2002 Impreza, 273,000 KMS worth it?

[u/No_Establishment_231]

Love the bug eye and want an AWD for the winter. Just want to make sure it’s not going to explode right away. Thoughts/advice appreciated. Located in Canada.

[u/BL4CkL15T3D]

5k for a 24 year old car with high mileage and and a check engine light on... absolutely not.

[u/zombie-yellow11 → u/BL4CkL15T3D]

These cars have all rusted back to the Earth in Canada, hence the premium.

[u/BL4CkL15T3D → u/zombie-yellow11]

Understood but it's bound to be dripping with problems... both literally and figuratively. Seals, gaskets, hoses, worn engine internals. I can understand when someone drops that on a sought after tuner car or project they want to rebuild or collect, but the same reason these cars have rusted away in Canada (I'm in Pittsburgh, PA and same here) is the same reason I wouldnt buy this.

[u/Gtk05]

I’d make sure that check engine light is what they actually say it is.

[u/No_Establishment_231 → u/Gtk05]

Yea I would definitely get a pre-purchase inspection for it beforehand.

[u/joanzen → u/No_Establishment_231]

273k on the ODO means it is due for the second timing belt?

[u/Horvo → u/joanzen]

Third

[u/joanzen → u/Horvo]

If you count the first one. I was zero indexing the OE install accidentally.

[u/Horvo → u/joanzen]

Yeah, I would change at 80k, 160k, 240k. I wasn’t counting the original install.

[u/joanzen → u/Horvo]

I wasn't converting miles to KM properly, again. blush

Now that I do the math, an 02 should be nearly half way through the 3rd change if you swapped them every 7 years? Ah.

[u/_brkt_ → u/No_Establishment_231]

A typical PPI doesn’t catch everything. I would add/insist on radiator pressure test + coolant exhaust gas test in addition to visual mechanical inspection and pulling engine codes.

Ask me how I know lol.

[u/ocarr23 → u/No_Establishment_231]

A pre purchase inspection on an almost 25 year old car with over a quarter million miles in the clock just seems like wasted money. I wouldn’t say that’s a $5000 car either. I have an 09 Saturn with 170k I’ll give you for 5k lol

[u/banyanoak]

Sounds like that car may have been through 24 Canadian winters, so you'll want to check for rust. If that's Quebec, there's a ton of salt on the roads.

[u/RCaccount4me]

https://giphy.com/gifs/kCoIap1RrUqE1f0fKu

[u/terrainflight]

I looked at a 2004 Impreza in Upstate New York once and the entire front suspension was basically held on by hope and gravity. So I’d definitely take a good look at rust on the underside.

[u/Suboyota]

If this car is in Ontario, I saw it for sale on Kiniji last year (pretty certain of this because of the custom paint). Either they weren't able to sell it or the buyer now has remorse. I love these cars but this looks like a bad purchase.

[u/No_Establishment_231 → u/Suboyota]

It’s in Alberta but based on these comments I’m starting to agree lol. The hunt continues

[u/concretecat → u/No_Establishment_231]

I was going to say, kind of looks like Edmonton. Maybe north end?

ps. Don't buy it for that price, needs a new engine at the very least. Love the body style and headlights though.

[u/According_Ad6068 → u/concretecat]

I spent 30 years of my life surviving prairie winters. This will be my second winter on Vancouver Island and I'm never ever going back.

[u/concretecat → u/According_Ad6068]

I spent 40 years of my life surviving prairie winters, this will be my 6 winter in Montreal, I'm never going back.

Montreal winter is harsher than the island but it's thankfully very short.

[u/Suboyota → u/Suboyota]

Oops, *Kijiji

[u/zing_boom_tararrel]

Not for that price

[u/No_Establishment_231 → u/zing_boom_tararrel]

They’ve lowered it to 4K but ideally there would still be wiggle room

[u/Feisty-Fortune-6223]

The catalytic converter is most likely triggering the CEL

[u/Bubbly-Pirate-3311]

If it's rust free and the head gaskets are in good shape, I'd say offer him 3k and that would be a good deal.

[u/macavity_is_a_dog]

2k max.

