I have a feeling I will be shot down because of this article. Yes, I made another car purchase and it wasn’t a GT-R. Instead I bought a Mitsubishi EVO X MR.
My new job is about 20km from home with no public transport other than a bus that takes an hour and a half each way. A drive to work in the morning is around 35 minutes so there’s considerable time saving between the two modes of transport.
In light of this I decided to buy a reliable and newish daily drive. I was seriously considering buying another R33 GT-R but they are 30 years old now and to insure them costs a bomb. I can’t justify paying $2500+ in insurance for a car that is 30 years old and only about $28,000. Compare that to the $2200 to insure a 35 GT-R just doesn’t make sense to buy an older car.
My Mitsubishi EVO X
After weeks of looking at cars, other than EVO’s as well, my brother finally contacted me about an EVO MR in Victoria. He had a look at it and the rest was history.
The car is untouched with only a TMR 270kw tune and will remain that way for awhile. I won’t do much to this car in the way of modifications as I want this to be a comfortable daily drive. Plus my R32 GT-R is getting put back together so if I want a thrill I can always jump into that.
My choice of an EVO over a GT-R
I mentioned previously that one of the factors for selecting the EVO X over a R32 or R33 GT-R was the fact that insurance was a lot more affordable for an EVO X. When I had my R33 GT-R that I used as a daily my insurance a year was $2200 and currently for my EVO it’s $1600 a year; both policies are full comp. I wanted to ensure my outgoings for the car remained low so insurance was a big factor for me.
Another aspect to selecting a car and the most important for me was that I wanted something fairly new. Nothing over 10 years old. Although the GT-R is a timeless car the features are very much lacking to a modern day car. Bluetooth, iPhone connectivity, heated seats, reversing camera were some of the things I was looking for.
Getting a newer car meant that I was getting something more reliable than a 30 year old car. I need to get to work and the last thing I want is a temperamental car. To date I have not owned a reliable GT-R. There’s always some niggling problem. I didn’t want that drama, I wanted to turn the key over and have the car run smoothly.
Reliability isn’t much of an issue with the R34 GT-R’s as they are with the older models. But have you seen the prices of R34 GT-R’s these days? It’s insane! I was not going to drop 80K on a car, no way. That’s why a R34 GT-R was never an option for me. More like a dream.
Value of Japanese Performance Cars
If you are a fan of Japanese performance cars you’d know that the prices for GT-R’s, EVO’s and RX7’s have gone up dramatically. Im speculating that when my R32 GT-R is put back together, it will be worth close to 40K. Not a bad investment as it has gone up on the original price I paid for the car after 16 years of owning it.
When l was going through the shortlist of cars that I wanted to purchase the EVO X shot up to the top of the list as I could see that the prices for EVO’s where starting to rise. After all Mitsubishi has stopped production of these vehicles. So it’s become a rarity.
I have a small collection of cars now and hope to add more to this collection in the coming years. They are all Japanese cars of course and the addition of an EVO MR meant that I can cross one of the cars from my dream cars list.
Unlike my other cars I will be driving my EVO every day. My credibility on this blog has probably taken a hit for purchasing an EVO over a GT-R but what I discussed in this article was legitimate concerns to owning a GT-R. Reliability and the expense of maintaining an old car being the major concerns. Still the EVO is an amazing car and I am looking forward to some great drives with the car.