Need opinions/info on 2002+ n/a impreza

So I'm looking for a 2nd car for my wife to drive, and I want opinions & info about known issues with the 2.5 rs drivetrain on '02 and newer imprezas. I like the idea of getting her in an awd vehicle that I would be familiar working on (I have an '03 wrx). It would need to be an automatic transmission, and to be clear, this car would never be modded (performance wise).

So what do you guys think of this motor/tranny? And where can I read up on it? I tried Nasioc, but didn't find any concrete info. All reviews I've read online give it high praise, but they are written with so much fluff, I don't feel comfortable relying on them. Any links, or personal experience would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

i think the NA subies are great. Especially the 4eat.
It's good for a daily driver.
I would say, if the motor does have higher mileage, to get the maintenance done.
Look out for headgasket issues, valve cover leaks.

 

Yea, headgaskets are common... but don't let that keep you from buying the car. Not many other issues really with the 02+ NA imps

 

You sound a lot like my situation:

His: '05 wrx wagon, manual, mods, 44xxx miles
Hers: '02 2.5rs sedan, automatic, stock except the radio ("I want to plug my ipod into something like what you have" Alpine iDA-X001), 64xxx miles

Her car is great for her, except for 4 things:

1. Her tires suck. This is an easy fix that will happen this fall.

2. Head gasket issue. This winter with the super cold they went pop. Thanks to some members on here she's now rolling with STI head gaskets that will never go pop. (You know who you are and I will not forget you guys helping me out in time of need). This isn't something that should be the deal breaker, but something to look for. I'd ask some of the guys on the board what exactly to look for in a car to see if this issue is happening or not. All I know is she would drive home and the whole garage would stink of coolant. :ugh:

3. The car dents easy. I think this is an issue for any suby. It's just something that we all get to deal with. The wife gets pissed about it every time she washes her car.

4. Back seats don't fold down. You can't always have your cake and eat it too. This is the reason why I'm driving a wagon. She bought her car first and said she wasn't selling it.

Now, not to be only negative, let me point out some good things from a husbands point of view about the wife driving her car:

-AWD. Duh, we all know this. It's just nice to know she shouldn't be calling you to say "I'm stuck". I know Erin (my wife) loves it that in the middle of the winter at a stop light she can just pull away from all the other cars.

-Double trip odometer. "Honey, push this button. You'll see a letter B right there and some miles. When this hits around 4500, tell me so I can change your oil". She hasn't missed a beat yet. It was shown also when we did the head gasket replacement, the engine was very clean (I also run synthic oil in her car).

-Easy to change the oil. I love changing the oil on our cars because it's just too damn easy. No more making my hand look like a piece of origami to get to the dang oil filter.

-Overall sporty look and feel. My wife loves her bugeye, as anyone who has meet her would know. Yeah, it might not be a turbo, but for a 4 banger NA, it's got some pep. Shibbs and I were driving it yesterday and I forgot about the pep that car does have. Now for you people about to say "bah, it's got no pep" she's not racing, she doesn't care. She just wants to get to spot a to spot b. But, when she needs to pass that jerk off driving too slow, she's got the pep to do it in a somewhat quick fashion.

I know that she has no 2nd guesses about buying her car. She was a little upset about the headgasket issue, but once that was done and over with plus I told her the positive comments about the condition of her motor, she was very happy. I know that she recommends subaru's to all her friends and family. I'm guessing her mom will be buying a forester here soon.

 

Why not just pick up a 4eat WRX? or legacy GT?

 

I love my 4eat wrx!!! I feel very safe in the winter. I've only been stuck once and that was because I was screwing around and plowing through 3 feet of snow!

 

Premium gas, insurance premiums, depending on the year, slightly less than predictable (perhaps even scary, to a non car person) power delivery.
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2.5RS/i's are great commuters, especially for around here.

A good set of tires, and its good to go.

 

Don't forget the GD chassis is VERY SAFE. Crash test ratings FTW!

