been looking around some of the garages/importers in scotland, calder, mackay trading in edinburgh to name a couple but compared to other places, namely down south they seem really expensive usually around 35-40% ! - and a bit dodgy/untrustworthy - or perhaps the general feeling i get from secondhand dealer/importers - sometimes they dont seem very knowledgeable or friendly either

can anyone recomend where to get a good quality scooby from at a decent price, i'm looking for an early wrx £5-7k (or lower) and to possibly trade in my civic vtec.

been looking at net importers too like:
http://www.jap-link.co.uk/japanese_car_import.htm scooby from £3500 !?!
and
http://www.scoobyscene.co.uk/usedscoobs.asp

anyone ever used such places and how were they.
where did u get your car from?
whats the going rate for an early wrx or 1st generation sti - the price ranges seem to differ greatly.
cheers

Well lane turbo centre

The for sale section on this forum is excellent, may be just about to buy another WRX (my 5th) and by far and away the best priced and condition cars seem to be on this site.

Wouldn't recommend going to a dealer, much better off looking for a private purchase. These cars are most people's pride and joy and therfore are usually very well looked after. Although obviously your part-ex is a consideration

Top thing to watch out for as follows:

- check the year that the car is being advertised as manufactured matches with the little label at the bottom of the seat belts
- check for piston slap - sure sign its been driven too hard and too hard when cold
- if its got clutch judder don't touch it, again its been thrashed
- make sure the cam belt has been changed by 45K latest

I'm sure there is much more, but these are the biggest things I can think of to look for.

Hope you get one - best car's in the world for the money and the most fun you can have without getting naked!

My mate has just set up his own buisness in the North West of England. You basically tell him what car you want, what spec you want and what kind of price reange you are looking at.

He will import your car for you put it through all the tests etc, and you pick it up complete with a full 1 year warranty.

Check here for more details www.aisimports.co.uk

The Nelson Mandela estate is a great place to look for scoobies.

Couple of points that I have to correct...

Piston slap doesn't mean it's been driven too hard, it's more down to manufacturing "tolerances".

Clutch judder is not a sign of thrashing at all - "they all do that sir". Best way to cover clutch judder if you're selling a car? A full bore start, dumping the clutch at high revs, will cure it for a while by cleaning the surfaces but puts a lot of strain through the drivetrain.

If you can, I would take someone who knows the cars well with you and get them to drive it and give it the once over. If these cars go wrong, it isn't normally a cheap thing to fix, but the good news is that they are built to take thrashings and seem to last well...

Interesting to hear about the the comment on clutch judder, had always been led to believe that this was due to it being driven hard, but I am no engineer and my mechnical skills don't add up to much either. Out of interest what causes clutch judder?

God only knows mate, many theories but I'm not sure. Dealers have been known to blame spark plugs, which I can't see being right... Cold, wet days seem to bring out the judder the worst though, so maybe there's something in that? A way to temporarily get around it is the full bore start, or slipping the clutch against the handbrake (again to clear the plates) if you know what I mean.

A solution does seem to be to fit the uprated housing from the P1, but this is an expensive solution to a small problem.
Cheers,
Nick.

Cheers for that and I think I even understod it all.