I've located a 05 WRX near my house that im going to go home and look at tomorrow. I called the dealer and talked to a salesguy who seems to know alot about the particular car. He said the previous owner was bad a driving a stick shift and had to have the clutch replaced early. After the clutch was replaced he insisted the transmission faulty, and the dealer replaced it under warranty. the guy still couldn't drive it so he traded it on a legacy with an AT. So supposedly the thing has a new transmission and clutch, with only 11k miles. Also it doesn't have a spoiler because the dealer said it was optional on the WRX, i thought it was standard in the 05 untill the TR came out in o6. Is this guy full of it? 22k for an 05 WRX with 11k miles? Im gonna go check it out tomorrow, check for ghetto wiring, take it for a drive etc. any thing else i should look for ?

any thing else i should look for ?

yeah, a flippin' STI! For $22k, get a mildly older, slightly higher-mile STI, dude.

Spoiler was an option on the WRX, Came with the Premium package and STI. So if it has a Sunroof, the spoiler should have been there and I might suspect it was in an accident and not replaced. (and wonder what else was shortchanged)

I would be cautious of any high performance car with low mileage. It may be a good bargain, but I would still be wary.

I personally won't worry too much about the car. Some people suck at stick (I just got rid of my jeep for the same reason...wife:rolleyes: )

 

The one thing that does catch my eye here though....it is too much money. People have dealt brand new 05's for 22k (so I hear)

 

Wing= optional

 

take a lookie see at it and deal hard on it (they probably stole it from the guy since he couldn't drive stick and made a killing off of it)

Personally I wouldn't even think of buying a low mileage used WRX. What do you think the buyer did? Take it home and baby it for its break in period when they new they were probably gonna get rid of it long before any issues popped up with it.

No sunroof so no spoiler is not a bad thing I guess. I plan on thoroughly checking out this cars underside for repairs in the unibody, and under the hood for obvious marks from being reassembled after an accident(big numbered markings on parts). I would not plan on paying nearly 22k for it I would ideally pay no more than 20, 21 is my limit I think, for that car i think. I am very wary of an older STI or WRX because i've seen the little rich kids that get these and beat on them. But this one could possibly be a good deal. What else should I specifically look for besides what I mentioned? Any tell tale signs of the engine/turbo being abused?

It's a WRX... chance are very high it was abused. It has the classic symptoms of a beat-on WRX: clutch & tranny failures. 6k clutch-dumps will do that. The whole story about the guy just being a bad driver is possible, but highly unlikely. And even if that was the case poor driving of a stick is tough on all the drivelines, axles, etc.

 

At $22k you can do a lot better.

 

-TJ

Shady!!!

 

Never trust a car salesperson. Three words. Drop clutch starts. Think +5,000 rpm revs when the clutch is popped to launch the car to obtain the 5.4 second 0-60 launch times. The previous owner either hated turbo lag or was just a stoplight racer. I have never heard of a WRX owner going to a Legacy for an automatic. They make WRX's with automatics (of course, I don't know who would ever buy them...).

pay attention to what radio stations are assigned to the buttons. If its stations only listenend to by the under 25 crowd - yeah, shop somewhere else.

 

Or just ask to talk to the guy who owned and find out if its a kid an older guy, what.

 

 

 

And 22K is WAY too much. But, after they come down to a more reasonable price THEN voice you concerns about abuse/projected longevity issues and suggest they throw in a GREATLY extended drivetrain warranty.

 

there's better deals out there - including an '06 TR.

 

Carl

Shady!!!

 

Never trust a car salesperson. quote]

 

Hey! I resent that remark. I'm a car salesperson and I don't do anything to mislead you. Here's a thought, when you're looking at a car such as this one and the price tag is higher than you believe it should be, negotiate the price.

Oops, Sorry to offend. Not all salespeople are shady. However, I'm sure we've met our fair share of Joe Isuzu's.

 

I meant to say that given the circumstances, you should trust your gut instinct if something doesn't look right. That's just too fishy of a situation to trust the salesperson. Caveat emptor (spelling?).