Newbie here -- advice please
 

Hi Guys/Gals

I am looking to buy a 1999/2000 scooby (Turbo obviously) can anyone advise on what to look for?

How to tell an import?
any notorious problems/niggles?
anything that prompts a "walk away" straight away?

you guys know the type of info

any help would be appreciated

Thanks

James

first off, theres loads around on the market at the min, so never ever be afraid to walk away if something doesn't seem right.

Few things it must have,

A full service history, the more the merrier, a wadge of reciepts says the car has been looked after, have a look whos been doing the work, if its a reputable company then you should be fine.

alot of the specialists sell cars as well, you'll pay a bit more than a private sale, but you'll get some peace of mind, they wont sell total rubbsih (if there reputable) and yu'll get a warrenty to fall back on.

smoke on start up is a bad thing (although if its running rich there may be some black smoke), listen for anythign that doesn't sound right. get an inspection done.

and as said if i doubt walk away, loads of decent cars out there

Thanks Tidy

Also how do you tell whether the car is a 206 or a 215BHP

I know they change around 1999 -- but what are the tell tale signs

is white dials in the interior or any specifice clues in the engine bay etc

cheers

James

All the 99/00 T-V-W-Reg are 215bhp as opposed to 208bhp.

Tbh, you'll be hard pressed to find a standard one anyway! Exhaust/filter swap and hey presto you are looking at 230-240bhp already. Remap 270-280, so I wouldn't worry about that original 7bhp :thumb:

The classic imports are either WRXs or STis. Folding mirrors, rear wiper are the most obvious difference if debadged. Not sure if they were both on later 99/00s though - they were on my old M-Reg WRX.

And also, you'll get a good one these days for 4-5k with low mileage - loads around so be picky.

so is their much difference between, say a 1997 (P) and a 1999 (V)

and if so what are the main ones, i have heard they improved the brakes on the later models

a lot of bad stories about fresh imports, nice looking cars ours seemed great ..no smoke no noises had a good test drive went away happy one day on the way home from work the next day the big ends went hence the new 2.5 but for the first time buyer that just about gets the dosh together with not a lot left to have that happen if crimminal...buy one private its been used in the UK for a time and probably owned by an enthusiast upgrading not Japanese car imports in Hadley

Quite a bit different.

Interior much improved from 98 on. I had a MY95 and my current MY00 interior miles better.

Brakes much much improved from 99 - 4 pots on front instead of 2 pots.

97-98s not so easy to remap either - 99/00s can be ecuteked, so need to swap ecu for an Apexi/Simtek etc.

Probably lots more that I can't think of also!

No need to go for 97-98 anyway, as 99-00s are so cheap these days - I bet mine with 100k is only worth about 3-3.5k, and scoob saloons don't go much cheaper than 3k.

yes -- thats what I thought, the 99/00 seem to hit the spot re price/interior/and ironing out the niggles with the earlier ones

what are the engines good for, if looked after, I have a VW GTI with 140K and it still drives like new