Older Subaru Impreza, what do I need to know?

Going to look at one tomorrow. On the face of it, it’s a bargain. (Well, it’s fairly priced for it’s age, but it’s still a LOT of car for the money, if you understand my meaning!)
I’ve just spoken to the seller and he seems genuine, but I know little about these cars. It’s a 1996 2.0GL estate, not a fast turbo model. Not sure on the miles but it’s at least 77k and there seems to be a fair history with it.

I’m not expecting it to be that efficient on fuel as it’s an auto and I don’t care about that really, but I just want a car that will last a few months minimum without big bills. Or preferably ANY bills other than fuel and insurance

I know my way around cars in general but are there any specific weak points I should check?

Thanks in advance. 🙂

EDIT
Identical to this one, even the colour

I’m not expecting it to be that efficient on fuel as it’s an auto and I don’t care about that really, but I just want a car that will last a few months minimum without big bills. Or preferably ANY bills other than fuel and insurance

Always going to be a bit of a lottery with one that age. I broke both front coils on mine, seem to remember going through a few rear pads, but otherwise reliable. Was a pretty good car in it’s day, but that was a long time ago.
Oh, and insurance group was higher than I expected, as well.

They’re a lot smaller inside than you’d imagine- more akin to hatchback than estate.

Not enough air scoops, sponsors, or gold on it Pete….!

DrP

There’s no way that Scooby’s going to get any teenage girls soggy in the drip tray.

16 years old, only pay for the length of the MOT 🙂

Aren’t Scooby spares £££?

I would avoid, far better makes about for the money.

Scooby spares are only expensive if it’s a dealer only item. I’ve found most stuff on my legacy to be comparible to similar size cars.

Very solid in general. My legacy which uses a lot of the same/very similar parts is nearly at 100k. Original exhaust, clutch… Second set of brake discs. Nothing goes wrong really! As long as its had regular oil changes it will prob be done. Might need a rear diff oil change if nit already done.

That’s done it, mine’s going bang tmw!

And the handy thing about 4wd is the tyres last forever, even driven enthusiastically.

Wouldn’t bother with any form of older car with an auto box. They are a just such a PITA.

Apart from that, can’t remember anything bad about them, think we had a 2.0 GLX for a while, then got a legacy quad cam turbo, then a WRX…. and then I grew up lol.

The boggo 2.0 is a solid engine, even makes the right noises, but suspension and everything else is very soggy and barely sporty at all. they sell like crazy in AUS because of their ease of maintenance, agricultural background and mild AWD system (makes light work of a loaded vehicle at 60mph on gravel roads).
If its under £500 and auto box feel’s strong (doesn’t drop all the gears every time you go near the throttle) then go for it. Think they are very well corrosion protected too (unlike even relatively recent mercs & fords).

Wouldn’t bother with any form of older car with an auto box. They are a just such a PITA.

That is THE WHOLE REASON I’m buying one. I’ve just broken my ankle again and I need an auto. Saw a Golf for £500 but they aren’t ringing me back. I’m buying on condition, it’s got a full MOT, it’s described as immaculate, it’s had all the consumables recently replaced. It taxed and insurance is £20 more than a Golf for me. Scoobys us have a good rep which is why I’m considering it. 🙂

The boggo 2.0 is a solid engine, even makes the right noises, but suspension and everything else is very soggy and barely sporty at all. they sell like crazy in AUS because of their ease of maintenance, agricultural background and mild AWD system (makes light work of a loaded vehicle at 60mph on gravel roads).

That sounds really positive. Thanks. I don’t give a toss about ‘sporty’.

I had a ’94 1.8 AWD that had done 197,000 miles before it was run into and written off about 4 or 5 years ago. Totally great car. Had it for a couple of years, did 40,000+ miles in it, biggest expense was a new clutch but fitted it with a friend as it was so easy to work on. Have a good look for rust around the wheel arches. I’d buy another if I could find a nice one and could afford the petrol!

haha I used to be really into cars, but then I looked at how much I was spending a year for a piece of metal I didn’t care much about (and neither did anyone else, my 20vT coupe attracked door dents like a magnet), and I’d rather spend the cash on doing something more interesting, like traveling, riding and beer!!!

The thing I’m driving at minute (apart from last week when ignition coil went, all of £23 to replace and its good as new again), I’m about to drill holes through roof to fit the factory roof rack as for some reason VW/Seat didn’t put the holes in it when it was built, weird. Self tappers + big washers FTW!

Thanks Wille. Sounds positive. Put it this way: we bought a 55 reg Focus at under 3 years old and it’s already cost more in repairs than this car and will soon need another £4-500 spending on it and has lost £1000 a year in depreciation….

I’d rather spend the cash on doing something more interesting, like traveling, riding and beer!!!

So would I. And I do. But to do that I need to work to earn money. And I can’t get to my work without a car. (different place every week, 250 miles away next week, with a 7am start time in the middle if nowhere when I get there) And if I don’t work I do t get paid. So I NEED a cheap auto car for a while. See? 🙂

I’ve got the next generation boggo 2.0 estate, and having owned `your’ version, is basically a facelift as far as i can tell.

Based on my experience just make sure the cambelt has been changed in the last couple of years, and brake pads need changing as little as every 20k. Oh, and the gear box of course. I get around 32mpg.

With winter tyres and its low ratio box, will put some so called 4×4’s to shame.

I was gonna yell ‘boy racer’ then I saw you’ve broken your ankle. 🙁 That’s really rubbish so best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Based on my experience just make sure the cambelt has been changed in the last couple of years,

It has

and brake pads need changing as little as every 20k.

New discs and pads apparently

I get around 32mpg.

Seems reasonable. Work are paying me 45p/mile for it so I don’t care too much about the fuel. I just need a car that’ll knock off 500+ miles a week on mostly motorway. There’s loads of cheap autos around but I’ve spent most of the day whittling it down to 2 cars that I can get to see tomorrow, that hopefully won’t need anything spending in them, and that won’t be utter slugs with an auto box. 🙂

Cheers CG. 🙂

I had the manual version of this still ‘pine after it’ had to trade it in for VW Sharan as the Impreza only had a centre lap belt in the rear. From memory used to get about 325 miles on a full tank going down to about 250 if driven ‘enthusiastically’. Mine had the hi-lo ratio box and it was very good, used it for work so lots of farm tracks, driving across fields, etc.

Did I say I really loved this car, although the present work vehicle,55 plate Hyundai Santa Fe, is possibly my new love!

Shall we swap login names ? 😮

Shall we swap login names ?

I must admit I was thinking of you when I was looking at the car advert! 🙂

Just been to see it. Didn’t buy it. There’s an interesting and rather odd story behind it too. I’ll report in detail later, but it’s worth a giggle….. Sort of.

Haunted?

It’s not one Hora’s owned is it ?

Oh, and my 03 plate is for sale too, but its not an auto. 😕

Buy my Focus. OK it’s not an auto but it can’t change gear so ideal for your purposes.

FSH by WCA ? 🙂

I’ll start a new thread when I get home. This story is worth a wider audience.

If you want a good, cheap auto, look at an older 5 series.

As proimsed, it’s worth a read:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-ive-had-an-interesting-afternoon-abuse-content#post-3894308