Hey guys,

I thought I'd introduce myself to the forum and ask for some advice at the same time.

I have been driving a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer ES for about 6 years now and it's time to for a change. I'm looking at picking up a 2006 EVO IX from a dealership. There's a bit of background to what the process has been so far, but I'll try to keep it short:

The Evo is a GSR manual with a little under 60K miles on it. When I spotted the car a little under a week ago it had been newly listed for 21K. It's busy season for my job right now so I've been working really long hours Monday through Saturday -- so Sundays are my only days off.

I took a trip down to the dealership (150 miles away from my house) on February 1st and showed up as soon as they opened in the morning. I couldn't find the car on the lot so a salesperson tracked it down for me and said it was in the service shop. Apparently, someone from the dealership staff had test driven it and noticed it needed servicing. The sales rep told me he didn't have access to service shop since it's closed on Sunday -- so I didn't even get to see the car. I've been in contact with the rep and he called me yesterday saying that the car was getting a new clutch and starter. The parts would take a few days to arrive. He also said the dealership got 10-15 hits from other people since the day I came in interested in looking at the car. He told me he didn't know much about the car and was curious why there was so much interest. I told him it was probably because it's a rare color

Since the conversation about the new clutch and starter going in, the listing price of the car has been raised to 22K (the new clutch and starter must be made out of gold). If the car is ready for sale before Sunday, the rep can't guarantee that it won't be sold to someone else. If I want to reserve the car until I head down there on Sunday I'll have to mail them a cashier's check worth 10 or 15% of the listing price. Assuming the deposit is 100% refundable, I'm going to reserve the car and buy it this Sunday if everything checks out.I'm hoping to lower the car down to 19 or 20K through negotiations.

Is the dealer playing games? Any thoughts or suggestions would be really helpful

Thanks!

 

What kind of clutch are they putting in? Honestly them raising the price 1k for a clutch doesn't seem to bad considering the price of a clutch plus labor but I'm sure u can talk them down regardless. What color is it? I'm assuming eb,baby or ly

 

I would say the dealer exaggerated with how many people contacted, but I wouldn't be surprised if people did already. There are a lot of people on the hunt for that car. They probably won't drop the price to be honest with you. And at that price there is probably an accident on the title considering cars mileage. I tried buying from various dealers before and they are very firm with price listed. That's why I bought mine private. Where I live, NJ, a clean Evo IV title and everything with less than 60k goes for 23k to 25k easily at dealers. The price seems a little low to me.

 

The dealer is messing with you. You are going to end up over-paying for the Evo. If I was you I would cut my losses right now.

 

+1. That is not a bad price for clutch and install. I was quoted from a local shop $800 just to do the labor and I provided the clutch. Now I'm stuck doing it in my cold garage. Just check the history of the car. If it has a clean title with no accidents they thats a pretty good price with that mileage. See what mods have been done and compression check. I keep hearing horror stories of people getting 8/9/x from dealers and something happens rather fast. Even if it is stock or looks stock, get it tuned incase it was put back to stock without it retuned. Good Luck!