The Mitsubishi Lancer Evo‘s run ended with a tenth-generation model about a decade ago. Many of us millennial car dorks are hung up on the Evo IX, the last model to run Mitsu’s venerable 4G63 engine, as the peak of the range. With that in mind, I wasn’t surprised to learn that a minty 461-mile 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR sold for “big money” over the weekend until I heard the actual number.
On Sunday, this exceptionally clean 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR sold for $161,000 on Bring a Trailer. Adding in the auction house’s buyer fees and assuming the sale goes through, the auction winner’s paying $168,600 for a car that listed for about $35,000 when it was new the year I graduated high school.
The biggest ticket Evo IX sale I’m aware of is the one that rang up at $138,000 on eBay back in 2017. That car only had nine miles on it, making it exceptionally collectible. This one is museum-worthy too, without a doubt. And while all Evo VIIIs and Evo IXs are pretty darn similar, an MR-trim 2006 model is particularly desirable as the max-spec 4G63-powered U.S.-market Evo.
All ’06 Evos benefitted from a few engine refinements (aluminum BOV, larger compressor housing, 10.5 hotside, and improved wastegate port). But the MR got one-piece forged BBS wheels, a close-ratio six-speed transmission, unique Bilstein shocks, an aluminum roof, and some aero pieces like the vortex generator (those little Pikachu ears above the rear window) to funnel air to the rear wing and a wickerbill extension on the spoiler to increase downforce.
You can see the auction car’s cleanliness in over 120 pictures on the listing, but here’s a quick tour:
Lately, nice-looking Evo IXs and VIIIs (we only got the VIII, IX, and X in America) have been listing in the $40,000 to $50,000 neighborhood with more hard-partying machines still findable under $30,000.
The silver car in this latest auction does look spectacular, but I’m going to go ahead and respectfully disagree with the BaT commenters cheering this on as a new baseline for what an Evo’s worth or that this was a good investment. What we saw in this sale was certainly historic, but it represents the will of a couple of nostalgic collectors with super-deep pockets, not the empirical value of an Evo.
Don’t get me wrong, these cars are super cool and fun. And for sure, there’s something cool about a perfect example of a car that most people rode hard and put away wet. Of course, I understand that vehicles with three-figure mileage are more like collectible art pieces than actual cars. But Lancers are not, like, particularly nice. The only non-spec descriptive words Aaron Robinson used writing up the then-new ’06 MR for Car and Driver were “rigid, noisy, spartan, all-wheel-drive son-of-a-rally-car.” The roughness is part of what makes them awesome, but speaking objectively, it only makes sense to spend $160,000 on one of these if you don’t care much about the value of money.
It’ll make a heck of a garage ornament, I guess. But if you actually want to drive an Evo you’d be better off getting a traveled one for $40,000, and if it must be mint, spend that much again having it restored and tuned. Still a silly way to spend money, but sounds like a bargain now that you’ve seen this sale, right?
Anybody else hiding a mint Evo somewhere? Or better yet, got a clapped-out cheap one to sell? Hit up the author at andrew.collins@thedrive.com.