Craggy

Hi there,

I am thinking of getting rid of our Rav 4 and swapping it for an impreza. the toyota isnt great on fuel but it is reliable. my wife has to drive it everyday and the kids need to get in the back so we are looking at a impreza wagon 2003 that has 74k on it. (we only do less than 5k a year so mileage isnt an issue unless impreza's arent great with mileage)

so really what i would like to know is, what kind of tootling round town off boost mpg we can get to justify the swap to my missus, are they pretty solid if well maintained, how often they need servicing and costs etc, with this being 74k should it have had cambelt and any other major parts changed.

the car claims it has a PPP, what does this entail?

i basically want a good family motor for the week, and a bit of enjoyment for myself at the weekend when i am home. does the scooby fit the bill or should i stear clear if i want to avoid massive bills.

any help and advice much appreciated, below is a link to the car, known on here by any chance?

Autotrader - SUBARU IMPREZA WRX (PRODRIVE PERFORMANCE PACK)

iamrab

hi mate and welcome

im pretty new on here and i just read a lot of the posts, it really depends on what sort person you are and what you are looking for a wagon impreza at that yeat will be a great car fueling is ok but its not something to jump up and down about sayin that its a hell of a lot better then my evo was and my skyline is so for me its pretty good on fuel (320km to 30 quid of super mixture of driving )

As an everyday car the newage subs are a lot nicer to drive they arnt a hardcore as the eailer models and still will deliver a good punch, it will fell like a rocketship in ever sence for u in comparrison to the rav4.The wife will like it no doubt about it cos they are a nice car to drive when your not out rakin the **** outa them.As for servicing i dont no as my subaru is 94 and i do all the work myself , parts arnt that bad and again a lot cheaper then my evo and my skyline ...tbh the subaru is a grat all around car

but be warnt you mite just be bitten by the bug lololol


hope this helps

rab

Nate

iTrader: (2)

Depending on the space in the vehicle you require, have you also thought about a Forester ?

corradoboy

Around town you might see 24mpg if you're careful. On the m-way 33 is possible, but start hooning it and this will drop into the teens quickly.

Scoobs are very reliable, as long as they have been looked after and serviced properly. Make sure the big 30 & 60k ones have been done, and at 74k it might be worth insisting on a new cambelt. It should have had one at 50k.

PPP is the Prodrive Performance Pack which puts top speed up to 155 (from 150) and 0-60 to 4.8s (from 5.2). It transforms the car and makes it significantly better to drive, particularly at speed. Strangely it also improves economy due to the extra power making things easier to achieve. The pack consists of modifications to the exhaust (decat centre section and free flowing back box), and uprated intercooler pipe and a better engine map (via a direct swap of the ECU chip with a generic Prodrive map'd item). A WRX isn't worth having without it IMHO.

Servicing can be pretty cheap with plenty of reputable independent specialists. However, once you own one of these cars you get bitten by the modding bug, and before you know it your childs college fund has gone on toys to make the best road car for the money even better

Scoobymart

Welcome to scoobynet mate .Looks a nice motor,if the service book is genuine and up to date it,s certainy one i would go for.Surely the cambelt as been changed by now it should of been done at 50000 miles ,and their should be a certificate to prove it has the prodrive performance pack .Sorry i have not got much infomation on this model as i'm a classic impreza man myself.Hope you get the one your looking for soon just keep looking and dont rush into buying the first car you test
drive their's plenty of scooby's about.

greenonedave

my wife swapped her rav 4 to a wagon, totally no regrets, better on fuel, been cheaper to run, floor space in boot is better, feels far more stable, she says best move she has ever made. and she did like the rav 4

corradoboy

634 on Pistonheads alone

Craggy

hi guys, thankyou for all your replies, its answered my concerns and made me even more eager to buy one, think it derfinately needs to be an impreza as it should be big enough. regarding mods dont say that lol, last new car i bought was a saxo vts, i intended to keep that standard.

in the end it was a stripped out track car on throttle bodies with a straight cut dog box and a load of citroen sport suspension bits.

corradoboy

You are a lost cause already

explore

and why isnt a wrx worth having? after changing the back box an putting boost up a little i was making the same bhp as an sti and pulling 150mph in 4th this is on a 2003

corradoboy

I said it isn't worth having without PPP, not that a WRX isn't worth having at all. You have simply used similar products to achieve the same thing as PPP, hence you felt the same need. I had an 03 WRX PPP, but wouldn't have bought a non-PPP unless I was prepared to sacrifice the remaining warranty with aftermarket products to make it as good.

Mark'sWRX

explore, I think he meant a WRX isn't worth having without PPP (or similar).

Also, I agree with everything already said. I've owned 6 Toyotas in the past (all been brilliant), but go for it Craggy, you won't regret it!

(Sorry, Dave - beat me to it!)

explore

no i didnt feel the car felt underpowered it use to stay with my friends ppp wrx fine before i done anything to it, ppp costs about £1000 or more i belive to up the boost and put the rear box on (thats just the rear box and still with both cats on and the centre res box on) only cost me £304.99 hell of a saving dont you think? and not really anything that cant be taken off in five to 10 mins and made back to std if i need to use the suck *** warranty that everyone thinks is the best, but dont need to worry about that as its run out now.
i think you should go for it mate that waggon looks very nice and a good price

Craggy

hi fella's, just to update this thread, ive had the scoob vibe all weekend now, the end of the rav 4 is iminent!, i have been off the track a little today getting carried away, looking at import JDM sti's etc (all wagons) seems the newer ones have 260 bhp anyway, only to remind myself i will probably do 1k a year in the car lol,
i have reverted back to this 03 model. much more sensible, insurance is cheaper but still steep. so i have been in contact with the dealer, if they give a fair part ex, and after i have given a few basic checks and read the service book, i think i will take it. it has the PPP certificate and has basically been a motorway repmobile, with the owner part exing it for a bmw 3 series diesel.

whats funny is back when i was a young buck driving a clio williams and saxo vts i used to pride myself on racing impreza's and having banter with the owners, now i have been off the car scene having kids the scoob seems so much more appealing

lordretsudo

Those are STI figures though, aren't they? A WRX will be somewhat less (5.2 instead of 5.7?)

MJW

No, the figures are correct - the STi needs two gearchanges to hit 60, whereas the WRX just needs one, hence the time discrepency.

corradoboy

WRX 4.8s

STi 4.62s

lordretsudo

I stand corrected (I was expecting it really!), though from those links the WRX's standard 0-60 is 5.5 not 5.2. I didn't realise that the PPP dropped the WRX to sub 5 seconds.

I have PPP on my MY05 STI, but I wouldn't have thought it was as fast as 4.6s, maybe I need driving lessons...

TheJesus

bloody hell Craggy, fallen off the radar a bit! lol

you thought about an Audi Allroad mate? My mate got one for 8k and they have leather recaro's as standard, 2.7l TT engine, loads of room, extremely comfy and reliable as hell... 250bhp, handles exceptionally well for it's size and has a shed load of torque... plus if you go mental you can put RS4 turbo's on them