What to look for 96 Sti WRX

[sergei]

There are 500k+ subarus, without any work done on them.
It all fall into servicing (not just oil change). If serviced regularly then it goes and goes.

Japanese cars in general can well do over 1million km, but people after ~200k forget about servicing and it either blows a head gasket or knocks on bottom....

[fuel]

I had a '96 Legacy LX wagon, NZ-new 2.2 4WD with wind up windows etc. It had been a company car for the first 5 years of its life and travelled 300,000kms in that time. I got it with 390k on the clock and sold it just before 400,000kms. For the amount of kms done it drove very well but it was a boring car to drive, not interesting in the slightest. I'm sure a GT model would be better though. I replaced the rocker cover seals on it and the heads were golden with no signs of sludge at all - it looked like it had been well looked after. Only faults I had with it was inner CV joints on the front. I had a Mitsi with similar kms too, it too was a NZ-new base model with not much to go wrong and I managed to get close to 100,000kms of reasonably trouble free running out of it.

[GT101]

a mate of mine brought a 96 sti two years ago must have been a dud or he thrashed the hell out of it , because the clutch lasted one week the motor two then got stolen not long after that lol.

the b4 he had before that was no good either , but they could have been average condition before he brought them and he didnt look after them properly.

i have never owned a subaru yet, so can't say from my exprience with them.

id buy newest possible if were to get one , 2000+

[frost]

nz new ones we get seem to be better, its the imports from japan that are left to die in nz that the horror story's come from.
trust me the general Japanese public DON'T service there cars unless its under factory service, why bother maintaining a car when you can upgrade to the newer model every few years, infact the japanese govt give tax incentives to do so.

[Leon]

Buy shares in:

Your insurance company
Your petrol station

and possibly your mechanic depending if you get a good one, or a bad one.

[DXROLLA]

I actually found mine to be quite good on gas, try owning a v6 mitsi, insurance was another matter though try over 2g a year! But i was under 20 at the time

[l1ttle_d3vil]

Buy shares in:
Your insurance company

yep, my parents are paying more for their insurance (both premium and excess) on their '99 v5 STi than what I do (im under 25) for my turbo ke25, which is insured for about 5k more than what they would get for the sti if it got stolen...

[sergei]

nz new ones we get seem to be better, its the imports from japan that are left to die in nz that the horror story's come from.
trust me the general Japanese public DON'T service there cars unless its under factory service, why bother maintaining a car when you can upgrade to the newer model every few years, infact the japanese govt give tax incentives to do so.

Like NZ public service their cars

It is a hit and miss, you can tell by just looking around if it has been looked after or not.

I've seen many very good imports, and it is not that uncommon. Depending where you buy them from, and if the importer does not go for lowest common denominator. Buying online without having people on auction floor is a disaster waiting to happen (no wander dealers go bust so often).

I have also seen real bad NZ new cars. Most common issue is people just do oil and filter and call it "servicing" (they use whatever workshop sell them, in most cases real shit oil with chinese filters). They don't change coolant (just add water), they never bleed their brakes (to a point where callipers are near seized from rust); they do cambelts, but never change water pumps or oil seals (because it will add up another couple of hundred dollars), so it is leaking from all possible holes. They never bother with transmission oil changes. They never change shocks (unless it is leaking and they fail WOF). They don't put genuine parts either if it breaks/worns out.
When people buy cars in NZ they don't budget for real servicing. That is why $150 cambelt jobs are so popular.

When I buy car in NZ, I don't care about their service records, you can tell from looking inside of oil filler (and other things) that it has oil changes done or not. I check if there is coolant in the radiator, if hoses are not crunchy, I check for blow by, I check for oil residue in exhaust etc.

[B1NZ]

Buy shares in:
Your insurance company

yep, my parents are paying more for their insurance (both premium and excess) on their '99 v5 STi than what I do (im under 25) for my turbo ke25, which is insured for about 5k more than what they would get for the sti if it got stolen...

Your parents need to change insurance company, Im paying less for my STI than I was for my BZ-V Levin 20v.

Leon I seem to recall you telling me your old K series Starlet used more gas than the STI you owned for 3 months?

Mechanically they can be expensive, My 20v suspension prob cost about the same to rebuild my STI gearbox if I had to pay for it. Any car can be a lemon, You just need to check them out before you buy.

I've had more problems with toyotas and nissans i've driven than my subbie

[Dell'Orto]

I can tell you now that my WRX was far harder on gas than my KE70 wagon
Yes there can be good Subarus, but ask anyone who has spent a decent length of time in the automotive trade about them.

[Leon]

Leon I seem to recall you telling me your old K series Starlet used more gas than the STI you owned for 3 months?

This was a reflection on just how bad my KP was, rather than a reflection on how good the Sti was. The advantage being you could run the KP on tap water, while the Sti got fed 98 (which was ~ $2.35 at the time).

The KP was also 1000 times more fun to drive.

[MAD FX]

I've also found Subarus to be fine, I owned a v2 WRX (not STi) for over 3 years with only one minor issue, header tank on the radiator went, but no issues, got home from the Coromandel with stop leak stuff and then it was changed, no problems.

In saying that I searched through Japan and found a mint one, only 60kms, full service history and then I serviced it every 6 months. Sold it to a mate over a year a go now and it still hasn't missed a beat. It is possible to have trouble free motoring from a WRX. Problem is like people have said, the cheap mods and the way they're treated.

[eskimo]

My brother has owned his 99 WRX for 5 years now, Got it with 73000kms now done 163,000kms and the only thing that actually shat it self was the center diff.

[Mr Revhead]

Started making up its own mind when to shift drive front or rear? or did it blow up?

[fuel]

my brother too has a '96 WRX got it fresh off the boat from ted traceys (uh oh haha), but in the 6 years and 60,000kms he's had it for I don't think it's given him much trouble at all apart from a couple of oil leaks from the rocker covers and the air con pump seizing up.

[eskimo]

Started making up its own mind when to shift drive front or rear? or did it blow up?

If you were refering to my comment about the center diff it didnt do either. It just started to bind up when you were in slow tight turns, in carparks etc

[Mr Revhead]

Yeah I was, they had a habit of deciding to altrer the torque split randomly in the rally cars, made for interesting handling!

[sergei]

Started making up its own mind when to shift drive front or rear? or did it blow up?

If you were refering to my comment about the center diff it didnt do either. It just started to bind up when you were in slow tight turns, in carparks etc

Have you tried adding additives (I forgot what it was called - shudderfix?)?

[eskimo]

I think he tried one or two but just gave in and replaced it.

[10k 20v]

I think people still think of subaru reliability in terms of the old leagacys.
They have improved a lot since then!

And a V2 is only 1 step above an early legacy. They run the same manifold design, use the same sensors, use the old td series turbo, but they do have much better heads.
I wouldn't buy one any older than V5, and i have seen some V7 wrx's (non-sti) for around 8k now. So thats 2001 on