Subaru WRX ?'s

I'm about to leave Germany and the wife and I have only had one vehicle the entire time we lived in Germany so I figured I start looking for a car for her now. She said she either wants a scion tc or a wrx sti. I've found one Scion TC and two wrx's so far that are in the price range. The Scion seems to be a solid car and only has 58k miles he's asking $8500ob. I'm leaning more towards a WRX. Although I know nothing about wrx's other then they are turbo'd, AWD, and look bad ass. So out of the two which one is a better deal?

-http://charlottesville.craigslist.org/cto/4649638409.html

- http://fredericksburg.craigslist.org/cto/4594070807.html

I personally like the black one better (it would be a hell of a picture sitting next to my black tacoma), but she likes lighter colors and I told her that's what paint or plasti dip is for haha. The black one has 37k more miles, but is also 3grand cheaper. Input please.I really don't want to get stuck with a Scion TC. I also brought up that 4 doors would be better if a baby comes about.

 

WRX all day, but I'm biased. DRTL.

 

I'm trying to convince her. the only good point she has made is the scion has lower mileage. I don't know how subarus do with mileage. I know 150k is nothing to a toyota. I need more arguing points haha.

 

The TC will have more back seat room, not by much, but it will. The WRX back seats are terribly short on leg room.

I have owned both a 2004 and 2006 wrx and STi. I would definitely try to make the STi happen over the WRX if possible. Here is why:

- The wrx in that year is only a 2.0 motor, the STi is a 2.5l

- He has it set up for a front mount, which makes terrible turbo-lag on the 2.0 until you hit the top end

- Unless he has a blow-through setup he didn't mention, he is a FOOL for running a blow off valve if it's venting to the atmosphere. Subaru's automatically compensate for the air left within the intercooler between shifts and if you vent that air with a blow-off valve, you are going rich between every shift. He doesn't mention it being a recirculating valve like the stock one is, so I'm assuming it's atmospheric to sound cool. This leads me to lump him into the category of people who don't understand all the mods they put on and do it because it's cool looking/sounding. Those people generally also tend to beat on their cars when driving. Baby seat or not, My guess is that this happens.

- Blue was the original color. Nobody is going to pay for a full paint job on those cars unless it has been in an accident that warrants some serious paint work. That would be a red flag for me.

- He has spent more money to make it look a certain way with the large wing, headlights, lip, headlights, etc... with that many miles, I'd be trying to make sure things like the tranny, center diff, rear diff, etc.. fluids are changed. Looking at the "new" things, I wonder how many miles ago is new and if that stuff was changed due to them failing or if they were swapped out due to a blown head gasket. Being it's a boxer, head gaskets aren't easy to replace as they are on the sides and hard to get to. Many head gaskets are blown on these cars in general due to trying to make too much power through bolt-on's versus a proper build....


That's just my quick .02 on the matter. The TC is going to be reliable as all it really is, is a 2-door sporty Toyota Camry. Definitely not the most powerful, but oh well.

 

Had a 93' Subaru Legacy bout 15 yrs ago. I took it to 285k miles then donated it to a veteran charity. Ran in to the guy who had bought it at auction, he said he replaced the clutch and fuel pump, and it drove like a dream. My better half has an 11' Impreza now, she has 70k miles on it now. It runs like a dream, and she drives the shit out of it. That AWD comes in handy, especially in the winter. From what I hear, TC's handle like shit in bad winter weather. unless you don't have winter problems, I'd suggest an AWD.

 

The newer Impreza's have tons of leg room in my opinion, more than my 2010 Dbl Cab. Just can't have an asshole like me in the car who has to have the seat as far back as possible. And just for your information, TC stands for Toyota Celica, at least it makes sense to me.

 

As per the OP, it's a Scion TC, not Toyota Celica. And yes, the 2008+ wrx's do have much more room than the 2002-2007 models. Additionally, a 15 year old subaru without a turbo setup is a different story than a 2.0l boxer than someone is trying to run much more boost on than it was originally designed for.

But what do I know...? I've only had a 2004 wrx, a 2006 STi and currently own a Scion TC.....

 

Scion TC=Toyota Celica. Not sure what the xb and whatever other acronyms there are stand for, but what do I know.

 

well since you put it that way as tc meaning toyota celica, I could live with that haha. It looks like that's the direction it's going anyway. We found a 2005 with 65k for $6500 I emailed them and asked them if they'd take $6000. With the loan apr% it would be $110 a month. She brought up a point saying it's gonna take some time for the truck to get shipped back to the states. If we buy the car before we get stateside we can just fly into Baltimore and have someone pick us up then get in the car and drive to Florida. The original plan was to get a rental car when we got to Florida, but this seems like a better idea if we can decide on a vehicle to buy.

 

+1 for everything here, i was looking at getting a used wrx for some time, the ones in my price range were modded and owned by "tuner boys", i did my research and came across the same info. unless you get a brand new one i would not touch a wrx.