New, never-sold 2006 Mitsubishi Evo draws $100K bid on eBay

Wed, Jul 19 2017

Today, in the "OK, guess it must be worth that to somebody" department, we note that a California car dealer has an eBay listing for a 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, still brand new and never titled, with nine miles on the odometer. Just another day on eBay, right, and just another car that didn't sell, was hoarded, or somehow forgotten in a barn? Not exactly. The top bid as of Wednesday morning was $100,100.

The Evo was a popular car (for a Mitsubishi) in its day, in a cult-of-personality way. And though its run ended with the 2015 model year, a quick inventory search shows there are still around 30 of them sitting brand-new on dealer lots, including the #0001-of-1,600 Lancer Evolution Final Edition, a $70,000 MSRP limited-edition car in Rally Red that a Brooklyn dealer is trying to move for $87,888. Most of the remainders are listed in the $30,000s, however.

The 2006 eBay car is listed by South Coast Mitsubishi in Orange County, a dealer who by one Redditer's account laid up a bunch of Evos like bottles of fine wine and sold them off at higher prices. If so, is this the last one in the cellar? And why did the dealership set a car aside in 2006, when they were plentiful and long before the model's demise?

For whatever reason, this 2006 car has time-traveled to 2017, with seats still wrapped in plastic and an engine bay you could perform surgery in. It's an Evo IX MR in Graphite Gray with black trim. Base MSRP was a bit more than $35K. It's optioned with the MR package that includes some aluminum and carbon-fiber bits and boost-gauge kit, the Zero Lift aero kit, and it has a six-speed manual. Bottom line on the sticker was $37,094.

Specs for that year: The Evo had a 2.0-liter, 16-value inline four making 286 horsepower with 289 pound-feet of torque. The car's curb weight was 3,300 pounds, and its 0-to-60 time was a highly impressive 4.4 seconds.

Yet, for $100K or a little more or a lot less, think of all the amazing 2017 new cars, equipped with the latest technology, that would dominate it - Tesla Model S, Lexus LC 500, BMW M2, Mercedes C63 AMG, Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio, Camaro ZL1, Porsche 911 Carrera S, Dodge Demon, Dodge Hellcat, Corvette ZL1. Even a Mustang GT350 could edge it out, and if you drove a hard bargain you might be able to afford two.

So, can a Mitsubishi triple its value by sitting around for a decade undriven? Is this in any way a collectible, to keep undriven as an investment? (As compared to, say, others on the list above?) A half-dozen bidders so far seem to think so, though perhaps that top bidder's feeling nervous right about now, but what do you think? Guess we'll find out when the auction ends next Tuesday afternoon.

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By Greg Rasa