new member, thinking of an STI

[desert2007]

hey guys, nice place you got here. Im an 18 year old student at MMI (motorcycle mechanics institute) in phoenix arizona. i currently drive a 96 honda civic with a share of aftermarket parts, and problems lol. Still got the gutless SOHC motor in it. Im planning on getting a new car in a few months, not brand new but new to me. One that came to mind was the impreza wrx sti. Ive never been a fan of the from the factory race car, more of a builder you know. But i like the looks of the subie and that its a sedan. I found an 04 on auto trader with afew goodies, bbs rims, FMIC, greddy boost controller, intake, exhaust, defi guages, cd deck, speakers, box and amp in the back, in blue, great condition for 19,000. Thinking about getting it if its around later on.

What you guys think?

[wrxtreme06]

eh. i'd maybe start off with a wrx. i'm not really a fan of younger people getting powerful cars that may be too much to handle

oh and 19k is way too cheap.

[krex]

hey guys, nice place you got here. Im an 18 year old student at MMI (motorcycle mechanics institute) in phoenix arizona. i currently drive a 96 honda civic with a share of aftermarket parts, and problems lol. Still got the gutless SOHC motor in it. Im planning on getting a new car in a few months, not brand new but new to me. One that came to mind was the impreza wrx sti. Ive never been a fan of the from the factory race car, more of a builder you know. But i like the looks of the subie and that its a sedan. I found an 04 on auto trader with afew goodies, bbs rims, FMIC, greddy boost controller, intake, exhaust, defi guages, cd deck, speakers, box and amp in the back, in blue, great condition for 19,000. Thinking about getting it if its around later on.

What you guys think?

I'd stay away from it. The greddy BC turns me off right away. It's just safer to raise boost using EM than a straight BC.

Out of curiosity, if you like modding, why are you looking at at already-modded car?

[desert2007]

eh. i'd maybe start off with a wrx. i'm not really a fan of younger people getting powerful cars that may be too much to handle

i understand that, but ive been behind the wheel of a trophy truck with 500 HP before, that was too much to handle, but luckily the bumper was stronger than the bush LOL. im pretty sure i could handle it, i race desert on a quad semi-pro, which i know has no relation to a car or driving on the road but it helps sharpen the senses.

Eric.

[desert2007]

I'd stay away from it. The greddy BC turns me off right away. It's just safer to raise boost using EM than a straight BC.

Out of curiosity, if you like modding, why are you looking at at already-modded car?

not neccesarily looking for an already modded car but this one was the cheapest STI close to me and seemed to be in the best condition, the others that were 03's and one 05 were around 22-26k.

[jeffmm06]

Actually its not too cheap. KBB says an 04 stock with 80k on the clock and excellent condition is worth $17,700. I would keep looking though, just becasue mods are an obvious sign of harder driving. These cars are already driven hard. I would look for a stock or something with minor mods. Or find a nice WRX find a 2006 STi trans swap them and get a turbo back and EM flash to stage 2.

[SonicWagon]

i would not pay 10 grand for it... who knows what the manual boost controller asshat did to it, buy an unmodded car,

[mikercp]

This is the answer to all your problems;

Buy a BUGEYE 02-03 (MY favorite of all years) they go for around $9-12K or buy one with a blown motor.

Find yourself an sti motor and trans/drivetrain $5-6K if you get lucky, or just do the sti motor first and hold off on 6spd if you cant find one.

The rest of the money left over that you would have spent on the car you saw for $19K, buy turboback, up pipe, and em, some tires and TaDA .

This setup will cost less than $19K, assuming you can do the labor yourself

Oooh and if your into exterior mods, I have a set of 02-03 JDM projectors that are fixer uppers that would go great on the car(had to throw that sales plug in)

[jeffmm06]

This is the answer to all your problems;

Buy a BUGEYE 02-03 (MY favorite of all years) they go for around $9-12K or buy one with a blown motor.

Find yourself an sti motor and trans/drivetrain $5-6K if you get lucky, or just do the sti motor first and hold off on 6spd if you cant find one.

The rest of the money left over that you would have spent on the car you saw for $19K, buy turboback, up pipe, and em, some tires and TaDA .

This setup will cost less than $19K, assuming you can do the labor yourself

Oooh and if your into exterior mods, I have a set of 02-03 JDM projectors that are fixer uppers that would go great on the car(had to throw that sales plug in)

uhh an STi motor,TBE, UP pipe, and EM... on a MY02-03 5spd trans?
Sounds like a nice recipe for a blown trans.

[Sasquatch]

Greetings and welcome to the club!

I found an 04 on auto trader with afew goodies, bbs rims, FMIC,greddy boost controller, intake, exhaust, defi guages, cd deck, speakers, box and amp in the back, in blue, great condition for 19,000. Thinking about getting it if its around later on.

What you guys think?

I would keep looking. Please read the stickies at the top of this forum for more info on what mods are good and not so good on a WRX. Another very useful link: Unabomber's Manifesto

The items in red do not do well on a WRX or an STi. How many WRXs have you looked at so far? As with any car the more the better. Best of luck - keep us posted.

[TheJ]

Welcome to the club!

It's best to go after WRXs that are as unmolested as possible.

[Sasquatch]

Welcome to the club!

It's best to go after WRXs that are as unmolested as possible.

Molested?

[jeffmm06]

Thou shalt not molest thy Impreza.

[desert2007]

well i went back on auto trader and searched once more and i found the same 04 for 19k and then 2 05's one was 22 and the other was 25 im pretty sure. Other than that they are all regular WRX's or wagons OR are much more than the rest. I dont need to get one right now so its not a huge issue i just hope i can find a good one at the time of purchase.

Eric.

[jeffmm06]

Took me a year to find my car, im so glad i was patient about it. So worth the wait.