meet customs? My local DOT office or the one where the car is being shipped to?


Thanks for all the feedback and advice guys
I'm really lost on this whole process.

 

exactly how did you work out that little gem

id accept the 4 not being as good narrower track .crankwalk issues but the rest is nonsense

 

I would seriously recommend that you do not purchase a car like that unless you fully understand the importation laws and the risks involved. If I lost over $10,000 trying to get something like that I would probably have a heart attack

 

 

The IV still weighs 3000lbs and makes minimally less power than a 5 and 6.

 

still 109 lbs lighter than 8/9

 

Rob your killing me comfort and evo were never used in the same sentence till they built the evo 7 on the cedia base with the idea of entering the us market. , to put it simply thats where d-evolution started.

 

I have, but I lived in Japan for 4 years and it took more than a year to get the everything lined up. It was a TME RS the rarest factory and a true homologation evo with FIA papers and Mitsu press release stating it was build for motorsports, which is the only reason I got anywhere. Also I think I may have burned that bridge at Mitsubishi, then seeing how much effort it was to get the proper paperwork, and me bugging them for months on end. On top of that the car is not street legal.

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...my-tme-us.html

 

I would just buy an EVO 8/9 here in the US....

Or at least try and find the one you want that's already in the US. Shipping from overseas and dealing with customs sounds like a disaster.

 

Fyi every RS model is homologated.... even the x ... hard to ecxept for some of you guys i know ...

direct link for the basic homologation document/ PDF for Evo X

http://www.ralliart.co.jp/GRN/homolo...ancerEvo10.pdf