Thinking of buying an Impreza WRX STI Type-UK

[anonymous-user]

I am looking at an Impreza WRX STI Type UK as a replacement for my S1 Elise. The car is a 2002 model with 30k miles on the clock, it is at a dealer and offered with 12 month warranty. I don't know much about these cars, and would really appreciate any advice on potential problems, running costs etc.

Thanks!

[steve_bmw]

depends what its for and your anual mileage
these do around 18mpg driven normaly, can you live with that?
if you can, then buy one there fantastic, if you cant, forget it.
service, £300 should get you a cambelt, oil and filters.
if your not driving it hard all the time nothing much to go wrong.
my mate had an elise, loved it, swaped it for an impreza, worst thing he ever did
the elise was fun, great drivers car, economical, £10 in fuel would be a great day out in derbyshire with some quick driving, the same trip in the scooby was £40, and no where near as much fun!
think before you buy, dont get your leg in with something you'll regret.

Edited by steve_bmw on Wednesday 21st April 12:21

[GravelBen]

steve_bmw said:

these do around 18mpg driven normaly, can you live with that?

Sounds like some pretty heavy 'normal' driving to me!

[dirty doug]

GravelBen said:

steve_bmw said:

these do around 18mpg driven normaly, can you live with that?

Sounds like some pretty heavy 'normal' driving to me!

No thats about normal for me

Rear shocks are prone to 'knocking' and very expensive circa £800 for the pair. I bought Tein superstreet coilovers all round which were £900ish fitted for better value for money.

Brake pads are again very expensive, about £250 front pair, slightly cheaper rears. Brake discs? Start saving now.....

Front suspension geometry tends to wear the inside edge of the tyres so they don't last too long. I pay approx £150 pair of Toyo T1-R.

Insurance approx £700p.a. with 9 years ncd.

Oil change intervals are 10k & an easy diy job. Spark plugs cannot be seen on initial bonnet opening so unless you are at least a 5/10 mechanic, forget it. Oh & they are not cheap either...

Nothing else has gone wrong on my 2002 sti - touch wood - in 3 years of ownership & about 100k mileage total.

Great fun to drive hard but hard driving is easily above both the legal & sanity limits. But very capable on A & B roads making smooth progress very easy. Motorways are an ear plug experience when de-catted...

I will miss mine when I sell her but boy will my bank balance start to look better.

[anonymous-user]

It'll be my only car so will be doing everything! I do about 12k miles per year. 90% of the time it'll be commuting on the motorway and b roads. The elise is starting to rack up some hefty bills and the dealer has offered a good trade in value for it so I'm thinking now is the time to move on?

[rhinochopig]

steve_bmw said:

depends what its for and your anual mileage
these do around 18mpg driven normaly, can you live with that?
if you can, then buy one there fantastic, if you cant, forget it.
service, £300 should get you a cambelt, oil and filters.
if your not driving it hard all the time nothing much to go wrong.
my mate had an elise, loved it, swaped it for an impreza, worst thing he ever did
the elise was fun, great drivers car, economical, £10 in fuel would be a great day out in derbyshire with some quick driving, the same trip in the scooby was £40, and no where near as much fun!
think before you buy, dont get your leg in with something you'll regret.

Edited by steve_bmw on Wednesday 21st April 12:21

Totally agree. Swapped a Westy Megabird for an Evo VIIRS. Whilst a very capable car, it's not as much fun as the westy, but a lot more practical. IMO rally reps are a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut. However, I needed a second 4 seat 4WD car.

The EVO RS is a lot sharper than the STis I've driven, but not enough to replace a lightweight RWD car. OP, I'd only buy one if you need 4 seats and 4WD.

[ScoobieWRX]

For christs sake don't go anywhere near an STi unless you want a car that's pretty quick, goes round corners at silly speeds, and is deemed a practical 4dr runabout with a reasonable sized boot.

What about a nice Dacia Sandero

[steve_bmw]

10Tenths said:

It'll be my only car so will be doing everything! I do about 12k miles per year. 90% of the time it'll be commuting on the motorway and b roads. The elise is starting to rack up some hefty bills and the dealer has offered a good trade in value for it so I'm thinking now is the time to move on?

thats going to be on fuel mate, i will be like having a second mortgage i know i just sold my sti.
there are much better cars, if you want fast buy an m3. if you want to drive it normal it will give you 30+mpg, and if you want a quick drive the economy will drop thats to be expected. but it does both jobs very well.
there is no in between with the impreza, its expensive all the time.

Edited by steve_bmw on Wednesday 21st April 16:55

[ScoobieWRX]

steve_bmw said:

10Tenths said:

It'll be my only car so will be doing everything! I do about 12k miles per year. 90% of the time it'll be commuting on the motorway and b roads. The elise is starting to rack up some hefty bills and the dealer has offered a good trade in value for it so I'm thinking now is the time to move on?

thats going to be on fuel mate, i will be like having a second mortgage i know i just sold my sti.
there are much better cars, if you want fast buy an m3. if you want to drive it normal it will give you 30+mpg, and if you want a quick drive the economy will drop thats to be expected. but it does both jobs very well.
there is no in between with the impreza, its expensive all the time.

Edited by steve_bmw on Wednesday 21st April 16:55

If you want a quick economical car buy a diesel. There are lots of good examples out there to choose from i.e. Audi, VW, Ford...the list goes on.

