Should I Buy Subaru Impreza Turbo 2000?

[subaru_lover_021]

am 21 year old from UK, and Subaru Impreza Turbo 2000 is my dream car !! i have the money to buy the car and my dad will insure it , the only problem is my dad doesn't like the car and he think its 2 expensive to have this car he think the car will cost 2 much money to fix if it gets broken down or to service ( have the car ) but i love this car and i want to buy it , does these Subaru's have common problems or are they all neckerd ? as am only spending £2.5k on the car only it has 80k on the clock and i don't know anything about the engine of this cars , so my question is should i buy this car or not ?

i dont wanna get something to spend money i don't have on !!!

help me out guys , people who had this cars .

thank you.

[oohaohh]

am 21 year old from UK, and Subaru Impreza Turbo 2000 is my dream car !! i have the money to buy the car and my dad will insure it , the only problem is my dad doesn't like the car and he think its 2 expensive to have this car he think the car will cost 2 much money to fix if it gets broken down or to service ( have the car ) but i love this car and i want to buy it , does these Subaru's have common problems or are they all neckerd ? as am only spending £2.5k on the car only it has 80k on the clock and i don't know anything about the engine of this cars , so my question is should i buy this car or not ?

i dont wanna get something to spend money i don't have on !!!

help me out guys , people who had this cars .

thank you.

Hi, I own one of these, and mine has 115,000 miles on the clock. I will admit it has been fairly abused since my ownership. Your dad is fairly correct in that if it goes wrong it's not normally cheap. Though in my experience this doesn't happen as often as you may think. Though other people may have different experiences.

Also bear in mind that your supposed to change the oil every 7500 miles according the handbook. Fuel ecconomy on them isn't the best either, I only ever average 25 mpg, and that's when doing long runs driving it well gentle. Did get more when had normal exhuast but only 30mpg. Though to get that i had to use optimax fuel oops i mean V-fuel. and drive very carefully.

You also have to bear in mind that in my experience being 4wd you end up replacing all four tyres at once, which if you go for good ones can hurt, especially if the car your looking at has bigger rims. I.e 17's

All I'd suggest is consider it carefully if cash is tight. That said other than a different variant, i don't think you'll find another car like it. I've tried selling mine several times, but chicken out because a normal car feel so blahhh.

If you do go for it, make sure you check it's history etc, I know others on here will have better advice about what to look for. The only thing i can say is expect it to have had some abuse in the past. It may have been looked after, but i wouldn't be supprised if it's been driven hard at some point.

[fmj]

I got my scooby at 21 (A uk spec Turbo 2000) and still have it now almost 4 years later. I am so glad I got it!

If your cash is very tight and you can only just afford the car then have a good think if you can afford to run it. If your milage is going to be fairly low then you may be ok but if you are putting a fair amount of miles on the clock the fuel bills add up very quickly and tyres (of which you have to choose fairly good quality ones), oil changes, service items etc will come up quickly. The key to these cars being reliable is that they are serviced with the right bits at the right times. If you cut corners you will pay far more in the long run.

Be carefull with insurance too. I know it sounds boring but insuring it in your dads name with you as a named driver when its actually you doing all the driving will void your policy if they find out.

£2500 could get you a bargin but its also the sort of money that a lot of abused examples are sold for.

[wrxmania]

Look long and hard for the right car and be prepared to spend some money putting some things right after purchase on this age/mileage of car for example a set of decent tyres could be £500, new brake pads and discs for the front could cost you £300 etc so your £2500 could easily be £3500 quite quickly.

I'd only say buy this car if you can afford to look after it properly - it's a well engineered Japanese car so is very reliable BUT (as others have said) you need to look after it properly with decent parts and regularly and put decent fuel in it too.

Good luck whatever you buy and welcome to SIDC.

Brian

[kad 16v]

Hi there

I will agree with the guys above,

Have a good think about it, its done 80k which means its 90k service it fast approaching (big service including cam belt) according to my service schedule from Powerstation in tewkesbury its 640 quid

has the car been modded i.e performance filter and exhaust, if it has make sure its been mapped to run these mods otherwise the engine could be under a lot of strain from the overboost created.

im 23 and have a uk turbo 2000, by no means was it my dream car it kind of just happened, i always liked them but never thought i would own one.

with that said when i decided to get one i looked at many, most the ones i saw would have sold by the 2hour point of it being online, it didnt help that i only wanted a dark mica blue model so i was fairly fussy

in the end i found a nice one with low milage on a x plate for 5200 but i paid 4800 and i was happy to, i wanted a good turbo 2000, i didnt want a import which i could have got with the money but they were all older etc

if i was in your shoes i would wait a year or so to add some cash on top of your 2500 quid

but if you are dead set on this one i am sure there is a member of sidc who is local to you who will be only happy to have a look at the car with you.

ed

[subaru_lover_021]

thank you very much guys for everything you all have sed, the thing is i haven't looked for this car this is mate's friend car and i really don't know if its been abused or not i just past 4 weeks a go and got a Clio and driving it and it feel very bad i really don't like it and love to get one of these 2000 turbo beauty's , the thing is i don't know anything about the engine of these cars ( NOTHING ) i cant tell if its been abused or played with on pistonheads i found loads of these with less price of what am willing to pay and with less millage but really don't want to get something that gets broken down after a week , i know some of you guys own Subaru's for years and years and you know how the engine works and how you guys can tell its a good car or not , has anyone got a nice Subaru with the price am willing to pay for sale near northeast of England ? or is anyone in Durham or Newcastle or Gateshead Chester Le street can come and have a look at the car am going to buy?

and the thing is am a student , and i work part time and my dad is saying if i get this car he wont spent a penny on it and i only make £150 a week and have to travel 20miles a day to go to uni and come back home 20milas extra for going a around with my new turbo baby that's 40milas a day , and as you guys sed i might have to get new treys , service the car regularly cambelt ... do you guys think i can afford this car?

and before i buy the car what things should i be looking for ? what is the common abuse people do on these cars , and by abuse i don't understand like killing the car driving it all the time caz that's what i will be doing with mine ., what things should i be really looking for , does anyone from Northeast know any good local Subaru garages? so i can take the car there ?

there isn't many Subaru's in my area as i have looked everywhere for a good one they are all out side of north east and i have to travel to get the car and really dont have anyone who knows about these cars in my friends or family . what is the best thing to do ?

sorry guys for asking so many questions i just don't wanna lose out here .

thank you all for answering my questions and welcoming me to this very nice and friendly forum.

[wrxmania]

Can be expensive to run and I'd wait until you can afford unexpected bills etc. Also, 200 miles a week minimum will be £50 alone in fueldepending on how you drive - they are not economical cars.

It would be a shame to buy it, then it needs work done costing £500 and you can't afford to fix it and it gets scrapped.

I'd wait and do some work to your Clio to get used to driving it and make it handle better.. There will be Impreza's available for many years yet.

Brian

[subaru_lover_021]

thank you Brian,

thank you very much guys for everything you all have sed, the thing is i haven't looked for this car this is mate's friend car and i really don't know if its been abused or not i just past 4 weeks a go and got a Clio and driving it and it feel very bad i really don't like it and love to get one of these 2000 turbo beauty's , the thing is i don't know anything about the engine of these cars ( NOTHING ) i cant tell if its been abused or played with on pistonheads i found loads of these with less price of what am willing to pay and with less millage but really don't want to get something that gets broken down after a week , i know some of you guys own Subaru's for years and years and you know how the engine works and how you guys can tell its a good car or not , has anyone got a nice Subaru with the price am willing to pay for sale near northeast of England ? or is anyone in Durham or Newcastle or Gateshead Chester Le street can come and have a look at the car am going to buy?

and the thing is am a student , and i work part time and my dad is saying if i get this car he wont spent a penny on it and i only make £150 a week and have to travel 20miles a day to go to uni and come back home 20milas extra for going a around with my new turbo baby that's 40milas a day , and as you guys sed i might have to get new treys , service the car regularly cambelt ... do you guys think i can afford this car?

and before i buy the car what things should i be looking for ? what is the common abuse people do on these cars , and by abuse i don't understand like killing the car driving it all the time caz that's what i will be doing with mine ., what things should i be really looking for , does anyone from Northeast know any good local Subaru garages? so i can take the car there ?

there isn't many Subaru's in my area as i have looked everywhere for a good one they are all out side of north east and i have to travel to get the car and really dont have anyone who knows about these cars in my friends or family . what is the best thing to do ?

sorry guys for asking so many questions i just don't wanna lose out here .

thank you all for answering my questions and welcoming me to this very nice and friendly forum.

[tony_eldridge]

and the thing is am a student , and i work part time and my dad is saying if i get this car he wont spent a penny on it and i only make £150 a week and have to travel 20miles a day to go to uni and come back home 20milas extra for going a around with my new turbo baby that's 40milas a day , and as you guys sed i might have to get new treys , service the car regularly cambelt ... do you guys think i can afford this car?

No.

You sound like your desperate to get hold of the first turbo that comes up. Not a good way to start. Do your self a favour and forget about getting one of these before YOU can afford it, not getting daddy to cover your a*** when bills mount up! And they will. Especially if you have so little money a week to keep it tip top.

My GF owns a Clio, nothing sporty just a 1.2 and you know what, i do more miles in that than i do my scoob! Enjoy something small and chuckable, learn to drive, and then when you have some proper no claims and some more income go to town and get an STi

Just my 2p worth. I know people do as they please anyway.

P.s i don't mean to be negative, but you'll enjoy scooby ownership so much more when you do it off your own back!

[darryl_martin]

Some very sound advice above

It generally takes me some time to find a car. First scoob took me a number of months, I did some research, different models, different mods/specs etc. I was also recognised by the local dealer as they weren't that far from where I worked and so over those months I made several trips to wander round the forecourt in my lunch breaks. Gave me an idea of what was about and what I could get. Eventually I had built up funds and found a well pampered example. (car was 4 years old, one owner had it for the first year, second owner had it for the remaining three, covered around 4000 miles a year and got it serviced religiously every six months at subaru, every 2000 miles...)

So one of the things I recommend is to take your time and don't buy the first one you see. Sometimes it's even worth trying to find what you think is a bad one, just so you know! Personally I would never sell a car to a friend, just incase something happenned. I also wouldn't buy a car from a friend for the same reasons, you may also feel obliged to let things go, "he's my mate it'll be ok" sort of thing. Just my opinion.

Don't feel you'll lose out on anything. Even if you miss a good one it just makes you more choosy next time as you want to match the spec and price of the one you missed, which isn't a bad thing. If it's a bit cheaper, good, if it's more expensive you start bargaining, but, there WILL always be another.

If you take a bit of time to find a good one, subaru ownership should be a long, happy, good experience, and a fair bit of fun! If you stumble on a bad one, and it's your first experience, it could easily put you off for life, a very different story. (And leave your wallet very very empty...)

Edited January 26, 2010 by Padtwo