subaru owner wannabe! Need advice on a possible...
Discussion
I have just been and looked at a 2004 2.0l impreza sport? On starting up it idles nicely just under 1000rpm. However, on revving there is an intermittent sound of what sounds like water moving from the engine area. I haven't heard anything like this before and am not quite sure if this is normal. The car sales man said he could not hear anything but it didn't make the sound all the time.
Any suggestions.?...
Any suggestions.?...
Thanks, I'm not too sure whether its the car for me though....it did sound like quite a lot of water. I'll let the garage know so they can check the levels.
I need a test drive in a turbo i think Any recommendations as to where to start looking for a carefully looked after standard impreza?!
I need a test drive in a turbo i think Any recommendations as to where to start looking for a carefully looked after standard impreza?!
Yup the non-turbo doesn't make much sense to me as insurance and fuel economy still aren't great. May as well take the plunge and get a WRX!
Pistonheads, Autotrader, eBay are the three I use. Currently selling my WRX wagon on PH. Just want to whack some bridgestone potenza's on the back for whoever buys it as its currently running 2 budgets due to a puncture.
Pistonheads, Autotrader, eBay are the three I use. Currently selling my WRX wagon on PH. Just want to whack some bridgestone potenza's on the back for whoever buys it as its currently running 2 budgets due to a puncture.
Yup, RB5er is right. Any sports style car is bound to have been driven hard, thats what they were made for. Just make sure its been looked after and you're golden! 
I also drive a trackday elise S1 which is on 110k miles with a K-series engine. Almost 90% of its life is spent near the limiter, tyres screaming, being abused on track, but it gets all the after love and care it needs so still drives like new, better infact!
I also drive a trackday elise S1 which is on 110k miles with a K-series engine. Almost 90% of its life is spent near the limiter, tyres screaming, being abused on track, but it gets all the after love and care it needs so still drives like new, better infact!
HughesR1 said:
Yup, RB5er is right. Any sports style car is bound to have been driven hard, thats what they were made for. Just make sure its been looked after and you're golden!
I also drive a trackday elise S1 which is on 110k miles with a K-series engine. Almost 90% of its life is spent near the limiter, tyres screaming, being abused on track, but it gets all the after love and care it needs so still drives like new, better infact!
I suppose I'm really looking for the right owner as well as the car then!...I also drive a trackday elise S1 which is on 110k miles with a K-series engine. Almost 90% of its life is spent near the limiter, tyres screaming, being abused on track, but it gets all the after love and care it needs so still drives like new, better infact!
Fluffydinosaur said:
I suppose I'm really looking for the right owner as well as the car then!...
Quite so! That's why I don't tend to buy from dealers - you can't see the 'good home' you want your car to have come from (that and the dealer's profit margin out of your hard earned!). (Might have to break the rule for my next car, as I'm struggling to find one privately whilst juggling work, childcare and domestic duties!My wife's car is an 02 Impreza non-turbo - 128,000 on the clock, never missed a beat, de facto family car until I get a performance estate.
If you want to go to extremes after you've driven the car take a compression testing kit and a bore scope see how the engine is doing. If it's very low on compression walk away, if it's within 10-15% of the factory top standard figure then you should be ok. If the cylinders look unscratched, still smooth with the lightest cross hatchings still visible, with no black carbon patches on the cylinder walls and the tops of the pistons aren't pitted or too discoloured then it's all good.
If you aren't so worried about all that then so long as the engine doesn't rattle on idle, there are no piston slap noises when starting first thing from stone cold, no smoke on startup hot or cold, no bottom end rattle between 2500rpm - 3000rpm you could be onto a winner.
If the rest looks and drives well don't hang around and wiat for someone else to snap it up.
If you aren't so worried about all that then so long as the engine doesn't rattle on idle, there are no piston slap noises when starting first thing from stone cold, no smoke on startup hot or cold, no bottom end rattle between 2500rpm - 3000rpm you could be onto a winner.
If the rest looks and drives well don't hang around and wiat for someone else to snap it up.
Had the sloshing of water on my WRX and it's down to the way the coolant has been topped up. There's a certain process to filling the coolant and it requires the header tank to be filled first and then the expansion tank. It's a right PITA. You're basically bleeding the system.
I found this useful when I did mine:
http://bbs.scoobynet.com/general-technical-10/8255...
It isn't a problem and all it is is trapped air, simple to fix but it does take a long time.
I found this useful when I did mine:
http://bbs.scoobynet.com/general-technical-10/8255...
It isn't a problem and all it is is trapped air, simple to fix but it does take a long time.
Blimey, who takes a compression kit to view a car
If I thought I had to do that I wouldnt bother looking
not all cars are dogs
people in this country always expect the worst, and want it for nothing
I took 4 trains to view and buy my recent scoob (blue 5 door SL with PPP
), never even test drove it, it was early evening and I took the owners word for it, he'd not even washed it! parked under a tree a few weeks. Car was great on the 4 hour drive home and has been in the 5 months
If I thought I had to do that I wouldnt bother looking
not all cars are dogs
people in this country always expect the worst, and want it for nothing
I took 4 trains to view and buy my recent scoob (blue 5 door SL with PPP
), never even test drove it, it was early evening and I took the owners word for it, he'd not even washed it! parked under a tree a few weeks. Car was great on the 4 hour drive home and has been in the 5 monthszombies said:
Blimey, who takes a compression kit to view a car
If I thought I had to do that I wouldnt bother looking
not all cars are dogs
people in this country always expect the worst, and want it for nothing
I took 4 trains to view and buy my recent scoob (blue 5 door SL with PPP), never even test drove it, it was early evening and I took the owners word for it, he'd not even washed it! parked under a tree a few weeks. Car was great on the 4 hour drive home and has been in the 5 months
That was an excellent gamble without a test drive. Nice that it paid off.If I thought I had to do that I wouldnt bother looking
not all cars are dogs
people in this country always expect the worst, and want it for nothing
I took 4 trains to view and buy my recent scoob (blue 5 door SL with PPP
), never even test drove it, it was early evening and I took the owners word for it, he'd not even washed it! parked under a tree a few weeks. Car was great on the 4 hour drive home and has been in the 5 monthsIf the seller told me or wrote in the advert that it had a lumpy idle i might be inclined to take a compression tester. Might save me the cost of a rebuild. Also, if someone is selling a highly modified big power car with rebuilt internals i might again be anal enough to do a compression test, just in case and especially when were talking no warranties. Doesn't take long to do.
I'm happy to pay the going rate for the right car but i like to haggle as well and i'm not happy if i didn't get something off the price. I'm never desperate so won;t ever pay the sticker price. There are lots of people like that. Those that make really silly offers though are only taking the mickey and don't deserve your time.
Well it's great to have had all the feedback. I think it's gonna take a while to find the right one. I think my plan now is to at least test a turbo. Having only had a sport before it would be quite nice to see the difference. I must say there don't seem to be as many members out towards Cambridgeshire way. It would be good to be able to meet up with some fellow enthusiasts.
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