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Old 01 February 2013 | 07:32 PM
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Default What to do....discovered car is clocked

Well, I've had my 93 WRX for 10 years now and I've discovered my car has done 95k miles, rather than 63k that I thought, after a BIMTA mileage check.

I've looked after this thing like a baby and its never been out in winter (pics in thread below). I had planned on keeping it forever, with them getting rarer by the day.

https://www.scoobynet.com/members-ga...-clay-bar.html

Thing is, its got a really good spec (325 bhp) and a lot of new parts. If I put it on the market, it would easily be the best pre-facelift out there in terms of spec and condition.

So, what would you do?

1. Keep it and put up with what I now know
2. Break it
3. Sell as a whole

Last edited by rossyboy; 19 April 2013 at 10:43 PM.
Old 01 February 2013 | 07:36 PM
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Keep it. You know all its faults, were you happy with it before finding out about the mileage?
Old 01 February 2013 | 07:36 PM
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If you've had it for 10 years without knowing why let it bother you now?


If I planned on keeping it and it functions as it should I don't know if I would worry.

Mick
Old 01 February 2013 | 07:37 PM
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Youve had it 10 years and so obviously like the car so if it was me, I'd keep it. You know the car, you know its been looked after, carry on doing what you're doing mate.
Old 01 February 2013 | 07:46 PM
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Originally Posted by g7prs
Keep it. You know all its faults, were you happy with it before finding out about the mileage?
I was a bit put off when I realised it had been repaired. The front end has been done well though, as it took me years to realise. The slam panel is original, but I think has been teased out a bit.

I thought I'd made my mind up in a certain direction, but I'm still getting over the shock of the mileage I suppose.
Old 01 February 2013 | 07:47 PM
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Put a few ££ to one side and if it goes bang you have the money for a good rebuild. Your going to drop money if you try and sell it.

It's still a great car with a very carefull owner.
Old 01 February 2013 | 08:02 PM
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Agree with above ^^, put a few quid away just incase something breaks and continue to enjoy it as you were before, just keep an eye on things - but then you'd do this with any car anyway. I definately wouldn't sell it in this climate.
Old 01 February 2013 | 08:13 PM
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How do you know the mileage is wrong, remember some of it will have been in km rather than miles, i honestly would no worry about it, ive had cars with really high mileage, my winter daily audi tdi has 226000 miles on it and runs perfect, and ive also had very low mile cars that have been nothing but bother.
If you have had the car for 10 years and its never bothered you until now it should not make any difference. Mileage has and never will bother me, its all about how well its been looked after.
Old 01 February 2013 | 08:26 PM
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Sometimes the clocks are wound back when first imported and swapped to miles so they read total miles covered rather than part km.
Old 01 February 2013 | 08:40 PM
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Can't see the problem at all unless the mileage was 5k and its really 50k and it was more of a time warp collectors piece then value could be affected

I wouldn't give a toss what mileage it was
On a car of that age 95% of the value is represented by condition
Keep it , drive it and enjoy it

Last edited by toneh; 01 February 2013 at 08:41 PM.
Old 01 February 2013 | 08:52 PM
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Originally Posted by toneh
Can't see the problem at all unless the mileage was 5k and its really 50k and it was more of a time warp collectors piece then value could be affected

I wouldn't give a toss what mileage it was
On a car of that age 95% of the value is represented by condition
Keep it , drive it and enjoy it
A fair point about the condition being more important.

100% been clocked. It was sold to me as a fresh import with 68,000 km (42,000 miles). BIMTA has told me that it was auctioned in Japan with 118,000 km (73,000 miles). So the importer knocked 50,000 km off it.

The importer no longer exists though.
Old 01 February 2013 | 08:54 PM
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Out of interest who was the importer?
Old 01 February 2013 | 09:10 PM
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It was an importer up here in Scotland - Indy Car Sales. Quite well known back in the grey import boom in the mid 2000s.

