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Used '02 WRX questions

I'm looking at picking up a used 2002 WRX, with about 95,000km on it. It came off lease, and seems to drive pretty good. It still hauls like crazy, and I wasn't able to hear any rattles or squeaks. There is some minor body stuff (hood chips and a door ding...and it needs a good waxing), it doesn't appear to have been abused or rallied (no obvious chips on the sides from gravel anyway).

I'm just wondering if there are any problems in particular that I should be looking for? The other question I had is regarding the under-hood paint. The car is rally blue, but the underhood colour is somewhat darker. Is this the way it's supposed to be, or has this possibly been repainted? Everywhere else looks like factory paint.

Thanks, Stephen

Reply to
Steve Niece
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Reply to
Bryan Lee

In news:41201cf2$0$5921$ snipped-for-privacy@news.rcn.com, Bryan Lee spewed:

As the owner of an '02 WRX Wagon, yes the WR Blue paint is subject to sun fade. Of course, the rock chips in the front are even worse, but that's a long-standing issue with Subie paint. I've got 85K miles/137K km on mine with no tranny issues to date. Might be that lack of abuse previously mentioned. The tranny will be the biggest issue; if a young'un with no previous AWD experience is in the title chain, run screaming. After all, the 5MT box in the WRX is 20+ years old and originally designed for a car with half the torque. Yes, it's been upgraded, but you can only apply just so many Band-Aids. Many will try to lead you down the "clutch shudder" path and claim that cars that suffer from it are incipent garage queens. I've been satisfied with Subie's claim that it's an inherent characteristic of the friction material; my car's done the "judder" from Day 1 and here I am 3 years and 85,000 miles down the road with no problems at all (the "judder" goes away as soon as the clutch is warm & dry).

In short, most of the doom & gloom seen here on the NG comes from those who expect every Japanese car to drive just like a Honda.

Reply to
Ned Pike

No inherent problems. Just look for a full service history. If it doens't have that, then walk away. Do remember that consumables like tyres, brakes and clutch wear out relatively quickly and are fairly expensive on what is, after all, a high performance car. If they haven't been replaced recently, check their condition and be prepared for big bills.

David Betts snipped-for-privacy@motorsport.org.uk

Reply to
David Betts

I've checked out the service records (called the original dealer), and in their words...'every service, like clockwork'. The tires have just been replaced, the front brakes look like they're in need of new pads and full system bleed, I did the '40km/h in 4th and honk on the throttle' trick, with no clutch slippage to be found.

To answer the other posts, yep, it's a 5 speed. I have read about the 'problem' of not shifting into first below 10 mph. I had the same problem, and the cold clutch shudder on my last Subaru (2000 OBS) and didn't really consider it a problem. I can't shift into first without double clutching on my current MINI Cooper either...in fact, I don't think I've ever driven a 5 speed that would let you just push the shifter into 1st without either a) a lot of effort, or b) double clutching. It is good to hear about the darker paint being normal...must be the prep for the aluminum hood or something. The chips aren't too bad. I'll touch them up, and give the car a good waxing.

Now I just need to sell the MINI!

Steve

David Betts wrote:

Reply to
Steve Niece

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