I don't think so man, people usually treat "test drive" cars like total sh*t. And plus I purchased the car in April 2003 BRAND NEW-fully loaded, I don't know why your telling me that they screwed me over...obviously it's gonna be cheaper now since 2006 vehicles are here.

 

Ok, heres my 2 cents:

On my 17th birthday my parents gifted me with a 95 chevy lumina, my moms old car. I pretty much knew it really wouldnt go anywhere by pimpin it out, but i tried. I riced that thing out just as bad as if i was getting paid to do it. Then, right before i went to europe about 8 months later, i found out that it had blown a head gasket. Before this even happend, i was lookin for a new car, but never really looked into it. Now that i figured my car was pretty much f***ed, i decided to trade it in. I got about $200. But anyways my mom who sold my the lumina also showed me a used car dealership that my mom was friends with. They told me that they could go to an auction that is specifically for dealerships and i could give them a few different ideas of what car i want, and my ideas were a Lancer, Celica, and Eclipse, all in the 2000-2003 range,and i gave them a price i would like 2 have it @. Well anyways, when i got back from europe they told me they found one of each of those cars and i could stop by to see exactly which one i wanted. the celica and eclipse were around 10k so i said screw it cuz the Lancer, which fit my specifications perfectly, ended up being my choice at around 8000. By now im still 18, and have put about 500 into it, including some of the things from my old car, specifically the sound system. Now im saving up to make the lancer a little more comparable to some of the cars ive seen on this very forum.

 

yah that wasnt to bad of a price, I got my fully loaded (except cargo nets) new oz for around that with military discount and cash back in VA.

 

Oh my bad, I should have used a quote. I meant for Green Bandit cause he bought it used with 50000+ miles on it.

 

lol its all good

 

Well, i use to play Need For Speed:underground alot, and my car was a Lancer, so i was like.. meh what the hell, i'll get one in real life. and the rest is history....

 

My story:
Had 1g to put down on car I was looking for a scion xA. After talking to the dealer for month I went, they was telling me they will give me 3% rate if I take my police report. ( I'm victum of identity theft) they had me there all day & nothing happen.
My brother came to see the car but I did have it. He argues with the manager as of why I was there all day & no car. He told him he couldn't give me 3% but 14%. My brother told me to get my $ back & took me to a friend dealer. There I saw my Lancer wagging her tail. It was 7500 with 15,000 miles. At 14% to, but better 7500 at 14% than 14,000 at 14%

 

we'll i'm a Volkswagen guy at heart, so before my lancer i had a 1999 VW New Beetle turbo. it may sound and look like a girl car, but it hauled *** big time. but it had a transmission problem and the dealer couldn't fix it. after months of the dealer trying to fix it i decided it needed to go. probably a good thing because i would have probably killed my self with it, it was fast. so i started my pursuit fo finding somthing else, i absolutly fell in love with a thunder gray ralliart, but it was a bit expensive, $21,000 at the time with no discounts. then i saw it a 2003 yellow lancer. for the first year i loved the car and then my best friend got and STI and his brother got an EVO. so i really felt bad about my car. then my dad bought and EVO, and i LOVE that car soooo much, it made me HATE my car. now i have been doing a few mods to my lancer and i am starting to like it more and more each day. it's getting faster and looking better, so other than the color which i hate, i like my lancer. and maybe with an ECU it will be complete.

 

haha! Green Bandit, my story was kinda the same! i went to honda dealer for a used civic in november last year, parents gave me max budget of $8000. But the honda dealer didnt have the 98 civics i wanted, so we turned the corner and saw a mitsu dealer. i was with my uncle and cousin (parents never came here, they're in hong kong), we saw a couple beat up 02 and a pretty nice 04 ES with a price sticker that says $13000. I know the existance of lancer but i didnt know there were oz rally and ralliart back then, so i thought DAMN THIS CAR MUST BE FAST!! i had no insurance back then and i wasnt too good at driving yet, so my cousin took it for a spin with me and the agent guy, my cousin went sorta crazy on it cuz he knew i wasnt gonna buy it. He floored it at 2 lights and braked pretty darn hard "to test out the braking". then we went back to the lot, agent guy made us sit down. We talked about the price and all. My uncle was all bluffing, "$10000 and we pay right away". The agent pretended like it was low ball, but he went in and talked with an manager or something. They made my uncle sign on a scratch paper stating that we'll buy the car that night if $10000+fees and tax was the deal. We ended up getting that price after a bit of talking and then out the door was $11000. it had 18000 miles on and a few scratches and dings. pretty bad price huh........eh well~

 

Well if you want to get technical. I put $2K on in then my mom put 2K on it and paid for the warranty. I have not even had it for a year and only owe about 6K on it.

Only $186 a month too. Not half bad at my age I think...

 

yeah the payments arent that bad and for your age you need them low. but it'll just take longer. but good buy none the less .enjoy

 

I wasn't faithful, as I A) also had a '69 Camaro on the side & B) ditched the Lancer for a 2.5 RS.

But in any case...

Late 2002 - '89 Beretta was dying. Bad tranny, crappy motor, interior falling apart. Needed new car. Had the money for a down payment. Started researching.

Rally heritage + GT3 brought me to the Lancer series. Since the Evo wasn't here yet, thought about the little brother, the Lancer. Checked my price range (Civic, Protege, Cavalier, Lancer, etc). Lancer scored highest. Stopped at a dealership on the way to dinner, fell in love with the OZ (bling rims, wing, nice interior - everything a know-nothing like me could want). Came back for the MLK day sale and drove it home.

As time went on, I learned about cars. And I learned how a FWD 120-hp car kinda sucks for performance. So I made a step up and ditched the Lancer. Story over. *curtain falls*

 

Not sure if a 2.5 RS is faster if at all, but it definitely beats putting up with FWD that's for sure.

My story:
I test drove all the cars in its class. I was offered 0% with $0 down @ 48 months on a lease at $268.97CAD($230USD) per month. This was actually not a ripoff at the time which was the first month the Lancer was available here. Considering that the competition had to add features like power stearing or cd players... the Lancer exceeded my expectations plus it handled exceptionally well.

I've never looked back.

 

trans went out on my 88 camaro this summer. bought the yellow lancer off of my bro.

 

I used to play GT3, same as the others, and i just started my senior year. My dad was getting tired of me driving his '97 F-250 so my parents decided to get me a new car. I looked at F-150s, Jeeps, anything that wasnt car. But then i unlocked the EVO in GT3. That was one wicked car. Told my parents i wanted one, and we went to mitsubishi, started to look at the lancers there, didnt realize they werent evos (i was so unedjucated) and told my parents thats what i wanted. Gosh, i was excited, started calling my friends, telling them about the car, one of my friends relayed the info. about that not being an evo. "Crap!" went to tell my parents to forget that car, they had signed the papers....now i realize that car is the best thing i couldve bought, and one of the easiest cars to mod, well, finding the parts might not be, but installation is, i dont believe in other people installing parts on my car.