i'm a new guy, incase you's hadn't noticed, but i'm on the look out for an older impreza, roughly lower than 5.5k to spend.

is it ok to go for the older shape one's with relatively high mileage?

i've saw a few however (on the trader) that have only done 37k on an m plate,and are going for around 5.7k. i have a suspicion that these may have been clocked as it works out these cars would have done around 4k per year!!!

anyone want to shed any light on these ones? anyone from here ever bought one of these cheap ones?

whats the important things to look for if i'm buying one of these too?

 

the older cars can still be ok.many people,especially enthusiasts tend to look after them.
most engine problems seem to be from imports which have not been run on a higher octane fuel (such as optimax) and an octane booster,as the jap spec cars are mapped to run on 100 + octane
seems with so many regulations for driving in japan that import milages can be considerably lower,so lower milages are usually correct

 

alot of jap imports are very low mileage. you can tell if a car is clocked by looking at general wear and tear on seats and carpets etc. if the drivers seat is looking squashed and well used and steering wheel / gearnob are very shiny / frayed etc etc then it could be clocked. if you look at a few scoobs you will see what sort of condition the interior and bodywork should be in for that age / mileage.

DON'T RUSH YOUR PURCHASE!

 

went with a friend to look at a 2 over the last week, both under 4.5k and both had been damage repairs.

full side in one and full front end on the other.

total bags of ****!

someone will buy them!!!!!

take someone with you that knows what to look for if you aren't sure.

 

Hi

A few words of advice: Inspection, inspection, inspection. Try the advanced check from the AA (includes a HPI check- also critical)

Doesn't matter if its relatively cheap, 5k is a lot to spend only to find out that it's a ringer, has been stolen or in a serious accident, is about to go bang etc... Full service history for the car is crucial- it's a performance car and will have been driven hard, so the maintenance schedule needs to have been strictly adhered to.

Perhaps with Scoobies (and other performance cars that are reasonably expensive to run) you should remember the old saying: If you dson't like the seller, chances are you won't like the car.

Best.

 

The next issue of Practical Performance Car has a feature on buying scoobs for under 5K. Out in a couple of weeks, I think, if you can wait that long.

I've got a classic which fits into your scope (not selling though). It's done 92k and still runs beautifully. Don't worry about high mileage, like others have said you can inspect it to find out if it's been well looked after or abused.

Cheers

 

reply from a happy owner i sold one too last month for £5k.

hello jase! hope you and family are well ? the scooby is brilliant thankyou again !
Had some tosser slash me tyre which set me back 120 bit of a bugger that was.Other than that its been great so much attention it almost gets too much !!but only almost!The drive of it is summit else, got out of the car a couple of times shakin with the buzz !!cheers mate ... farmer...

95 wrx ,p1 rims, lots a sti bits..a minter!!

they are about
keep lookin...............
got a nice sti coming up too version 1 mail me for details.

 

thanks for the advice folks.

jase - yhpm

 

Mark,

a friend of mine bought a T plate Uk Wagon Turbo, and he bought it for just under 5.5k, so he got a pretty good deal, it just needed a rear door that was it, see if you can find one with service history and they should be okay.

 

sosobad.com - thanks for that mate.

my friend has a S plate wagon also, silver, although it cost him 9k

looks the business too, infact, i'm sure it's for sale on here too.

there's one's with fsh on the autotrader......there's also one thats particularly caught my eye with 37k, it's a wrx type RA i think, white, with black wheels. looks stunning, but just worried about the low mileage on a non-import!

 

I bought a Mica Blue MY97 WRX wagon for 5.5k. Had BIMTA cert to verify mileage (50K) and that not stolen/crashed/financed/etc.

No history, but in decent nick - a few pindents and what not, but can't really complain for the money!

 

wrx ra is a import mate

 

god damn it.

what are the non-import one's then mate?

there's that many types of impreza's it's so confusing lol.

