Barraboy1

Hey guys, new to ScoobNet but I am hoping you guys can help me out.
So pretty much, I am looking to buy a new car, i currently drive a 1998 impreza lx wagon. Its fun to zip around in and it has been invaluable in teaching me how to not just drive manual, but drive in general. The reason I want a new car is as I am off my P's in half a year and would really like a turbo car, especially the wrx/sti's. However the problem has been trying to find good condition Wrx's and even Sti's in my state. The majority of them have been thrashed to oblivion and are still being sold for extremely high prices, with barely any sti's even being sold. The closest I have come is a 2006 wrx with 190k kms for 14k which has service history and looks like there have been 0 modifications done to it. The only Sti's I can find are for 30k with copious amounts of mods and around the 180k kms mark aswell. Is it worth it as a potential daily car, to fork out the extra 15k for an sti if one pops up that is decent or just go with the classic wrx. My ideal body is the GD series, as I love the looks of both the blob eye and hawk eye, which is why I am looking at them over a newer say 2016 wrx/sti. I plan on leaving any car I buy as stock as possible for a while as I would rather get a feel for the car first before and if I choose to go down the modification route.

What do you guys think would be a good idea based on my situation? Buying a wrx or waiting to try and find a decent Sti?

Thanks in advance

adam.pah

If you don't buy an STi you'll always wish you had and will probably spend a heap of money trying to turn your rex into an STi anyway...

NOSSY_89

Mate just want to confirm you're from Australia. Things are different down there. I will say all depends on mods and power goals really on the choice of WRX vs STI. Both have their place in the market. The price difference is a factor too. But with the way prices are rising I'll be honest there are now better cars for the money.

Have you had a look into importing a JDM model instead.

Barraboy1

Yea, my thoughts atm, I guess I might just wait for a nice one to come up, would u reccomend one of the newer ones or the GD's? I am kind of thinking that when the new one comes out, maybe the older owners will trade in or sell for the new one and I might be able to get one of the newer ones for a good price thats hopefully had a mature age owner.

Barraboy1

Yea im from Australia and more specifically SA, there seems to be a smaller amount of jdm cars down here and they always seem a lot more expensive then everywhere else in Australia. Tbh I have just turned 21 and am looking at buying my friends 180sx type x as it is my absolute dream car aswell as the STI/wrx. But since driving my impreza and from a young age I have always loved subaru's. I would love to have one for a daily however I am open to other more practical ideas as I still love my little impreza, its just I would love more power and I feel like doing anything to it would be a waste of money (not talking about maintenance and things like that). I have had a look at the Brz's however it doesnt make sense to me to have 2 coupes. You mentioned there being other better cars for the money, what would you reccomend? I have had a look at the gti's and the sv6 is looking quite nice, but im a JDM fan boy at heart and especially love the Subaru boxer rumble of the UEL's on the old GD's.

I have sort of had a look at importing but Im not too sure on it. I would love to do it as I feel like its quite a bit cheaper and theres more variety, but then you have the problems of fees, compliance and sight unseen problems. My parents are very against it.....

Vxr2010

as above buy an sti , no issues buying an import but you are much better finding what is already landed so you know what you are getting , rather than go through the process and take a bit of a chance , all imports at the mo have shot through the roof , my Fsti bought at 12250 valued now at 16k £ plus , one is shown at 24k£ hopeful i think , it’s the cost in the jdm market that’s pushed things up , ….what about a monaro cv8 heavily tuned or a ute in particular an ls3 hsv ve 2 maloo ( mine lol ) but even they have both gone up in price 😂👍 the holden cars came from yourselves they are cheaper here than down your way 🤪 can you parallel import from NZ or does that not work ? 👍

Barraboy1

Not too sure about the importing from nz, never really had a look. Mmmm yea the hsv's are sweet and so are the xr6 turbos. Im kinda looking at the sv6's cause they pretty sweet and also can drive them rn and its something i can work on, as well as them holding their value pretty well with holden no longer manufacturing.

