mate

I was thinking of part-exchanging it. But if you're after some more info, it's an mk5 02 reg, totally standard with no mods and the colour is panther black. This isn't my car, but it looks pretty much the same:

Hmm. I think the comparison is valid. I enjoy driving as a rule and obviously the Impreza has more of everything - power, grip, etc... But driving home from work on some random Thursday afternoon during the rush hour, bumper to bumper all the way, it's not really gonna matter what you're driving. I mean, there's not a lot of driving pleasure to be taken from that. Don't get me wrong, I'd love an Impreza, but it's one of those heart says yes, head says no situations simply because I don't think it'd be very sensible from a financial standpoint. No one has really talked about having to make sacrifices and that, frankly, makes it all a bit of a head-scratcher for me. A lot of you on this forum seem to be over 25, so surely you must have a mortgage or rent to pay, on top of bills and loads of other expenses besides your car. How do you manage it? Have you taken out loans? Are you in debt? What about savings? Aren't you WORRIED that, despite the pleasure it brings you, it's mostly dead money when spending on cars?

Thanks for your insight David. I won't be rushing into buying anything. That's why I didn't really go into specifics about dealerships as I won't be buying the one I saw, even though I'm tempted. I only recently taxed and insured my current motor and (touch wood) there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Do any of you find that you have to make sacrifices in order to cover your motoring costs? Or end up without much money in your pocket because of the car you drive? The trouble with me is that I have quite a short attention span and I'm worried that if I did buy one, the novelty would wear off after a couple of months and I'd regret spending so much money on a car. I also plan on buying a house in the near future and it's nice to have the money for smaller luxury items and to be able to have nights out and trips away. Basically to be able to do what I want, when I want and still have a bit tucked away just in case I fall on hard times. I might sound like a miser, but it's the way I've been brought up. Enjoy it by all means, but don't waste your money away. For a guy working in an average paid job, I'm not sure that owning an Impreza WRX Saloon would be "sensible".

Thanks for the reply Iain. I don't like taking short cuts and would be buying from a reputable dealership, so yeah, I'd expect that it would come with warranty, although the exact details and for how long I don't know. Over the last couple of years I've been doing 8000-9000 miles per year, so around about 170 miles per month lets say - would you be able to estimate how much I'd need to spend on petrol per month? At the minute, with my Fiesta, I'm "only" spending £75-100 per month. The price of petrol is a bit ridiculous just lately...

Hi everyone, I'm Jimmy. 24 years old from the south east of england. I currently drive a Fiesta Zetec-S, but I've been thinking about getting a new car for a while and the Impreza is quite appealing to me. I'm a complete novice in regards to actual knowledge about them however, so that's why I've joined this site to hopefully get some advice. There's an 05 reg 2.0L WRX Turbo selling at a local garage for £11k and this is the kind of thing I'm looking at rather than the top of the range 2.5L version. I also looked for an insurance quote and the best I got was for £1300. This is okay, but I'm also concerned about general day-to-day running. Are they gas guzzlers? How much do you guys spend on petrol per month on average? Also, are they reliable? Do you have to be prepared to spend a lot of money having them serviced, etc? ...And one last thing -- does everyone embrace the term 'Scoob/Scooby' ?