steetee

Hi guys, i've been lurking this site for a while now and i've now decided to register.

Please be easy on me, as i'm not very mechanical minded.

As i'm nearly turning 21, i've decided I want to get my first subaru as a second car. There is one for sale locally, which is a 1999 silver turbo - reg T212 UCS with 80k on the clock. It has a rolling road printout of 210BHP. It has few mods (STi 6 spoiler, s/steel exhaust, inovit 18" alloys, baileys dump valve and turbo/boost guages). the car had new oil, full service history, interior, bodywork and paintwork is in great condition for a car of its age with only a few minor stone chips.

Does anyone know the car at all? It was owned a few years ago by a guy named Callum and he lived in Cumnock in ayrshire. I was directed to a local Ayrshire Subaru website by the guy that is selling it to show how had been almost meticulous looking after it. However, I read through his 900 posts and found out that he was "driving it flat out", doing "silly speeds" - basically kicking the **** out of it.

The car had some bodywork done to it in July '07 according to his posts. The car had

99 face lift turbo bonnet
N/S headlight
front bumper
N/s fog light
front panel
grill







Stripped down :




Can Subaru's take abuse like this? For the years before he owned it, it is fully subaru service history until 60k. He owned it for a few years, and
serviced it himself until now. In the service book he has noted it up himself like "cambelt change, oil, tyres" etcas he is a mechanice for the time he had the car.

I started it up from cold, started up no problem, there was a bit of a squeel from the fanbelt though for a few seconds, but it dissapeared. It ran pretty smooth through all gears, and pulled strong through each gear with no knocks or noises.

Car has 5 previous owners, two of which have only had the car since febraury this year.

Here are a couple of pictures as it currently stands :





The current owner is putting new spotlights on the car and putting new interior mats & locking nuts as they are missing. :S

Does £3k for the car sound about right? I know it isn't alot of money for a car, and I do expect some niggly things to go wrong with it due to age.
Is there anything I should look out for that goes wrong with these cars? My current car, and the rest of my previous cars i'm pretty **** with my cars, making sure they are heated up firstly, cooled down and make sure servicing is spot on.

Thanks very much for taking the time to read my post and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Stephen.

al02uk

iTrader: (1)

HI Stephen,

Welcome to Scoobynet mate.

If I'm honest I wouldn't pay 3k for a car like that, that had previous front end damage regardless of how big or small. The car would be worth about 3k in excellent condition and to be fair in the second pics it does look very tidy.

The reason I'm saying this mate is that I bought a 2001 bugeye 5 years ago with light front end damage for 4k, you can probably buy a pretty decent one for 3k in the current climate.

Most Scooby owners can't resist thrashing their car once in a while but constantly isn't really good for it and your spot on in saying you let it warm up as this seems to be critical when putting your foot down in a Scoob.

I hope this proves to be of some help, you know the history of the car and if you really want it then get it if its right for you. It took me 4 months to find mine

Andy

steetee

Thanks for the welcome Andy. I've been having second thoughts about buying the car since reading the previous owners posts on the owners club website. I just hate to think of someone thrashing a car about like that.

The guy who has the car just now has only had it for just over a month, and when I asked why he was selling up he said "I really do not want to say, it is embarrasing". I then asked if he couldn't afford to run/insure it. He just said he didn't want to go into it. That was the first thing that put me off the car.

I reckon i'll just stick out and get myself a standard hawkeye STi next January and sell my other car so I have both reliablity and power.

Cheers!!

al02uk

iTrader: (1)

Yer that does sound a little odd, I would be telling a potential buyer everying in an attempt to reassure them.

Go with the Hawkeye, I did have a classic but I love the newage!!

They are reliable until you get the modding bug, then as more power arrives more goes bang!! Ive had a gearbox, 2 clutches and recently a new engine.

Wouldn't change it for the world though, and if it goes bang just replace it with something stronger

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Welcome to Scoobynet fella.

I would walk away. When buying a Scoob, you buy with your head not your heart. The values of Impreza's have dropped and dropped, thus leaving the market full of them. Some decent, some dogs.

I personally recommend you have a good look around the sites like Pistonheads and take someone mechanically minded and clued up to look at some with you. Certainly do not buy the first one you see, as you've "fallen in love" with it. Love and buying in a rush wont pay for problems which may arise due to abuse or buying a dog of a car. I know, did it myself with my first turbo Impreza. Car set me back £1000s and ended up selling at a huge loss

Have a look around, take in as much advice and information as you can, and look at a few. As said above it's a buyers market so haggle hard and get yourself a good 'un

Best of luck fella

Andy

hodgy0_2

i would automatically take 15% off any pistonheads price -- and take that as my starting point for any negotiations

its natural for people to over value their cars -- and enthusiast even more so

pistonheads is tailored to "enthusiast" and I think the prices reflect this, they just seem slightly higher than say autotrader