NOSSY_89

Thanks for the additional information, sounds like STI might be the way to go for your situation, even though you are using it as a daily driver, prices are on the up too. German seems to be the way to go, thats what I was going to recommend to you. Its hard getting into scoobys now.

Would it be possible to travel rather than looking local to where you are to see if prices are better and selection is more.

TECHNOPUG

iTrader: (1)

Just buy the best condition one you can afford.

scooobydont

This, very much this. I ended up with a hawkeye WRX (I know they are not like on here) but the condition and the maintenance that had been carried on it blew it out of the water on anything else I had seen:

https://www.scoobynet.com/members-ga...wkeye-wrx.html

Barraboy1

Hey guys, sorry I have been mia and havent been replying had a lot of work and uni things to do and was struggling to keep up. On the plus side tho, I may have done a thing....

I have been looking around and looking at some 2000 wrx gc8s lately and after looking at quite a few I ended up buying one for around 13k in really nice condition considering its age. The only modification done to it was an exhaust system and I had a family member who's a qualified mechanic who works on subies extensively come and have a look ay it. I am so happy and every time I look at it or go for a quite drive around the block with dad (not on fulls just yet) it brings a smile to my face. The only real problems with it was a bunch of rust in the boot which i have already gotten rid of as it was mostly surface rust (cleaned, steel brushed then hrinded down to metal and used rust converter, sealer and a primer with touch up paint) and a small oil leak which I have found seems to be dripping from the sump plug. Mechanic drove it and had a good look at it and said if thats the only problem, you will be laughing, he said somone may have not done it up properly or even forgot the washer or something like that. if its not im prepared to put in the money and time as I still have a bit to go before I can drive it. Tbh I wasn't sure if I was going to buy it, but when I saw it, I just fell in love with it. I had a look at quite a few others before hand so it wasnt something I just rushed into on the first one I saw.

After driving it the mechanic said it needs new suspension all round. I want to keep it as a daily driver and weekend fun car. Dont really plan to take it off road as its a little hard down here to find places (i assume, i havent really looked tbh) What suspension would you guys reccomend as I have done a bunch of research and found that everyone loves their own setups but the unanimous consensus is to stay away from coilovers if i dont plan on rallying or tracking it. I been trying to look at koni and similar brands with some springs, i dont mind spending a bit but would rather not over do it. What would u guys reccomend?

Soo uhh, i may have already caught the tuners bug, but I dont plan on doing anything too crazy or over the top and plan to leave it mostly stock for as long as possible in regards to engine. In the future im open to upgrading the turbo and that, but at the moment im looking for reliability over increased performance (but hey, ill take both if possible.....&#128513 ill write a list of things i want to get done, need to get done and have already done.

adam.pah

Well congrats!
You should get some pictures up.
I'm guessing it's a mint one at that price..

Barraboy1

Thanks, yea ill get some pictures up soon. Its nice for its age and everything on it works with an uncracked dash. They all were around that price and some even more expensive down here. Somone was trying to sell one with something seriously wrong with the engine for around 11k and wouldn't go lower.

Barraboy1

wow, nice man that looks so clean, tbh I love the look of the wagons as they have grown on me ever since I started driving my 98 impreza wagon.

adam.pah

Wow, they've jumped up in price then. I looked at a version 2 WRX RA in May and he was asking £7.5k!

Barraboy1

Prices have gone up a bit, especially down here, but I live in Australia and South Australia more specifically so im paying in Aud and the used car scene (especially jdm) has always been pricier down here when compared to states like VIC or NSW.

NOSSY_89

Get some pictures up. Also BC coilovers are fine if set up correctly.

Vxr2010

a second 👍 for BC , as above the set up is very important , it’s not all about being very firm on the set up , due to some crap uk roads a softer setting often improves the handling 😁

adam.pah

Ah sorry, didn't see you were down under! Yes, prices are very strong over there. I have friends in QLD and they said the same. Seems crazy as you would have thought it easier to get them to OZ from Japan right.

NOSSY_89

They had rules where you could import and then you couldn't import so half cuts were really popular there. From what I've heard they have relaxed the rules quite a bit.

