Hi guys, looking for some advice please on buying a Subaru..

I have a budget of £15-£20k to spend on a car which I'm only going to keep until December, so my question is, what sort of Subaru should i look at which will provide lots of fun and won't drop sharply in value? (fingers crossed). Which features are must-haves?

I would prefer a 4 door car and it shouldn't be too hardcore as it'll have 2 children in the back sometimes - which i guess rules out the RB320?

Thanks in advance for your help..

 

Main issue you have is dropping in value part, A lot of people in scooby world have taken BIG hits over the last 6 months.
An RB320 will only be hardcore if you press the go peddle to hard. You wont get any kind of subtle impreza when you compare them to other cars but you do learn to live with the slightly more driver orientated ride pretty quickly.

You could try looking for a GB270 for that money, my best advice would be either buy a £10k 2003/04 STi if you are worried about taking a bit hit, In 8 months you should not lose too much on a car like that.
If you want to spend the lot then I would lean towards an Hawkeye (MY05/06 ish) rather than the new shape, purely as its not clear how well the new ones will hold there value yet, early signs are not good.

 

RB320

They seam to hold their value very well, quite sort after iirc

All other versions will take a hit, newer ones the worst (but that's currently the same with the whole industry)

An old shed would lose the least...but do you want to drive one?

It's always a trade off between the 1st 2 years depreciation and wanting the latest model... and the RB320 ticks most boxes.

 

Thanks guys. It's a tricky one. If I were to go for an 05/06, what's the key features to keep it desirable? Prodrive pack? Excuse my ignorance.. I'm resigned to losing some cash on it but thought it would be fun to experience something different. Last few cars have been bmws and porsches but I know they will be a depreciation nightmare before my GTR arrives in Dec.. Searching for the holy grail of cars which won't drop a fortune this year!

 

You've gpt the 2 main choices when looking at the newage STI (01-07)

UK spec (06 onward) they are 2.5 litre powerplant.
Jap spec (JDM) are all 2.0 litre but have a twin scroll turbo to boost performance.

The UK car can have the PPP (and is worth getting one with PPP fitted yes).

The JDM comes with those extra ponies as standard, so if you're keeping it for 10 months I'd not worry to much about any performance upgrades, you'll never get it back.

UK 05 STI will be 264bhp (300 odd with PPP)
06-07 UK STI is 280 odd? but with much more torque and 305 with ppp

JDM's are 300-320 with similar torque to the UK 2.5litre

 

I would but a tenner on you not wanting to get rid in December either, My first scoob was a short term thing whilst I sorted out a 996, Now I dont think I want to drive any other kind of car.

 

Have a GTR coming in Dec so it would be silly to keep both! How much was the RB320 when new? Looks like there are a couple around at about £21-22k which still seems toppish considering the armageddon state of the mkt?

 

they were £30k.

Yes that's what I mean..they seam to be holding their value better than other Impreza's.