JDM Evo trim levels
 

I tried searching online but I can't find an answer to this. Every Evo 7 GSR from Japan that I see is $20k+, but I've been finding a few Evos with no trim level listed in the low teens. The VIN starts with CT9A so I know it's an Evo. I'm tempted by the thought of a "do everything" car for that price but I feel like there has to be a catch that makes them so cheap.

Here's a couple examples of what I mean:

https://jdmconnection.ca/inventory/2...ancer-evo-vii/

https://b-pro.ca/car/2001-mitsubishi...ct9a-143746km/

The catch is they are expensive to own because of how complicating they are and are not as fun or easy to work on as other cars, not to mention a Ford F150 pickup gets better fuel economy.

Don't take it as me bashing Evos, I currently have an Evo X sitting in the garage. But from my experience daily driving one, racing it at mission, VCMC autocross, I just cannot recommend them from a value perspective compared to other cars out there.

those ones youve posted are both higher km (relatively of course) and c grade interiors. so they were probably cheaper to buy at auction. they both do seem cheap for what they are and those are both pretty reputable importers.

personally if i were going to import one, id get a evo vii wagon, which should be eligible starting this year. much more rare and unique. probably have a chance at selling for a profit

I'm no stranger to complicated and tedious to work on, though Evos do seem to have a lot of electronics compared to what I'm used to (I have zero clue how the snow/gravel/tarmac thing works or what an ACD is, etc). Do you need a bunch of fancy stuff to work on them or is it like my Celica where you can do most stuff with basic tools you just need to move a bunch of other stuff out of the way first every time?

If they're all like that though it still doesn't explain why this one with not much less mileage is so much more than those ones: https://b-pro.ca/car/2001-mitsubishi...-gsr-103600km/

And what else is out there that's relatively modern, AWD, manual, not too heavy, has 4 doors and is not a Subaru? I'd like a Caldina but if I change things up I want to get away from owning unicorns with zero support.

https://www.jp-c.com/account/signin/

I using it as a source. It is auction site, basically. Free to register. Imported 3 times already myself from end to end. Little bit risky... without eyes on that side...

Manual, Grade 4-3.

The catch is low teens pure car price, without shipping and fees i would assume... Or it is R title... would not advice that one...

3.5grade 60k km - sold 1.545mln yen
3.5grade 100k km - 1.27mln
3grade - 120k km - 0.753k

+100k Fee
+115k Freight to Westminster
+10k Insurance

+7% BC sales tax + some duties in customs + 5% Fed tax + AC tax couple hundreds + port fees couple hundreds .

Be sure that car is 25 years old from manufacturing date. Last imported in jan 2019.

Ok, got it: It is final price here, including road legal stuff. On 1.24 mln yen car i had around 25K CAD in total with taxes and inspection.

I would not advise to buy R grade cars, because even with 3-4 grade experience may vary, even in most cases i had just minor stuff. Demand auction list.
On 30k chaser (grade 4) - front struts replaced.
On 132k mr2 (grade 3.5) - ECU problems. Exhaust rusted away
On 68k Lotus 7 Kind (grade 4 ) - well that was more fun, Beater i would call it, but price was good. No rust on all of them, except exhaust

An Evo is basically everything you don't want in one bundle; you have a small displacement engine with a large turbo equipped to an AWD system (3 differentials and no torque without slipping off the line), the platform is relatively heavy, with a horrible interior and poor fuel economy.

I'd honestly recommend my BMW (N55+ generation) before I'd recommend my Evo as they are cheaper to buy/own, easier to work on, have better interiors, more room, very easy to get power from. Which says a lot since most people find BMWs unreliable.

My Celica is basically all the negatives you list for the Evo except the turbo is small and the fuel economy is pretty good :lol. And it's 30 years old.

Everything I want means a car I can use for forestry road TSD events and taking my kid to the babysitters. I don't know much about BMW models but at a minimum I need 4 doors, AWD, manual trans, <15 years old, and at least 5.5" of ground clearance and I can't say I've heard of any that have that (let alone for $15k or less).

this is probably no help in selection but there's gotta be a better choice than a RHD Mitsubishi to haul young child/take to rallye when you're coming off Toyota durability...it's probably gonna come with surprises esp sight unseen pre-purchase

i think too many criteria while trying to tackle 2 complete different applications...probably easier to go with a fun car you'd be fine working weeks on and something pratical/reliable to haul the kids

Evo 7 in Japan only came with 2 trims in manual. GSR and RS.

GSR is by far the most common one. (both u linked are GSR)

GSR is the normal street version with climate control power windows etc.

RS is the lightweight race base version that was special order only by rally teams or tuners. Everything is a la carte options including AC, power windows, ABS, etc.

There is also an EVO 7 GT-A with automatic. I would not recommend getting those as they have transmission issues.


The price difference you are seeing is from the difference of Japanese dealers selling cars, versus the prices of mass exporters.

Mass exporters buys vehicles from Japanese auction, mark up the car by 1500-2000$, and send it out of the country quickly. They make money with pushing out as many car as possible and they do no re-conditioning on the car. Not even cleaning it.

JDM connection/B pro deal with these same exporters. that's why they have these "price beat guarantee" as they have same sources and trying to beat each other on service fee only.

Dealers will buy it, make it look nice, put some lip-stock on and maybe minimal reconditioning to sell the vehicles, hence a higher mark up.

You can also buy from auction yourself and save that $1500-$2000 of mark up of mass exporters. However the risk is that you buy based on minimal (3-6)picture only. I have dealt with a few auction agents and I can recommend a couple if you PM me.

The average price of Evo 7 at Japanese auction has already been mentioned above.

Btw the white one you linked has been sold a while ago, and is a R grade car (previous accident vehicle) and has paint and cosmetic issues in the rear.

At first glance you'd think there would be, but there's not a lot of AWD cars out there to begin with, let alone available in manual and actually fun to drive.

Realistically I'm probably stuck having 2 vehicles, it would just be nice to free up some space and be able to use the fun car more. The upside is that if I break the fun car there's no impact to daily life.