ncbrown

Hi All,

Looking at buying first Subaru - penciled in a test drive on Monday.

To sum up - am a complete n00b on Imprezas so please be gentle, current car is a 206 - had a drive in my dad's old R reg green impreza/gold alloys (280 bhp) 10+ years ago (my high school days ), and finally looking at getting one of my own.

Car I'm looking at:-

"2004 SUBARU IMPREZA 2.0 WRX AWD Turbo 4dr Saloon"

04 Reg WRX
60k miles
Dumpvalve
Not been mapped

No Service History.....has been 'lost'

Autotrader check was all OK apart from previous keepers (last change around 3 months ago)

Abbreviated MOT History

07 - fail
"offside front tyre has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords" - hit pavement?
07 - no warnings OK
08 - offside front tyre worn ...
09 - no warnings OK

Main stumbling block with insurance I'm facing is:-

"what % increase in BHP/performance does dump valve give"

Can anyone give me a rough/ballpark estimation of bhp increase?

Price wise - they are asking around £4.5k mark, would value any comments/advice as hopefully once I've gotten a scooby can start getting involved more.

Added:

owner said they'd be happy for me to do AA vehicle check/inspection so hopefully nothing to hide...

CAT2

iTrader: (3)

You don't need to get a Scoob before you get involved mate, but welcome anyway. The dump valve won't add any horsepower at all, which is good news from an insurance point of view. Lots on here would advise you to put the standard one back on anyway.

Good luck with the test drive and purchase. Take it steady, they're a bit more feisty than yer average 206

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

Personally, I wouldn't buy any car without a fully documented service history + receipts, you just don't know if it's been looked after otherwise.

If you're interested in a genuine car with all of the above + extras, mine will be on sale soon.

PM me if interested.

ncbrown

Thanks guys

Yes I have a big n00b target painted on me - I'm not sure what I'm looking for and am paranoid I'll buy something which will not be genuine

@CAT2 - Direct Line were insistent dump valve = performance enhancing?
@Norman Dog - I was dubious about 'lost' service history, as a complete n00b would MOTs & AA vehicle inspection not flag any major points? Car = potential bargain this way, however as you say don't know if it's been looked after

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

A check should point out any major faults as you say, I had exactly the same dilema recently when I was going to trade mine privately against a Focus ST, loved the car but had an iffy service history so decided not to buy it.

At the end of the day this will put a lot of people off when selling on in the future, which is something to bear in mind.

As for a dump valve, I've got a Hybrid recirc/vta fitted to my car, does not enhance the performance in any way but does give a cool woosh sound when giving it the beans.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Have you got a link to the car, is it on pistonheads ??

Shaun

ncbrown

For anyone interested, here's link to ad:-

http://bit.ly/9SKrZa

CAT2

iTrader: (3)

Yep, Insurance companies will think of a DV as "performance enhancing", but it's really just "noise emitting" and possibly "feulling knackering" (see very recent thread on here somewhere). If you're concerned, you will be able to pick up a standard recirculating job cheaply enough and flog the other one on here

Forgot to mention, you should really be talking to Moley WRX on here about insurance, he's the man. And a noisy DV won't frighten him off

powerwrx

iTrader: (11)

as above ide steer clear of a car with no history.. these type of cars need looking after and having nothing to prove that it has been would put me off.. why is it the off side front tyre that keeps failing?? possable problem somewhere maybe or could need tracking done... any proof that the belts have been changed? if not then your gonna end up footing the bill to have them replaced (piece of mind) even if theyve been done already.

dump valve has no performance gains what so ever, simple thing to do is to not declair it. then take it off and replace with the standard one.

why 2 M.O.T's in 2007?

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

For a good into into Scoob ownership why not try a very unloved Bugeye....... the later Blobeye car isn't much different but to some peoples eyes looked better (but not to me)

Then you can put money aside for insurance and petrol !!

https://www.scoobynet.com/private-fo...-3300-ono.html

Just a thought

Shaun