P_Lav

I crashed my FC a few weeks ago, minor damage, but MPI decided that it was un-road worthy because of rusted rockers. If it were up to me, I'd keep the car and fix it myself, but I'm moving this week, and I will be attending school in a week after that. So I need vehicle, and a RX-7 is not the most economical of cars, and nor can I drive it in the winter. So I figure I'll get something I can use all year round, and still enjoy, but not as much as I did my FC. And then I can get back into a rotor when I'm all done school, and keep the other car as a daily/beater.

The car I'm looking at is a 97' Impreza Wagon with the 2.2L N/a flat-four. I've never owned a Subaru, or a flat-four, so I don't know what to look for in these cars, I have heard good things about that engine though. The owner is selling because he had another child, and also has two other vehicles, but is on the fence to whether or not he wants to sell this car, or his FWD crossover. That said, its far from perfect. The asking price is $2600, 235,000kms on the clock, and it needs front CV axles, but it is safetied. I did drive it today, and looked closely at the car, it has the famous piston-slap these cars are known for, for a brief second when you start it but it fades quickly. I couldn't give the car a good test drive because of the axles, they make a constant tick noise that worsens when rounding a corner. I'm more leaning towards not getting it, but I love the old Impreza's, and if all I need to do is change the axles, this could be a great deal. I've done hours of research looking into problems of these cars, and not really turning up much, I'd love to hear anyone's opinion, knowledge towards these cars, references, links, anything to give me more info before I make a decision.

Ironstoke

Do your homework, or get a good mechanic and inspect the car before you make the purchase. Typically 97-01 models are prone to head gasket issues. Two of my buddy's already shell out a big chunk of dollars for rebuild. My cousin selling his 1995 Subaru impreza wrx ver.2 JDM RHD. I also drive one too 1994 JDM RHD impreza wrx, I love it, can't wait wait for winter!

apex_attack

i've had 3 imprezas (2 in the past, one currently still driving) all for DD / winter purposes. All GC8 body (93 - 01), have had 2.5RS and also the 2.2L TS sedan. These cars are superbly reliable, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. Ive never had any problems with these cars; the boxer engine serves a good amount of torque for what you get. through the many years of ownership, ive never had to do anything more than the regular maintenance.

The 2.2L is even more reliable than the 2.5L (found in the impreza RS) but that is not to say the 2.5L is weak (headgaskets give up at high mileage, but that shouldnt come as a surprise).

The only drawback is that the subarus are also not that great on gas because of the AWD, but coming from a rotary anything is better!

2Fierce

iTrader: (7)

Buy another fc! Why can't you drive an fc in the winter? I use to drive mine. Put some winter tires on stock wheels, and make sure it has an lsd. Better yet, buy a turbo model this time. Gas mileage will be the same, and you won't get passed by every rsx you see.

Nick86

iTrader: (1)

LOL the guy from Toronto is telling the guy from Brandon Manitoba about driving in the winter.

Routine maintenance is the best way to keep subes (or any car for that matter) running well. At 235k that's a big number but not a big deal if it has been taken care of. As was said before, take the car to a Subaru specific mechanic and have them do a proper inspection.

Coldfire sold his FC and bought a WRX. You might be able to find a thread or two on here about his experiences. You can also troll some Subaru boards to see what they say!

orion84gsl

iTrader: (5)

Every time I drove through T.O last winter I saw bare grass. You could probably drive a 400WHP RX-7 on all seasons in a Toronto winter.

2Fierce

iTrader: (7)

Um, I actually live in Caledon and COMMUTE to school downtown Toronto. We get WAY more snow where my house is than where I need to go.

All I'm saying is, don't be a *****.

Nismo Convert86

iTrader: (7)

You're an idiot, 6 inces of snow is way more than NOTHING, yes, but still nothing, wait till you see snow blowing across the flat land in Manitoba. **** come down to Lake huron and see how long the FC lasts in the snow.

Buggy

iTrader: (8)

Yea, i've had to plow snow up past the front bumper on my 2000 F150 with the 4x4 off road package. That isn't a small truck. I know for a fact my FC wouldn't stand a chance, hell the F150 in 4x4 with BFG all terrain T/A's almost wouldn't make it.

2Fierce

iTrader: (7)

rawr??

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

try Ramore Ontario..10 Foot Snow banks..
The kids used to make Snow forts,IN the Snowbanks.
The GRADER almost squished 2 kids one day,,almost buried them alive,they were Still in the Snow Fort!
All the Snow was collected off the road and then Piled in a Gigantic Hill just At the Lake,.the Fire Dept Iced the hill and Us kids would slide onto the lake.

Ironstoke

I dunno how u guys do it in Mantoba? Taking trans canada highway is a bitch to drive in the winter. One they don't plow the road, or use salt. Only here in Ontario uses salt, no wonder why we got too many rice bucket.

Ironstoke

Oops, I meant rust bucket!

l2iceman

had a 2002 wrx. It ran great! Very reliable and fun to drive.

P_Lav

Well im not saying I can't drive an FC in the winter, but I can't do that to an FC, two winters here with our amount of snow and salt, and the floors would be gone. I had an 85' GSL-SE, and it had tad of rust bubbling on the wheel wells, two months later that winter the mud flaps fell off because it rusted away so bad. I didn't however ever get stuck in that car, it was great, it was too light to get stuck, I even drove to school after a 2 ft snow fall, still didn't get stuck. I've been doing my homework on them, but its looking like this car has other issues as well, I'll wait and see what a mechanic says about it before I make up my mind.

doridori-rx7

iTrader: (3)

Impreza is a good choice, most of the issues with the car have been mentioned above, but whats nice about the whole impreza line from ~ 95 -07 is that just about every interior part from a wrx is a direct bolt in to the older models, even the dash is almost a drop in, ( door cards the exception). As far as GC EJ22s go, the 97'+ received a major rework to curtail allot of the previous EJ22 issues.

wiki for the EJ series..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_EJ_engine#EJ22E

The two favorite mods my customers like for the GC is either the EJ20 DOHC NA from Japan; with an equal length header & 2.25" high flow exhaust & cat they produce a bit more power then the 2.5 from the RS and have a much higher redline. The other option is the EJ20 turbo from any 02-04' wrx ( if you want to keep your cable TB control). Both of the above are direct drop in's, no harder to install then doing a a turbo swap into a NA FC. All GC's from 95 on are built for AWD so swapping in even an STI drive line, ( keeping your suspension linkage setup with a modified 1/2 shaft ), is not going to cause you too much difficulty and you won't taco the chassis, ( granted an older frame could always do with a bit of upgrading.. ).
I went from a FC to a WRX wagon myself, with a bit of upgrading a GC wagon can be both useful. roomy and very sporty.

pimphand

same thing happend to my dd 99 legacy, common for the ej25, but they are great cars.

Viich

iTrader: (1)

I've had an '03 Impreza outback sport for 3½ years, love it. Had to replace the head gasket, consider it worth it. Good car, nothing like it when all four wheels lose traction.