Just wondering about UK impreza turbo 2000 cars. i currently drive a fiesta st with a few bits done to it but next year thinking about getting a turbo 2000 as a toy. im only 21 so a 2000 is only one that i can even touch on insurance but when i read up most people seem to all say wait untill you can get a wrx or an sti! i know there will be differing opinions but my dads 96 turbo wagon seemed quick enough when i was a kid!

 

I started with a 1998 uk 2000 then had two wrxs in between and now back in a my00 2000 none have been highly tuned so the things im missing from the wrxs is the gearbox ratio's and the handling. But this can be upgraded anyway. Plus different people look for different things in how a car drives, something I may like you may not like etc. All you can do is take one out and see what you think. A uk spec with a quality exhaust and remap should be quick enough to keep you happy.

 

Hi mate , I have a uk2000 and its fine its not really the power you have to look out for its the bodywork , but as long as its been looked after you should be fine ,the thing to think of is you can booste the power up as and when you want (to a certain extent ) I am sure other people will also advise you ,hope this helps.

 

Its finding a nice straight clean one where you will struggle, Dont forget these cars are now 13-16 years old and seen as many UK winters. A mate at work was in the same situation when he was 21, he was driving round in a Fiesta ST and sold it to buy his dream car a 1996 Impreza STi Type RA, and all he did was moan that things would break and its not as clean as his ST etc etc.

There old cars now, so you need to have some basic knowledge in how things work as the slightest little problem could be a cheap fix to diy, but an expensive fix if taken to a garage.

Dont want to put you off, but owning these cars is not all about driving flat out fast all the time, its maintaining/looking after them!!!

 

Nice one for sale on here

https://www.scoobynet.com/subaru-444...-standard.html

 

cheers guys! have always wanted one. my ex girlfriends dad has a 1999 mica blue turbo 2000 sat in a lock up that i could coax out of him. all standard apart from a prodrive back box. its done 105k which i know is probably still below average! i try to do most things myself as i enjoy messing about in the garage! dads an ex mechanic so helps me out as it would be a weekend toy for both of us!!

 

Yep if anything I think the UK turbos get more of a hard time than they deserve, I've got a 97 UK car, with an exhaust, eibach springs and a few other bits, but more or less stock power. And I have to say I absolutely love it. As an everyday car I think if anything the gearbox is a good thing. Power wise it really depends on what you look for and how you drive, personally I like to have a car where I can access the majority of what's on offer on a regular basis in most conditions, and find my car to be just about right, enough to feel reasonably quick but also not so much that you can't enjoy the car without constantly risking your licence.

Insurance is a bonus as well, I pay something like £250 at 30 years old.

Possibly the finest thing though (imo) about Impreza's coming from front drive hatches, is the 4WD, the grip you have in every condition makes them so much fun.

Another note is that there's a lot of UK cars out there with 150k plus miles, which suggests the engine is pretty reliable in its reasonably modest state of tune.

 

will be another year yet anyway, just trying to do some homework before i set my heart on something!

 

Should be ok if your dad is a mechanic and you dont mind doing stuff yourself, parts are available and quite cheap(plenty of breakers)
I had a MY00 Turbo 2000 back in 2003, and for the 2 years I owned it, the only thing that went wrong with it was the gearbox used to jump out of 5th gear when coming off boost, eventually wearing out the synchro and needing a rebuild which cost close to £2k(was 2004)

 

As mentioned above bodywork is the other issue! chances are if you find a UK one with rust free arches now that it's probably had them done at some point, which isn't a bad thing! I keep meaning to do a thread on classics and the bodywork issues as it doesn't seem widely discussed yet is the main killer certainly of the UK cars now.

 

I'm the chap selling the wagon someone kindly linked to earlier. It's actually an older relative's car rather than mine, so it's currently merely in my possession - and I have to say that in the short time I've been with it, I've found it rather endearing.

In my past I have wasted money on a long line of unnecessarily fast toys, but it's only later in life that I discovered nothing goes about its business like a Subaru. They drive like proper cars from my youth, which I swear is why you see a lot of older folk grinning behind the wheel of Foresters. They are the right size, with unmatched visibility, supple ride, superb handling, with plenty of poke - and reliability too. The mainstream media scoff at aspects like hard plastics whereas anyone spending their own money pays no attention to such things. Soft touch plastics and dashboards festooned with electronics are no good if they break.

I also like the smaller dimensions of these earlier cars like the Turbo 2000. My commute to work involves country lanes, and given every other road user seems to be talking on a phone barely in control of their Range Rover, having a car that feels nimble and able to slip through gaps is a boon. In addition, the AWD make progress feel assured and relaxing at any speed, and the anonymity of standard cars means you slip by unnoticed.

Incidentally the annual insurance premium for me to drive the Turbo 2000 is £150 fully comp, which might give you a clue as to the level of my advancing years and why I'm not keeping it. Twenty years ago when I was hopping in and our of R32 and R33 Skylines it would have been a real eye opener - particularly as it feels even more sure-footed than the Nissans I had, which are altogether larger and more wayward at the rear on a damp, narrow, twisty roads - and it's as real world quick as pretty much anything that isn't being driven by deranged madman. I drove it home tonight and on a long stretch of road in third gear it made me shout and laugh at the same time, like the noise Tarzan might make missing a vine. And that's factory standard.

I genuinely have NO IDEA why you people insist on making them EVEN faster!

All the best

 

Epic, post of the month right there.

 

Great post and reminds me exactly how I felt the first time I drove a Turbo 2000. The nimble feeling is what the classic gives you way more than the lardy newages and there is a lot to be said for it. I owned 3 classics and then a newage STI.... the latter was technically a better car, but when I went back to a 'lowly Turbo 2000' a few yars later I much preferred it.... sure it wasn't as quick accelerating, but I felt more 'at one' wth it and therefore could push it harder. I drove across Wales one very early summer morning and will always remember it as one of the greatest drives I have ever done!

 

Which is odd considering it isn't a new thing.

 

Here is a thread I started on the issue, must get an update off my mate soon

Classic Impreza and rust!

 

on my second turbo 2000 first one was a nightmare when it popped the engine but hey was one of them things, as mentioned above they are getting old now, just in process of doing clutch and flywheel on the present one, things are getting rusty which i got to live with and sort, but for the money the smile fact and difference in driving a turbo 2000 to your present car will be epic!

you require deep pockets thou lol as with any car!

 

They are great cars, if you can find a decent one. And decent ones are started to attract a premium. I reckon you are looking at £2800-£3500 for a decent one these days and even at that price, it is still likely to require a little TLC due to age.

Questions to ask yourself:
20mpg with VPower - Can you afford this?
£1500 minimum if the engine goes pop - Can you afford this?
(£3-£4k for a proper rebuild!)

Those are probably the most important questions to ask yourself.

 

1. Not any more...mine hardly goes out

2. Been there, done that...even more than £4k

 

I have not long since sold my UK Turbo 2000 - I highly rated it and only sold it because I fancied a new age. I only owned it for around 10 months but in that time it never gave me a single problem and although it wasn't "tuned", it was still a pretty quick and good handling car.

Mine had only a couple of minor rust spots and a few blemishes but was a pretty low mileage one (81k) and I sold it for £2650 with a years mot and 6 months tax.