Se the how-to threads if you insist on purchasing. I'd buy a Honda instead though. Find something completed stock and boring and keep it that way.

 

Sound advice! Buy a Civic or Corolla, great gas mileage and dependability.
Not to mention the insurance would be crippling. And the maintenance.
I love my WRX I didn't get first one until age 29. Not a beginner car.

 

What's your budget ?

If your budget is about $5,000 , I would definitely get a civic that is around $2,000. Then I would do a motor swap.

I would wait on the WRX and make it like a graduation present from high school or college.

 

My first car was an 81 accord. While my friends were all burning up rubber in muscle cars, I was running it out to Colorado, or California, or all the hell over the country instead. that car went to well over half the states. Gas was cheap, but a big part of it was that it never broke and didn't take up any of my money once I paid for it.



This is, well, very impractical, advice.

 

http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/new-member-hangout/134369884-15-year-old-noob.html

^^^^ Lots of great input here regarding the topic. And as a now 17 year old who bought a bugeye for my first car, I'd advise against it.

EDIT: If you insist on buying one, make sure the timing belt and preferably clutch (assuming you will want a standard) is done and the car is stock. I would suggest keeping it stock as well.

 

You could always start out with an RS (standard Impreza) instead of the WRX. Sure, you won't have BOOST!, but you you'll still have AWD and a car you can rely on. You can mod the exterior and interior the same way you would a WRX if you wanted. Costs will be lower than a WRX.

As for the transmission, I learned how to drive a manual on my 2002 WRX, and it was just fine. Some of the 02s had a weak tranny though, but that would have sorted itself out by now.

 

Funny how a stock 2.5rs is worth more than a bugeye.

If I was a young kid, that would appeal to me. 2.5rs now, insert wrx motor in a few years as a really cool challenging project.

 

I appreciate your thinking that Subaru is better than another car company, actually the main reason, it has superb mileage, comfortable and affordable. I believe it is a best decision ever.

 

Go with a Honda. Reliability is key.

I mean think about it.. do you really want a 12 year old WRX with over 100,000 miles on it? And you will never find a stock one either. All those bug eyes and blob eyes floating around the web.. who knows what was done to their engines and suspensions.

 

Incorrect I found several stock 02 WRXs in my search for one. Just have to look. But do I suggest one for a first car? No!