Kinda at a crossroads need abit of advice
 

Ok here goes the story i have always had BMW's i own three now as it is, now the one i am looking at changing is my E36 328I M Sport i was going to upgrade it to a E36 M3 however a deal has come my way i need some help on.

I have a work mate would has a 1997 Impreza Saloon WRX STI import its done 31000 miles and has never been used or indeed been outside in winter so its in really good condition.

The car was not up for sale but i always wanted to get a scooby but was always put off but the turbo and maybe reliability issues from what i have been told in the past, so i asked him if he would sell it for the right price anyway he has agreed i drove it yesterday everything checked out i am going to pay the deposit tomorrow i think, but i just wanted to know really if they are as rock solid as i think and if there's anything i need to watch out for.

The car has not been messed around with that much it has a quickshift fitted sports exhaust a HKS blow off valve other than that its standard.

I don't really know that much about scoobys or my way around the engine i think that what makes me abit nervous where as with the M3 i know it like the back of my hand.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

I had BMWs before getting my scooby, not many classic's with that mileage about, can it be backed up? If they have been driven on lower stock boost and not been played about with then yes they are reliable, as with any cars, regular servicing with history is important. Cambelts need to be done regardless of limited millege as age is just as important. Classics are starting to get old so rust can be an issue, even a car Kept inside I would have a good look about under the rear arches.

What sort of m3 are you looking at? Coupe? Saloon? The 3.0litre or the 3.2 evo?

Thanks for the advice so far i will check the boost to make sure its stock i think it is but i will check, thankfully i got underneath the car when i drove it the other day to check and its clean as a whistle.

The mileage is fully documented as well, the reason for it being so low is when it was imported it had 15000 on the clock looking at the import papers and history from before backs this up it was then left in storage for 10 years and only registered in 2010 which the DVLA backs up.

The M3 i was looking at was the M3 EVO 3.2 as my 328I is already pulling about 250BHP last time i had it on the dyno and i have not done any further mods since then as a result the the 3.0 would not be that much of an upgrade.

I swapped an Impreza wagon for an E36 325i convertible. It looked lovely in white and came with a white hard top and around 198bhp as standard, but I missed my scooby too much so I swapped the BMW for my fourth impreza classic but this one I got stitched up on badly :(
Subaru are a good solid car as long as they have been looked after and treated well. tbh I can't really afford to run a scoob but I have to have one for the power and the flat 4 burble :D

I thought the M3's were pushing about 320bhp?

Sounds a nice car mate, if the boost has been increased for more power that's not always a bad thing, the engines are nice and strong, should pop a photo up I would love to see the car

VTA dumpvalve? Get rid of it if you do buy.

I'd stick with the M3...now they ARE solid.

They are nice and solid and great on the motorway but the STI feels so much more alive to drive.

M3's are nice & quick even in standard guise but I found the handling not that great & traction in the wet was a bit pants.
The M3's also suffer from rust & the dreaded vanos problems on the later M3 Evo.
Both cars have positives & negatives. Though a low mile classic sti with no rust is a good find. As long as its not been messed with too much & the rear arches are rust free you should be ok.

I've owned 3 Scoobys now and 2 M3's one e36 and one e46, and M3's are great solid and an awesome machine.....but they just lack that little bit of zing about them.
Maybe because there do solid and typical German just spot on.

But to be honest there quite different cars to compare really.

You need to decide what you want out of the car, a luxury motorway munched that's got a lovely powerful lump, or a rally breed B road twiste full blast machine with 4wd with the capability to increase BHP a lot easier

Yeah the vanos can be a real issue i was going to make sure that i got one that had it done or make sure if i got one that had no history of it that it was cheap enough i could get it done straight away. Although i was going to fit vanos elimination units anyway.

I have some photos of the STI on my phone so i will pop them on here you can take a look. On a side note i thought the blow off valves were a good idea so that it did not put the air back though your turbo or something? Again like i said i have no idea on turbo cars been in BM land for sometime now :)

Just search BOV, dump valves so many threads lol.....you will soon get some idea on them.
A lot of people say stick with recirculate valves on the impreza and another thing to remember if you change air filter, exhaust, inter cooler to upgraded parts the impreza needs mapping ;)