As the title says, I'm looking at buying a WRX with the Prodrive Performance Pack but no other mods. The cars got a full Subaru service history and the cambelt has just been done. Mileage is 95,000.

Apart from the obvious things to check, is there anything I ought to really look out for on the '03 models ?

Last car I bought was an 02 WRX STi but I've got to replace it with something else ...

TIA

Phil

 

Knocking rear shocks. That is pretty much it.

The rest is just the usual stuff such a condition of bodywork/panel gaps, brakes, tyres, engine oil, listen to engine from cold, check gears engage with no crunches etc.

 

That's straightforward enough thanks. Had those on my STi that I had to replace so I know what to listen out for.

 

See if it's had the front wishbone recall, apart from that they don't seem to suffer the same knocking rear shocks and they like the PPP too, mine was on 92000 when I bought it a couple of years ago, just gone over 102000 and still sweet as a nut with enough go to keep you entertained, handles reasonably well too now that I have changed a few bushes and got a geo set up that i'm happy with, still needs a 22mm rear roll bar though.

Can't decide if I want to up the power a bit to around the 320bhp mark at the moment, one day I do then the next I think it has enough for a daily, currently think the latter, but going to let fate decide depending on if or when something goes wrong.

All in all it's a great package as is, i'm sure you won't be disappointed.

 

How much is the car your looking at mate?
Ive never owned a scooby until a few months ago and just bought a similar one to what your looking at. It's 05 wrx ppp wagon with 99,000 on the clock ive never had so much fun since a battered old renault 5 turbo back in the day. One of the rear shocks is knocking on mine can I get these re greased ?
cheers

 

It's around £4,500 I think. Just get the shocks replaced, on my STi I got KYB's on the rear of mine (advised by the Subaru dealer) as the Subaru ones cost twice as much but were actually KYB's badged up as Subarus.

Thanks ditchmaster, it's got a FSSH so I'll check that. Is yours a PPP ?

 

Hi,

I have a 03 wrx ppp it’s my first impreza I bought it last year for £4900 with 56,000 miles and leather heated seats I’ve had no big problems (touch wood) just replaced the slipping clutch with a exedy one and rebuilt the sticky front calipers (the ones embossed with Subaru) and the air conditioning needed to be recharge other than that it’s been a good car, you can get caliper rebuild kits from Godspeedbrakes for £119.

look out for slipping clutch and sticky front calipers .


Link




Will

 

bought my 01 impreza wrx in october. and fitted all the prodrive bits. absolutly love and runs sweet even with 120k.

do check for clutch slip in 4th at about 40mph and just put foot to floor.

also i had to do my rear brakes as the pins had rusted. apart from that just normal stuff fluid levels. overheating ect... good luck

 

Yeah mine is a PPP wagon with AP4 pots on the front it's a 54 plate, paid £4k just over 2yrs ago, goes and stops well enough for a daily drive, only problem i've had in 10k miles was top rad hose went, but fortunately I spotted it straight away and it never over heated so no damage thankfully.

It's got a bit of a noisy thrust bearing so if I end up changing the clutch i'll do some light power mods, ported turbo,headers and up pipe while i've got the engine out.

Great car, does exactly what it says on the tin.

 

I have an 05 WRX PPP. It's a great car, very reliable, as fast as you want and any money spent on it predominantly goes on fuel.

Re knocking shocks, these are a common problem. If you don't wanna go to the expense of new shocks (kyb are recommended by the way!) there is a DIY fix. Jack the rear of the car up, pull up the dust covers for the shocks and spray lithium petroleum or WD40 onto the shocks, this cures the knocking. It's not a permanent fix and should only be considered a temporary fix until you can fit new shocks.
The front wishbones are alloy and therefore don't pose a problem from WRX's 05 on...

 

Rust:

https://www.scoobynet.com/general-te...ame-query.html

Look hard!

 

Even though that was a Bug, this still applies to Blobs incidentally.

 

Thanks for all the replies, the MOT history link will be particularly useful:

http://motinfo.direct.gov.uk/interne...ry-Request.jsp

Will update you on how I get on ...