Hi guys looking at getting a diesel impreza. Just after a heads up on what to look out for re faults. Cheers in advance scoobilly

 

I had a diesel Legacy, which I had a love hate relationship with. I loved the way it drove, and hated the waiting for noises that herald the start of a main bearing failure. Some of the pre 09/10 diesels had failures between 40 000 and 70 000 miles; there were many failures in Scandinavia and Germany, where oilways were blocked with silicon, coupled with a weak main bearing. If you have had a German diesel, you will find the Subaru less torqey, needing more revs, but nice sound. I think all smoked upon hard acceleration

 

Hey Billy,
I had a Outback 09 diesel for about 6 weeks on loan.
I didn't think the economy was that great, considering all the downsides, noise it made, lack of power( although good low down), all those particulates being chucked out in the air.
Best I ever got was 45 mpg on a long run, whereas a normally aspirated petrol 2.5 wouldn't be far off that figure and much nicer drive and quieter, cheaper to service.
There were reports of crank arm failure on legacy and Outbacks, not sure about impreza, they sold so few.
Not sure why you are considering an diesel impreza, maybe economy, but as an alternative you could look at the Impreza Hatch S-GT, it has the 2.0 twin scroll engine and is a Jap import, its quick but will be more economical than an STI, on a motorway you could probably see 35-40 sitting steady at 70, obviously a lot less round town.
I used ato run a 2.0 WRX wagon and I used to see 35+ on a long run on the motorway, round town was never above 25 mind, but if your mileage is not too high might be worth a shout.
Good luck anyway.

 

Cheers guys mainly fuel economy to be honest. Had an sti classic v3 some years back and it gobbled the juice lol. Insurance is pretty good and that bloody tax ain't good.

 

If you're after something nippy with good fuel economy get something German.

VW Golf GTD goes well for the performance and so does something like a BMW 320d (or for much better performance, 330d 335d not sure on your budget).

Subaru diesels are not the best, they were known to have issues. Most petrol models made more than a year ago will have pretty poor fuel economy compared to their alternatives.

 

I bought a Race Blue Skoda Octavia.vRS 2012. 2.0 TDi, auto 6sp DSG, flappy paddles, carbon trim, Dual climate, loads of torque, 45mpg at high mway speeds, 55+ at lower speeds. massive boot, £180 VED. Service every 36k, Canbus electronics so if you fit Xenons as I did, you get it tweaked by someone with software so works ok.

Typical:http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi..._200?logcode=p

Not the presence of a Scoob but well worth a look at.

I tested VW Jettas but these are lower spec than Skoda. The Passat is bigger still but higher specs availabble. I was tempted by BMW 330d which looks a great car but went for the cheaper Skoda.

 

I would also recomended the Octavia vrs over the Subaru impreza