Wrx?

[Crowbob]

I'm thiking about helping somebody out by buying an '03 WRX from him with some suspension and exhaust upgrades. !40,000K miles in good to very good shape. Good idea? Thoughts? Advice?

[BReif61]

That all depends on the price, honestly. They can be fun, but have a reputation for blowing out their gearboxes of over-tuned. Fun cars, though

[Bugsinrugs]

My 04 is all stock.220,000 miles trouble free. I would buy another one but they have gotten quite pricey.

[Norm K]

Originally Posted by BReif61

That all depends on the price, honestly. They can be fun, but have a reputation for blowing out their gearboxes if over-tuned. Fun cars, though

Kinda like every other marque.

I live in the Subaru capitol of the world, have one in our household and know many, many people who drive them. Seriously reliable cars. The one in our home belongs to one of my sons; it's heavily modded, as are many of his friends' Subies and is still dead reliable. If the car Crowbob is looking at appears to be clean and to run strong it would likely be one he could count on.

[Rick V]

Great car, it can be a serous machine and even modded to the hilt it will be around for a long time as long as you don't abuse it. 99.9% of the gear box issues from modded ones are driver error, clutch dumping, tire spinning and just general crap driving.
I would love to have one as a daily, I say gopher it

[onewhippedpuppy]

Great cars. If the mods are done properly and with quality parts, it should be a non-issue. Go for it!

[Crowbob]

OK. I can't beleive I didn't post a price. 10K. I don't need this car but would use it as a fun summer daily driver. Sounds like I should get more history and look at it closer. Around here, these things going for anywhere from 8K to 13K. I also found out it has 104,000 miles. From the comments it seems I'm in the ballpark.

[Rick V]

The only thing that would concern me is the location, they are great in snow but salt will kill one and Subi has several different recalls for rust, make sure to get a solid look under it, especially the rear sub frame and front control arms. Take a strong spring loaded center punch with you and see if it will perforate any of the areas. If they are solid, you should be as well

[Crowbob]

No rust. But it reeks of cig. smoke. How do you get rid of that? This car really scoots once its moving! Scary quick but stiff has heck. The roads around here are in bad shape and getting worse. NOT built for comfort. Very low profile tires and 3 of the wheels are very good, one is in OK shape. It's almost impossible not to drive it hard so my guess is the prior and current owners beat on it. It shifts smooth, very slight whine in second. Left fog lamp is intermittent (loose connection) and left front spoiler/fender is loose. It's coming out of storage in a couple weeks.

I'd probably raise it up a bit and put bigger tires to soften the ride. For a DD I don't need my teeth shaking loose. Blue with gold wheels, no badges and has tinted windows.

[Rick V]

I hate cig smoke, and I smoked for 35 years and still hated it then. The few cars I have bought like that got instantly gutted, all the way to the metal and the inside was washed like the outside would be. Every part was cleaned before being installed, this includes all the duct work. Steam clean the carpet and line dry it.

[calimedeiros]

I bought a 02 last year here in Canada for 3800 blue with 290000 km on it bone stock it's my third wrx
but even modded for an 03 I would not pay 10 k unless it's in mint shape with a Sti swap
with these cars you need patients as people hold on to them for a decent wrx you can get one for around 6 7 k with mods

[onewhippedpuppy]

Around here that would be a $6k car from the sound of it. You can pretty regularly find unmolested cars with under 100k for under $10k. The more Fast and Furious the less desirable they are. I say keep looking.

[SCadaddle]

My current fleet includes 3 Legacy Outbacks. They've been extremely dependable vehicles requiring minimum maintenance. Have a cousin with an '03 WRX, original owner adult owned with only mods being dealer installed suspension upgrades. Car has less than 25k miles. Since getting married he no longer drives it. Is considering selling it but won't give me a number. I'm a bit hesitant to throw out a number on a car that hasn't been driven recently that I'm sure will require work due to it being idle for so long.

[Crowbob]

Thank you all for your help and knowledge. I'm not really looking for a car. The guy needs to sell and I thought I could help him out by buying it from him. He's going to put it on the market first.

[wdfifteen]

I always thought of them as the Mini Cooper of the new millennium. I'd have one for $10k, just for the grins. There was a kid at a DE with me last summer who spun one on the warm up lap. After the session we were joking around and I said, "Dude, that's why they call it a warm up lap." He said it was just so much fun he couldn't resist. That's the kind of car to play with.