Their prices were sky high, but the cars all looked stunning and most were kept in an indoors showroom. If mine was clocked, I expect every single car he sold was.

He made a mint, then folded when the market died off. Like 90% of them I suppose.
Old 01 February 2013 | 09:14 PM
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Cheers. I remember the name. I thought I might have been dicksons of dunblane ( not far from me ) they always had suspiciously low mileage cars.
Old 01 February 2013 | 10:19 PM
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If it was a MINT standard example that was in showroom condition that you intended to keep and hope the value goes up....then I'd be bothered.

In reality it's a heavily modified 19 year old Japanese import that's used properly. The fact it's still running fine on that mileage just goes to show how in good health she is

Keep it or you'll regret it!
Old 01 February 2013 | 10:24 PM
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Originally Posted by AlanPPP
If it was a MINT standard example that was in showroom condition that you intended to keep and hope the value goes up....then I'd be bothered.

In reality it's a heavily modified 19 year old Japanese import that's used properly. The fact it's still running fine on that mileage just goes to show how in good health she is

Keep it or you'll regret it!
Agree , it's a nice car regardless of mileage
Old 01 February 2013 | 10:42 PM
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I read all these commets without looking at ur pics and was thinking "I would be raging about the milage" but then looked at the pics and I have to say you are a testament to subaru owners mate and I would be keeping it and maybe just refresh the engine and enjoy it
Old 01 February 2013 | 10:44 PM
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Originally Posted by AlanPPP
If it was a MINT standard example that was in showroom condition that you intended to keep and hope the value goes up....then I'd be bothered.

In reality it's a heavily modified 19 year old Japanese import that's used properly. The fact it's still running fine on that mileage just goes to show how in good health she is

Keep it or you'll regret it!
I'm really surprised how this thread has gone actually. I'll be honest and say my preference was to break it when I found out. Mixture of anger and disappointment I suppose.

A lot of good input from all of you guys, but I think the quoted post probably sums it up.

"keep it or you'll regret it" After 10 years, I think you're probably right.

At least I know what the genuine mileage is now! I always had a nagging doubt about it.

All said and done, it looks like a 3 year old car from the outside and I'd be hard pushed to find something similar to replace it.
Old 01 February 2013 | 10:56 PM
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Originally Posted by rossyboy
I'm really surprised how this thread has gone actually. I'll be honest and say my preference was to break it when I found out. Mixture of anger and disappointment I suppose.

A lot of good input from all of you guys, but I think the quoted post probably sums it up.

"keep it or you'll regret it" After 10 years, I think you're probably right.

At least I know what the genuine mileage is now! I always had a nagging doubt about it.

All said and done, it looks like a 3 year old car from the outside and I'd be hard pushed to find something similar to replace it.
Nice tidy classics are starting to become harder to come by now days
And personally I think you will be struggling to get a straighter one than you've
Already got
Forget all about the mileage because you've got a good un
Old 01 February 2013 | 11:20 PM
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Think your making a mountain out of a molehill tbh.
Your assuming that it was "clocked" but I'm going to be onto my third set of clocks due to failures. Set in the car now has been counting back from 845798.

Condition is MUCH more important than Mileage, and with a car over 15 Mileage is pretty much a non entity as assuming 10k a year your looking at 150k, so anything less is a bonus. And belt changes, new parts, maintenance, etc etc etc come more into play.

If you like it, keep it!!
Old 02 February 2013 | 12:04 AM
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it's 20 years old now, worth less as a complete car than for parts, so strip it and buy something newer.. like an STi TypeR








































lol
joking, but 20year old car could have nearly 200k miles on it with an average of 10k miles a year, so even at 95k miles.. its not high mileage is it.
Old 02 February 2013 | 01:14 AM
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Keep it, as soon as you'll say bye to her, you'll deeply regret it. Don't do it!
Old 02 February 2013 | 01:21 AM
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Originally Posted by salsa-king
it's 20 years old now, worth less as a complete car than for parts, so strip it and buy something newer.. like an STi TypeR

lol
joking, but 20year old car could have nearly 200k miles on it with an average of 10k miles a year, so even at 95k miles.. its not high mileage is it.
BUT how many of those are Miles tho??

