Son has his mind set on a pre-02 RS

My son has his mind set on a 2001 or older RS for his first car. We have been looking but there is not a lot out there that are not rust buckets or massively overpriced or both. Anyone have something available or know where there is one? The ones I have found require at least a 10 hour drive to pick up which I am willing to do but would rather not.

He has a budget of about $5k.
If the price was right might consider one needing an engine or trans.

 

Generally speaking 5k gets you a rust bucket here in mn. Nice-ish ones i've seen going for 7k-15k locally. Cheaper if you're willing to drive to California, washington or some parts of the east coast.

I've had my eye out for either a gc8 rs or gf8 outback sport in "collector's grade" but i just can afford one lol

 

We bought a 2000 RS clone for our kids. We found a clean base model 4 door Impreza L with a 5 speed, RS hood, rear spoiler, and RS front bumper that someone had gone through the trouble of building. I bought it sight unseen and had it shipped from New Jersey. It was a great car. Something to think about...

 

He has found one 12 hours away that is pretty clean around $5k. Still waiting on more info. They definitely go quick when they are in that price range.

 

Check under the car if you can before buying it. Fender wells, rockers and seam welds, rear strut towers. I'll wager there's hidden structural rust if it's lived in the midwest.

 

Yes for sure check the rockers and quarters, thats where they usually rust away. Especially around where the Diff T brace connects to the body. As well as the rear subframe, they tend to rust away as well.

 

Budget for headgaskets and timing belt if they haven't been done.

Headgaskets are guaranteed at some point on that vintage EJ25.

The timing belt change interval used to be only 60k miles. At least that's what the owner's manual of my old 99RS said.

Good luck! I loved my 99. It was a sad day when I totaled it in 2004. It only had 89k miles on it. These days they are rare in even halfway decent shape.

 

Well the one in Grand Rapids Mi sold for $5200. We were going to fly there to inspect and drive home but sold in two days.

 

Michigan uses lots of salt. I wouldn't be surprised if it was bad. If you are willing to fly 1 way and drive back, look to the central us. Ark/Nebraska/Kansas/OK, etc where there is minimal winter/salt usage.

 

Yea saw that one. I wonder what it looks like under those rear panels they added.

 

Fully aware. I am from MI originally. We had some under car and other photos from the wells. Looked pretty good. Doesn’t really matter now. He did find a few that were really clean but of course the prices were very high.

 

This is to be expected, they've been popular for years.

They're either roached out and rotting away, or they're well kept and valuable since so many people want them. The only inbetween is a well kept track rat/rallyx toy.

 

I sold my 2 door in great body condition with a leaking trans for $5k.

 

"Could use some work"

You have a gift for understatement.

 

Oh sh!t. I didn't notice that before.

WiDeBoDy, bro!

 

Check engine, and abs lights on, plus a 2 gallon jug of oil In the front seat. Those aren't good signs