Blobeye WRX STI… Persuade me!
Discussion
So I can’t quite believe I’m writing this but my girlfriend is after a new car and for some reason has her heart set on an Impreza?! I’m very excited about this but also finding it quite hard to comprehend 
A good friend of mine who is a performance car dealer has one for sale currently, his own personal car - a 2004 Blobeye WRX STI - UK car not an import. 91k miles, last owner since 2008 and has really thorough & extensive history. Pretty much standard bar an Indigo GT map and some aftermarket wheels. We went to look at it today and she’s fully fallen in love with it.
I know the biggest achilles heel of them is rust… It’s had a good amount of welding work done (new arches, sills and fair bit of work underneath) in the last 12 months and to me it looks a really decent job (I work in fabrication myself so hopefully I’m right!).
It’s £13k. To me, without spending £20k+ on a fresh import which you know will be perfect underneath, this seems to be a really good example. It’s also had a clutch and cambelt in the last 10k mikes / last 3yrs.
My question is… do we do it? What are the weak points of these? I’m in the Evo camp having had a VI GSR for a few years, so don’t really know much about them / what to look out for.
A good friend of mine who is a performance car dealer has one for sale currently, his own personal car - a 2004 Blobeye WRX STI - UK car not an import. 91k miles, last owner since 2008 and has really thorough & extensive history. Pretty much standard bar an Indigo GT map and some aftermarket wheels. We went to look at it today and she’s fully fallen in love with it.
I know the biggest achilles heel of them is rust… It’s had a good amount of welding work done (new arches, sills and fair bit of work underneath) in the last 12 months and to me it looks a really decent job (I work in fabrication myself so hopefully I’m right!).
It’s £13k. To me, without spending £20k+ on a fresh import which you know will be perfect underneath, this seems to be a really good example. It’s also had a clutch and cambelt in the last 10k mikes / last 3yrs.
My question is… do we do it? What are the weak points of these? I’m in the Evo camp having had a VI GSR for a few years, so don’t really know much about them / what to look out for.
Do it.
Rust is the main issue but seems thats sorted for now.
Everything else is pretty robust.
Poor fuel can cause detonation which these really don’t like. Also head gasket issues but not as big an issue on the ej20 as the ej25.
It will drink super like a v8. Expect low 20s round town and touching 30 on a run.
They can be pretty expensive to fix as subaru never really adopted the german way of using the same component wholesale.
Rust is the main issue but seems thats sorted for now.
Everything else is pretty robust.
Poor fuel can cause detonation which these really don’t like. Also head gasket issues but not as big an issue on the ej20 as the ej25.
It will drink super like a v8. Expect low 20s round town and touching 30 on a run.
They can be pretty expensive to fix as subaru never really adopted the german way of using the same component wholesale.
Extensive, or any really, welding would be a no no from me, unless someone has taken great care to get good quality rusproofing inside the cavities in the vicinity of the welding the heat of which will have burned off any remaining original paint and you've no way of telling.
Someone out there will have one for sale which has been properly rustproofed from early days and won't need welding.
Can't believe the cost of these.
Would she consider instead a Forester XT, pretty well the same vehicle underneath and can be bought much cheaper unless badged STi..
Head gasket issues don't really plague the turbocharged 2.5 engines, its the NA ones that suffer, pre stupid VED 2.5XT Foresters can be found but are few and far between, sadly mine isn't.
Someone out there will have one for sale which has been properly rustproofed from early days and won't need welding.
Can't believe the cost of these.
Would she consider instead a Forester XT, pretty well the same vehicle underneath and can be bought much cheaper unless badged STi..
Head gasket issues don't really plague the turbocharged 2.5 engines, its the NA ones that suffer, pre stupid VED 2.5XT Foresters can be found but are few and far between, sadly mine isn't.
Gassing Station | Subaru | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff