The Mrs wants a change of car (she's paying)

[Kyle Knowles]

Has anyone on here had any dealings with a subaru wrx sti 2004 2005 is there anything to look out for ?

 

[Qwerty]

Rear brakes are a weak point. They changed from rear drums to discs between those years if I remember correctly

 

[Kyle Knowles]

Rear brakes are a weak point. They changed from rear drums to discs between those years if I remember correctly

I'll have to look into that this is well out of my lane I'm a volvo D5 diesel kinda guy

 

[WetSaw]

Buying a 12 year old boy racers car I should imagine there's a lot to look out for. I'd avoid anything that's been "tuned" or generally messed about with.
If you're lucky enough to find a standard one with some decent history it'd be the one I'd go for.
Also get on the owners forums of whatever you're looking for, they tend to be very informative and often have stuff for sale as well.

 

[Kyle Knowles]

Buying a 12 year old boy racers car I should imagine there's a lot to look out for. I'd avoid anything that's been "tuned" or generally messed about with.
If you're lucky enough to find a standard one with some decent history it'd be the one I'd go for.
Also get on the owners forums of whatever you're looking for, they tend to be very informative and often have stuff for sale as well.

Gonna go down the Japanese import route and probably highly modified and after all the Mrs dads a mechanic

 

[Flintstone]

Hope you have deep pockets!
Imports are often bodged up a lot and have suffered a hard life.
Not sure why you would need to buy an import Scooby of that vintage when they did them in the U.K.

 

[WetSaw]

I'm a qualified motor mechanic and used to import ( and export ) motorbikes and cars to and from Japan and would steer clear of anything highly modified. The idea that someone has already spent a fortune on a car is tempting but chance of you buying a knackered money pit is very high. If you can find one that's had money spent on the chassis, wheels, brakes etc and not had the motor messed with too much it's OK but something that's been running loads of boost and modded wastegate is just waiting to go bang.

 

[Kyle Knowles]

The Japanese import have a better stronger engine with twin scroll turbo from what I've found the past couple of days the Japanese import engine is much stronger and is in many of the modified English cars

 

[Kyle Knowles]

Has anyone actually owned one ? Or is this the nonsense opinion thread lol

 

[Flintstone]

I have had a uk turbo. I live down the road from scooby clinic who are one of the main indipendant specialists in the U.K., i see plenty on trailers. And a friend of mine who does there website has had over 10 various Imprezas and all types of import and I know how much he has spent fixing them, a lot! U.K cars aren't as powerful from the factory, but there designed to be a daily car like any other. There is only one reason people tune up a car and that's because they like to give it some stick

 

[Dan]

Gearboxes are weak unless you have a certain one. I went through one a month for 6 months and then got rid.

Money pits through and through.