Get one with 0 engine mods (good luck). This applies to any older car with a turbo and 100k+ miles but. Specifically a 2004-2005 WRX. 1st, get all fluids checked/flushed Check/replace all filters (cabin,air,trans,oil) Replace timing belt kit,waterpump,thermostat,plugs,seals,02 sensors with OEM/Japan parts. Then, upgrade all hoses to mishimoto/perrin (radiator,coolant,IC,Turbo inlet), replace the coolant expansion tank with mishimoto or the black rubber one. Check for rust under the car such as front lower control arms. Known to rust and snap off at the endlink. Upgrade control arms to something like movotech/whiteline or replace with OEM steel. And wouldn't hurt to replace fuel pump/filter under the back seat, and maybe upgrade to a walbro 255/OEM filter. Oh, and get your fuel injection system cleaned. This was everything I did when I got my 2005 wrx,and is what I personally recommend for these 04-06 wrxs if you want a great chance at longevity with them.. I figure most people buy these nowadays to put money into like a project car anyways, I did. I checked the carfax AFTER I bought it lol. Got lucky had 1 owner that babyd' it and had no mods. Everything I mentioned is the backbone to keeping this car reliable and reinforcing anything else you'll want to do later, but most important tip of all, don't drive it like your Ken fucking block all day and your EJ205 will do fine for many years. Good luck!
Would this also apply to the first gen bugeyes? Like 2002 range? Found one bone stock and every Subaru stereotype is keeping me from going and looking at it
It's like it's never been taken care of, or at least treated with any slither of respect. Would never take advice from people who say them and their friends have gone through several engines. Never gone through an engine yet, got a 2004 JDM 555 WRX STI V-Limited. Over 120,000 miles on her so far, totally fine.
Picked up a bugeye a few weeks ago. Had to do the timing belt and water pump, upper engine coolant container, lower rad hose clamp, lower ball joints, outer tie rod ends, spark plugs and coil packs. I've done more, but for the car being only $2k when I bought it, the shell was in good condition. Found one terrible spot near the rear strut tower on the passenger side with rot that I'm gonna fix. Stock motor though with 208k miles and the head gasket was already replaced before my purchase. I think it's a great car still.
@@WCKDStreetMedia I've wanted a bugeye since I was young. It's been a pain, but I'm glad that I get to work on it myself and make sure everything is replaced properly.
Another tip when buying these is make sure there’s no rust in the underbody. Many people make the honest mistake of being fooled of how clean the exterior of the car looks, that they never bother to look under it. Great video guys 🤘
Over Boost I've just had new wheel arches but I do use as a Daley driver and done loads to it one proplem after another at the min but I'm gonna keep it and fix it
Same. Bought my 02 a couple months ago and didnt look underneath. Turns out my front subframe is rusted to shit along with the exhaust. If you live in the northeas LOOK FOR RUST.
Couple of tips. A very important part of any Subaru purchase is the tires. Any different sizes or mix matched tire sets can really identify lack of proper maintenance, and cause differential problems front, rear or center. Another rusty spot on GD's is below the side mirrors, I think I saw a little bit on yours. Front control arms were under Subaru extended warranty for rotting holes through. Ensure the rear subframe is solid on GC's and GD's. Shit, I be doin my makeup while weaving through traffic.
If you guys are going through motors, you're obviously doing something wrong. The motor is a very strong kit that shouldn't blow up. You have to absolutely abuse the motor to break it. Had my WRX 04 for five years no issues except the radiator cracked.
Ryan’s motor was never abused, from day one he never even got on it and he babied it making sure it would last, the whole point of driving fun cars is to have fun, if you don’t break anything then what’s the fun in ever working on your car to make it better. Shoulda just bought a basic car then.
I see your logic, however if you're buying it as a daily and not just to thrash and such, you probably don't want to get rod knock going to the grocery store. Idk, I drive my car pretty gentle.
I have fun with my rex, but the average person might go through two engines in their life, not 6 or 7 in a few years. Like I say, you have to be doing something wrong to go through that many.
