What to look for when buying a JDM STI
 

The time has come too sell my 04 WRX and go for an STI:) . My first Impreza was a 96 jap import WRX, kept it for 8 years and never had any problems with it being an import. The two cars I've narrowed it down too are a 54 plate UK STI PPP or an import 55 plate STI. The PPP is owned by a family member so is a safe option, the import I will not see until this weekend. There’s been a lot of impreza's through the family so the obvious stuff is well in hand, do I need to look for anything out of the ordinary with a JDM car of that age. The 1st question is do they come from Japan with a suitable cat 1 alarm as standard as I know my 96 WRX didn’t.

The other thing I found odd is the JDM car would be cheaper to insure than the PPP, Both cars are just under 10K. I always remember jap imports being more expensive to insure, have things changed !

Thanks for your help,

Jason.

wont come with an alarm. just check for the usual stuff. :)

My 03 plate JDM STI costs £400 a year fully comp/protected which I think is quite reasonable bearing in mind the horse power.

JDM imports should come with an auction sheet telling you what condition they were in at time of sale. My experience suggests that when there isn't one it's usually as the seller has something to hide ...

2 that I looked at (back in 2005) were both accident damaged & badly repaired!

If a Jap car has been SVAd it should have an alarm & tracker.

I'd go for the JDM of the two though :)

TX.

Thanks TX

The JDM has had one owner in the UK so it should be good to go. The trader took it in part exchange 4 months ago at (he says) 14k. I think the sub 10k price just reflects the market at the moment and he’s getting a bit nervous.

Jason.

Take mine.........LOL. Got to say they are quality motors. As TX says, just ensure have you have all the history.

Subaru : MY04 Subaru Impreza JDM WRX STI 2003 V-Limited

Ensure that they have been serviced correctly, that is at 6 monthly intervals or 10k km (7.5k miles) as per the classics, some are serviced the same as the uk cars and thats a :nono: cars with a-dccd need the gearbox oil changing annually, most of the other stuff is as per a uk car, slightly more expensive to run due to the shorter servicing intervals but better in every way over a uk car ;)

Tony:)

Phil, The car look good but a bit too modified/expensive for me. The scary thing is it looks sort of similar to my current 04 WRX, but then I suppose they all do.

http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/p.../scoobydoo.jpg

Thanks for the advice Tony, My farther works for one of the local Subaru tuners so keeping of top of the maintenance is not too difficult. Everyone always say the JDM cars are better, has there been a post on here detailing the differences.

Jas.

If you get a car imported before march 2005 then it will be on the PLG tax rate £185 per year, if it was registered in UK after that date you'll be on a higher tax band regardless of the year of manufacture so just keep that in mind.

Yeah, not hard to get them looking the same :lol1: . Think mine might be a bit quicker though ;)