Subaru Impreze WRX owners, check in please!

[Market525]

A good friend of mine is looking at a used 2002 Subaru Impreza 2.0L Turbo w/ 118K miles. Physical appearance of the car is immaculate, both inside & out. If the odometer said 50,000 miles, one would not question the mileage - it's that clean.

Are these dependable cars? Turbochargers, in general, cause me to cringe due to the expense of the repair when they break.

It is a two owner car w/ no maintenance receipts available.

I know one late model Subaru engine is plagued with headgasket problems, but since I don't follow Subaru's that closely, I did not know which engine.

Any advice on this car and/or engine is certainly appreciated!!

Thanks, Steve

 

[bluesubie]

I had a 2003 WRX, but traded it in for the Forester turbo after it was stolen and recovered.

The thing I miss most about the car are the seats! The 02/03 seats were the best OEM seats in a Subaru in the U.S. IMO. I only had the car for 18k miles, so I cannot comment on its longetivity.

I actually just had to have the turbo replaced on my 2.5L due to excess oil getting past the turbo seals. It was the first time the dealer had seen it on a subie with a stock turbo. I have two other Subaru's in the family as well (2000 Impreza RS and 1999 Outback).

IMO your friend should run a robust oil like a synthetic High Mileage oil, GC (check the GC FAQ in the Euro forum if you don't know about it), or a diesel 5w-40.

The first thing that comes to mind about the 2.0 is spun bearings. There were quite a few for a while, but a lot probably had to do with a variety of things. Neglecting to check the oil regularly (especially using a 5w30), poor tuning, no tuning, poor fuel, insufficient cooling for the mods and wrong oil choice (a 5w30 in the desert in the summer). Those are all just theories and nothing has been proven either way.

I do know that there have been less lately. Maybe people are being smarter and mods and/or are finally moving to more robust oils.

OTOH, there a lot of folks running 5w30 in 2.0's and have high mileage without any problem.

Check the 2.0L forum on nasioc.com for more research. Also, try the New England forum there and maybe you can find recommendations on a local knowledgable Subaru person to check it out. If he buys it, I highly recommend doing a used oil analysis.

-Dennis

 

[VK56VD]

If all checks out and the price is right, go for it. Get all the maintenance records for it, change out all the fluids to synthetic, run auto-rx in the engine & transmission, and don't run extended OCI's with this Turbo engine, even with synthetic, which should be used any how in this engine.

 

[VK56VD]

Also, check if possible when the timing belt was replaced. (I know you mentioned that maintenance records are not available)

 

[rjundi]

If driven reasonably the engine is trouble free. Head gasket issue problems are isolated to the 2.5L natural aspirated only, not an issue with the 2.0L nor 2.5L turbo engines. The turbo is a non issue if oil changed at reasonable intervals.

The only weak spot of 2002 was the manual transmission. That will be self evident during a test drive. Note you cannot downshift above 10mph 2nd into first, this is normal.

I own a 2004 WRX and absolutely love it. Not a single issue in ownership over 55k miles.

 

[Jeffdc5]

If the transmission is in good shape get it my cousin has a 2003 wrx he got it brand new it has 55000 trouble free miles. I did all the oil change and maintenance for him Gc every 7000 miles. only mods to the car are a turbo back exhaust front mount intercooler, perrin intake, and coob accesport. Car runs really strong it beats my rsx down low but dies out at top end...

 

[Market525]

Thanks for all of your feedback. Looks like she's going to buy the car. The car is at a local used car lot that is known for their expertise in Subaru's. As part of reconditioning, they had already done a transmission fluid change, f&r pads/rotors, and a tune up.

I asked that as part of the deal they change all differential fluids and change the timing belt. They hedged just a bit on the belt, saying it "looked" like it was recently changed. I countered that with an interference engine, we really were not going to take that chance ..... so they agreed to both of my requests.

My friend is happy, and I guess I am, other than still not being a big fan of turbochargers on high mileage out of warranty cars .... but I made her aware of an expense that she might face down the road.

My plans are to do back to back ARX treatments starting immediately.

Thanks again all,
Steve