Impreza WRX wagon or MK5 Golf GTI

[hamez]

As title really. I know these aren't strictly speaking retro cars but there's a couple of impreza threads on here and the MK5 will soon be 20 years old.

I'm looking for something more fun than my 2.2 diesel civic to run as a daily driver. Probably going to do less than 10,000 miles in the next year so MPG whilst still a consideration is not the driving factor. Plus we have the other half's diesel Mokka (shudder) for long or boring stuff.

I'm looking for opinions, advice, inspiration, all that good stuff from people who've owned or driven for any period of time one of my choices. I'll be very much looking at the cheaper end of the spectrum (sub 4k budget), so either will likely have more than 100k miles under their belts. This will mean early MK5 gtis and one of the 2.0 engined imprezas. I'm also open to other options if any of you knowledgeable folk have some better ideas

So fire away! Shoot me down, inspire me, steer me on the path to righteousness, I'm all ears.

[ballbagbagins]

I have had my mk5 gti for maybe 3 or 4 years now. Mine drove OK when I bought it but when I replaced the shock and springs for new stock ones it felt a lot tighter and more fun. If you get a looked after one they are easy to live with, only 197bhp unless you get the edition 30 or a mapped car. Mine is the dsg gearbox and I change the fluid and filter every 10k miles, vw say the interval is 30k. I change the engine oil and filter every 5k or so. The high pressure fuel pump is run off a piston which in turn runs off one of the cams. There is a cam follower that sits on the end of this piston which is service item, I do mine every 10k, part is £35 and it only takes 20 mins. They have a pcv system which also have a service part which once failed will result in lower performance. This is all stuff you see in a buyers guide, it's all simple and cheap things to replace.

Mine has aftermarket arbs and porsche front calipers and is polybushed. This mods have transformed it into a very fun car especially with michellin pilot sport tyres on it.

With old suspension, cheap tyres and rubbish pads it doesn't seem like a great car but get a sorted one and it's good fun.


Also had an imprezza sti a few years back, 330bhp but a potential licence loser. Much prefer the golf of the sti, less manic.

[88zxturbo]

If your going to buy a Subaru make sure it's a jdm one as the UK cars cost the same to run (a small fortune) but the UK cars will break quite easily especially if you start to increase the power. Bolting updated jdm parts into UK cars is not a good idea. Imo the golf will give you much less stress and be cheaper all round

[mr2fc]

This thread has been running 12hrs,and nobody has mentioned Scrooby rear arches!

Also, having spoken to some ex-scooby owners, they sound more "immensely capable" rather than "fun", but I suppose that depends on your definition of fun and how much you value your licence?

I have heard the mkv gti is loads better to drive than the mkiv that I have, the mkiv is "capable" not actually "fun"

[ballbagbagins]

I also had a mapped mk4 gti and the standard mk5 is more fun than the 4. A non mapped mk4 gti is a very sad thing.

[mylittletony]

Why not modify the civic? they remap to nearly 200hp, more if you change the clutch. That will feel faster than a 197hp petrol...

Handling upgrade with Type R goodies or upgrades, and you'll still see 50 odd mpg.

Plus they're boringly reliable when you still need to get to work

[jmsheahan]

I used to have a Mk5 GTI. Stock apart from the brakes and a nice Miltek exhaust and I owned it 3 years.

I looked at an Impreza before it. What put me off the Impreza was the really cheap interior and the fact it had some rather expensive maintenance costs in its history.

ballbagbagins has covered most of the common bad stuff. They are really solid, dependable cars and handle great 'out of the box' with a decent set of tyres. I found the OE brakes pretty woeful but an upgrade to some S3 ones solved that nicely. The car never really 'excited' me that much but it did everything I asked of it well and in a refined manner. Just a bit soulless with the turbo I guess when I was used to the rawness of my Mk2. Very different cars!

The wings, front of the sills and boot lid rot so need the arch liners removing on a semi-regular basis to clean out the mud. The diamond cut Monza wheels like to eat their own lacquer too. The pickup pipe in the sump has a habit of getting blocked so that's worth checking, the boost DV valves have a habit of splitting (I think they are on revision 6 now?!) and the fuel pump cam has already been mentioned. Door lock regulators are a bit temperamental so if you get one playing up, change it before it decides to lock itself shut!

Mine, unfortunately, ate its engine at 100k. The head has some expensive parts in it to replace and I sunk 1.5k into rebuilding it all. I think I got unlucky though and I put it down to the car being on longlife service intervals previous to me (15k on a service is far too long, especially a GTI!).

All that being said I'd have another in heartbeat as a daily. Ironically, the guy who bought it from me was selling his Impreza for it haha.

[88zxturbo]

Arches and strut towers should be the first thing checked any internet search will tell you that. I got the impression you were looking for a new age subaru? I don't know loads about subarus but sold this in february after a few years of ownership so I know how much they cost to keep right and it's not even funny compared to most other cars

[hamez]

Thanks for all the input, I wasn't sure anyone would have much to say about these more modern cars on here!

88zxturbo that's a lovely thing that. Especially with those Sparco wheels. I'd be looking at classic or bugeye wagons for my budget I think, and would happily have either.
To be honest, although I've always liked the Impreza, I wasn't really considering one until a wagon popped up on a search for practical quickish things. I just sort of assumed that most would have been abused to near death and need to be avoided, and the looked after examples would have climbed out of my price range by now. It seems that probably I'm catching the very last of the reasonably priced, standard-ish classics and bugeyes and that before long they'll be out of my league! I have heard quite a few stories of extreme woe regarding running costs and reliability of the Impreza though, am wondering if it could be foolhardy as an only car daily.

ballbagbagins and jmsheahan that's all good stuff on the Golf, thanks! Good to get some first hand examples of common issues and just how troublesome they actually are. Sounds like with some fairly low cost preventative maintenance they can be reliable. I have to say I'm leaning more towards the Golf, I think it suits my brief better. ballbagbagins yours sounds exactly like the kind of well cared for example I'm looking for... it's not for sale by any chance is it?!! Don't ask you don't get and all that.

[88zxturbo]

hamez if you go onto typera.com and do a thread with your budget and what you want from the Subaru you will get all the info and help you need there a really good bunch of people on there that can read between the lines of adverts and show you the good ones and what to aviod.