Los Angeles is a reasonably wonderful place to reside as a automotive particular person. I frequently see ultra-rare vehicles driving round or parked on the road, from homologation specials and cool high-end fashions to shitty outdated vehicles that had been simply plain flops. It helps that LA isn’t plagued with the dangerous climate that causes different older vehicles everywhere in the nation to easily rust away. But there are nonetheless these elusive vehicles that I by no means appear to see round anymore, and not too long ago I used to be discussing with a buddy how the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X is a kind of vehicles. (As all the time appears to occur, I truly noticed an Evo X in my neighborhood the very subsequent day.)
To be honest, all three generations of Evo had been a rarity within the U.S. to start with. According to Hagerty, between 2003 and 2015 a complete of 43,249 Evos had been imported: 12,846 Evo VIII from 2003-2005, 8,201 Evo IX in 2006 and 22,202 Evo X between 2008 and 2015. Meanwhile, Subaru offered 33,724 WRX and STI fashions in 2015 alone.
A cursory search of Autotrader reveals solely 150 Lancer Evolutions at the moment on the market within the U.S., 118 of that are the Evo X. Even with greater than 100,000 miles and the CVT transmission, Evo Xs are buying and selling within the excessive teenagers, and plenty of are priced increased than the unique MSRP of round $35,000. Looking on the similar 2008-to-2015 time interval, AutoTrader has 624 Subaru WRX on the market, 195 of that are STIs.
There haven’t even been that many Evo Xs on websites like Bring a Trailer, both. In 2023 BaT held simply seven auctions, solely two of which truly offered, and in 2022 there have been just below a dozen auctions, half of which discovered consumers. The similar goes for Cars & Bids, which has solely held 42 Evo X auctions for the reason that web site launched in 2020.
Now, I’m positive {that a} sizable chunk of Evo X manufacturing has been stolen, wrecked or changed into drift, rally or race vehicles. I’m additionally positive that an enormous portion of Evos had been modified, whether or not that be wheels and exhaust or SEMA-level stuff, which makes recognizing a clear, unmodified one much more uncommon. And there are most likely a bunch of homeowners which might be protecting their Evos garaged, utilizing them as occasional weekend vehicles or holding out for the proper time to promote.
But nonetheless. Where have all of the Evo Xs gone? I feel the design is growing old nicely, the chassis and all-wheel-drive tech continues to be related and the efficiency has actually held up – Car and Driver ran a guide 2015 Final Edition from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds. If you’re hoarding some Evo Xs, please get out and drive them! Or at the very least park them in my neighborhood so I can admire them on my sizzling woman walks.
Source: jalopnik.com