PhilG

I'm thinking of buying an Impreza 2ltr Turbo (approx 1995-1997 year). Whilst I can afford the insurance and the purchase price I was wondering how much it is going to cost me to run the car ?

I'll be doing about 15000 miles a year mostly on A and B roads.

How much does the tank cost to fill up and approx how many miles could I expect to get from it ?

Anything else such as cost of servicing etc... would be greatly appreciated.

Stef

Hi Phil.
It costs approx £45-50 to fill a Scoob up, depending on whether you use 95 or 97ron fuel. One tank should get you approx 250 miles of mixed driving.
Your car will need servicing twice a year, and costs vary depending on mileage and dealer but on average expect to pay between £100 for a minor service up to about £400 for the 45,000 mile service.
Have a look at

The Zohan

Phil
Hello again!

Expect about 22MPG urban and upto 26/28 on the motorway. pushed hard you could get it down to 12/15 mpg ish - does not sound a lot of MPG but compare that against cars with similar performance - it is not that bad.

Paul

Tank holds about 60L - 12 (ish gallons)

servicing is every 7.5K miles - really an oil & filter change and minor stuff - Subaru Dealers will charge you £ 99.00 for this - there are independants who will charge less -Make sure that they use a genuine filter and synthetic oil to the right spec! Some owners change the oil on a more regular basis that that though.

the 30K service is quite a biggie - cost around £ 350.00 from the dealers - all fluids changed and other stuff - not cam belts though! - i think that is at 60K?

i think that 30 60 & 90K are ther biggies - may be wrong!

Tyres can be had for reasonable prices - shop around. My front pads seem to last about 20K - same as the rear tyres!

Parts seem no more than say Honda/Toyota or any of the other quality Jap makes.

I have never regretted my decision to buy mine. It always puts a big smile on my face when i drive it.

sickboy

you'll need probably new tyres every 12000 miles (much dependent on the tyres you've got and how much abuse you give them). It's a good idea to buy 4 or you'll bugger up the diff's.

That'll set you back £450 ish for std 16" rims (I paid £480 for 4 SO2 Pole Positions).

[This message has been edited by sickboy (edited 02 January 2001).]

logiclee

Phil,

45k service for cam belts.
Main dealer did mine, 45k service & replace front brake pads £695.

Average MPG for me around 20mpg

Some 1995 Turbo's have 50litre tanks.

Lee

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

I can't seem to shift mpg above 21-22 no matter what, even motorway - luckily it very rarely goes below this even with lots of city driving. This gives a range of just about 250mls. At current prices it costs no more than £45 to fill her up from the warning light.
Depreciation used to never be an issue but times have changed so by buying a used example you're already saving a good sum. Given that prices seem to be on the drop see if you can find a '98 car for your money as this got a face lift and a few other extras.

Milky

Phil,

I've got a MY96 with Prodrive interior, the only reason I purchased it rather than running to a >MY97. If you can, go for at least a back end 97, the interior on pre 97 are crap. The later models also seem to be better on fuel and with a larger 60 litre, as opposed to my 50 litre tank.

Darren.

Karlos

Phil,

I concur with Milky. It's worth paying a little extra for a '97 motor, especially to avoid the Skoda like interior I have in mine.
As far as the car itself goes, I'll have had mine for two years in August and (touch wood) haven't had any problems in it. I do a lot of miles (mines on 108,000!) and the cars still going strong, all be it things are gettin louder (turbo, exhaust heat shield AGAIN!)

I'll never own another car... except maybe another Scooby!

Karlos

Yex

Phil,

You then have to add the following in no particlular order:

ScoobySport Back Box, or possibly full system
Bigger wheels
Better tyres
Uprated brakes
Uprated suspension
And a whole host of engine mods are available from various sources you will hear about on the BBS

So, actual running costs are one thing. Whereas purely scientific experiment type running costs are another

Go on buy one you know it makes sense

Yex

carl

My handbook (MY00) says replace cambelt at 60,000 along with spark plugs (I thought they were 30,000?).

Trying not to look too **** here, but this is what it's cost me over the last 12 months and 30k miles:

Insurance £1069.84
1000 mile service £100.05 (EU import)
7500 mile service £230.23 (included geometry tweaks and a pair of headlight protectors)
15000 mile service £160.95 (included fitting the pads)
22500 mile service £156.18
30000 mile service £454.5 (included fitting the discs)
Tyres (PZeros) £428.64
Pads (EBC Greens) £84
Discs (Black Diamond 12G) £168.67
Fuel £4500 (approx)
Road tax £155
TOTAL £7508.06

Tyres, pads and discs were all replaced because the originals had worn out, not because I wanted to upgrade them.

[This message has been edited by carl (edited 03 January 2001).]

logiclee

Carl,

Just rechecked MY96 Series McRae handbook.

30k plugs,
45k Cam belts


Lee

carl

Just rechecked myself. 45k cambelt *except* MY00 which is 60k cambelt.

60k plugs in MY00 handbook, 30k plugs on dealer's service sheet. Extra line items on invoice for oil, filters, gbox oil, etc. but no mention of sparkplugs. I'll have to phone them tomorrow and find out if they put plugs in or not (only had it serviced today).

Subarussian

Carl,

New disks after (just) 30k miles? Did the dealer say it was normal or did they change them under warranty? Do you think it might have been the EBC pads that destroyed the disks?

15k service for £160 including the pads is VERY cheap? Which dealer do you use? Mine charged me £160 for the service, and quoted £140 to change the front pads!

