Cool cars for sale that ain't yours!

[JustinG]

Cause the vast majority of owners buy the car but then cant afford the nice bolt ons.

I would pay a shop to do a leakdown test.
Check for valve cover gasket leaks, easy enough fix.
Cold start, check for smoke, if he already ran it to "Warm it up" I would be concerned.

[ScottyB]

what else should a prospective buyer look out for with these first gen STI's?

leakdown test - 05's suffer this less than later cars, but the infamous shitty stock tune likes to break ringlands and this will also confirm any headgasket issues (HG's are unlikely on turbo cars though)
oil pressure test - this era of EJ25 turbos can suffer broken oil pickup tubes or beat up rod bearings from the aforementioned garbage tune
stock rad is dicey by 100k+ miles on a turbo, see if its still stock or has been replaced
look for timely oil changes with a quality 30wt synthetic or preferrably a 40wt

as Justin says, vc gasket leaks are common and smoke on startup could be valve guides or turbo going out. make sure its started stone cold as he said...these engines are noisy but keep an ear out for knocking or heavy piston slap

the noisy coilovers are due to his strut tophat bearings being shot. annoying but its not going to hurt anything short term.

05 is the best year of the GD chassis STi. you get the safer early model year tune, the most aggressive stock suspension alignment without the caster loss the 06/07's have, but the benefit of the 5x114.3 hubs over the '04's.

Justin will call me a scandalous cretin but they are genuinely tough cars outside of the EJ's idiotic, but fixable baked-in problems. the chassis is tough as nails, the 6-speed is granite and the suspension is unsophisticated but stout. they're built to a price for sure, but Subaru has figured out a reliable formula for most of their parts over the decades.

[DavidL]

^^^ What he said

My 05 STI has 145k and counting...

[SlimKlim]

what else should a prospective buyer look out for with these first gen STI's?

...infamous shitty stock tune likes to break ringlands...
...any headgasket issues....
....can suffer broken oil pickup tubes or beat up rod bearings.....
....stock rad is dicey by 100k+....

....smoke on startup could be valve guides or turbo going out....
....keep an ear out for knocking or heavy piston slap....


....but they are genuinely tough cars....

:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

I'm not taking any more shit about BMW or VW problems.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Old subies have become the DSM of 10 years past... Welcome to cheap turbo 4s...

[ScottyB]

:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

oh reign in your German angst good sir. putting aside owner negligence, EJ Problems™ come down to plug in a tune and bolt on an oil pickup. the rest of the car is solid and the other problems are "its happend, but probably won't". Maeng drove his '04 every day and never had a single issue into 6-digit mileage i think.

its a lot of car for $15k if you intend to make that AWD work. otherwise, i'd be saying "look elsewhere" too.

[SlimKlim]

I'm not saying people shouldn't buy them, just more of a "those in glass houses" sort of thing.

[RawrImAMonster]

Also check for rust along the rear quarter panels where it connects to the rear bumper. Subaru's seem to be fairly prone to rust from what I've seen so try to get one from as far south as you can. Mine came from Raleigh and it's super clean since they rarely get snow.

Also subaru paint sucks so keep an eye out for clear coat fade if you care about that.

[ScottyB]

I'm not saying people shouldn't buy them, just more of a "those in glass houses" sort of thing.

i like German cars :dunno: i mean, my A4 was a bad decision but still.

its probably a case of my standards for a used car like that are probably low anyway

[.RJ]

I'm not saying people shouldn't buy them, just more of a "those in glass houses" sort of thing.

cant see shit captain, my windows are covered in oil :lol:

[JustinG]

[CaptainHenreh]

:thumbup:

[Goodspeed]

Anyone need a bulletproof, low mile E39?

https://asheville.craigslist.org/cto/5989713296.html

[JPolen01]

That could come in handy for my trips to Baltimore

[Jake]

Jaysus, I wonder what it weighs.

[SlimKlim]

Whatever it is, it's too much for an M54. I wonder what sort of mileage it manages. :lol:

[ViPER1313]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/5993984297.html">https://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/5993984297.html</a><!-- m --> worth converting to a manual. I love these 1st gen RX7s more and more.

[CaptainHenreh]

https://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/5993984297.html worth converting to a manual. I love these 1st gen RX7s more and more.

I mean, if you got a GSL-SE and paid a little bit of money for it, I think it'd be a super fun "classic" car. I don't know about the other first gens though, what with the A engines and carbamaphones and weird bolt patterns.

[Mike]

no.

[D_Eclipse9916]

They made those in automatic? Those things are sooo wheezy in manual form, I can't imagine being stacked with a crappy auto on top.