I'm on the cusp of buying a late 2005 (facelift) Impreza STi Type-UK.
31000 miles, full service history (I had a thumb through it), has had a couple of little tweaks done like a dump valve and uprated air intake, but basically standard.
It's a private sale through the dealer, he's asking £11K, no warranty, that'll be another £450 for twelve months. (Price seems pretty good, if Autotrader and scoobynet are anything to go by.)
Pic attached (forgive the appalling quality of it, it's the only one the dealer has on their (circa-1994 design) website).
It's had the Subaru CD unit taken out and a decent Pioneer head unit put in its place, which is great for me as I love my MP3s and saves me a job. (MP3s in car = 100% essential.)
Taking it for a test drive tomorrow, and if that goes OK I reckon I'll go for it.
With it being Group 20 I've obviously got some insurance quotes upfront and was surprised to see the cheapest come in at £490 (especially with my speeding conviction three years ago, fuckers), then again we are the lowest risk postcode in the UK for theft and similar shenanigans.
I know it's awful on petrol, especially when driven 'properly', but I can live with that, I want a decent fast car before I get too old and/or the oil runs out, whereby it's an electric tram to get to work or nothing.
I've checked out my usual haunts for reviews and things to look out for (Parkers, honestjohn, Yahoo Cars), but they all just say that apart from obvious abuse and really pimped out ones, you can't go too far wrong.
I've had Mrs AE and AE Jnr sat in the back and they both found it agreeable enough, (if not as family friendly as the C-Max, but hey, this is my early mid life crisis and I'm having it, dammit!), AE Jnr cheerfully seatbelted her Barbie doll into the middle seat in the back and said 'Daddy silver car! Close door! Drive silver car daddy!' which we took as about the best endorsement we'll get off her.
So anyone got any experience with Scoobies? I know about the reputation they've got but that doesn't really apply so much over here, and to my mind generally only with the original 90s ones which are into chav-affordable territory now, often ragged stupid, and look (and sound) visibly abused.
Anything I should be looking out for on the test drive? (They'll let me take it out by myself, so I can give it a proper workout on derestricted roads
)
I'm pretty much sold on it to be honest, so short of bits falling off it or the engine sounding like a bag of spanners, I can't imagine much will put me off now unless anyone can advise of problems with the car or stuff that might cause me to hate it a few months down the line.
And that said, is there a better car to go for in the category? (£10-£15K, works as family transport but also fun to drive.) Others I'm considering are the Focus ST, Mazda RX-8, Peugeot 207 GTi (175), Mk V Golf GTi, Honda Civic Type-R (the new space age looking one).
Cheers!