Barraboy1

Yea, did a bunch of research and I think im leaning towards BC's and most likely their br's. With putting photos up, is it okay to have pics with the full number plate in full view in them? As in, would there be any potential worries for me, never uploaded pics of a car before, so not to sure on any potential issues. Thanks

jaygsi

iTrader: (46)

11k into pounds is just under 6k, so no insane money for UK.

jaygsi

iTrader: (46)

About what there worth in the UK to be honest, 13k is about £7,000 in UK and yours will have alot less rust I'd imagine lol

NOSSY_89

Its down to you mate, a lot of people upload with number plate. You could blur it out if you wanted or edit it an paint over it in app.

Barraboy1

Before I cleaned it and removed the rust. It was all surface rust and had just rusted through the spare wheel holder.





I love the number plate sooo much, the guy who was selling it didnt even know what it stood for.....

ade_sti

iTrader: (2)

I had BCs on my classic - basically the same car as yours. As stated - set up properly they can be really good. I was really pleased with them , the car handled really well with them, anti lift, updated rear roll bar and drop links.

ade_sti

iTrader: (2)

This was mine with the BCs, not too low and the dampers on the middle setting I found were the best on the poor roads in the UK

Barraboy1

Hey guys, been a while but I finally had some time and just finished a bunch of stuff on the wrx so I thought I would share. Put on the bc coilovers a few months ago and has been a pleasure to drive, handles and drives so well. Dads been bugging me to drive it he likes it that much. Also had a bunch of general maintenance things done too, such as timing belt, water pump, thermostat and also the crank shaft pulley (was wobbling around unevenly whenever the engine was on). I also had the Brant system removed as it was playing up and was causing a parasitic drain which in turn drained my battery after 1 week of not driving the car. The system was also sometimes not allowing the car to start. However after being removed have had no problems. I dont have too many more things planned for the car as I want to enjoy it like this for a while, however future ideas are new tmic, possible up pipe and down pipe as well as maybe uel headers and then a tune on a dyno. Dont really have any power figures or goals I want to reach but I wouldnt mind finding out what it is after all that. But this is all stuff for atleast a year if not more down the line. Will hopefully have time to post pictures soon but if not, it's just a bit lower and that's all that's been done externally as I really like the look of it on the stock wheels and dont plan on getting new ones yet.

Now, I'd like to ask a question about where people see the prices for wrx and Sti's going in the coming years considering no more internal combustion engine sti's and the push for electric cars. I have found myself in the financial position where I could buy another car and am finding myself being drawn to both the new 2022 brz and either the 2004 wrx or 2016 or so Sti, (trust me I'd love a 2004 sti but in aus where I am it's like 40k min for one with 200k kms) where as some of the 2015 to 2017 sti's are around 50 to 75k. Now I love my current wrx and depending on which car I get would determine whether my current wrx or new car becomes the daily. I really like the coupe style of the brz, and would be a nice new, reliable daily car, yet I cant keep looking at the wrx and sti's as price wise a specd out brz is around 50k so for a little more I could get something that might potentially go up in value and is more powerful. But on the other hand, the 2004 wrx are only around 15k for a decent one so my question is if the brz is worth the 50k or should I save a bit more and get an Sti? I know I can only drive one car at a time and paying 3 lots of registrations and insurance is a bit over the top but I dont really have many expensive hobbies other then cars and I dont really go on expensive holidays so I figure why not buy them now while I can still afford them and I plan on keeping them for a long time, if not for life. (PS I am only 22 and work 2 jobs so I have plenty of time to save for a house and possible investment properties) I'm leaning more towards getting the 2004 wrx and possibly saving for the BRZ after its had a revision so they can iron out any potential problems and issues from this first edition. With the idea of building the 2004 into a track car in the futire, that's still road legal. Thanks

Dave Y

iTrader: (52)

been there done that!!

jaygsi

iTrader: (46)

Nope and nope. Don't have any STI and they didn't make one in the colour code I wanted. Plus great ratio of a JDM car isn't always the best.