they cost a fortune to run and make no financial sense at all.

real term fuel cost expect about 70 miles to £20 and thats before servicing,mot,tax and insurance

I've got a mica red 2001 on a Y reg classic wagon. Only done 71k.

I'm just about to take a load of pics, there is a for sale advert in the sale section on here.

If you're looking for a nice classic, you'll struggle to find better. No hint of rust and original paintwork.

I thought £1500 was way too cheap for what he had, must've been mega-miles, accident damaged or just wrangled a heft 'tv presenter' discount.

Plenty of cars out there for a £3k budget, just take some time to find the right one amongst the sheds, otherwise your dream of owning an Impreza will become a nightmare.

Not been for a test yet. Trying to get a round up of ones local to have a go.
Unfortunately most for sale close are private sales and some are saying no test drives without proof of fully comp on that car. Which is understandable.

Am not getting into debt buying it. It's cash from the sale of my car and part of a ppi pay back.

I've done some basic man maths, but maths in general isn't one of my strong points! ;)
I'm pretty handy at basic servicing so could handle brakes/oil changes etc.
the mrs cousin is a mechanic so can help with other complicated stuff.

This is another reasons I'd like to get one that's well looked after with good service history. Something proving fairly rare in my price range.

Christ! Are they all really that bad on fuel!?
It'll mainly be used for commuting to work daily, a 24mile round trip.

Tax is only slightly higher than that of my old mk1 1.6 Focus
Insurance is coming out of the budget too so not so worried about that, as long as the car is cheap enough whatever is left from the pot is there for stuff like service/mot.

Looks like my man maths needs a review.
And I may have to reconsider running one. :(

Yes. I get about 100 miles for £30 of fuel from my Bugeye WRX which spends most of its life taking me to work and back, not getting over 40mph - better on a long run, but not massively. Last time I worked it out I was getting between 23 and 25mpg.

The parts are pretty cheap and plentyfull for servicing, oil is expensive as you NEED top quality, i change mine every 3000 ish but i do mostly town pootling and less than 6000 a year in mine normally so every 6 months or so.

It's definitely fuel thats the killer if you do a lot of miles, i average 28 mpg in my Blob wrx, but that soon drops to sub 20 with my week end blast included and thats not caning it, just being sprited and making good progress, in my STI type r giving it some propper beans i could pretty much empty a full tank in 120 miles, so depending on driving style your looking at early 20's mpg.

And a sport n/a is not much better, and they are slow as fcuk, so if your going to get a subaru impreza it may as well be a turbo, for the small saving on a n/a, unless your 18/21 and live on a farm in the outer hebrides.:nono: :lol1:

Cheers for all the advice guys!

I need to do some serious man maths this weekend I guess!
Something tells me my usual monthly spend of £100 on fuel isn't going to get me far should I take the plunge for a scoob! :(

It's kinda depressing that for the first time in a long time I've got the money available to afford a scoob, only to be seemingly priced out by the cost of running one!!

I really don't want to go back to a dull diesel or puny 1.6 motors :( :(

Fuel is the killer on a Subaru mate. The drag on the 4WD system just drains it. I'm about £100 a month and I do less than 400 miles.

Other than that they are fairly cheap if you don't mind getting your hands dirty. Their design had a good bit of influence from the rally stage so they come to bits quite easily, you can have the engine out in a couple of hours if you know what you doing.
Parts are cheap unless its a sensor or MAF but they are solid cars so the reliability is pretty good.

Don't let the fuel put you off. You can't have everything in a car and really a Subaru isn't much worse than say a Cupra or VXR etc.

What ive learnt over the years with my classic is youd better be a good mechanic or know one - not trying to put you of though as a sorted classic with 300bhp is about as good as is gets for the real world - just be prepared to learn to spin the spanners at the weekend as the bloody thing will become a obsession.
iain.

Well my choices on a car may have just been made easier!
Think I got done on mobile speed van yesterday. :( . He was sat on a section where it goes from national down to 40 then quickly to 30, everyone coasts for a while from 40 as its just a 30zone passing a business/industrial estate.
No excuses as speeding is speeding. I was doing about 40 hitting the 30 section and by the time the car in front of me and I'd seen him it was too late to scrub off enough speed.

Doing a quick insurance comparison last night has rocketed the quotes with 3 points on my record.
Strangely it hasn't made much of a difference to n/a Impreza's.

Defo need to have a think of the next step

You should have a letter in two weeks iirc,any longer you should be clear.

Have you contacted the specialist insurers who advertise on the forum? Massively cheaper than comparison sites.