As 95,000 KILOMETRES is only 59,030MILES.
I know mine is a mixture of KM and Miles so the clocks mean nothing.

Perhaps it has been converted into Miles??
Old 02 February 2013 | 08:36 AM
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I'd be more worried if it had been cut/shunt
Old 02 February 2013 | 09:04 AM
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Originally Posted by Jimbob
BUT how many of those are Miles tho??

As 95,000 KILOMETRES is only 59,030MILES.
I know mine is a mixture of KM and Miles so the clocks mean nothing.

Perhaps it has been converted into Miles??
The true reading on export from Japan was 118,000 km (73,000 miles).

I'm the only UK owner and i've put 22,000 miles onto it, hence the 95,000 miles.

The clocks read 90,000 (clocked back to 68,000 km by the dealer, plus my 22,000 miles).
Old 02 February 2013 | 09:26 AM
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Car looks lovely. Do what you need to do, you'll always have that niggle in the back of your head though.
Old 02 February 2013 | 09:48 AM
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I traded my classic ra in because i was getting the urge to buy something newer,(was starting to think it was too old) replaced it with a low mileage blob eye and im regretting selling the classic now.
Your car looks stunning and having it that long you will know the car well, i would honestly put all this in the back of your mind and enjoy the car for another 10 years.
You will regret it when its gone, like i have done with mine
Jay
Old 02 February 2013 | 10:06 AM
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Originally Posted by huzzy1
Car looks lovely. Do what you need to do, you'll always have that niggle in the back of your head though.
The funny thing is, I had a niggle of doubt before and now I dont because I know the true mileage. A bit liberating!

The good people of scoobynet have persuaded me to keep it. Strange, as I had already started to add up the value of the parts yesterday!

I wanted to keep its original CDB engine in place, but now I'm thinking an STI8 bottom end will open up some new possibilities Its not going to de-value it anymore.
Old 02 February 2013 | 10:11 AM
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I'd be spending any cash you have getting any rust sorted and getting it all undersealed 320hp in a classic is perfect IMO
Old 02 February 2013 | 11:03 AM
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Well i know exactly how you feel.

I have had my STI Type R for 8 yrs this march, and about 18 months ago i was was sick of the fact that it had been mostly trouble since the bottom end let go 2 weeks after i bought it, so full forged rebuild since which i've clocked up about 10,000 miles in that time, so it's lived in my garage more than anywhere else.

So i decided to use it more, drove it to croatia after spending another £2k on simtec, tyres, full service and a few other bits, the bottom end let go again, so i then set about rebuilding it again myself this time.

I then drove it back to uk and thought **** this i'm gona break it, so i started stripping and selling parts, was getting close to selling the chassis, so as you do i started to inspect it a bit more, so as to be able to tell people how mint it was only to discover it's had a knock on the front end, to say i was p!ssed off doesn't come close to how i was feeling, i came quite close to smashing the **** out of it with a 4lb lump hammer, which is something i have form for when the pressure valve goes pop.

But in the end i just couldn't bring myself to let the old girl go for peanuts as when she is running right and i'm giving it beans, it's man and machine in perfect harmony, and no other car has ever given me the feeling that the Type r does.

Fast forward and i'm now resigned to the fact that this car is my folly and at some point in the future when time and funds permit, i shall have her straitened out and do a full nut and bolt restoration and rebuild, fortunately i kept most of the main body parts and i only need a rear wing, bonnet and sti rear lights which i'll start to collect in due course.

Moral of the story, if your a petrol head, DON'T BUY A SUBARU, they are worse than crack.



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