If you want physics defying cornering with speed to match and a look that says "I mean business!!", a Subaru is not the only choice but it's a pretty good choice.

If you have a lead foot you will need to fill up more frequently, fact!! I can get 300miles from a tank full of the good stuff while fully laden. That's driving c.80mph all the way to bonny Scotland.
All this nonsense about Subaru's being so thirsty spouted by people that have never owned one and only have third hand info from a mate down the pub that drives it 99% of the time like it was meant to be driven

My Mrs. can be very thirsty but i'm not going to trade her in because she goes and handles really well fully laden!!

[anonymous-user]

Thanks for all your replies, much appreciated!

[jasemac]

I see mid twenties MPG at of them and have own pretty much every variant, mpg drop when driven hard obviosly
Re brake prices I dont charge that?!? EBC do upgrade stuff cheaper than o.e
Plenty of specialists around to keep running costs in check
We are one of them !
Sti new age great all rounder
Go for it!

Scoobybits

[stevieb]

steve_bmw said:

10Tenths said:

It'll be my only car so will be doing everything! I do about 12k miles per year. 90% of the time it'll be commuting on the motorway and b roads. The elise is starting to rack up some hefty bills and the dealer has offered a good trade in value for it so I'm thinking now is the time to move on?

thats going to be on fuel mate, i will be like having a second mortgage i know i just sold my sti.
there are much better cars, if you want fast buy an m3. if you want to drive it normal it will give you 30+mpg, and if you want a quick drive the economy will drop thats to be expected. but it does both jobs very well.
there is no in between with the impreza, its expensive all the time.

Edited by steve_bmw on Wednesday 21st April 16:55

Gezz i done 26k a year in my impreza and never regretted any mile of it.. Not once did it let me down.. All it wanted was a little oil every now and then and stadard service intervals of 12k miles.

I was also running it with a remap with a little more power than standard..

You say if you want fast and practical buy an M3.. But whats the servicing costs fo an M3.. I have yet to see a service bill for a M3 less than £800. My service bill never topped £500 and that was the major service cambelt, all fluids sparks, filter the whole lot. The cheapest service was £120.

All in all have been looking for a good weekend 4 seater for me for 2 months and i cant not better a Impreza or an Evo for the whoel package for the price.

Edited by stevieb on Thursday 22 April 20:34

[rev.chris]

go for the scooby sti, all round good fun car, u have loads of room for the family an massive boot space, an its quick as fook when u wont it to be, not the cheapests of cars to run or service, but well worth it, me personaly if i was looking for big mpg i wouldnt look at a high peformance car, im a bit of a div when it comes to mpg, my everyday car is a 4.0 grand cherokee, worse on fuel the my scooby, lol as said the m3 is a good car for power an fuel, also the evo like the scooby is an all round great car, but bigger serviceing cost then the scooby, plus the scooby sounds better,

also just my opinion if u do go for a scooby go for the import, more toys an bhp, an for me it would have to be the saloon every time, just looks so much better i think.

[ScoobieWRX]

I used to have a 4.0L Wrangler Safari and that thing drank fuel like nobody's business. You really did need your own tanker in tow to do much mileage in it.

The scooby in comparison is quite frugal!!

[anonymous-user]

Thanks for all your replies - an update on where I am now - insurance is a bit of a problem!

Having had the Elise I assumed it wouldn't be too difficult to insure the Impreza, but after a morning on the phone to Adrian Flux, A-Plan, and Performance Direct online, it seems it is!

To give you an idea, the Elise was insured with a male driver, aged 24, no convictions, but a car damaged when left in a car park in 2006, something I had to accept fault for, and a £1k claim on the insurance. No other accidents, with 8k miles per year, garaged, tracker, and no modifications for £900 fully comp.

I've been quoted between £2200 and £1500 for the Impreza, from the above mentioned insurance companies. I'm now 25, will have 3 years NCD in August (although the claim was made in April 2006), it'll be garaged, with the cat 1 alarm and tracker, no mods and doing 12k miles a year - ideally I want to get the insurance under the £1k mark - hoping for help on this one!!

[ScoobieWRX]

Talk to Gary Moulson at Keith Michaels Insurance brokers. Don't email him, call instead. Gary is also a fellow scooby owner and knows the score so will try get you as good a deal as possible. I use them for my modified sportwagon and the Jag.

Gary's direct line. 0845 013 8231

[anonymous-user]

Thanks mate, will give him a call first thing tomorrow - thanks for your help!

[ScoobieWRX]

You're very welcome, and i hope Gary gives you a decent quote. If it's comparable to your Elise then you've clearly done well baring in mind the other quotes you've already had.

Good Luck

[p1doc]

i am on my third impreza,second was tsl modified sti type uk great cars-managed to scrape 350miles on 1 tank doing motorway travel at 80 but obviously if driving like a maniac 200miles on a tank or 4 laps nurburgring lol
martin

[Alec]

ScoobieWRX said:

Talk to Gary Moulson at Keith Michaels Insurance brokers. Don't email him, call instead. Gary is also a fellow scooby owner and knows the score so will try get you as good a deal as possible. I use them for my modified sportwagon and the Jag.

Gary's direct line. 0845 013 8231

+1 for Gary. He was the cheapest this year again by £300 and the rise from last year was in the order of 3%. Do make sure you only speak to Gary and dont get an internet quote.