Subaru opinons please

[Nero601]

hi

having just sold my Alfa 155 , i am looking for a new car , and have decided on a scooby turbo but which one ? ( budget is limited so i am looking at early cars 93-96)

so my question is which is the better buy turbo saloon or the wagon ?

any advice and/or owner opinions welcome

[micron750]

Nero601 said:

hi

having just sold my Alfa 155 , i am looking for a new car , and have decided on a scooby turbo but which one ? ( budget is limited so i am looking at early cars 93-96)

so my question is which is the better buy turbo saloon or the wagon ?

any advice and/or owner opinions welcome

If you want space go for the Wagon i have a imported 97 Wrx turbo which is great the seats fold down when needed and to be fair there ain't' much differance in performance although mine is modified so there's none lol
I picked mine up for £2300 thers usually plenty on e-bay or classifieds on here which is where i got mine.....the best of luck in finding one but be warned once you have one you'll not want anything else and then there's modding if you want to go down that route which a lot of owners do and theres plenty clubs out there willing to give you plenty of advice one place to start is here a great friendly bunch
http://www.bbscoobys.com/

[Nero601]

thanks micron much appreciated

[jasemac]

Same car underneath just buy which you prefer, I like the dual purposness of the wagons and they do tend to be better value!
Go with a uk for slightly cheaper running costs, for the full effect car you need an sti but they cost a bit more in every respect but residuals are better.

By as new as you can with as much history and reciepts, never by on mileage by on how it has been looked after. It is not high mielage that kills Impreza's it is ignorance and abuse! :-) IMHO

[ScoobieWRX]

Totally agree with jasemac, it is generally high revs, and sustained high revs that does most the damage. I have a newage WRX wagon and i love it for the practicality of being able to hoof it up to Scotland with a boot full of dogs and all the luggage and nonesense i usually take with me...that's includes the missus, and still get 300miles to a tank. Equally it's a quick old car when it needs to be and surprises many unsuspecting drivers of more exotic vehicles, mind you i have played with it a bit.

Specially with the classic there is bugger all difference in the way it handles or goes and stops between it and a 4dr once you get the mod bug, and you will get the mod bug!! Get the wagon, mod the nuts off it so it goes, stops and handles well. Get an ESL remap and you'll see 320-350bhp all day long for not a lot of mod money.

Try and get hold of a version 2 1995/96 car that's as unmolested as possible. STi wagon would be very nice, and even better an RA as they both come with closed deck blocks and are virtually unburstable. You get the trick adjustable centre diff on the RA and close ratio gearbox which makes it blinding quick as standard.

It will be a bit more potent than your Alfa even as a standard WRX, and of course you get that marvellous AWD system.

[Nero601]

jasemac said:

Same car underneath just buy which you prefer, I like the dual purposness of the wagons and they do tend to be better value!
Go with a uk for slightly cheaper running costs, for the full effect car you need an sti but they cost a bit more in every respect but residuals are better.

By as new as you can with as much history and reciepts, never by on mileage by on how it has been looked after. It is not high mielage that kills Impreza's it is ignorance and abuse! :-) IMHO

thanks for that

as always i am on a tight budget , mileage does not worry me unduly , and as you said its how the car has been treated that counts , i like the looks of the wagon over the saloon so i will probably go for one of those

also i think the wagon is a little more 'anonymous' than the saloon which helps with unwanted attention !

[GravelBen]

ScoobieWRX said:

... STi wagon would be very nice, and even better an RA ...

[pedant] You won't find an RA wagon though! [/pedant]

[omgus]

I have a V3 STI Wagon so i will be massively biased, get the wagon.

Also, if you already have plans to mod it you should either get one as standard as possible and do it yourself, OR, list the mods you would consider having on the car already and wait. I wanted brakes/intecooler/exhaust/mapped, but no turbo mods (insurance reasons), and no cosmetics (style reasns), it took me a fair while to find the right car.
I have found that Wagon owners tend to be more conservative about the mods they make and don't tend to chase the high power figure quite as much (ScoobyWRX discounted of course) but don't be afraid to walk away there are sadly a lot of rather ropey Imprezas around now.

ETA Spllling

Edited by omgus on Sunday 18th April 12:55

[Nero601]

really appreciate all the comment/opinions thanks

[ScoobieWRX]

Thanks for the correction Ben. You're absolutely right there was no RA 5dr, i thought there was

Having now looked it up the nearest they got with that was an STi2 555 Special edition, but just an STi wagon would be pretty awesome

Edited to add: I saw another newage V7 STi wagon for sale in the UK on a website the other day. £6,500 and in really nice condition. How cheap is that!!

Edited by ScoobieWRX on Sunday 18th April 13:50

[taylor8]

Never really liked the wagon look wise, but my mate said great for chucking the dogs in and a quick blast on the back road, best of both worlds!

I had a Impreza Turbo 2000, loved it, then moved onto the EVO's considering a return to the scobby front, just there like belly buttons everyones got one, but EVO's are going the same way!! :Laugh:

But im sure you will enjoy it mate if you go for one!

[markCSC]

Thought about a Forester S/tb? Same engine and running gear as an import WRX but nobody knows what it is. Not quite as sharp handling as the Impreza but fairly close. Cheap as chips as well.

[ScoobieWRX]

markCSC said:

Thought about a Forester S/tb? Same engine and running gear as an import WRX but nobody knows what it is. Not quite as sharp handling as the Impreza but fairly close. Cheap as chips as well.

Out of the box the handling of the Forester S is nothing like that of a classic WRX wagon, not even close. Power wise, again not even close!! They are both very different prospects despite sharing the same floorpan and engine.

[markCSC]

ScoobieWRX said:

Out of the box the handling of the Forester S is nothing like that of a classic WRX wagon, not even close. Power wise, again not even close!! They are both very different prospects despite sharing the same floorpan and engine.

I know that's why I said S/tb not Turbo S. The S/tb is a Japanese import that has the same engine as the WRX (240-260bhp, tested to Japanese standards, around 220-230bhp tested to European standards). Yes they do wobble a bit round corners but a £15 STI anti-roll bar will quickly fix that. I have driven both and there is not that much difference apart from body roll. The Impreza is however as said "a little bit sharper".

[ScoobieWRX]

A little bit sharper....yeah OK

[300bhp/ton]

Nero601 said:

hi

having just sold my Alfa 155 , i am looking for a new car , and have decided on a scooby turbo but which one ? ( budget is limited so i am looking at early cars 93-96)

so my question is which is the better buy turbo saloon or the wagon ?

any advice and/or owner opinions welcome

I'm sure others have said this, but it's not a simply case of Wagon or Saloon.

Turbo 2000 is a UK model, which is really a less powerful toned down version of a JDM WRX.

But if performance is what you are after look for a WRX STI, very different car to a regular T2000 or WRX.

JDM's will be more expensive to insure as a rule, and evidently you won't have all their history. They also run higher octane fuel, so bear this in mind when looking at costs. A car only doing 22-24mpg on 99 RON and maybe with a fuel additive too, is more akin to running something actually only returning 18-20mpg on 95 RON in terms of pence per mile.

[markCSC]

Run down on all the models and specs can be found at

http://www.iwoc.co.uk/contents.html

and

http://www.scoobypedia.co.uk/index.php/Knowledge/S...

Buying guide here
http://www.scoobypedia.co.uk/index.php/BuyingGuide...

[rev.chris]

scooby sti saloon, cant go wrong

[Nero601]

thanks chaps i really appreciate the comments and advice , but my budget has taken a hit and i am going to have to lower my sights this time round , but the scooby is on the list for next time