Ive had some great and really helpful responses to and ad i put on "help required buying". This is my situation, im about to buy my first impreza, i have a budget of £12-13,000 to spend. Ive been up to a Subaru dealer b4 i cam across this site and he has offered me an "R" reg 1997 2000 AWD in Reddish blue, the car was originally £11,995 and he has offered me £4,700 for my car in part-ex which is a 1993 "K" reg Mitsubishi Pajero SWB in Blue over silver with all extras incl Clifford alarm and cd player. The deal is i would give him my car and £7,050 cash, i haggled new Subaru mats inside all round, Subaru mud flaps, 12 mths Warranty full tank of juice and Alloys of my choice from a range they have! From some of the emils i have recieved on here from fellow hepful scooby enthusiasts selling their cars and the details and pics i have had from them, £11,995 seems over priced for an "R" reg car that has done 54,000. From your experiences and if you was buying again from scratch and had a budget of 12k-13k would you firstly buy private or from a dealer where usually the prices are slightly over but you get a warranty, or buy private and what 4 door model would you go for if you was me in the 2000 AWD range! Sorry it was a bit long winded but i wanted to get my position across! Thanx Rob

Do you have to buy a UK model? If not consider buying an import, you will get a nice STi4 or 5 for you price range. They are cheaper, will have less miles and go a helluva lot quicker (280bhp v 205bhp - someone correct me if these are not quite accurate).
Downsides can be insurance and an ever decreasing petrol gauge :)
I have an STi3 (P plate) which I bought last year. It had just been imported, and had no history (risky I know), but I have 30K miles driving plesure since, kept it serviced and it has given me no probs whatsoever. Oh, and it goes like sh1t off a shovel.

Just my tuppence worth :D

oi standard early turbo 2000 have 208 bhp [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] :p lol damn peaps tryin 2 rob me of valued gee gees:eek: lol 4 that money u'd probably wana MY98 at a guess i got a MY97 for just under 10k from a dealer 10 months ago although 68k on da clock it aint a prob but i wood of saved myself a fortune in changing white dials over if i'd had a MY98 & i kud get extra gauges in the centre pod;) I think i posted ISDC faq in yer other thread which tells u other differences between the different models but just incase my short term memory loss strikes again SIDC faq ;)
Reckon u shud get sumin scweeeeeeeet 4 yer bling bling thou:D
Si

Sorry Si, didn't mean to do you out of 3bhp!!!!;)
[Stealth Mode] Don't tell anyone, but I think the STi is only 276bhp sssssshhhhhhhhhhhh [/Stealth mode]

I recently bought a 98 R estate in Reddish Blue with 40000 miles. It was on sale for £12995, with not too much trouble i got the dealer down to 12250, a tracker fitted at cost and around £800 more for my trade in than any other garage would offer. And they put new mats in without having to be asked.

Also, if you CAN sell you car privately you should be able to do very well buying a Subaru privately.

I bought a 99MY (218ps) 5 door with 40k, FSSH and Aircon 6 months ago for £10500 - genuine car, all bills, no bumps, HPI checked, inspected, did a full MOT etc. Then bought a Subaru ext warranty for £300 for peace of mind.

If you have your wits about you, do the checks and use your common sense and gut-feeling you can save a fortune. Whatever the books say, realistic trade value now is about £9500-£10000 for a 99 with average miles. Don't let the dealers charge you £14 !