hi, im selling my clio williams and getting an impreza, ill have about 5k to spend on a wrx sti, any info on what to look out for, hugely appreciated. ive been looking on ebay and saw some decent looking ones with lowish mileage for around this price.

i only use my car at the weekend so i hopefully wont need a mortgage for the fuel costs, hehe

thanks

Tony

 

My advise is

DONT

HTH

 

christ! dont say that mate lol

 

Honestly mate !!

Read through the threads with all these "BIG ENDS" failing !!

It'll cost you a fortune

Buy an FSO Polonez its a better buy at the moment

 

echo.....

Be worth more in a few years




...then again mybe you could run both....

 

could someone translate the the above posts to a complete newbie? lol

 

I think what they are saying is that the rumours of it costing the same to run as a Ford are just rumours. Have you looked at the insurance costs of an import? Also imports need treated very well if they are to live a long and productive life and there is a chance that yours may have been run on standard unleaded for example in which case you are in for a bad day.

It would certainly be sensible to budget to have £3 - £4k in the bank for repairs, tyres etc. just in case. Did you consider a UK car rather than an import?

 

not really looked into it in depth, hence me asking some do's and dont's on here b4 i delve in, ive been quoted 860 for TPFT or 1100 Fc for insurance on an import, would i be best going for a UK car then?

 

Unless you can find a fresh import that's just arrived on our shores or one that has been re-mapped for lower grade UK fuel then yes. Older imports are the biggest culrpits for engine failures and if that happens, it'll set you back between 2 and 4k for a rebuild depending on what lets go. No offence intended, but with that budget, to be honest, I'd suggest you look at another marque. These are expensive cars to run and it pays to spend that bit more and get a really good un. If you MUST have one though, do yourself a favour and follow the points below:

Lost count of the number of times I said this, but here are the rules for buying a Scooby:

1) Full subaru or reputable service history a must.
2) If the initial inspection looks good, get in independently inspected DO NOT take a tyre kicker approach. HPI check also a very good idea!
3) As few owners as possible and see if you can speak to them. Get the current owner to take you out for a test drive, does he warm the car up before extending it? Does he let it cool down? What petrol has he run it on? What oil?
4) Avoid a car that has had cheap/nasty mods. No daft induction kits, which often kill the scoobies mafs, no horrid VTA dump valves, no boost clamps etc... If you do find an attractive modified one, find out exactly what was done and by whom! More recepits the better.
5) Prepare to get to know your local petrol station staff well and spend a bit on the car. They're not cheap to run.

All the best.

NS04

 

NO. There far to slow.

 

The UK models might be slower out of the box, but, its still a pretty quick car nonetheless.

I just bought my first scooby and just didnt want to take the risk with a non uk market car, saying that, I also had to hunt high and low for an un-fettled FSH low mileage car.

 

No, its a very quick car out of the box. plenty of people who want to jump on the "not that fast bandwagon" but give me a break: 0-60 in mid fives and the same from the 30-70 increment is going some.

Yes, of course there are faster cars and it's not the only "affordable performance car" that can acheive those kind of figures now, but it took the opposition 10 years to catch up. The Imports are even more ballastic and a great buy if you can find a good un......but for this money, I'd say a UK car is the safest bet.

NS04

 

forget ebay m8, go to "forsale general" on nere and take a look at the RA facelift on there. Only 1.5k more than your looking to spend but for that car its worth finding that little bit extra.

I know the car and believe me its mint and all hpi checked etc......

Just an

 

Lots of good and experienced advice on the above posts.
Full service history is essential on any potential car...especially on the imports. There are alot of good Scoobs that come up for sale on the "for Sale" forum....Cars that have been cherished by their owners.

Over two years ago i went for a mint, low milage Uk turbo and have enjoyed sensibly modifying it since. It's very quick.

 

hmmm, im getting slightly put off by all these horror stories about engines blowing up, , and the williams gets slated for its unreliability!! ive used the search and flicked through the newbie threads etc looking at all the advice and got alot of pointers from there.

have you got a link to that car mate? i could stretch to more if i knew it was worth it, thanks again for all the info folks

 

On a forum like this you will, of course, only hear about the engines that blow up.

So, let me try and redress the balance: yesterday I took my scooby - an import STI for what it's worth - for a good blat along some B-roads near my office. It was great fun, and the engine didn't blow up.

That said, there's a lot of good advice above - heed it. £5k worth of STI will typically be producing about 280bhp if the engine's in good nick, maybe +/- 20bhp depending on its condition, fuel and modifications. A UK car of similar value will probably be producing about 240bhp, as most have sports exhausts and other minor mods.

In short, there's just not enough difference not to consider both, especially considering just how few genuinely decent cars there are at that price point. You'll have a MUCH more enjoyable ownership experience with a good UK model compared to a rough import - though if you're careful and do your research, you'll be even better off with a good import. They are, after all, built as better cars.

My first scooby was a UK MY00 and it was the best car I've ever owned - until I bought an '05 import STI with a comprehensive suspension upgrade pack.

 

Please dont be put off by horror stories.

Take your time selecting the right car for your needs, make sure it has a service history and all looks and drives ok, if in doubt get it checked over properly and if buying from a dealer, get the maximum warranty length you can

 

Scoobies are tough and very reliable as performance cars go, but they just do not take well to being run on low grade fuel, wrong grade oil, being driven with no mechanical sympathy or having servicing neglected.

Unfortunately, they are getting to an age now where they can be bought fairly cheaply by people who really can't afford to run them. Many people are expecting the Fiesta like price tag to come with Fiesta like running costs. Unfortunately, that's not the case. To give you an example, I recently replaced the Clutch on mine. The clutch was purchased in a group buy (i.e. at a reduced price) and the work was done at an independent specialist which is far cheaper than a Subaru dealer. However, I'll still have no change from £500!

NS04

 

Quite right, people will naturally talk about any engine failure but on the other hand who talks about an engine that does what it says on the tin? Maybe sometimes we all forget that 250-325bhp from a 2 litre is a huge amount of power, try going back a few years and claiming your production line 2 litre Ford OHC was 300bhp. People would think you were daft.

Either buy a later UK car from a proper dealer with Subaru warranty or buy a known car, by known I mean one that belongs to a forum member who obviously takes great pride in looking after the car.

 

'T'
i put up a post this morning and you asked for a link so click on this m8.
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=441857

cheers paul

 

Well thats about what i paid for '94 sti ... outrsgeous but there you go..

no my point is your williams is probably going to be worth more than 5k worth o sti in a couple o years ....

 

Herein lies the sweat factor of course - the guy i bought from was well upset , lost his job so had to sell ( v.sensibly) and it was an import , i never really wanted to 'tune' it for fear of the worst and expected it to blow up at any moment...........but of course it never did ..... maybe enuff of the previous owners had fed it on the 'good stuff'

 

I have just sold my type ra on e-bay I was offered a clio with a williams engine, was that you? your bro has a beemer cab?

jamo

 

nah mate mines a williams 2 with 69k on the clock, i think i saw that one your talking about tho, it was aone of the guys from cliosport selling it, have u seen the clio turbo on ebay? its a monster!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MESE%3AIT&rd=1