malenki22

Hello to everyone, I had a dream when I was young/very young about wanting subaru on my driveway, and I think is the time the dream come true, now I'm over 25 so I can get insurance that would not go over the roof, I'm not looking for new car as I just don't like the new shape, I'm old type person 1994 -1999, because I'm driving trucks for living so I will only use for the weekend, any one could point me in the right direction to what to stay away and what to look out for when going to look at one, there is a lot of them on auto trader and ebay, maybe not the top specs but I need to start somewhere, any info would be great help.

GMballistic

iTrader: (1)

Hello and welcome to Scoobynet. I am the same as you; I'd always wanted an Impreza and had lusted for one since I was 16. I eventually got mine, a my96 JDM WRX back in 2008 when I was 27. I use mine as an every day driver and love it but unfortunately it wasn't always lke this.
Even though I know alot about mechanics & engineering and checked over my Subaru (and many others) methodically myself before buying you never quite know what your getting into until it's too late. I'd definately advise you to have atleast a few thousand pounds spare on top of the cars purchase price just incase. Basically when I bought my car all seemed great for an old "sports" car imo. Unfortunately 1 month later on the way home from Japfest the engine let go (big end failure). Since then it's had a full engine rebuild, full gearbox rebuild, new centre & front diffs etc etc.
The short story is that although Subaru's are great they are just like any other second hand car but with the added complications of 4wd, a turbo and pretty much a guarantee that it has been severely ragged by previous owners.

Don't let this put you off though because there are some cherished & loved Impreza's out there that occasionally pop up at rediculously cheap prices. Here are some buyer guides;

http://www.strikeengine.com/subaru-t...c8-buying.html
http://www.scoobypedia.co.uk/index.p...ezaBuyingGuide
http://www.rs25.com/forums/f106/t738...ers-guide.html

I'm recommending this company as they have done all the work to my car that I could not & have always done a first class job for me (lots of others will agree with me on that);

http://apiengines.com/index3.php

Good luck with the search, I'd stay clear of ebay cars (unless you go & view before bidding) and if you can get the best model you can eg; STI, Type RA etc
Gareth

malenki22

Thanks for advice, your right is just as any used car I do expect things to go wrong as in any car, on subject on ebay car I will never buy any with out looking at it first, will read a bit more about them, on subject on types of Impreza not sure but I think I would like STI model but there is so many about would be a diffical of spoting original STI from Look a like STI if you know what I mean.