Buying Used 2002 Impreza OBS

Hi all,

I'm considering buying an '02 Impreza OBS, used from a dealership in Idaho. It's got 86k miles, and the dealership is asking 9,995 for it. Also, it has a 5-speed transmission. Done a test drive, and everything seems okay, except there's a bit of engine noise. Additionally, when you rev the engine in neutral, there is additional noise--it's not a clunking, it's more of a scraping, and i'm wondering whether or not i should worry about this. Carfax tells me that there's been two owners, and the first seemed to take good care of the car; maintainance every 3,750 miles or so and the such. The car did not receive the 60k dealer-recommended maintainance, and it was sold off at 61k miles. A "fleet" company in the "eastern region" bought the car at auction and put about 20k more miles on it, and there are no maintainance records for this period on carfax. I was just wondering:

1) Any thoughts about the engine noise? In gear, the thing is simply a bit loud, but rev'ving in neutral produces that scraping/grinding noise mentioned above (rev to about 3500-4000, lower rpm's don't make the noise). There's some other noise as well, but it seems to be from the nearly-new tires with rather deep tread that are currently on the vehicle.

2) Has anyone here owned the model for long periods of time? How has it held up? JD Power does not give the vehicle many bubbles in terms of long-term reliability or mechanical reliability from the get-go... How much does it cost to maintain? I intend to keep this car for a long time, so i intend to give it the best care possible...

3) It's a bit rusty--the car is originally from MA and VT (no idea how, specifically, it ended up here in ID), so that may explain the rust. No rust on the outside, but the tailpipe and other metals underneath the car are a bit rusty. Also, there is some rust on the metal parts underneath all of the seats inside...

4) I haven't taken it into an independent inspector yet. I intend to test drive it one more time--is there anything i should look out for that will indicate some sort of major problem with the vehicle?

5) The only other competing vehicle right now is a 1998 Volvo 70V XC. I've read that these cars come with their own set of problems--it has about 95k miles and the dealer is asking 8,900. Any thoughts on how these two vehicles compare?

Thanks for everything!

Happy Driving,

izak dunn snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com

Reply to
a monad of salt
Loading thread data ...
*bump*

Did i not provide enough information? Really, i am most concerned about the reliability of this particular make/model, so if anyone has had experience with owning one, i'd like to know how they've fared.

thanks again izak

Reply to
a monad of salt

a monad of salt scribbled:

Scraping sound?

Anyway, what you have to watch for is head gasket weeping, very common on these cars. Common noises are: belt tensioner when cold, makes it sound like a valve is clicking, and loose exhaust heat shield under the car. Common complaints are: head gaskets (see above) and clutch shudder.

I drove a 2002 Impreza until this spring and loved the car. No problem with it at all other than the occasional clutch shudder. I suspect that it would've needed a head gasket job soon (under warranty) but I traded it in for a 2004 WRX.

Reply to
Mk IV

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.