Except head gasket. Do check weird engine clicks along with revs. It maybe valve issues just like I bought. The only way of fixing this is rebuild engine which costs 3k. Remember to bring your own OBD reader to check codes. Walk away with misfire code, o2 code, cat code.
Look out for the spoilers on the sti models. The spoiler doesn’t drain water well. And gets rust under the spoiler on both sides. Water may leak in trunk as well.
“Check to make sure you have the slightly larger hood scoop” “Check your visor mirror to make sure its not cracked” “Cheap paint so check paint!” Wtf these tips are so braindead
Picked up an 02 Bugeye last august with only 83k on it. She's treated me good so far. One thing I missed was the insane rocker rot on the passenger side, had no idea it was there until i took the side skirts off to clean them. Been saving up ever since in hopes to get it taken care of this spring.
My 2005 wrx is immaculate, well looked after all its life. With these cars it seems to be cars that are 100%original engine like mine are fine. My last subaru had 160k on the clock I had it for 5 years never a problem ever. Engine problems usually occur when people start messing with the engine trying to add more. The car , wrx turbo is plenty fast enough. Look after it and leave the engine alone and it will run for ever 😀 🎶 😉
Great video by the way. I have considered a 2006-2008 wrx for a first vehicle, to drive to school and back. I want to do minor mods, nothing crazy. How reliable would it be? I really love these cars so. Great quality once again, new subscriber.
I would never buy a modded WRX or a STi that used a “off the shelf” tune. My 2015 STi is thoroughly modified. But a lot of the mods were specifically chosen to address those commonly thought to be causes of engine failures. Such as; AOS, ELH, pro tune, oil pick-up and baffle, larger ejectors,replacements of the stock fu l pressure dampers and E85. Running E85 greatly decreases the odds of you having the infamous ringland failure. E85 is a more stable fuel and you can inject more of it. In turn cooling off the cylinders while the stability of it drastically decreases the possibility of detonation and or knock. Younger guys tend to not do their research and put on a bunch of parts without a tune and I surprisingly the engine blows. I know were two people who have blown engine and it was due to that reason alone.
Rocker cover gaskets, steering rack hose from pump, rear strut towers rot out, centre dif wine, rads pop at 120 k rear arb can snap, spark plugs are a bastard to swap, door gaskets whistle, my motor is on 160k, oil change every 6 k is paramount on these with good quality oil, if rear strut towers rotten check inner wheel arch near rockers if that’s gone as well the rockers will be fucked
the more I learn about WRXs the more I don't want one. I love the look, performance etc. but I have a hobbies. and spending all my money and time fixing a car isn't one of them. Maybe Subaru can put in a Toyota v6 in it?
It’s hit or miss, I have never been left on the side of the road with mine, but you do see other people come across issues when not tuned properly. Also the V6 would make it not a Subaru lol
Motor tips: check for leaking headgaskets internal or external; leaking rear main seal, front seal, cam seals and valve cover gaskets; using only tap water in radiator is bad; under oil cap must be clean with no milky residue; check the oil dipstick level and color; don't buy if you here a small rod knock noise; brake and clutch reservoir fluids are dark brown and level are low; rear diff has spot or debris of leak; broken inner & outer cv joint boots; full timingbelt kit with waterpump has to be performed if it has high mileage; fuel filter and fuel pump has to be replaced on 150.000miles;body look for rust under the chassis, fenders, trunk, gas tank, front chassis brace where radiator sits on. Shocks frt and rear replace after 85.000 miles and wheelbearings frt and rear on 125.000miles. Do not buy if you see a manual boostcontroller and no tune.
kenrick giel holy shit. This was so fucking helpful. Looking at a bugeye Monday and I hope I don’t regret it. I’m starting to now after reading all these comments. Water pump is definitely leaking so I already know what’s going on with that when I went to go look at it today.
