buying advice
 

hi guys new to this forum so be nice.
seriously looking to buy a scooby within the next few weeks but, not too impressed with all the hijacking threads i have read .
really suprised cause the mrs was raving on it when we got out of a test drive car which wasnt what i expected to say the least, however a guy in the village i live in was burgled and nothing much was taken so the object seems to have been his keys to his cars both subarus.
whats the general feeling on this , and any advice on model etc , the insurance is reasonably sane coz im older than god .
also is the reliability thing as it seems as a few guys recently told me everybody sells new cars at 20,000ish coz after that u get probs.
gotta say that i really enjoyed the wrx and sti we went out in , the package is amazing .

pete

Welcome to SN

Relax.

1- Hijacking by its very nature will get a lot of attention, no one posts to say their scooby is still on the drive! This creates the illusion that its more common than it actually is. The fact is that it is a rare event. Scoobies are targets, but so are BMWs Porsches, Civic Type Rs, Golf Gtis....the list goes on and on.

2- Problems after 20k is rubbish! Scoobies, if looked after, are very reliable! There is no set age at which they'll start to play up, it depends entirely on how they're treated.

If you like it, buy it, look after it, enjoy it. Simple as that!

NS04

As NS04 says "enjoy it".

I have owned 4 Imprezas since 1999 and they are superb.

Drive it and have fun (you are only here once).

Common sense says look at as many as you can, ask yourself - UK or Import, private or dealer, service history, etc etc.

There are a couple of very low mileage 1999/2000 model classic shapes on te Autotrader website (e.g. 24,000 miles Dark Blue Mica £8,500) - one owner, full service history - lovely looking car and one you could enjoy for years.

Colour and specification will be important when you come to resell.

There are some very nice cars out there (and some not so nice), and some very genuine people on Scooby Net you will offer advice/opinions.

The Impreza is a great car and will be a future classic in years to come.

Ditto above go and enjoy. Now on the second Scoob. Only problems so far dodgy aftermarket alarm on Scoob 2.

Dealers a bit pricey but very good warranty and History.

Yup, get it, enjoy it and don't worry. You can protect yourself from jacking with devices like Clifford Blackjax, but they are rare occurances unless you live in Brum :rolleyes:

BTW, mine is for sale :D and welcome to SNet :thumb:

Welcome to Scoobynet.

I had concerns about hijacking/theft too, but could see the basic correctness of the view that you don't hear about the cars that haven't been stolen. My mind was put at rest by asking the A Plan guys at Thatcham whether the area in which I live is reckoned to be high risk and their saying "No".

I've never lost any sleep worrying about the issue, but I have lost sleep getting up early to enjoy a blast! Go for it.

just to say...mine's still on the drive

... as is mine.

TBH I wouldnt worry overly about the hijacking stories and tales of people breaking into houses to steal the keys - any car worth over a certain amount is a target - generally though it seems to be higher end luxury motors like Mercs, BMW M's etc... that are targeted - I think a lot of these are shipped overseas as there is a market for this sort of car in a lot of countries.

Of all the Imprezas owned in the UK ( maybe 100,000 plus ??? ) how many get carjacked or stolen ? A lot of the ones you hear about seem to be people who own them in particularly dodgy areas anyway - if I lived in some scummy council estate, dont think I'd bother buying any car worth more than £100 !

AND THE MAIN REASON !!!

Whats the alternative ? never own anything nice in your life for fear of it being stolen ? whats the point in that ? This is what insurance is for, if it gets stolen, you get paid and buy another one.

I'm certainly not going to constrain myself to only ever owning rubbish nobody even wants for free just so I can sleep a little better at night.

One good trick though is ( and this only works if you live in a nice area ) - make sure all the immediate neighbours cars are flasher and worth more than yours - that way yours will look crap in comparison to any roving thieves.