Impreza Classic Owners Past and Present Check In.

ScoobyDoo69 said:
I really don't think you should be considering an Impreza with 115k miles on it.. I don't think you should be considering an Impreza at all to be honest. Seriously take on board what merlin is saying, don't buy another performance car for a little while
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Quoted for the truth. Don't do it. They are not the car to be running on a budget, just like any other car of this type.

Have you actually been and sat in a classic Impreza? You will be in for a bit of an eye opener for the interior quality (although you are going from a Vauxhall). :p
 
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Nice car, but i would go with a later bugeye or something for around the same price if you can ... get a UK WRX bug spend £300 on an OS custom map, downpipe & uppipe £300 285/300 30mpg if driven nice :cool: But yeh that RB5 is nice

Have you actually been and sat in a classic Impreza? You will be in for a bit of an eye opener for the interior quality (although you are going from a Vauxhall).
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Interior quality aint that important (for me anyway), the car dont need a little screen telling you what day it is and how cold it is outside its the drivability, sound, power delivery and grip, oh and + they are awesome to drive
 
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Pulsar_GTI said:
Interior quality aint that important (for me anyway), the car dont need a little screen telling you what day it is and how cold it is outside its the drivability, sound, power delivery and grip, oh and + they are awesome to drive
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Granted it might not be for you, but it's something he needs to consider before commiting to looking at this type of car with the budget in mind.

Yes they are awesome to drive but they haven't aged well at all, and having a child in the car I would also be very concerned about passenger saftey if you were to have an accident. This type of car 'can' feel like you have ability which you do not actually posses so the likely hood for an accident could increase ten fold, expecially considering his driving style in the Vectra.
 
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anticonscience said:
Granted it might not be for you, but it's something he needs to consider before commiting to looking at this type of car with the budget in mind.

Yes they are awesome to drive but they haven't aged well at all, and having a child in the car I would also be very concerned about passenger saftey if you were to have an accident. This type of car 'can' feel like you have ability which you do not actually posses so the likely hood for an accident could increase ten fold, expecially considering his driving style in the Vectra.
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True, good points

There are a safe car though, the newer the better ... the bug got a 'good' rating in some government testing which is about 4 stars (cant find it on the net now though)
 
I'm just looking over this again and I'm sorry but I have to laugh:

"So what im trying to work out is how quickly my pot will get depleted."

How about you go and spend £2-3k on a nice diesel, remap it for a little bit of extra torques (:p) and then bank the rest. Keep it in the bank, and keep adding to it, so then in a year or so's time, you can dip into it properly, or better yet, if you have debt use this pot of money to pay it off and then have less outgoings in total! Then when you have these lowers out goings, you can put your extra cash back into this pot and do the performance car thing properly!
 
merlin said:
How many miles do you do per annum?

Because frankly that RB5 is going to be dead in around 30,000 - 40,000 miles.
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This is the sort of usefull advice i was looking for

I confess, i know sod all about them. I dont want to be driving a ticking time bomb that will be dead in potentially 2 years time ish leaving me dreading the day it goes boom.

So thats that idea then

St220 or Accord 2.4 it is then. Just wishing something more exciting was affordable.

Reluctant to get an older diesel, as they can gerenate just as many huge bills an older petrol. Swirl flaps to eat, turbos to blow, dual mass flywheels to fail, EGR valves to clog up etc..
 
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It still makes no sense to change the car you currently have IMHO. You are now even saying the situation you are in wont last forever, which makes this whole thing even more pointless, how much more are you expecting to go wrong with the VXR?

At least you aren't buying an Impreza anymore. :)
 
I need to make an effort to reduce the costs.

Because the 4 year service on the vectra is due in May time, and involves new spark plugs and involves removing the inlet manifold, and its a major service as well, so all the other bits and pieces get changed. Brake discs will proably need changing at the next set of pads, and thats another £350 right there. Not got quotes on the service yet but removing manifold will add to the labour charges.