My 03 wrx motor lasted me 190k miles with no issues other than burning oil. Decided to swap it out for a jdm ej205 and it made a world of difference. Plus the jdm motors are said to be stronger. It only has 46k too so I have a lot of fun ahead of me. (Plus jdm motors have avcs)
I had a stock 2015 WRX with the FA engine. I had to bring it several times to dealer with a Christmas tree dashboard. I didn't abuse it I sold it with 26.7 MPG AVEodo consumption. I drove it daily to DC. The EJ in my current STI feels so much better. The weight, fuel efficiency and the low rev torque are the only things that felt better on the FA-20. My suggestion is for you to drive both before you get the FA-20 or the EJ-257 because the driving experience in the EJ is light years ahead of the FA. For pure fuel efficiency, I recommend the Toyota Prius that doesn't come with the Subi rumble either. Yes, direct injection can be an improvement for the EJ engine, but the twin-scroll turbo I would have rather replaced it with an electric engine that helps at low revs but keeps the linearity of the STI.
One improvement to the STI would it be to make it able to have more power in the back and prevent the strong tendency to understeer. Subaru has to focus on the experience to sell it in good numbers. Of course, the experience involves a lot of things. Even 911s are losing the experience reward to mere numbers. It's an era where it is getting difficult to present a fun car to drive that can be fun outside of the racetrack, to keep the signature expressions like the rumble in the STI. Yes the STI has ways to improve, but there is a big uncertainty into the future to see if the car is just going to be faster or if indeed if it will keep the character and it will be more fun. All that at price that potential customers are not just wishing they could buy it, but at the price that they will actually go to purchase it.
A normal dialog is impossible with the way you decide to start them, but this person shared a lot of similar issues in his car: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B59oGKd5uRs.html
Just keep it stock. That's why you have had 2, 3, 4 different motors. Swapping may be cool but why swap if you're only gonna get 450 HP for 2 or 3 months tops... u can keep a stock 2.0L boxer engine for years if mantained correctly. If you're daily driving there's absolutely no point in an ej swap. It's absolutely pointless and it's going to fuck. Up your engine
Great advice, im picking up my base 2016 ice silver metallic wrx sti with 31k miles tomorrow, all i can tell you is that im getting it for about 5k less than retail on it 😲what a deal and yes yes yes clear title and all of that
I had the same rust quarter panel near rear bumper. I didn’t have a broken mirror but I had gutted out my interior & kept it to check out my hair not makeup 💄 haha 🤣
and changing power steering unit to a electric one they always leak on the starter motor and start leaking on every thing else as well you can get them out off a holden camira for cheap its old trick i learned from kingatow off you tube
It's mostly just basic stuff that you should check before getting any car! now if you're talking about specific Subaru problem parts then you're talking about the head gaskets which are notorious for going bad and The transmission which has been said to have been forged from glass..lol, as for deleting the cat from the up pipe I could have sworn that those we're only found on the bugeye models! Does the VIN come back to a blobeye? Or is it a bugeye with a blobeye swapped front end?
Great points made. I cant stress enough about the paint and also how fragile these motors are. My brother has a brand new 2017 sti sadly still with the 20 year old ej in it. Lets see how long it'll last for
Bought a 2003 wrx, didn't look closely like I should have and shes been thrashed. Best place for replacement parts? Weather its OEM or aftermarket I don't care 😂
We love to use Import Image Racing for all parts, or if you need just simple OEM part sometimes junk yards are the best bet. Also there’s a ton of Facebook groups that buy and sell parts that I would recommend to jump on 👍🏽
I had the opportunity to buy a wrx/sti for a reasonable price but it had a plethora of problems and things that needed to be replaced I kinda feel I should have taken that deal.
Yes they are pretty tough stock, when like you say very well maintained and driven within their limits. Carelessness will kill anything, and stock cars are not meant for abuse and racing. I have never had an issue with my stock 2003 wrx engine or 5 speed, even with an 18g turbo and supporting mods that I've driven for 50k miles. But then I have a conservative tune, that does not try to squeeze out every last bit of power. And I don't beat on the motor, for example, constantly revving it to redline for long periods or doing so when going around curves causing oil starvation. Nor do I ever dump the clutch at 4k or 5k rpms. When the clutch needs to be replaced I go with a reputable manufacturer and new piece that is similar to stock so the clutch takes the wear instead of the transmission. If you want to do those things, do yourself a favor and pull the engine, trans, and entire drivetrain, and replace it all with race built parts. It's initially quite expensive, but better than going through 7 motors like the kids in this video.
