Hi all. New to Subarus but thinking of a Classic UK WRX as my next car as it seems you can get a lot of car for your money. Only trouble so far seems to be finding one that hasn't been abused. Signed up on here to have a snoop about and see what I can learn. It seems that most of the tidy examples on eBay/Pistonheads are in the for sale section on here too

 

Well you will be looking for a Turbo 2000 as the UK never got the WRX in classic form. The turbo 2000 is quite restricted in its power so most people go for JDM. Depends on what your budget is and why you feel the need for a UK car (Insurance?) it could be that due to your budget you will likely get dogs. You also need to remember that these cars are bought for the type of car they are and not a supermarket runabout. finding one that is well maintained and looked after can take a while but it may cost you

 

Ah thanks for the reply, looks like I might be getting confused over different models. Maybe I do mean the JDM WRX then, I was told it it was 280bhp standard? Budget is about £3-5K, have also looked at some Blobeyes as well, but I think I prefer the classic if I can find the right one...

 

This may help - a list of the Imprezas made. You should be able to google the relevant model types so you get an idea of what is what.

https://www.scoobynet.com/technical-...odel-list.html

 

You will get most for your money by getting bug-eye sti 2001-2 especially if a jdm import. Much better gearbox, engine, brakes, interior. Much more room to modify too if you wish. A bit ugly but usually the best bargains, just change the headlights.

 

Wow didn't realise there were so many! Thanks for the link though, really useful

Interesting, just really not a fan of the front end Is it not a fairly big job to change the lights? I.e you'd need headlights, bumper, bonnet, wings and slam panel? Not a fan of the headlight covers either.

 

You can just change the lights.
Classics are lighter, so more raw when the power is there.

I'm not certain, but AFAIK, earlier WRX's were 260bhp?

 

Oh right, which lights are they interchangeable with?

I was just going of Wikipedia, apparently from 93-94 they were 236.7bhp then in 94-96 they were 256.4 hp then 96-2000 they were 276bhp

 

Correct.

 

Changing the lights is a no go in my view - by the time you've done that you may as well have bought a Blob.

 

That's what I was thinking, seen a few threads of people paying £650 or so just for the parts, so hardly seems worth it....

 

Especially when the car would still have a Bug eye registration and chassis number, it could never have the same value as a legit Blob eye yet would have had all that money spent on it making it look like a Blob.

 

Yeah, that's fair. I think Ill just keep searching for the right Classic tbh...

 

With a budget of up to £5k you should be able to pick up a very tidy classic wrx. £5k could stretch to a type r (2 door import) but you may not get quite as much for your money.

 

I did consider a Type R or even an RA but the difference in insurance over the WRX is a little too much for me at the moment. Which is a shame because I can't help but think the 2door Type R looks so much better!

I've spotted a few tidy WRXs for between 2-3k so that should leave me some money to add a few touches of my own.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Subaru-Imp...item19d9fa07c3

Looks a good example

 

That was up for £4250 last week. Seems a little pricey to me, no? Though i appreciate it's had an awful lot of work.

I was looking more at options such as this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1609753808...84.m1423.l2649

 

https://www.scoobynet.com/showthread...7#post11025087

 

Lovely car, but as said, out of budget and not looking for an RA.

 

Personally sticker on back alone would put me off. You get what you pay with Subaru's, the link for the silver v5 you can see the car has been cherished simply by the list of quality mods. I know which way i'd be going, pay a little more in the first instance, save yourself a fortune in the long run

 

Yeah I did notice that. I agree, and I don't mind paying a little more but that silver V5 is twice the price...

There's a really nice white STI in the for sale section but it's the other end of the country

 

I just thought it wasn't too far out of the top end of your budget and maybe there was room for negotiation if you had the cash, just seen a low mileage clean example with low owners for decent money and thought I'd post it up incase you had not seen it, I missed the insurance bit you mentioned, have you tried the specialists on here for quotes? Just a thought

 

5k is really going to have to be top end unfortunately, especially as insurance will be on top of that Lovely car though!

Not yet, I will look into that, cheers