Exciting estate - £10-12k. Replace our WRX Prodrive Wagon

[FastEdd11e]

Last weekend saw the final demise in our beloved 2005 WRX Prodrive Wagon. A bollard in Tesco and my stupidity were all it took.
I'm still processing it but to replace the wing, headlights, and paint is just too much.
We will be selling the car to our local Impreza genius who will strip it for parts. It will live on.

We now need a replacement.
£10 to £12k budget
Estate or small SUV
1 child, 9
1 Malinois puppy
12k miles a year.

Good performance on B roads and the motorway.
Ability to chew miles in comfort, run to the tip, make me smile, drive in the mud
Interesting brand.
MPG around 30 on a run, and irrelevant when having fun.
Reliable - the Impreza was a dream. Nothing made of tissue.

It won't get washed and the interior will end up like a skip. I've tried being tidy but it doesn't last.

Tax and emissions are not a problem. I'm disabled so the car will be tax exempt and the socialists in London won't get a penny from me for ULEZ.

NOT;
Jaguar
Skoda
Volvo - our previous family car was an XC60, been there, done that.
Boring brands

Our family car is a Maserati Ghibli S.

Must have;
Heated seats
Very good stereo

Age is not an issue.

[BDKM]

Forester XT or STI

Mitsubishi Airtrek Turbo for £6500 https://www.torque-gt.co.uk/mitsubishi-airtrek-tur...



EJ20 turbo Subaru Exiga? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353724946286?hash=item5...

Edited by BDKM on Monday 25th July 16:03

[S100HP]

A legacy like mine seems the obvious solution?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354080399866?mkcid=16&a...

This is just an example. You can get with heated seats ala Trails

Edited by S100HP on Monday 25th July 16:16

[RoVoFob]

FastEdd11e said:

Good performance on B roads and the motorway.
Ability to chew miles in comfort, run to the tip, make me smile, drive in the mud
Interesting brand.
MPG around 30 on a run, and irrelevant when having fun.
Reliable - the Impreza was a dream. Nothing made of tissue.

Must have;
Heated seats
Very good stereo

Age is not an issue.

Interesting wishlist.

Would a Passat R36 Estate work for you? It’s an interesting one-of-150 model, so surprisingly rare and drives much better than you’d think…with a naughty VR6 roar that I imagine you’ll like if you’re a fan of the Impreza burble.

Heated front and rear seats are standard - typically leather and microfibre, so they’re cool in summer and warm in winter - and you can get a 600W Dynaudio sound system, which is pretty good. The VR6 engine sounds glorious and short gearing plus a quick-shifting DSG enables you to get the most from it, whether you’re trying to get in front of a dawdler on the motorway, overtaking on a country road or bumbling through town. All-wheel-drive should make it relatively mud-friendly, too.

It’s also decently practical and comfy with fabulously supportive and grippy, super-adjustable seats and I got 34.4mpg calculated over 250 miles of motorway, country road and a little town stuff, when I bought mine. It’s no hardcore B road weapon, but it has nicely precise steering and decent body control and I enjoy mine equally on the motorway and country roads. As you can tell, I’m a fan.

Could be a sensible but silly enough option to be both useful and fun…

[BDKM]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125422266667?hash=item1...

This monster maybe ?

008 Subaru Impreza TypeUK Prodrive

69600 miles

MOT Oct 2022


Forged 2.5ltr Engine, fully built by Triton Motorsport using RCM supplied components

RCM tubular Exhaust Manifold

RCM Rotated Turbo Kit

Turbo Dynamics GT3076R turbocharger

Turbosmart External Wastegate

RCM Cone Air Filter

Perrin FMIC Kit

Injector Dynamics ID1050 injectors

340 L/H fuel pump

RCM Low temperature thermostat

Exedy Clutch


ECUTEK RaceROM mapping - power capped at 450hp


18” Inovite wheels running Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres

Godspeed grooved discs, Ferodo DS2500 pads

Beatrush Engine, Gearbox + Pitchstop mounts.

Prodrive Lowering Spring kit

Carbon Fibre/GRP bonnet

APR Carbon Brake Ducts


Supplied with a folder of paperwork containing V5 document, MOT, Service history and invoices for engine build, dyno printouts etc

[untakenname]

The newer shape WRX in that ebay listing is a bit smaller in space interior wise and not really a wagon/estate so less practical.

