bretttuk

Hi there, im new to the scoobynet board as im new to the scooby scene really. Right then , i am going to purchasing an Impreza in the next month or so and i am wondering what to look out for when im going over the vehicle. I know the general bits you check with every car but what should i look out for more Impreza related ?

Also going over insurance , im 21 , already had 2 quotes of 1600-1700 which i am happy about and will be taking one, thats with tesco or privilege , are there any other good insurance co's out there .

thanks for your time people .
brett

Goldfinger

Brett - welcome to the board! I got my Impreza MY99 with scoobysport backbox and itg panel filter nearly a year ago now and haven't looked back since, as I'm sure you won't when you get your motor ....

In terms of insurance you're right to check out Tesco and Privilege (I'm with the latter at the moment), but also try Direct Line, Chris Knott and Greenlight.

Its always advisable to take a friend/family member along with you when inspecting a vehicle and even better pay for a professional (such as from the AA) to give it a thorough once over ... could be money well spent.

Cheers
Phil

Josh L

Brett,

It's little difficult to make suggestions about what to check on the car without knowing what model year the car is, but as mentioned it's always worth getting the car thoroughly checked over first. They do appear to have been issues on certain cars though. An example would be that 98's seem to have suffered with a certain amount of piston slap, although mine didn't.

With regard to insurance, I wouldn't comit to an insurer without speaking to Schofield on 0113 250 0377. IMHO their service is second to none.

Josh

Sable

I've just bought my first Scooby, here are a few things you may wish to note....

Insurance. Direct line are competative but require you fit a tracker of some sort to the car. I went with High Performance insurance, sorry dont have the details here, and got a cheaper quote with no needed tracker.

The car I bought had a leaky Air Con unit, which I'd also seen on a similar car MY98, luckily the seller had this fixed, although the bill was close to £600 so beware.

If you see a car you really like, it may be worth shelling out £120 and getting the AA to check it out, it could save heartache, or you could ask the owner to MOT it before you buy, which is what I did, that alone saved us £1000, the Air con and new back discs and pads.

I was lucky and found an unmodded WRX with all it's paperwork and good history, if you want peace of mind, look for a car with all it's service bills, repairs etc. There are plenty of cars out there, take your time and you'll find something.

I made the mistake of buying a Celica GT4 some years back without checking it out thoroughly, the car cost me £7000 and within a year I had spent a further £5000 just to keep it on the road A simple MOT or AA check would have prevented that disaster, but I was too hasty.

Anyhow, I hope you find a good car, I think I did (so far so good), and I love it

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Hi Brett
You have caught me on a good day as i normally condone young drivers buying scoobs
but will give you some advice anyway

Points that you have to note, if you check out WWW.SIDC.CO.UK you should get some info on the models of cars (all of them!).
Also are you buying Grey or UK???
Grey imports such as STi's and WRX's only run on super unleaded fuel, dont have a dealer network in the uk either and some parts can be expensive and hard to come by.
UK cars need a FSH, the service intervals are 6 months or 7500 which ever comes first so on average your going to have 2 per year, these can vary in cost from 90 quid to 500 quid, look at 500 quid every 2 years though, with a 300 quid one in there if the car is under 5 yrs old as you have a body check too (which is important no matter what anyone says!).
Earlier cars (pre MY98) have 2 pot brakes as standard, these are pretty pathetic actually and after a little hard use normally fade quite quickly the 4 pots are better but you cant beat going for a big brake kit to help slow you down
Your insurance companies your looking at normally require a tracking system to be fitted to the car, make sure that one is as otherwise no insurance (look at rac trackstar, tracker and a few others, check under security section for this )
Running costs.... fuel is the biggest, running optimax from shell seems (even though slightly more expensive than normal UL) to be a better choice for most drivers with improved drivability and in some cases better fuel consumption and performance (the cheapest mod you can do that you dont have to pay for ).
Other points are do a HPI check on the car, alot are stolen or smashed by potential rally drivers, it may seem a waste of money but it covers your back if they get it wrong also as is said above, and inspection, if not with rac or aa, try a local dealer, they may be a little more expensive but will give you peice of mind

Tyres... probably the most important part of the car, fit only good ones like bridgestone SO2's or 3's (2's may not be available) or toyo proxies, DONT fit avon ZZ1's as these do not agree with scoobs and corners end up more like straight lines especially in the wet Budget tyres are not for this type of car (also try goodyear eagles and check out wheels tyres and brake section of this board ).
One last point, ever heard of lift off oversteer???
if you havnt then your in for a surprise, my only point is dont brake in corners, it has caught out more than one scoob owner and you need a fair bit of room to catch it if the tail does go, brake in the straights, power out the corners

Tony

rogue trooper

hi m8, just gonna re-iterate what everybody else says, get the AA to check out anything you like the look of, money well spent!

rogue.

robsta

Have you decided on a year or model yet?

ScoobyRAZ

What car are u driving at the minute? If you haven't driven a high performance car before (no patronising intended) then take it easy and remember the only way to find the limits of a scooby (coz it does have em) is on a track.

I had a pug 205 1.9 gti and thought that was as fast as hell until I bought my MY99 turbo last December. I still haven't come to terms with the absolute traction and speed of the thing . Everthing you have read/heard about them is delivered and more as well. You drive round with a permanent grin on your face .

My insurance is with Chris Knott but they are not keen on young (under 30) drivers. My next cheapest quotes were with Norwich Union Direct and Lloyds TSB direct.

Have you looked on the 'for sale' on here? The cars are more than likely owned by enthausiasts and will more than likely have been properly serviced/maintained. If you see one on here that you fancy then put on a seperate post and ask us on here to see if we know the car/driver and get some feedback.

Hope you find decent one and enjoy it .

C ya
Rich

Jen

Hello Brett!

We've just brought our first scoob...er..actually it was 2 months ago - blimey, time does fly ('specially in a scoob ).

Insurance wise, I'm 23 (2 years NCD) and Chris is 24, we couldn't find anyone cheaper than Tescos (which I know you've tryed!) Greenlight require previous speedy type car experience, and I went from a Corsa (?!) so they didn't like us...just a warning!

Make sure you find the perfect Scoob for you - if you need further advice you've got the guys on here, but you can always check out the IWOC e-mail group:

www.IWOC.co.uk

(if you're not already!)
The members usually have something to say for any question!! We actually ended up buying our car from a member of IWOC after asking a question about a V-Ltd WRX.... quite funny

Let us know how you get on!

Jen