Awd daily

Aye. Looking for a new daily car. I live in Canada so winters are pretty bad so AWD & under $8k are my criteria.
How much is the annual maintenance on a 04-11 Impreza?

If you have any other recommendations lemme know

Bumping for interest.

I already bought one and am commencing money-pit operations but I'm curious anyway.

I will say the used market for the WRX and STi is retarded so if you want a really good one for much under $8k be prepared to search for a while and then move quick when you find a fair deal. People usually have them riced to shit and want double what it's worth.

MN user here.
I daily a second owner '03 WRX. It isn't too terrible on maintenance, provided you really keep on top of your preventatives, and make sure you're following the maintenance schedule to the letter. You can beat on them a bit, but make sure you don't constantly hoon the shit out of it else things will break.
Also, assuming the salt situation is the same up there as it is here, there is no such thing as a rust free Subaru, so be sure to mirror under the car and make sure the running gear, and specifically the break lines going to the rear wheels are in good condition.

Op here-
1 day a month I might ride it a bit harder but it'll just be my daily.
Is it the parts that are more expensive or is it the labour? I do my own work so I'd only be concerned about the cost for parts. Repairpal says $1,000 for a clutch which seems insane.

I heard that. STI's seem to have less mods then the WRX's. But there are some 09 WRX sedans for 8.5k near me

just get a civic for 3k or fix your current car. awd is a meme.

Neither is really too horrible. Again, I drive a bug-eye, so unfortunately the new old stock is rapidly drying up, though between oem-alike and interchangeable parit isn't too terribly bad. Occasionally, you find something that's a pain in the ass, like how the spark plugs are buried under a cavalcade of bullshit, being at the sides of the engine, but luckily it's the exception rather than the norm.

I stress keeping a handle on maintenance because, especially on the older end of what you're looking at, these are finicky cars. As an example of what I'm talking about, on my model, there's a valve preventing the clutch from getting dumped too fast, because on the '01, the simple act of boiracers doing shitty launches was causing transmissions to shatter. Just keep in mind that it's a $20k car that they spent $15k on the engine, and you get the gist. But, to reiterate, if you're able to keep on top of things, keep your oil changed, your belts fresh, etc, and you keep an eye on things, you won't run into any undue problems.

Unless you need to do really serious snow shit they're pretty indelible. I and much of my family dove them DD through snow and they're troopers, especially MT where you get a 50:50 torque split by default. Not many other AWD platforms perform as well for the price.

And they're cheap and easy so when they rust the fuck out, well, that's what you bought it for.

I did the clutch myself and it was a few hundred dollars parts. If you want somebody else to do it for you then double that. $1k sounds like a lot but probably about right if you're already paying WRX tax for insurance.

Are you sure you looked up a normal Impreza and not an STI? Because the latter has one of those retarded-ass dual mass flywheels, and that shit ain't cheap.

I have two (2) questions about Imprezas:

1. How reliable are they? Given they are AWD there is more thing to go wrong at least in theory and I seem to remember Veeky Forums posting about glass transmissions couple of years ago.

2. How is the handling? I have never driven AWD cars but from what I have heard they generally tend to understeer unless they have most of the power send to their rear wheels and don't Imprezas have 50% / 50% power split?

The used/ricer market fucked it up. if you're getting one thats 15 years old with 150k on the clock then you should have your own set of tools to do driveway work just as you would with anything else of the same age. That being said, they're easy to work on.

How is the handling? If you have your tools, you can set the alignment and relative tire pressure yourself for great hooning gains. Manuals are 50:50 torque split and you can even scoot the butt out when you have it set up out of an old econobox engine. Autotragics are slushboxes, but you can lock front and rear for superior snow performance when you're feeling like a lesbo.

Bear with me now, boys i'm a bit drunk.

>How reliable are they?

It really depends on what kind of owner the car had before you. Turbo subbies are more likely to have been hooned by the previous owner than an n/a. That being said the n/as can last for decades if properly cared for, pretty much all of the super high mileage cars are n/a.

tl;dr If you're ok with having to fix shit get a turbo and hoon a lot, but if you want a car that will last forever you should get an n/a and hoon a bit less hard.

>How is the handling?
>Do they understeer?

Subarus handle quite well in all conditions in my experience. But they really shine in slippery conditions. Oh boy is that a fun time. Snow and dirt drifts for days. Point and shoot. As for the understeer meme. All cars can understeer be they ff, fr, mr, awd, etc. The common factor in all of these situations is the driver. If you come jetting into a corner 20mph faster than you ought to...bad stuff happens. Now, that's not to say that awd cars aren't easier to induce understeer in. They definitely are and you need to account for that. Don't blame your fucking tools you stupid cunt. I kind of forgot where I was going with this but just watch some youtube videos on how understeer works and you'll be fine.

It's alright mate. One of the first things I did in mine was an extended 4wheel drift around a light pole in the rain without even thinking about losing traction because I HAD TO FUCKING GET SOMEWHERE. They're very intuitive.

But if you're looking for a driver's car, get ready do make some adjustments with your tools to make it really fun.

shit. i worked in a shop here in Alberta for a decade, every Subaru that came in you could expect to see early headgasket failure or it was in for headgaskets. you could find a used JDM GC8 with a blown engine for $2k because Boxer engines are J-U-N-K. Subaru makes a great straight 4 but Boxers are junk engines

if youre set on a Subaru despite what i posted above, if youre in a JDM friendly Province you can import a GC8, GF8 or maybe even a Bugeye for $8k or less. i just imported a nearly brand new Subaru Sambar last month for $7k, better to be the first owner than own a thrashed JDM vehicle already imported

Are you from fucking India or something? Mad at tuk-tuks?

Canada, like i said Subaru makes a great straight 4 hence why i went with a Sambar over a Carry or Acty. but Boxer engines are inherently shit, who makes pistons sideways and a crappy engine in pursuit of weight balance?

>who makes pistons sideways
NAZIS THATS WHOM

nah Nazis make junk like Mercedes with digital oil level and no dipstick, plastic BMW waterpump impellers, unserviceable parts all packed with a shitload of Torx bolts and overengineering

if you cant tell, nearly a decade working in a shop made me full of pure hatred for anything German, nearly every Subaru, and Fords.

they also make boxer-engine motorcycles where the chains can't get shout out because they have driveshafts.

Jews can go die in a fire.

if you just want a daily that is good in snow, you dont need an sti or wrx
a base impreza, legacy or outback works just fine
they are still plenty of fun to drive if you get a manual

Get the superior skyline GEE TEE ARU or 4 suzuki alto works to make a snow carriage

relatively new WRX owner here.

had my major service done in June. the timing belt one

since then I have only driven around 1500km. do I go back for another service in December again or can I stretch it out a bit?

Lancers are actually pretty cheap. The Lancer SE has AWD and can be had with under 50k miles for around 6 or 7k

All the lancers I've seen & am looking at right now are FWD (including every SE trim I've found)

No