I just cant promise her that there arent any more big bills around the corner. As sometime next year it'll need another set of front tyres at £240 for the pair. If that comes at the same time as the discs and pads i wont be being fair to my family.

[TW]Fox;15491102 said:
I really think the ST220 is a great car, you are under-rating it.
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I think i need a good dose of perspective.

i drove the ST220 after driving the VXR, and it didnt have nearly as much mid range punch due to the lack of turbo. But its still a 150mph v6 performance saloon that will crack 60 in about 7 seconds. its also quicker on a lap of a circuit than the VXR. So its not slow.

Possibly go and test drive something boring like a 2.0 Mondeo Zetec To get some perspective :)
 
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Any potential buyer will use all this to hammer you down on price of they are savy (which buying that type of car you would assume they will be).

I fully understand where you are coming from though, I have been there done that and will hopefully come out the other side in two years time (curse the family) ;) I've been through a ZR160 to a Laguna to a 206 GTI to a MK2 Mondeo Ghia x to a 330i so I've had fun but they haven't been as exciting as an Impreza (aside from the 330i and it went when our first was due), and when money isn't an issue when the other half starts working again I shall get something else that is a little different. :D

I think you just need to buy something a little mundane for a while until the situation changes and then get something special then. You will not regret it honestly. Banking the money from the sale and adding to the pot so when the situation changes you can get something truely great will be very rewarding.
 
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How much cheaper is a mondeo 2.0 or Renault laguna 1.9 or whatever going to be to run than an ST220.

Add up the cost over a year and i bet it wont be substantially more than the £300 a year ive saved in tyres + tax on the vectra.
 
MrLOL said:
i drove the ST220 after driving the VXR, and it didnt have nearly as much mid range punch due to the lack of turbo. But its still a 150mph v6 performance saloon that will crack 60 in about 7 seconds. its also quicker on a lap of a circuit than the VXR. So its not slow.

Possibly go and test drive something boring like a 2.0 Mondeo Zetec To get some perspective :)
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I said you'd find it slow. I dont see the point in going half arsed with an ST220. Get that 2.0 Zetec you speak of and keep it until your situation changes as you have mentioned it will :) You can buy one for peanuts and barely even bother servicing it.
 
merlin said:
You might get the odd (and I mean the odd) stock (200bhp) Classic 150k - 200k on the clock, but show me a 200k RB5 and I'll show you a forward clocked car :p
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It's all about the maintenance and not revving the nuts off when cold, if you look on the Scooby community forums you may well find some high mileage cars that are still running perfectly fine.
The Yanks have been getting the, admittedly, non-classic, STis to high mileage
 
Are you going to keep it forever or buy it and maybe add a few mods here and there.

If its the latter, buy a limited edition but low miles - not that RB5.

Its the former, buy a well looked after but cheap UK turbo Impreza.

If you take long journies, then the low gearing of the RAs is a PITA - it was for me anyway.

An STI does give you some extra goodies but its higher insurance, high risk of expensive bills and mostly not much history.

A UK car has the most suitable box for UK roads and if you do spend, then its hardly going to be big bucks to get it to STI power.

330HP is easily achieved on £2K - although if you've only paid £3K for the car you must ask yourself if its worth it.

No interest whatsoever in an ST220 personally.

They can take miles if looked after, they don't eat tyres, they are not a bomb on wheels and they are not death traps for children.

EDIT - sorry, hadn't realised the Impreza idea had been canned - still wouldn't consider one but then I see classic Impreza through rose tinted goggles so don't trust a word I say :)
 
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Buy a mint classic with fsh and acceptable mileage (under 70k), you should be able to get one for £3500 - £4000. They are not expensive to maintain, its just the fuel costs, but they are no worse than your vectra. Ive said before on here, nothing has ever gone wrong with mine and its nearly 10 years old now, owned it for over 4 years.
Cant recommend these enough if you want a fun car for cheap.
 
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