Can you get a good one?

[kernowkai]

Hi all after some advice...

Recently the misses has told me she wants to sell her Ford Puma and get a car for the pair of us to share. As it happens she quite fancies a Impreza.
Now this brings me to my question we have a budget of £2-2.5K and was wondering if you can get a good 2000 Turbo or WRX for this amount or would we be wasting our time and money on one. If yes than what would be the main things to look out for to insure we don't get a bad one.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[SpaceGhost]

Take loads of test drives. If it's a lemon, it will be obvious. Basic stuff, listen out for knocks and bangs on the drive, listen out for a ticking noise from the engine.

[RESSE]

Useful information on import specification WRX/STi:

http://www.type-ra.com/what-model-is-my-impreza/

[johnnyr6]

Basically yes but look around carefully as there are a lot of lemons out there. You could try the owners forums as you can find some gems on them.

Good luck with it, Johnny

[johninspain]

Yes you can, you best looking on one of the local sites

Like

Ladsoc ( Lancashire and district Subaru owners club)

Cadsoc etc

[Ordinary_Chap]

2.5K Should be able to get you a decent classic.

As others have said be prepared to look around as there are a lot of tired classics out there for around this money.

Let us know how you get on!

Lee

[My Evil Twin]

my bugeye wagon cost me 2.5k 2 years ago..
so you should be able to find something in that price range.

http://bbs.scoobynet.com/
lots of good info.. but cars are expensive in the classifieds..

Autotrader has loads...
bank on a engine belt, 300ukp is no paperwork for it..
A standard Bugeye WRX can be made to look much better just by fitting STI headlights..
loads of specialist scrappys to be found in Scoobynet.

if you find one that ticks all the boxes... get it checked by the AA or someone.. rust can be an issue.

Buying tip:
Front 'U' frame rusts. Its sometimes called the 'Sub-frame', a name that gets people worried when used with 'rusts'.
http://opposedforces.com/parts/impreza/en_g11/type...
This is mostly hidden behind the plastic engine tray.. removing the tray will let you see most of it, move the other bits of plastic aswell n get a good look..
if its rusted its a real good price haggler, as a new one is 400-500ukp.. and a MOT man might (probably) fail you.
BUT. its NOT structural, loads of people take them off the car and dump it. (Type RA was sold without it) others get a replacement from a scrappy (me).
Its main purpose was to increase crash testing starts from 4 to 5 in the US (apparently)

good luck.

[HonestIago]

Bear in mind they cost a fortune to maintain and run compared to a Puma. I bought what I thought (and still think!) is a good one and it has cost me a fair chunk in under a year (see garage).

[Lefty]

Wow, £2k in repairs? What went wrong?

[HonestIago]

Lefty said:

Wow, £2k in repairs? What went wrong?

A lot of it will be labour (I'm no good with a spanner unfortunately!) but the £2k on servicing/repairs involved:

-Big service with belts and all oils/filters replaced
-For the MOT needed a new (used) downpipe as mine was rotten and leaking (didn't go de-cat as would have needed to remap), also had spark plugs replaced and Brian D recommended a new air flow meter so had a new one fitted.

A new downpipe/air flow meter transformed the car; more power (no leaks!) and much smoother/cleaner acceleration. A few weeks later a front caliper seized which meant:
-sending my calipers off in return for re-conditioned ones
-new front pads

Since May its been fine although it was off the road for 3 months. Job for this weekend is cleaning and tetra-sealing the rear arches to try and slow the corrosion.

[Lefty]

Ahh yeah, belts and tensioner can add up right enough.

Mine has just gone in for undersealing, rear arches (again) and prettyuch a whole front end respray

[RB5Bird]

I'd think £3.5k for that is not unreasonable, especially with that mileage and history.

I wouldn't let mine go for less than that. It has a full (mostly Subaru) history, and although the mileage is double that, it is an RB5 and totally standard.

But I have no intention of ever selling it.

If I was going to I should have sold it about 3 months after I bought it for £7.1k, when someone offered me £10k for it. Should have taken it and bought another one straight away, but I'm glad I didn't - think I got a good 'un.

[motorbreath]

I bought my version 1 wrx ra for 1800 a few months back. The seller seemed to think it was a sound car... I beg to differ as he didn't declare the wrapped rotor, leaking power steering pipes or lack of lacquer on the bonnet and wing. I still bought it but thinking back should of said some thing but got carried away with the fact ill finally have an impreza.

Just use your head, and not your heart if you want to be on the safe side, it's easy to walk away if the car has problems, there's plenty out there to chose from and what with Christmas on the horizon you might bag your self a bargain.,