[u/gumdent]

If it’s just an O2 sensor, why not replace it and then he’d be able to say no check engine light…
And the cluster (which is crazy dusty for 5k or 4k asking, couldn’t spend 15 seconds wiping it down?) trip odometer is at 0.0 so they probably tried unhooking the battery to get rid of the check engine light as well.

I sold my 07 Hawkeye with 190km for $3000 4 years ago. It was a Quebec car so it had its fair share of rust underneath but it was still in decent and really clean.

If the underside of that wagon is mint, maybe.
But I’d caution against picking it up at that price unless you’re willing and able to fix non-minor things that will certainly pop up because 25 year old Subaru things.

[u/Unfair-Bison-3946]

An O2 sensor is like $120. Why wouldn't they just replace it themselves? There's got to be something wrong here. Walk away.

[u/Horvo → u/Unfair-Bison-3946]

It’s never just the sensor. I’ve been chasing a P420 for ages, after changing both the up and downstream O2s.

[u/VexCS]

This is a solid $1500 winter beater. You’ll probably make to work most of the time. I’d be prepared to have someone that can give you a ride at short notice.

[u/FindingUsernamesSuck]

From that one picture and that description, heck no.

[u/nadrae]

Sadly I would offer a no as well. That high of mileage is somewhat rare for that age of car due to head gasket/radiator problems.

Also I would get it up on a lift and make sure the bottom is not 3 molecules from losing a wheel or something… if I was a mechanic, loved working on my own cars and wanted an older car I would still not because of the rust possibilities.

Also random engine codes can be bad. We had a 2005, every time the light came on the cruise control quit. We had every part from the O2 sensors to the cat replaced, 1 at a time and the light still came on. Ended up dumping the car on a dealer when we bought my husband his dream car.

[u/Th3_Misfits]

I wouldn't pay $5k for this.

[u/Wolfiest]

Offer two.

[u/turbokimchi]

Asking too much. For the KM and with an NA engine. These things can be clustertrucks and require a ton of maintenance hidden below the surface. Get a PPI and if it needs work counter lower or walk away.

I love mine but I spent $4k and spent many times that repairing all sorts of stuff.

[u/sashagof]

Absolutely not, I had a green bugeye just like this. If it’s from anywhere that they use road salt, this would have started rusting 15-20 years ago. Looks like it has a check engine light and a brake warning light too. Maybe if it was $500.

[u/Gwtheyrn]

Cons: Will require quite a bit of money in maintenance. No idea how well-cared-for it has been through its life. Engine or transmission might need to be replaced.

Pros: You own a freakin' bug-eye, man!

[u/almost_a_frog]

If this is in Québec (according to recent weather), absolutely not. There is no way that isn't a crusty rusty mess under that.

[u/KeaganExtremeGaming]

5k cad for a non turbo Impreza is peak crack smoking. 3k max and it would have to be mint

[u/ziperhead944]

Its an N/A. 2500$.. provided its not rusted out in the rear.

[u/Maclor726]

This spring I moved on from my 03 bugeye with 158k miles on it. I live in MN and the back subframe was rusted out. Leaks and broken seals all over. It was giving an occasional misfire and 420 code (cat).

 Looked and ran great still. But was on the verge of becoming a massive money pit assuming the rear struts didn't make a rapid unplanned announcement to the rear seats.

A local shop said it wasn't safe to drive and I traded it in and still got $1700 for it. But I would have told anyone looking to buy it that it needs a lot of work. I wouldn't be surprised if this one needs $10k plus in work. And with only summer tires you will need 1k plus for a decent set of all season. So even at $2k CAD I wouldn't touch it.

[u/jabberjaw420]

o2 sensors are like maybe 150$ at most. if i was ask 5k for this car i would just swap it. either he's a cheap ass fuck, or he's lying. i'd offer him 2k saying you need to swap the cat and fix a misfiring engine ,because that's likely the issue.

[u/alowester]

5k? insanity, I paid $800 for my bug with 180k on it in 2013! in Canada, after all the work it was about 3k. hard pass on this

[u/gofdad]

In Texas yes, anywhere else FUCK no