 

oh and i'm not after a wagon btw, would prefer the hatchback/saloon whatever they are!

 

m8 ark.. anything that is classic scoob and wrx or sti is import.
you have mail also.

 

Hi M8ARX,

Looks like we'll both be rushing down to the newsagents this week !

I too, am new to the forum and looking for my first sub £6K Scoob.

Was toying with the idea of importing one, but the more I dig around the less appealing it gets on the self-importing option.

A few sub £6K ones have also caught my eye in Autotrader, but like you I am still a bit green when it comes to getting the right one.

There's lots of stuff on here, plus a few other places which might help you.
http://www.iwoc.co.uk/
http://www.sidc.co.uk/faq.htm

Race you to the best one

Cheers

 

thanks for that mate

lol @race you to the best one

i still am undecided on an import, as i don't know the implications of insurance, fuel types, tax, etc etc.

will need to do a lot more research than i originally thought

 

I bought my M plate import WRX back in April for 4900.

I am the first UK owner

Less than 60k miles and almost perfect body/paint work (metallic black ).

It needed new spark plugs, brake discs, and a new stereo but apart from that it's been A1, and if I hadnt wanted to mod I needn't have spent much money on it at all.


Of course I got the bug and did, and calculated recently that I have spent more than 2k on it.

 

Just to put you mind at rest about the word 'imports'

ALL Subaru impreza's are imports, built on the same assembly line in KOBE.

The european export verson is 208 BHP.

The JDM (Japan domestic market version) 92 - 94 is 240 BHP
has air con as standard + bucket seats + alloy bonnet + rear wiper.

This must be run on 97 RON fuel, no octane booster is requried for this version if it is a standard car. (not like an STI)

JDM vehicles are very popular not only for sports but also for 4x4's and MPV's
this is in the main due to superior condition and low miles


If you buy your first car from a dealer you are covered under the sale of goods act. If you get a standard car this will say alot about the previous owner, not likley to be thrashed.

Lee.

 

again, thatnks for that mate

 

ive got a 93 reg classc 4 sale at 77 thou on clock havin new cluch and gear box fitted, its a clean import, 4 less than 5,000 email me on richie307@hotmail.com

 

later classics were 215bhp

Uk cars are called Turbo 2000

 

so a 'classic' is an import?

sorry mate, i don't want any earlier than an M plate, due to my private plate that i'd be putting on to the car.

 

no, a "classic" just refers to the shape - you have, to explain what people on the forum mean : classic, facelift classic (post 96 I think, might be post 98, I can't remember) redisigned a bit and went from 208 bhp standard to 215, then bug-eyes, then blob eyes (the latest shape).. and who knows what next.. fish eyes?

But as has been stated - they are ALL built in the same factory, just the ones they build to send here are underpowered and under specced

classic :



facelift classic : see the differences in grill and bonnet? There are others too, such as a nicer re-desgined interior (IMO of course )



bug eye :



blob eye :




Hope that helps

 

lol i understand now mate, thanks

 

The next shape will be Jap's eyes, I think.

 

lol@bubba

 

lol

 

I currently have a UK Turbo wagon for sale for £3995 ono

OK that's the plug over, you can now get a classic scoob for next to nothing, even though mine is 'slightly' high mileage (115k = 14375 smiles/yr) but it still drives like a dream and has always been looked after

I now have a new bugeyed one, which is different but I'm still undecided if it is actually any better!

My old one does not look that worn, although for some reason I used to get through pedal rubbers in months rather than years so don't be too put off by that

There are lots of nice cheap classics out there, as well as mine, so there is no reason why you cant get a decent Scoob for < £5k

Come on in guys, Scoobs are a dream to drive, whatever you buy!

 

ive been at my mates garage recently and he has had a few scoobys in.he was pointing out how to listen out for a rough engine.and believe me he was deadright on one it blew up a week later.if you listened you could hear a background knock.