So bangernomics, max fun for min money?

My little renault had an rmr layout,
And my brother was convinced if my mum bought one she would kill herself.

Would have to be big petrol engined beamer, & ideally an estate.

How about this old Beastie of a Mistubishi Starion on fleabay

Hairy chested turbo charged rear wheel action? A bit long in the tooth mind…

350bhp Impreza wagon. £2200.

Porsche humbling performance and you can throw a bike in the boot.

That’s the risk you take though isn’t it. If you’re going to try and run something like that on the cheap you’d do well to have a self employed mechanic who’s easy to pay. For the sake of argument though, if the gearbox did go bang on that merc it’s not necessarily the end of the world. Second hand gearbox from a scrappers, or break the car yourself. A decent AMG engine is probably worth £5000 on a good day. And since dealer parts are so expensive there will be a demand for used parts, and they’ll comand good money so you’d come out of it alright. Maybe

Yes, maybe – or ebay with a 99p start and get £300.

My mechanic suggested the easiest/cheapest way to find the problem was to turn the car upside down and take the sump off the box – he was ex-BMW too, and remember when the car originally came out that they had a load of problems with them, a new engine/gearbox use to turn up on a pallet from Germany and the owner would be none the wiser.

I do love the idea of a Subaru, but i don’t know much about them. Is a cheap Impreza Turbo a good idea, or a disaster waiting to happen?

Just saw a red Starion at the supermarket and thought of his thread!!

Japanese build, relatively simple mechanicals and I love the look of them. You’ll find me on Ebay…

Duffer
I do love the idea of a Subaru, but i don’t know much about them. Is a cheap Impreza Turbo a good idea, or a disaster waiting to happen?

There’s no straightforward answer. On one hand they are reasonably common, and the second hand market for cars and parts is big. They’ll always sell. Cross compatibility between models and years is good, but not exactly lego as people often describe. Complete engines can be had for £500 for a used uk turbo to maybe 3-5k for a 2.5ltr sti engine good for 400bhp with minimal mods. Most maintenance items are pretty cheap, eg. an oem clutch will be 2-300 quid.

UK turbos are relatively slow, and uninspiring in standard trim, frequently modified and it’s hard to find clean ones. WRX STI gen one are all imports if memory serves and are a very different car mechanically. Much more desirable, quite a bit rarer and you’ll have a better chance of getting an older/sensible/enthusiast owner and these are probably going to worth decent money in a few years.

If I had the luxury of buying a Subaru as a weekend car I’d buy a Legacy RS Turbo. Ultimate sleeper and future classic.

Braaaaap!

The Subaru is wonderful car … The inside is very budget Japanese
And running costs are frightening …..

mrmoofo
The Subaru is wonderful car … The inside is very budget Japanese
And running costs are frightening …..

Certainly not a frugal choice for an everyday car but as a performance car you can use every day, in all conditions there is nothing that comes close in terms of speed vs price.

I would agree the interior on impreza’s is very basic. If you want subaru performance an some creature comforts later Legacy’s are much more refined and very very quick.