I hope I'm putting this in the right place, this is not a question of price but a question of preference.

I'm looking to buy a new or used Evo X MR and my plan is to install a Cobb AP and parts for at least stage 2 or stage 3.

I'm reluctant to buy one that someone has already modded, so I'm looking at 2012-2013 models typically with less than 30K miles or buy a brand new MR for most likely $5K-8K more.

Either way I'm going to void the warranty when I mod, but I'm most interested in your view of whether you personally would try to find a clean un-modded one to save $5K-8K or would you buy the new one to guarantee it's been babied since day one?

I'm not opposed to paying for a new MR, but financially it makes sense to buy a used one where someone else took the hit for the first year or two of depreciation, right?

Thanks in advance.

 

I bought new even though i planned to mod it. I just didnt trust buying a used evo that somebody might have beat on before. And when i goto to sell it i can put it back to stock since ill have all the parts!

 

When I was thinking about getting an Evo I knew I wanted to buy new. I've seen too many that had been beaten up. Granted they can be found for a steal used and not everyone beats the **** out of them it was just nice for me to have a clean slate and do what I wanted to do to the car. I have tons of buddy's who have bought used with no issues whatsoever and some who weren't as lucky. There's just a lot of factors to consider on both sides of the coin. Especially with the MR and the TCSST. That's just my 2 cents though and why I decided to buy new. Good luck with your decision bro!

 

I bought new and plan to mod. I came close to buying used but I figured I'd pay a little more for piece of mind.

Spend a couple hours reading the threads about people who wonder why their clutch burned up within a couple thousand miles after only launching it 4, but not more than 37 times, or them throwing random parts on the car without a tune.

Many owners do treat their cars well but I didn't want to spend the time trying to find a nice one.

Not everyone wants to be the one who takes the depreciation hit so it may be worth it to try to find the cars that really have been taken care of.

 

Thanks guys, assures me that I'm not getting paranoid

Based on your comments I'm going to heavily lean towards new cars when making my decision.

 

I bought new and planned to mod. Saying that, I was looking at getting used and was looking for little to no mods on the vehicle. I would of had the look over the car very good and make sure i couldnt find anything wrong before purchase. I couldnt find one close to me or with low enough miles or bought before I could start dealing, so I ended up going new in the end.

 

I bought new and began modding at 3k miles.

 

I bought new and had mods already purchased when I took delivery. I was very precise in what I wanted, MR, Cosmic Blue or Phantom Black, no more than 20,000 miles if used, no mods, single owner, etc. Honestly in my area it was only a few thousand more to buy new and have the piece of mind that someone else hasn't put their fingers in things or tried to cover things up.

My dealership is extremely mod friendly and said as long as I don't crack the block they don't care what I do. Obviously, if they can trace the issue directly to the mod they won't cover it but they were ok with tuning, exhaust, basic bolt ons, coil overs, etc.

I installed coilovers, catback exhaust, cosworth panel filter, and stage 1 cobb tune at 900 miles. I was full turbo back and stage 2 within 3 months of purchase.

 

I bought new for the same reasons that the people above have listed, mainly didn't trust that i would find a used and not abused evo.

 

Well if you bought an MR the last thing you would want to do is get a Cobb, and don't think about these things in 'stages'. You need a very qualified tuner to modify an MR as the transmission can make or break you. Also 'stage' packages aren't really this platforms angle, like a Subaru. Really you need to research the MR and GSR and decide which is better for you. Then you need to find a great tuner, like Kozmic Motorsports if you get an MR so you don't break an extremely expensive car. (the transmission alone is like 12k I think?)

 

I just bought my 15 GSR with a mindset of mild modding. I'm not new to modding new cars and focus on simple things that improve the car without risking warranty issues.

catback
springs
short shifter
etc. shouldn't cause you issues.

on turbo cars, messing with the intake and a tune is riskier. i did install a k&n typhoon intake and likely will run the cobb stage 1 tune adjusted for the intake and feel ok doing that only because cobb and the evo x have been around a while so any problems should have been resolved a long time ago.

i could be full of it too but that's just been my experience.

 

I came from a WRX so that is where the Cobb and stage references came from. I liked the Cobb AP because they made conservative tunes and I could easily put the stock tune back on if I needed warranty work done. However, I'm not opposed to a pro tune if I could possibly use a laptop to put the stock tune back on. Either way I'd be happy.

My goals for the MR were to mod it conservatively so as not to need upgrades to the long block, transmission, clutch or fuel system. It seemed from my modest research that a dp, high-flow cat, cat-back, intake and a conservative tune would help me reach that goal. I'm not looking for much, my WRX was less than 300whp and I enjoyed it for DD so anything over 300whp would be gravy for me.

I know a dp and tune might ruin the warranty depending on where I get it serviced, but I'm a conservative driver and I really want to focus on mods that will net me quicker spoolup and not necessarily top-end numbers.

 

You're still very 'subaru' with your mod approaches Don't feel bad, I was the same way.

The downpipe is only necessary if you get a bigger turbo. Best bang for the buck on these is a CAI, Test Pipe, and tune. (to keep it modest)

Read some more, there is a lot of great information out there. But I came from an 08 STi and learned that these cars are very different, though they are both AWD turbo cars.

 

Appreciate the specifics, I'll read up and go from there. Have to buy a car first which won't happen until this weekend at the earliest so I have plenty of time to learn.

 

I also bought new for the same reasons others have stated and started modifying at around 4k miles. I started with the Cobb AP and still have it - just pro tuned using the AP. I figured with buying new at least I knew what the idiot original owner had done with the car....