Phil,

As you can see there are a lot of "hidden" costs:
- petrol! (I get on average 200 miles for £40)
- servicing (if your car is still under warranty you have to service it at a huge premium at the dealers)
- tyres (replaced after 14k miles)
- parts (need new front pads after 16k miles)

On top of that there are various "temptations" like backboxes, induction kits, wheels, etc.

BUT the owning experience is great!!!

PhilG

Thanks a lot for the help everyone. £7500 to run a car for a year when I'd get about £20k seems mad !! although I'd only be doing about 15k a year so it would be slightly less. Mind you I'm sure the various "temptations" would make up for that, with an induction kit and exhaust system being top on my list of priorities !

Maybe I'll look again at the VW Corrado 2.9 VR6 - I know VW service costs can be high but its front wheel drive which'll surely mean less tinkering per year. Oh, and the insurance is over £100 cheaper.

I'll keep you posted.

fast bloke

Phil,
I've had my MY98 for a couple of years. My last car was a 1.4 Almera (sad...) On 15000 miles a year the running cost difference was about 2500 quid, mainly down to insurance and petrol. Tyres aren't too much different. (Swap the fronts and backs every 5000 miles. you should get well over 20000 miles out of the full set,) so the difference would be maybe 200 quid a year(u.s kbd no pound sign sorry). My mate has a VR6. He claims he is getting 35 MPG. Servicing is slightly cheaper but not that much different, insurance is similar, he spends more on parts (but does a lot more miles) so the main difference would be petrol costs. Having driven the Scoob for 2 years I can't think of any other car I would rather have that costs less that 50 grand.

I hope you make the right decision

FB

fast bloke

p.s. Doesn't Glass or Parkers do a running cost per mile including depreciation and stuff?

The Zohan

Echoing Fast Blokes post

My last car was a 20L Vectra Auto (sadder!)
running cost where within 1.5K Per annum of the Scooby based on 30K pa mileage.
We brought the Vectra 98 model for £ 16K in feb 98 and i got rid of it for 7K in Dec 99 with 60K on the clock

Tough choice for me!

IMHO The VR6 is a great FWD car. Well built and stylish but not really in the same league for performance and handling.

Fast Bloke - I am amazed that your friend can get 35mpg out of his VR6.

fast bloke

me too. Notice the "claimed." I can't get that from my wife's 106

[This message has been edited by fast bloke (edited 04 January 2001).]

Dave T-S

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by sickboy:
<B>you'll need probably new tyres every 12000 miles (much dependent on the tyres you've got and how much abuse you give them). It's a good idea to buy 4 or you'll bugger up the diff's.

That'll set you back £450 ish for std 16" rims (I paid £480 for 4 SO2 Pole Positions).

[This message has been edited by sickboy (edited 02 January 2001).][/quote]


To put minds at rest.....you won't bugger up the diffs with axle wind-up by having tyres of a different rolling diameter on (i.e. a mix of new/worn) - since the very nature of a diff is to allow for two wheels on the same axle to rotate at different speeds - otherwise every car ever designed would only be able to travel in a straight line...(of course, my old Astra GSI COULD only travel in a straight line, but that's another story ).

As far as axle to axle differences are concerned, that's the job of the centre diff - which isn't a diff, as oft quoted, it's a viscous coupling.

Subaru did of course think of all this when they designed the Impreza.....as did Land Rover when they designed the original Landie in 1948.

carl

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Subarussian:
<B>New disks after (just) 30k miles? Did the dealer say it was normal or did they change them under warranty? Do you think it might have been the EBC pads that destroyed the disks?

15k service for £160 including the pads is VERY cheap? Which dealer do you use? Mine charged me £160 for the service, and quoted £140 to change the front pads!
[/quote]

I think the EBC Greens destroyed the discs (although they are supposed to be 'disk-friendly') -- the braking performance got worse after an emergency stop on the A12 (coach pulled out in front of me without looking) and after a few more days they were warped. Didn't involve the dealer or warranty -- I had a suspicion that new pads would cook the discs so I got some better ones.

160 quid was for service and fitting pads that I had supplied (the EBC Greens), so total cost was obviously more by the price of the pads.

Butty

iTrader: (2)

The AA publish a sheet on running costs for cars. The Scooby is likely to cost 60-70pence per mile in its first three years of life. Depreciation is the killer.
After that depends on the condition of the car and how you look after it. If you coset it, then expect to be paying 45-55 ppm.
If you are looking at the VW then it is getting on a bit and replacements will be the substitute for depreciation (especially VAG OE bits). A warranty is unlikely for such an old car so it may be costing you just as much ppm as a newish Scooby.

Another-Hoodlum

If you can combine a trip into Europe i.e beer trip into france with getting your car serviced it'll be cheaper. (check out the overseas dealers.)

Mine got its 7500 for £60 and the 14500 for the same price in Germany. Bargain!!

The car's a UK Spec MY98

Don't get ripped off......

Mark

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

Other unforseen costs in my first 6 months of ownership:

1 replacement rear wing £350 (std one nicked)
Aboved wired to alarm £60 ? (can't mind exactly)
1 largish respray £TBA (£400 ish)(someone took a key across the paintwork)
1 set of 17" wheels £820 (well they were quiet cheap and the tyres needed replacing anyway.

Normally 15-18mpg (have seen 9mpg though (ouch))

But it has been worth it

dobs

I'd say you could save a packet if you bought 2nd hand! as it happens I know a great car for sale:
SUBARU IMPREZA WRX TYPE RA
Lightweight model, close ratio gearbox, intercooler waterspray, 16" Alloys,
Climate control, FGK S/S exhaust, Toad Cat 1 Alarm, Sony Radio/10 CD
Autochanger, group N brakes and serviced by rally team.