I've seen a few 5 speed Evos on CraigsList now that have something like "5th gear grinds" or "sometimes gets locked out of 5th gear" or something to that effect. Do the older Evos have a bad 5th gear synchro? Just wondering as the generation Civic Si that I have now is plagued with synchro problems and it is supremely frustrating.

 

The 5 speed is the vastly more reliable one. I don't even understand how anyone wears out their 5th gear unless there was a issue from the factory. I'm never even in 5th gear. Ita useless for city.

 

how do you wear out 5th gear?

 

well, with my Civic it's not that we wear it out, it's that it came faulty from the factory. both our 2nd and 3rd gear synchros are terrible. If Honda replaces the synchro for you, the problem comes back in a few thousand miles. it's annoying.

 

Looking at an 05 VIII.

Did they have the Mivec engine and AYC? Or were those new with the IXs?

 

MIVEC wasn't in any of the Evo VIIIs, only the IX and X. AYC was only available in US models on the X.

 

I'm sorry I meant ACD. I googled it, and it has it apparently. It's a GSR so it has a 6 speed too. Kind of a drag, I want a 5 speed.

 

In the US, only the MR had the six-speed manual of the CT9As

 

I DD my evo. 06 IX with 116k miles. For the past 40k miles, I've been over 400 whp and she still purs like the day I bought her. It really depends how well the car has been taken care of though. I take great care of my evo and put a lot of time and money into maintenance.

Nothing beats DDing an evo though. I'm one of the few people on the road who looks forward to their daily commute, haha. Lately I've had the tough decision of deciding whether to ride my zx10r to work or the evo...luckily for me, I win every time regardless of my choice =P

 

A lot of time and money into maintenance as in a lot of things go wrong?? Just asking as a HOPEFULLY soon to be first time Evo owner.

 

Really depends on the previous owner. For example, I've been at 350whp since about 35K miles. I'm at 145,000 miles now... absolutely zero issues. Original motor, transmission, transfer case and diffs. It's just been scheduled maintenance. It's been down the drag strip multiple times from 2004 to 2007 and I recently just tracked the car two weeks ago at NJMP with 145K miles. No issues.

 

That's good news to my ears. I'm looking at an 05 with 130k miles. One owner, never modded.

 

See that's what I thought. Some car site said the 2005 8 GSR has the 6 speed also. Glad they're wrong.

 

Never modded is a good start. Always hard to know for sure.

By money on maintenance I mean lots of oil and fluid changes which can rack up time and money. Oil change every 2500 and because of high mileage/power, I do full drivetrain fluids every 10k miles. If you DD it, you will put miles on and those changes come quick.

If you are looking at one with 130k miles, there are a few things you should consider. With high mileage evos, you cannot forget that many drivetrain components are meant to wear out and be replaced. Clutch, shift forks, synchros, etc. If you arent DIY, then labor for that stuff gets veryyyyy pricey. At 100k miles, I put in a new twin disk clutch and while I had the tranny out, I changed out synchro's and two shift forks that were worn out. I didnt need to do the extra stuff but you can easily see the wear on the sliders, forks, etc and by 130k miles they would most likely have to be changed anyways.

 

:/

maybe I should wait a while then.....I basically have $0 in savings. if God forbid the clutch goes out or something, I'd be done for.