Today’s Lancer EVO has something a lot of these cars don’t — a clean title. Let’s see if it’s priced to make a clean getaway.

There’s an old mantra of the stock market which is to “buy low and sell high.” Of course in the real world, things are much more complicated than that, and in the world of automotive sales, the present rule seems to be to buy high and sell even higher. That’s exactly what the owner of the we looked at yesterday is seeking to do after having spent a pretty penny on the car last year and now wanting to get a 20 percent premium on that by asking a heady $89,000. Few of you felt it wise to (a) enable that line of thinking, or (b) actually pay that much for the Porsche. The result was a massive 89 percent No Dice loss.

Not all cars are crazy-expensive these days, but most are. That doesn’t make our job any easier, it just slides the scale of what’s a reasonable deal, and what’s crazy talk up the curve a good bit. What hasn’t changed in this crazy car market is the perceived values of cars outside of price. That’s really more a car’s inherent desirability which, of course, is the first determining factor in any relationship.

One thing that can affect that desirability is a car’s provenance — is it an interesting or engaging car, or maybe one with an interesting history? Another factor is condition — does the car present in decent, drivable shape? Perhaps just as importantly, does it come with a clean title, meaning it to be free from any past shenanigans that might affect its current performance, safety, or re-sale-ability?

This benefits from both of these desirability factors. Being an EVO, it benefits from being the latest (and apparently last) in the line of Mitsubishi’s series of rally-inspired AWD road cars. It also comes with a clean title which is seemingly something to be touted on these models since quite a few being offered these days are saddled with salvage titles.

It seemingly has the goods too. These include a 291 horsepower 2-liter turbo-four and five-speed stick feeding all four wheels through Mitsubishi’s S-AWC (Super-All Wheel Control) system. And yes, Mitsubishi hyphenates the name in that odd way in their media materials.

According to the ad, the car comes with 129,345 miles on the clock, and while that’s not a horrendous number it does work out to almost 18K a year, which is more than your average bear. In that time and mileage, the car has apparently gone through its original clutch as the ad notes the addition of an Exedy stage one unit. That’s a fairly big-ticket item, especially when you calculate the cost of labor for its installation. Along with the new clutch, the EVO also has refreshed rotors and pads for its Brembo brakes.

Those brake calipers are of course painted red and are on display behind the factory 18-inch Enkei wheels. Those show a bit of curb rash, a factor that may have gone into the seller classifying the car’s overall condition as “good” rather than “great” in the ad. The rest of the car seems to be in reasonably solid shape although with a few oddities to note. The most glaring of those is a series of dents and chips in the driver’s side A-Pillar which makes it look like somebody tried karate-chopping the car for some reason. There is also a good chunk of clear coat that’s been dinged off the nose which mars the total picture, but that’s kind of to be expected on a daily driver, which this car seems to be.

Other than that, it appears straight in the pics with reasonable paint outside of that issue with the nose. The car has been de-badged with the odd exception of a flex-fuel medallion on the boot lid in residence. That’s something I’m not sure should even be there. The big rear spoiler is also missing which is another puzzler.

On the less-questionable side, the car sports a cloth interior that seems to be sticking to the plan. Everything looks stock in the cabin, right down to the factory touch screen stereo and the Recaro seats.

With Mitsubishi presently focusing on… well, whatever it is the company is doing these days, it’s unlikely that we will be getting a new road rocket like the EVO any time soon. This model, the EVO X, was the last of the breed. And, while this one isn’t as visceral as the previous editions, it’s a bit more livable as a result. We’ll just have to determine how livable its $23,900 price tag seems to be.

What’s your take on this clean-title EVO and that $23,900 price? Does that seem like a deal for the car as it’s presented in its ad? Or, does that price turn you into a disbeliever in Evolution?

You decide!

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