Spirit

In my hunt for an Sti I've been offered an imported 1998R wagon at a very good price, however there are a couple of things I'm slightly wary of and would appreciate the opinion of the experts. The price is £5k which seems like a bargain for an Sti of that age, but part of the problem is I'm too far away to go and view it unless I'm 99% sure I'm gonna go for it.

Firstly, the speedo etc has been converted to read in MPH, and the odometer reads 88000. The seller is claiming the odometer has not been converted and therefore its 88k KM. Obviously there is a big difference between 88k miles and 88k km, so is there any way I can be sure of this without doing a rather extensive test drive?

Secondly, the model number on the VIN plate is GF8C58D. Now my research tells me this is the model number for a 1995 - 1996 wagon, and not a 1997 - 1998... You can tell from the looks it's not a V2 car, it's definately a facelift model but naturally it's rather concerning. Have I just got my model numbers wrong or does this suggest the car has got a rather dark history?

Thanks for any help offered, much appreciated

shippy

If your thinking in that way, then leave it, better to be safe than sorry

Plenty of others going on here, and good ones at that

Andis

iTrader: (7)

Think GF8C58D would suggest model up to Aug 96 and standard WRX not sti.

Sounds like it may have been tarted up to look like something other than what it started life as.

Ask a lot of questions and then walk away if the answers dont add up.

GC8

If the speedometer has been 'converted' then the odometer will also read in MPH. If a new speedo facia has been fitted (only) then the odometer will still record kilometres travelled (top speed displayed on the speedometer will be 112mph for the latter).

The Applied Model Number GF8C58D could relate to a 1995 C2-Series STI 555 Wagon; which was shared with the WRX. Later vehicles had the model suffix 5ED though...

Late registrations arent unheard of btw.


Simon

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

Plus, the price isnt that much of a bargain - wagons dont sell for nearly as much as saloons do.

If you are in any doubt about the seller ( is this a private sale or a business ? ) then leave it and wait until one comes up closer to you that you can go and check out yourself.

Spirit

Thanks for the replies chaps

According to this table:

http://www.iwoc.co.uk/jpimp4.html

that is repeated on a large number of other sites that model code could apply to any of the 5 door version of a MY96. It could well be a late registration but unless someone has replaced the whole front end it looks like a V3 or above, not the V2 MY96 before the facelift...

It's a private sale, I don't doubt the guy that's selling it as he was very forward with all the information but he could well not realise what it really is.

I know wagons go for less than saloons but £5k for a 1998R V4 with 55k (if it's genuine) on the clock in very good condition still seems like a cracking deal to me, in comparison to everything else I've seen on the market recently. I guess I'll leave it anyway, as has been mentioned there's just too many unanswered questions...

Cheers for the help