 

One thing I didn't fully appreciate with my WRX until I sold it was just how stable the GD (or GG in my case) chassis is in severe conditions. That's what I miss from my WRX.

 

I'll note the head gasket is covered by the dealer to 100,000 miles. Their fix is pretty much to run their "conditioner" (stop leak) in the coolant for the life of the car.

I'm not sure about dents. It depends if the panels are aluminum or steel. The aluminum ones will dent relatively easily compared to the steel which pretty much requires you to stand on the car to dent.

Yes, you might want to look into the wagon or the Forester uber wagon. It's the same chassis but gives more room.

I haven't driven their automatics so I can't say how they behave.

One thing I will suggest, even though it's a performance mod, is to reflash the ECU with I-Speed's RS reflash. You simply get a much more refined and consistent tune. You bump up power 5-10HP through the entire rev range, smooth out engine behavior, and make mileage a heck of a lot more consistant, irregardless of how you drive. The stock tune tends to suffer for mileage with stop and go and heavy throttle use. For example, I saw anywhere between 21 and 27 mpg depending on how I drove. Mileage was never consistant. With the flash, I'm pretty much at 24.5mpg +/- 0.5mpg almost always. Pure highway is a tad over 26mpg. I've never seen below 23mpg even in the dead of winter, with tons of city driving, or with some auto-x/rally-x events tossed in. The advantage will depend on how you will be driving the car and if the stock tune runs very rich in those conditions. I'll note I'm running a manual transmission, so I don't really know how that compares to the auto when it comes to normal driving and mileage.

 

sorry to go off topic but does that I speed reflash work with older 2.5s like the 95-99 versions?

 

I think it starts at 99, basically when they switched over to a new ECU type that is flashable. This might be first when they went to OBDII as well, not sure. It's around the same time they dropped the DOCH for the SOHC engine too. I think I-Speed lists any year from 99 to 04. In 05, I think they changed the ECU in some way again making their current flash not usable, although, they can still be tuned with OpenECU and such.

 

pics of mum..ha hah a jk...

 

Opinion:

DO IT. Don't look back.

 

indeed, pick it up, if it has head-gaskets leaking, point that out to the seller and try to talk them down, then have one of our members fix them on the cheap (only take a few hours)

 

I've had my '02 5mt n/a GG wagon since fall of '04 and drive it every day. 94k and never had a problem. (probably jinxed that now)

This is my second n/a Subaru. Makes a great reliable daily driver.

 

Yeah. About the only thing you can mess up with the na engines is not checking the oil. The only time they ever seem to fail is when people let them run dry. The head gasket thing is there, but it is minor and dealer covered to 100k. It's tough to wreck the cars without blatant abuse. My abuse is blatant, but the car seems to like it. :dunno: :laugh:

 

Subaru seems to build thier n/a engines pretty well.

mine has gone through hell and back, including being boosted, and still is kicking.

 

I love our '02 auto RS, it's awesome!

 

Not all 2.5's are covered to 100k. All 99-01 were, and only a few 02's. Also OBD2 started in 96 on all Subaru's. FYI.

 

head gaskets=cheap, and very permanent. Its pretty much a 100,000 mile interval maintenance item, and like others may have said, an sti gasket will seal the deal forever.

Get a wagon! I love my wrx!

 

I can also add, 126k on my 2.0L turbo, and no issues so far. Have done the preventative stuff, (timing belt, water pump, tensioner, etc) since I got it, and have yet to have something break that was the cars fault. By that, I mean mods. Keep it stock and you will be golden.

 

The NA 2.5ls are great motors as long as you take care of them. My moms '03 Legacy has 16x,xxx miles on it and it is like brand new. Never had a single problem with it or anything that even closely resembled a problem. Just follow the maintenance schedule and you will be fine. The 2.5ls are interference so dont push the timing belt intervals too much.

Also AWD is great in the winter but pair it with a good set of snow tires and it becomes 100% safer.