150,000mile impreza wrx wagon. Too many miles?

150,000mile impreza wrx wagon. Too many miles?

Author
Discussion

bennyboy1992

Original Poster:

1 posts

141 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
Hi everyone,
Im looking at swapping my old landy for a subaru. My dad had a classic shape when I was young and I loved it (so did he). I have 2 dogs so id need the estate. Ive found a 2005 wrx wagon with 156000 miles. It has fsh but has a couple of marks but no rust.
Should I be concerned about the mileage? It is only up for £2500.
Thanks in advance!

lilwashu

245 posts

164 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
If it's been looked after properly and all the suspension components etc are in good order it will probably be fine. However you will have a real problem selling it again as nobody likes cars with that kind of mileage so I would look to pay considerably less money for it.

vxr2010

2,554 posts

158 months

Saturday 21st November 2015
quotequote all
I would not say don't get it but I would be worried about engine and gearbox life left , plus other wear items clutch maf 02 fuel pump , if they offered a lower price and you like it it's down to you , a big plus is service history

Ved

3,825 posts

174 months

Tuesday 24th November 2015
quotequote all
I'm on 137k in my Forester with the same basic engine. Zero issues or failed MOTs in its life. So long as you have full history and regular oil changes it should do another 150k without too many problems.

paul n

247 posts

168 months

Thursday 26th November 2015
quotequote all
I had a classic wagon with 189k on it!

engine still pulled like a train! smile

RB5Bird

502 posts

194 months

Friday 27th November 2015
quotequote all
My RB has 146k on it. Sailed through its MOT yesterday.

If it's been looked after mileage is not an issue.

Mr Taxpayer

438 posts

119 months

Friday 27th November 2015
quotequote all
The timing belt is done every 50k on the WRX so it's due one of them. That's a £400 job (£409 when I had mine done today), so factor that in. Also you'll have to live with ~25mpg, which is a big shock to a lot of people. Other than that, check it out on www.mot-history.net and enjoy :-)

pralognan

7 posts

114 months

Thursday 3rd December 2015
quotequote all
Mine is on 182,000 and going strong

TEKNOPUG

18,844 posts

204 months

Friday 4th December 2015
quotequote all
I bought an '02 WRX Wagon for £2k with 120k and very limited service history. It hadn't been messed about with (all stock bar PPP from new) and appeared looked after. That was last October, since then I've have put 33k miles on it in just over 12 months. No issues to report.

In fairness, it has had a lot of new parts over the last year: complete suspension refresh, new brakes (AP 4 pots, discs, pads lines etc) however, I knew the suspension and brakes were tired when I bought it and budgeted accordingly (and the APs were only fitted because I got a good deal on them second-hand).

Everything else has been preventative maintenance and service items: battery, all fluids (gearbox, diff, coolant, brakes, clutch), air filter, cabin filter, fuel filter, plugs, belts, oil+filter change every 6k etc. All these parts will need replacing at some point even if you spent £4k on an 80k car, so I'd rather pay less on the sale price and put the money towards getting everything done myself. That way I know that everything has been done properly and with quality items.

I haven't experienced any big ticket items: gearbox, clutch, diffs or any engine issues. Coil packs are fine, turbo is fine etc. Uses a bit of oil, maybe 500ml every 1k but I just check it every couple of weeks and top-up where required. Compression is fine across all cylinders. So I don't think mileage is an issue at all, it's how the car has been driven & maintained that is important. However, you'll never really know this when buying a used car. I've seen lots of Subarus that have had very costly and sometimes catastrophic failures at half the mileage of mine.

If you do get an older, high mileage car, there will be plenty of tinkering to be done in order to keep them in good condition. Mostly this is just service items and preventative maintenance as above. This was one of the reasons I wanted an older car - I get bored if there is nothing to do hehe Imprezas are very easy to work on and any half-way competent enthusiast should be able to do the vast majority of work on them. If you don't like getting your hands dirty though, it could prove expensive if you have to take it to the garage every time something needs attention.

rb5er

11,657 posts

171 months

Saturday 5th December 2015
quotequote all
If you are worried then spend a grand more in a 100k one.

Vixpy1

42,620 posts

263 months

Saturday 5th December 2015
quotequote all
not cheap enough for the mileage

Geo22

162 posts

165 months

Monday 7th December 2015
quotequote all
If your still looking I am about to put my 2003 WRX Wagon on the market. Its done around 90,000 miles.
If you're interested please PM me and we can talk about it.