Hi guys,
First time post, been viewing for a few weeks picking up on various things.
I'm finally in a position to buy my first Impreza but am worried i'm slightly out my depth.
I'm 21 years old, currently own a E46 330ci. I have upto 9k to spend on the car which leaves me with about 2k spare as a contingency. To my surprise, my insureance only goes up by roughly £450 on the 330! (Last time i checked, it was 8k!)
I've been looking at 2003-2005 WRX STI's - is there any advice you can give me?

 

9k is a good budget for a Blobeye, can occasionally get a tidy Widetrack for around 8, though dealers are snapping them up and re-listing with their overheads.

A full set of brake pads, discs and tyres can be had for under a grand - so they're not expensive "consumable" cars, still factor in wear levels when looking at cars.

The 6speed gearbox in the STI is pretty robust, as is the clutch at ~ 300bhp levels unless it's hard a specifically hard life.

2.0 engine in the late Blobeyes is nothing you should be concerned about, but if you go for the 2.5 in the Hawk and beyond - you'll need to keep a contingency of closer to 4k.

Doesn't sound like you're particularly out of your depth. Keep it tidy and these cars are at least holding their money atm, some even creeping up - so if you feel you've made a mistake, it doesn't have to be a costly one.

 

Fantastic info, thanks!

Coming from a BMW, am i correct in not expecting to see any significant increase in cost of servicing/parts?

 

I've never owned a BMW before so can't be sure, but due to a combination of factors (small number of Subaru dealers, popularity of independent specialists) it seems genuine Subaru service history is not worth the paper it's stamped on, with many people (myself included) preferring specialists such as Richard Henry, scoobyclinic, RCM, AS Performance, API, etc.

As a result I feel these are cheap cars to service, as its a hotly competetive market.

 

Wotcha fella,

I won't pretend to have the knowledge that comes with owning one of these things yet but I have been looking for pretty much exactly the same thing as you for some time now. I think probably prices are going up but for 9k there is the odd widetrack with PPP out there but you have to be quick as they go fast if they're a nice example.

https://www.scoobynet.com/subaru-444...53k-miles.html

Sytner Leicester had one yesterday 1 owner FSH 42k on the clock and it sold in a morning. As Fonzey says you do see dealers buy nice examples from private sellers and just slap £2k on the price

Scooblet pointed this one out to me yesterday though which might fit what you are after:
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...k-2003/3970099

Just got to be careful who you buy from - there are a couple of threads on here that are worth a read before you part with your hard earned. The following is probably worth a read

https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...ited-read.html

and more recently

https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...d-traders.html

Cheers

 

Servicing of scoobs can be done on a reasonable budget, but maybe the intervals are lower than a BMW. Don't quote me but I thought service intervals are around every 7500 miles on Subaru

 

Coming from a nissan 350z and comparing to my mums 320d Msport, they're cheap to service. i have a JDM STi Hatch.

Good luck with a scoob, you'll love it

 

Indeed, those threads really opened my eyes!

Thanks for all the replies!