Contemplating an old impreza. need advice

[ellis12345]

evening everyone.
the time has finally come for an upgrade and iv been leaning towards a scooby for a while.
the thing is i cover at least 150 miles a week to work and back and im 21 so im not sure if the fuel and insurance costs will cripple me. iv only been looking at the older shape imprezas, i had a brief look at insurance and the cheapest quote i've found is about £900 a year for a non turbo, otherwise im looking at £1500+, and iv heard a few people say theres just no point in getting the non turbo version.
any advice is much appreciated guys!

[ellis12345]

cheers, how does it compare to your clio performance wise? my mate has just bought a clio 182 and that feels a thousand times quicker than any car i've owned

[ellis12345]

haha im thinking it might be best to splash out a bit more up front as i havn't got the greatest knowledge of car mechanics myself...
some of the ones i've seen on ebay do look too good to be true for the price they are fetching

[ellis12345]

i think a blobeye would be a bit out of my price range. i was kind of hoping to spend no more than 2000 but it will probably end up being a bit more, as i said above i've seen a few decent looking ones sell for less than that on ebay. although i wouldnt buy one without going to have a proper look

[ellis12345]

thanks for all the feedback

[ellis12345]

theres a few different cars i've been thinking about, but theres just something a bit more special about an impreza.
i quite like lexus is200's, absolutely no idea why. or something like an mx5 which is a lot cheaper to run than a scooby, but its not quite the same

[ellis12345]

yeah i could go on and on with my differing array of cars
i just need something with a bit more poke than my nova

[ellis12345]

right... im back, and i think i've managed to buy a decent scooby on a budget
we'll just have to wait and see how reliable it is...


awd turbo 2000
it's done 134,000 miles
full subaru service history
many receipts of previous work carried out
it drives absolutely great
only problem is a slight oil leak, its not exactly pouring out but its enough to make you think 'oo that could do with sorting' plus its dripping on to the exhaust so its a bit smokey/smelly. took it to a bloke round the corner from me for him to have a quick scan over, couldn't see exactly what it was but he reckons its just a leaky rocker gasket...
Ended up paying 1700 for the car, 1300 for insurance. hopefully it's still driving as sweet as it is at the moment in 12 months time.

also.. i know a lot of people are very specific as to which petrol to use or which oil to use etc... any tips for me as i'm a complete scooby novice, it's a bit of a step up from anything iv'e ever owned before

[ellis12345]

when i say i took it to a bloke round the corner from me, he is a proper mechanic... not just any old bloke that lives round the corner

[ellis12345]

1997 is the year, R reg although its now on a nothern ireland plate, no idea why but i like it

[ellis12345]

had no idea there were so many different versions,
and yes it will be a nice turbo2000 when i sort the oil leak out. had a sift through the past reciepts and the rocker gaskets were only changed a few weeks ago, so il phone the place that did it tomorrow.
hopefully it's just some tit that put it on back to front and not something more severe

[ellis12345]

bit of an update...
oil leak looks to be sorted, both rocker gaskets have been properly sorted, the reason they were leaking so much is because they had been bodged together using the wrong gaskets and cheap sealer which caused both of them to be leaking quite a lot. very slight leak coming frorm one of the pipes which has been sorted. engine has been cleaned as much as possible underneath and not a spot of oil so far
just need to sort a few of the dodgy electrics out now.

[ellis12345]

KaraK said:

* Brakes -> They have the utterly woeful 2-pot callipers on the front

i take it you've never drove a standard 1.2 nova then makes the brakes on my scooby feel like porsche 911 brakes!

[ellis12345]

i might do something with the brakes, there are many other things on the to do list first though.
and tcarter the insurance is so high because im 22, most companies wouldnt insure me, i was with kwikfit before and they wanted over 5 grand most other companies wanted over 2 grand but i ended up going with diamond. also the oil leak is sorted (read above )