Hi,
I am opting out of my company car soon, and am considering buying a '99 Imprezza Turbo 5dr, with about 70k on the clock. It is an unmolested example, used to belong to a farmer type. I have a few questions regarding ownership;

I do quite a lot of miles, how often do these cars need to be serviced, and what typically needs to be replaced on older/higher mileage cars?

Is it important to continue to get main dealer servicing, or would a competent independant be ok?

What kind of fuel economy could I expect?

What should I be paying for this car? It is totally standard, in dark blue metallic.

What else do I need to know?

Thanks for your help.

 

Servicing every 6months/7500 miles... use a good independant.
depends what driving you do, in town 20-23.. open road/motorway 23-28.
Tyres every 15k... maybe 20k if careful.
Only use super unleaded/Optimax as thats what is recommended in the handbook.
Cambelt needs changing every 45k...bank on£150 or so to get that changed.
They are very reliable if serviced correctly should do 150k easy.
Oh clutches tend to last 80k if careful. £450 to have replaced.
Hope that helps.
*****

 

Thanks *****, that is really handy info.

What should typical services cost?

 

bout £150 - £180 ish...

Dan

ps welcome to the BBS

 

As regards price - I recently sold my '00 car with 70k on the clock and a few Prodrive goodies for £8,900, so I guess you should probably expect to pay about £7500-£8000 for a completely standard car in good nick.

***** is right about servicing and economy, although the cambelt change (due at 90k miles) is part of a major service that'll set you back a good £450 or so.

I saw about 24mpg out of mine, dropping to 20 or so when I had a decent 'B' road as part of my regular commute, and rising to 33mpg during the week of the fuel crisis four years ago.

 

So the big things are;

90k service, inc. cambelt, circa £450

Clutch circa £450

How do turbos tend to last?

Also whatcar.com mentioned drive shafts going?

75k service isn't a big one, and providing nothing else needs doing, should cost around £150 - 180.

What kinda money are we talking for brakes?

Are replacement parts generally expensive?

Thanks for all the info!

 

Turbos tend to last ages - in fact I don't think I've ever heard of one failing. Check for smoke on start-up and you'll be fine. When scooby engines die it tends to be big end bearings, but these can fail at any time unrelated to mileage. Mine went at 61k miles but that's unusual - plenty of cars (the relatively unstressed UK models especially) go on forever.

Never heard of driveshaft failure either, at least, not on an unmodified car.

For brakes, I went for Group N discs and Ferodo DS2500 pads from TSL for about £350. My first set of discs lasted about 60k miles and eventually died from cracking due to overheating. I blame the SIDC Isle of Man trip for that

Replacement parts are undoubtedly expensive - although the car is generally reliable, it can be very expensive to fix when it does go wrong. Nobody buys these cars because they're cheap, but not many people regret buying one either

 

"Thinking about buying an older Turbo"What's my 1997 one then, ancient!!!! And those poor devils with 94's 95's etc. It's not that old, but it'll still cost loads to run and you'll love every second, or every 0-60 second!!!