With a budget of £19500,,,,,,,,
 

......what models should I be looking at?

This is going to be a very big investment for me so I need to make the right decision, hopefully with a little help from you!

I'm currently torn between a new WRX and a year old WRX STI.

Is the STI REALLY worth the extra cash and increased insurance costs? I am coming from a Fiat Stilo Abarth so either car will be a big step up performance wise.

Finally were can you get the best deals on used STI's?

Thanks for any help.

You'll see quite a lot of bargains on here, people don't seem to find it too easy to sell these.

If your not looking for dealer finance or trade in then you will get a good deal privately.

For the money a new wrx or sti upto a year old as you suggested is right.

Hi m8, I have got just the right car for u...an S202 in mint condition...if you're interested, please pm me, bern

Have you considered a P1?

If it has to be a 5 door saloon then i would go for the sti, you'll regret not getting the sti after a few weeks of ownership and wondering what if.

:D

For 19.5K you should be buying a nice shiny Evo 8 FQ330, maybe even an MR FQ300. Ah I'm on scoobynet. Sorry wrong forum :D.

Fight the power !

Impreza and Investment - LOL, seriously you can't have both. ;)

Problem with the lesser known impreza varients or imports, is they are great. But come trade in time, people value them at or less then bog standard models (refer to parkers ;) )and you struggle selling them at their true value due to such a diluted market.

If you're going for either it's well worth trying to include PPP ugrade in your budget. Makes a hell of a difference in the performance and overal driveability of both cars..

Worth mentioning that they are quite different beasts - WRX is very fast, very competent, very comfortable, slightly understated . Sti is much more of an in your face, focussed drivers car.

You should definately drive both before deciding and if you even have the niggliest doubt about wanting an Sti then get one, plenty of people (including me) go for the WRX as they think it will be more than fast enough and end up regretting not getting an Sti.
Other people though will always be happy with their choice - only you will know what you are like ;)

I was convinced that an WRX was the car for me - 4 months of Scooby ownership and there's a bit of me now thinking I should have stretched a bit more - that power is addictive ! Now a JDM Sti with 320 bhp plus seems very appealing :D

Also have you considered an EU or JDM import - might widen your choice a bit in terms of affordability..

You'll get a decent 03 or 04 JDM STi for that money - excellent value for money :)

I believe there are a couple on here at the moment.

Save a while longer and look at an 05 STi from an importer (£21k), and benefit from the revised suspension and maybe even a DCCD-A. Then again, if you save whilst november you might be in the running for an 06 STi, potentially with a 2.5 engine. For your money at the moment there should be quite a few 04 STi PPP's that people are getting desperate to shift. The market has been pants for a while, but it's starting to pick up now. Was Speaking to the 'Clinic and they hadn't sold a car for about 2 months, then all of a sudden the shift 4 in a week.

Oh, and yes STi's are worth the difference. Take it from an 03 WRX PPP driver whom now sees the error of his ways :rolleyes:

Factor some mods into your budget, I'll guarantee you will want to fiddle with something. Don't be put off by the negative comments here on the WRX PPP, it's a superb compromise if the Sti is not within your budget.
Personally I would go with a used low mileage WRX PPP and save loads of dosh, in fact I just have :D


Allan

I don't think any of us are making negative comments about the WRX PPP - they truly are a great car. The point being made is that if you go into your choice thinking that the WRX is a 'compromise' as you put it, chances are you will regret it at some point later.

imo choose a WRX because that is the car you want - ie it suits your requirements. That's what I did but the Scooby bug is a powerful thing and unfortunately your judgement on what you desire from the car can change ;)

OK by compromise I don't mean attributes that I will miss, more do I really need them. I've always thought that when the time came to change the MY00 I would settle for nothing less than an Sti, in reality I was more than happy with the car I ended up with.

I found myself asking the question why do I want an Sti, because of the way it drives or because of the desirability factor.

Allan

Thanks for the help.

As corradoboy said you can get an 05 STi EU (full uk spec 3 yr warranty) import from £20500 (without DCCD-A) which most people seem not to use anyway..! £21500 with DCCD-A BTW.

Great deal IMHO..!

Drive both, and then you can make the right choice. However, be prepared for extremly high running costs..! (WRX a little less so.)

Defo get an STI, the standard WRX really isn't that fast in todays market with many of the super-hatches matching or beating it from rolling runs. You'll quickly get used to the performance upgrade and long for more power/speed. The sti will see that process take longer and if after a year you want more beef from that you can cobble together the cash for PPP thus giving you 300bhp. I bought a £19k honda s2000 but noticed a few JDM STI's 03/04 with 300-320 (claimed) bhp on uk fuel. I was VERY tempted to bin the soft-top idea I can tell you!

You will be able to get a brand new MY05 wrx with PPP for 20k if you fight with dealer. I know that deals there for me at the min. Id go for that mate n get the high spoiler n fog covers