FastEdd11e said:

Last weekend saw the final demise in our beloved 2005 WRX Prodrive Wagon. A bollard in Tesco and my stupidity were all it took.
I'm still processing it but to replace the wing, headlights, and paint is just too much.
We will be selling the car to our local Impreza genius who will strip it for parts. It will live on.

I had my Wagon smashed into by an inept Tesco driver earlier in the year, took months to sort out and was left languishing at a loss adjustors the other side of the country so in the meantime had a like for like replacement (Passat Estate) whilst the insurers dithered, in the end I got a settlement and put the Wagon back together again mainly via facebook marketplace for less than £100 in parts and a weekend worth of work.

The Passat was ok on the motorway (was a 200hp diesel) but it had no soul at all compared to the WRX.

I'd recommend keeping the WRX especially if it's not rusting as they are getting hard to find now in decent condition and have started to appreciate in value.

Mini blog below, I have no real training in bodywork but youtube is a decent learning resource, it was quite daunting especially as the repair estimate from the insurers came to over £2k but in the end the bumper and wing could be reused so it was only the headlight that needed replacement.

Inept Tesco driver who couldn't reverse got irate and ended up making a three point turn where there clearly wasn't any space




Checked the car was still straight


Got to work with the hammer as the light had been pushed back into the engine bay

Managed to beat the panel back into shape which surprised me considering how deformed it was


Repaired the bumper using a £15 hot stitch tool from Amazon which worked a treat

Ebay paint mixed in a can which was a pretty decent match



It's not perfect but looks ok from a few feet way plus the rest of the car wasn't immaculate paintwork wise.

Edited by untakenname on Monday 25th July 16:58

[RoVoFob]

untakenname said:

The Passat was ok on the motorway (was a 200hp diesel) but it had no soul at all compared to the WRX.

I'd recommend keeping the WRX especially if it's not rusting as they are getting hard to find now in decent condition and have started to appreciate in value.

I promise you, a four-cylinder diesel Passat is very different to a VR6 AWD R36. I can’t imagine that an Impreza 1.5R has much soul with 103hp, but I wouldn’t compare it to a WRX Prodrive…

If it wasn’t for the crappy speakers and seats (I personally found them uncomfortable, but that could just be me), a Legacy 3.0R Spec B might work. Had one of these previously and it has plenty of soul and practicality, but the R36 still appeals to me more.

This Spec B does look good, though:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185505038162?hash=item2...

Edited by RoVoFob on Monday 25th July 18:48

[FastEdd11e]

untakenname said:

I had my Wagon smashed into by an inept Tesco driver earlier in the year, took months to sort out and was left languishing at a loss adjustors the other side of the country so in the meantime had a like for like replacement (Passat Estate) whilst the insurers dithered, in the end I got a settlement and put the Wagon back together again mainly via facebook marketplace for less than £100 in parts and a weekend worth of work.

The Passat was ok on the motorway (was a 200hp diesel) but it had no soul at all compared to the WRX.

I'd recommend keeping the WRX especially if it's not rusting as they are getting hard to find now in decent condition and have started to appreciate in value.

Mini blog below, I have no real training in bodywork but youtube is a decent learning resource, it was quite daunting especially as the repair estimate from the insurers came to over £2k but in the end the bumper and wing could be reused so it was only the headlight that needed replacement.

Inept Tesco driver who couldn't reverse got irate and ended up making a three point turn where there clearly wasn't any space




Checked the car was still straight


Got to work with the hammer as the light had been pushed back into the engine bay

Managed to beat the panel back into shape which surprised me considering how deformed it was


Repaired the bumper using a £15 hot stitch tool from Amazon which worked a treat

Ebay paint mixed in a can which was a pretty decent match



It's not perfect but looks ok from a few feet way plus the rest of the car wasn't immaculate paintwork wise.

Edited by untakenname on Monday 25th July 16:58

Blimey!
That's pretty much the same damage we have.
Question is "What next?"........I am utterly useless at this type of thing. I may just call my Scooby chap again and see if he can work your type of magic.

Thanks so much for this post. It made my day.

[ZX10R NIN]

Insignia VXR a very good drivers car & they have character:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202202042...

[mersontheperson]

You can have my Forester S-Edition, over 300 HP with professional coilover set-up

[MiniMan64]

ZX10R NIN said:

Insignia VXR a very good drivers car & they have character:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202202042...

Something tells me that the Vauxhall brand will not pass the OPs interesting brand test. Especially if Jag or Skoda (where the VRS seems a shoe in for this) have already been struck off.