I'm checking out a used 05sti. are there any thing on the car i should pay special attention to?

 

get a carfax whatever u do and ask a lot of questions to the seller?Where are u looking at private or dealership?

 

nice... 05 sti... best year out of all of them.

ask questions. check body: if the paint looks slightly different in one spot vs others, thats a sign of repair. get down and look for leaks and what not under the car. look under the hood to see if anything is out of place. TAKE A TEST DRIVE with radio off to hear for any funky sounds. bring along someone else that knows about the car. do not look/buy at it at night or in the rain.

 

it is a private sale off my friend's dad's friend. so the deal shouldnt be shady...
it's low mileage, with a vishnu flash, and audio upgrades.

 

sounds good ask him questions about it.

 

Carfax is not as reliable and it may seem. Many accidents go unreported to the DMV, and are therefore not found on the carfax report. I would take the car to a body shop to insure it is accident free. Since you know the seller, this shouldn't be a problem as he is most likely not trying to cover up an accident.

 

Did the PO tell you it was modded or not?

Look at bolts around the intake as that is something that is easily changed. Also, if you can get under the car check out the downpipe and cat back bolts for signs of removal. Same thing for suspension. The front is easy to check, just pop the hood. Just make sure you look REALLY closely at stuff. PM me if you want to hear a horror story from buying a used STi.

Actually, the best thing would be to have someone knowledgable from here that owns an STi go check it out with you.

 

Also, is he the original owner?

One other thing: Ask him his user names to any of the forums. If he has any, do a search for all posts by that name. If the answers to your questions check out with what he posted it is a little more confidence that he is legit. Good luck.

 

Ive thought many times about buying a used STi. I would prepare yourself to replace the clutch and brakes...it is a performance car. Maybe a compression test.

 

do some driver profiling to figure out if they redlined it off the dealer lot or broke it in like they should. 1/2 the people you see on the road with STis are above 40 it seems like.

haha i saw this hella old guy the other day, i was like right on dude! lol it must have been his grandson's

 

three simple way, take it to the near by dealer...if you care close enough, take it the redwood. Tell them what going on, paid them to inspect the car 360...or some local car shop (the one you know!!!) to check them

or buy it from a dealer...

and very last resource...buy a new car

alan'07

 

yeah, you should look for awesome mods and have the car checked out.

If either you or a mechanic friend knows what they are doing, used modded STIs are such a great deal. There's like 5-600hp decked out STIs going for the mid 20k range.

For that price.... it's like a few grand more than stock w/ 20k+ in mods, you could rebuilt the motor, tranny.... 2 or 3 times and still be worth it!