Buying A Wrx

[Mat]

Look at the TMIC, turbo and intake to see if its been modded previously and removed. Pretty common mod. In the taxi's you get a decent turbo. most wrx's run a TD04. Easy 13 second turbo but will struggle to get into the 12's (BUT it is possible)

Clutches tend to get tired but that's to be expected with 8-10 y/o cars.

The gearboxes arent to bad if you have a bit of mechanically sympathy BUT Check the gearbox oil. **IF ITS BLUE DO NOT BUY IT**

Redline smurf snot box oil. Its not cheap stuff (about $140 for 5l) but its a bulletproof way to hide any gearbox noises and crunches Its a great box oil but from the photo's I've seen it can cause more long term damage if u dont change it often.

See how much boost its running. If its over 12-14psi (roughly 1 bar +/-) it's either running an ecu (link, autronic, motec, unichip etc) or its got a manual bleed valve. They dont mind a bit of boost but bleed valves arent cool-especially on cool nights when you hit boost-cut. You change the boost but the fueling etc stays the same as standard.

Over oiled filters can cause major headaches with the MY99-00 AFM, so def keep an eye on that.

Other things like coloured smoke from the exhaust, oil leaks around rocker covers etc, belt condition, missing heat sheild. Cut front bars (for FMIC's), Brake pads / rotors. Just basic stuff that you would check in ever car. Ohh also the aerial. The cars which seemed thrashed most all have bent aerials

Brakes are the same but the MY99 has a more aggresive standard tune

They've pretty much all been thrashed but as long as its been thrashed properly they wont die. Mines done 180K kms and its smashed rev limiter a fair few times (big flames in the freeway tunnels FTW), done maybe 20 track days, a few drag nights etc

From what I can gather (and many of my mates have them) its once you start raising the boost that you run into problems. 16psi might be ok, but its funny that my mates who all run more have done big ends etc etc

Nice fun cars when set up right. Basic mods, 1200kgs, coilovers, brakes and suspension mods and you have a lil weekend toy!

Edited 06/02/08 01:56 PM by Mat

[Dillz]

I was looking into one also mate, most of the rex boys said the best way to go is chase a 1 or 2 owner STI. Usually STI's are bought by older blokes with more money so more often then not they have been looked after and are only being sold to update. Also STI's have stronger parts so it's not AS expensive to up the boost safely compared to a normal WRX. After looking into it abit you really start to appreciate how cheap our T's are to mod and how well they take to modding.

[bcl]

I still have a MY00 STi, which I bought new.

If not modified a STi would definitely be a much better option than a stock rex. However, I'd expect that most would have been modified.

However, it came with a 5-speed, which was not very strong, and I replaced with a 6-speed.

Brian

[Dillz]

I can't stand the Bug eyes Brian, 2000 are bug eyes arn't they?

[bcl]

Note MY99 came out in October 1998, MY00 came out in October 1999, MY01 came out in October 2000.

No MY00 is definitely NOT bug eye... it is the old style and only 1260kg.

Up to MY96 they used a bigger Mitsubishi turbo, so easy to mod.

MY97 (I bought one) they went to smaller turbo, and completely new ecu.

MY98/99/00 not a lot of change; mainly interior, but improved front brakes over MY97.

Bug eye was introduced with MY01. It is a heap of garbage. Never buy one.

It was structurally stronger than MY00, but weight jumped to 1390kg. Subaru kept the MY00 gearing, so it was a slug as well as butt ugly. Interior was better.

In the MY02 Subaru lowered the gearing to make it go better, but it was still butt ugly.

MY03 was a big improvement; bug eye gone, new front end and variable valve timing introduced; went good and I owned one; performance on par with BA XR6T.

It wasn't until MY06 that Subaru introduced the 2.5 litre, and revised shape again. I have a MY06 STi (wifes car). Weight has grown to 1500kg, but still goes around corners far better than my F6's.

MY08 they have just revised the shape again.

I'll probably buy a MY09 STi (for wife), although maybe a BMW 135i (sorry to digress as usual).

So a stock MY98/99/00 would be OK; bypass MY01/02 bug eye; MY03 is a very good car if you can get one for a good price.

STi from MY01 to MY05 have 2 litres, but very laggy. 2L motor is very smooth, and revs cleaner than 2.5L.

MY99/00 STi 2L motors are fantastic, rev cleanly to 8000 revs.

Brian

[byi]

This is a very useful site http://members.tripod.com/wrx_act/tech/wrx_faq.htm Perhaps your friend could consider a Galant VR-4 if he is struggling to find a decent Impreza.

[nang3]

I picked up an immaculate 2L 03 WRX early last year for the missus with about 30K kms on it for about $26-27K IIRC.. only mods are 3" catback and the 'resinatorectomy' mod I think.. goes pretty nicely and really purrs... sounds awesome when you step on the loud pedal too !!!

[Mat]

  XRTPSI said:

After looking into it abit you really start to appreciate how cheap our T's are to mod and how well they take to modding.

Agreed.

While I ran 13.5 in my wrx when it was standard to get it to go much quicker you need to upgrade ecu, turbo, fmic / tmics, clutches etc etc. IMHO they are a fairly expensive car to own.

The engines arent to bad but most are getting tired and popping. That said the EJ207 from the STi's are GREAT engines. Love to rev and one of the perth wrx guys is running almost 3 bar of boost through his stock engine (extensive R&D with rest of the car though).

FWIW my wrx weighs 1220kgs in full street trim. (almost full tank and crap like tools in boot!!). Cant go wrong with that!

[jsmith]

I just remebered, IF you can get to the front pulley easy enough, use a screwdriver to check for end float of the crank. Apparently certain year models (unsure which ones) had massive problems wearing the crank thrust bearings and the brg's would then drop into the sump causing like 10mm end float and all kinds of dramas.

[Iconic Bionic]

I'd like to replace the misses lil Mazda with a WRX or EVO one day. The WRX gets a bad name but is still a very good car and all round package. Boxer engine very expensive to fix and maintain when they wear out. TYpe of car you' rather have as new then from someone as they have all been thrashed like a rental.

I.B.