Going to look at a MY97 Wagon tomorrow. Apart from piston slap & juddery clutch is there anything else specific to the year I should be looking for.
Cheers
Alasdair

The bottle blowing noise aka knackered blow off valve, usually between 3-4 thousand rpm on slow acceleration in 2nd and 2rd (too much road noise in 4th & 5th to hear it ;) ).

Be very wary of piston slap, its an expensive fix.

Best go early in the morning and check for slap when the engine is stone cold on the first start of the day. Mine only done it for the first couple of minutes of the day.

Rich

Check for snatchy gear shift from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd. Indicates worn synchro's. Didn't'notice it when I bought mine, he must have warmed it up for me ;->