Spot THE HECK ON! I found a small rust hole in my 02 wagon I was building, the realized when I was in too deep that I hade to have both of my shock towers totally rebuilt. It ran me 2 grand and my wallet has not forgiven me ever since 😩
hatebreed69666 if only it were that easy, the shock towers had to be cut out and replaced and rebuilt. Way too much work for me to be doing on my own without a shop
I plan on buying a wrx when I graduate college, I don’t mind miles since I’m a mechanic but I also don’t want something that’s been beat on, but all the subies I see are in sorts rough shape around here, should I look out of state for one? Cause I also live in NY
Well that sucks. I bought a 06 wrx with 196k miles but engine was rebuilt around 140-150k and the motor is built and runs on e85. Mods: 1050id injectors, Grimmspeed uppipe, invidia downpipe, hks exhaust, tial Ewg, hks bov, sti intercooler, Cobb short shifter, Cobb accessport, walbro 525 fuel pump, act stage 3 clutch replaced 2600 ago, typhoon intake, and tomei turbo inlet. I got this car for 6500 from a friend and has about 327 np and 300 tq. Was this a great deal or no. I’m going to be daily driving it no racing or thrashing it. It has the 5 speed which I’m kinda leery about but it shifts great.
Check Rear Suspension Turrets Check for the Milkman in oil cap and check the subframes i had a 2001 Subaru Forester s turbo SF5 Manual never broke down once in 11,000 miles lasted 119,000 miles before the subframe at the rear just rotted dissolved i went too see a 1997 Subaru Impreza uk 2000 was rotten went too see a 2002 wrx bugeye was rotten and a 2005 wrx blobeye from a stevie wonder dealership 66k miles 1 owner was the worst out the 1997 impreza with 140,000 miles ! And 108k bugeye
Has 3 in straight pipe lowered Bov and timer .. but no tune should that be my first step? I'm looking for block to build up and eventually swap in car has 180k previous owner kinda let maintenance slip it seems
Im looking at some WRXs around 2011-2013 with like 140k at like 15k... it sounds like im being ripped off but Im not sure how long the enginges last and what kind of value WRXs retain long term
I bought mine with the Subaru Performance exhaust SPT but is far from sounding as awesome as the old ones. I love the sound of the Cobb exhaust ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-N0cW14oKYzM.html. However, I don't think that a catback replacement will be sufficient.
Man God bless Texas...as in not having the horrible weather y'all do up north. I guess it's just something folks up in those environments/climates are used/acclimated to having been born and raised or lived in them for a while, but from a car standpoint and never having really lived in areas with salted roads I just can't see myself living in those situations unless I had a summer car which the WRX isn't and shouldn't be. To someone like me from Austin, salt rust or damage is just horrible and enough to make me not even want to live anywhere with snow and have a decent car. Yes I'm spoiled. And I love all my people up north, please don't take it as some judgment upon actual individuals. This all said we have problems with cars that have spent too much time on the coast with the salty air and humidity. But this whole salt sludge and rust thing is such a turnoff and disgusting to me. I've met plenty of people that moved here and wondered why they didn't do it sooner or questioned how the hell people are okay with living in such miserable weather. 15 degree days on some salted roads in my WRX just isn't cool and unacceptable. Yes it's a matter of life and circumstances...I'd take a nice saying gig up north, but 3-4 months out of the year of the potential for snow, shoveling, clearing, freezing, etc. is not my cup of tea. To each their own!
Hi, can u answer my question? if yes thanks. I grow up at 2028 i mean i will be 18 would sti will be selling or something my dream car and i want when i grow up but idk if it was selling
Also another tip dnt drive like a douche and get a proper tune and you won’t pop motors. Such an argument on all the forms about these motors, yes there “out dated” could use a new platform of course. But let’s be honest if you dnt buy your car from a single owner over the age of 40 then your probably going to have issue. Based off how they abused the car and general maintenance. Basic leaks should be looked at and plastic hoses should be replaced. There’s nothing wrong with a high mileage motor it’s more of a “seasoned” engine that’s if and only if it was taking care and not beat to hell. But over nice write up and I feel the pain of living in the salt belt it can be a monster.