I went and had a look at that "evo3" that was on ebay - Rego CDS11M
I thought i'd give my honest opinion on this car in case any of our members are looking to buy it.
It is a nice car, but not as described. For some people the things i found that irritated me, may not bother them at all, it's a matter of personal choice, but this car is not as advertised.
Straight away it's obvious from the VIN that its not an evo, but even so, I was pretty keen to see a nice clean gsr...
I was very disappointed.
The pics on ebay look great, but definitely misrepresent the car.
First of all, when I rang the guy, he said there was a very small rust patch on the roof (right on the sill as usual) - he also said it would be easy to fix. I'm thinking, yep, cut that out, weld, repaint, voila!
Upon inspection, it's rusted right through, bubbles up about 1cm high, is a lot larger than he made out and has stained the paint with runoff... and to top it all off, they've resprayed the car with a pearl white, so matching the paint would be a nightmare.
No biggie tho, really, but annoying that he made it out to be an insignificant thing and never posted pics of it.
Next, the VIN on the firewall doesn't match the strut or compliance plate. Again, something that is common, but in NSW you must have the japan issued vin crossed out. This wasnt done. The VIN on the strut was triple stamped - not something the RTA likes to see and seems a pretty dodgy job. Alarm bells just started ringin even though the vin checked out.
Both the VINs are recorded against the engine number, which indicated it has been registered with both vin's at one time or another.... (guy at RTA tech enqiry line was confused about that, apparently it shouldnt happen).
The engine number was not recorded in the engine bay at all.
The body kit is not genuine evo as the seller claimed to me. It's literally BOLTED and SCREWED on and does not fit correctly. No clips, and its not even. Bigger gaps at one end of the bumper to the other. Screws like 1/2 inch apart at the back, not very nice looking. The photos on ebay did not show how bad it looks, I don't think they are recent either.
Upon a revs check - there are no encumberances. BUT it has been a repairable write off. The seller denied this and claims he has had it 'checked' and has not been a write off. The RTA disagrees and states the write off to be caused by collision damage. (I kinda believe the RTA here lol)
The seller advertised that the car has a turbosmart boost controller. It does not, it had a bleed valve. The seller got quite upset when i asked him about this and argued that it was the same thing. When asked how much boost it was running, he could not say.
Interior is very clean and front seats look new.
Fuse box cover missing is the only thing amiss inside. Nice.
Front mount intercooler is not genuine.
Rims have been powder coated white. It is flaking off in parts.
Sorry for the bombardment, and I am in no way bagging out this car, I just thought i would post honest feedback for it as it looks so bloody nice. Someone will definitely pick this car up and love it, but for someone who is after a nice clean "stock style" gsr, it's just not cricket. I really liked the look of this car, but upon inspection I was really disappointed. I had the cash in pocket and all....