Hey there, first time poster, long time lurker But hopefully I'll have a reason to start posting here soon, because I looked at a nice WRX today that im quite interested in, and if I can get some reasonable financing, hopefully it'll be mine by monday. Just wanted to see what you guys thought of it.

Its a 2002 WRX, it was a trade in I found at a ford dealer. It has 50k miles (a little high for an 02, but these engines are solid right?) And the sticker price on it was 18,100 (very high for an 02 w/ that many miles) BUT they had a special "internet sale price" that I found for 16,495. My dad tried to talk him down some more but he only came down to 15,900..which still isnt bad, he claimed the wholesale cost on it was 16,100, so I'd be buying it below wholesale. Plus i have a car that im trading in that i should get about 2000 for.

Anyways, its the WR Blue color, andupon inspection of the car, it was VERY clean. The paints in almost immaculate condition except for a small ding in the hood near the hoodscoop which is barely noticeable, and some small scattered chips near the front of the hood...but here in AZ thats unavoidable. Other than that the paint looked absolutely gorgeous. the interior was in pretty good shape too, the door panels were nice and clean, no scratches or cuts on anything.

It only had one previous owner (a female) and in her time w/ the car it looked like she installed the factory boost gauge on the column, switched out the hoodscoop for the carbon fiber one, installed the samco intercooler hoses, and i think maybe an aftermarket rear swaybar...but im not sure. She had the momo shift **** on it too, which was completely loose when we found it (you could literally pull it off) which concerned me at first, but we figured out how to tighten it down, so thats no problem

Upon test driving the car we found it to run very well, didnt seem to hesitate or have a rough idle or anything. Seemed like it shifted real well too. I didnt actually test drive the car myself cuz i dont exactly know how to drive stick all that well yet but for this car I will learn. It felt like it might have had the clutch replaced recently cuz it felt pretty stiff...i wouldnt really know myself, but it did feel stiff and even my friend who drives a lotta stick cars said it felt stiff. first the dealer drove it, then my dad drove it when he came to check it out later and everything seemed pretty sound, except the right front brake was squeeking a little bit, and it almost felt like it was grinding a little when you really got on it, but the car still stopped VERY well. (I have dimpled and slotted rotors on the car I drive now and this thing stopped about as well on its stock rotors) The only thing i noticed, the boost gauge never really went past the .5 mark...im not too familar w/ the bar system, but arnt these cars pushin 14psi stock...and .5 is less that 14 isnt it? But i dont know, he never really got on the car THAT hard so maybe he never hit full boost. My dad got on it a little harder but i forgot to check out the boost guage when he did. The thing felt like it pulled pretty strong tho. (compared to some videos ive seen, the 0-80mph seemed about on par)

how about some pics:












There she is. I didnt start hammering out details w/ the salesman until kinda late so when he went to run my app by some lenders they were pretty much down for the weekend, so nothings gonna get nailed down until monday. I was pretty much approved for one rate w/ a 9% apr, and if i went for a 60 month term my payments would be around 380 somthin, or i coulda gone w/ a 72 month term for 280 somthin i think, but he wanted to run my app past some other banks to see if i couldnt get a better deal, so thats what im waiting for. I can pretty much go up to about 380 a month, but of course if i can get it cheaper it'd be good to do that. Anyways, sorry for the insanely long post, if you're still reading right now i commend you. I just wanted tho run this past the people that know these cars and see what you guys think about it. Thanks again

 

The car does look real clean. Few things though.

1. If in fact the car does wholesale for $16,100, that is ULTRA WAY HIGH wholesale. My car, an '03 with 21k mi wholesales for $15k-$18k, so I would think a car a year older with double the miles would be a little bit less. You might want to try and figure it out for sure.

2. If the previous owner did mods like I/C hoses, CF scoop and an aftermarket rear sway bar, I sorta wonder if there weren't more mods to that car were removed prior to trade in. I/C hoses and rear say bar is easy to replace with stock, though, so maybe she didn't have stock bits anymore, maybe she didn't care, or maybe that's really all she did to the car. When I traded in my Nissan (for my WRX), I left a real nice Amp and head unit in there, along with an Intake. You might want to try and get the car inspected a little further though.

3. Bar = 15.7 psi and the stock WRX pushes (I think) around 1 bar max. Boost is dependent on a few things including engine load, so if you never really got on the car too hard, you wouldn't see full boost. Just so you know, you'll rarely, if ever, see full boost in first gear because it goes through the gear before the car can really build.

4. The rate on your approval is way high. 9% = rapage. You might want to get credit approval from a Credit Union. You'll probably get a lower rate and it will give the dealership less chance to build in profit on your car that you don't know about during the financing stage.

Other than that, the car looks great. The sideskirts are already painted, which is cool because getting that done is kind of a PITA. That CF scoop, is it stock height or is it taller than stock (like, JDM STi height). Just curious.

Welcome to i-club

 

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I didnt really take to heart what the salesmen said about 16,1 being wholesale...i figured he was probably trying to justify the 500 he dropped in price for us and didnt wanna go any lower. I didnt really see any evidence of any prior mods on the car...everything looked rather clean and un-tampered with.

yeah, 9% is a little high, thats why I'm gonna wait to see if any other banks will offer anything lower, hopefully it wont be a problem. But yes, she is a beautiful car, I was really taken back by it when I saw it in person, pics dont do it justice

about the scoop, its just a stock height scoop, if I get the car I plan on replacing it w/ an STi scoop anyways, so thats not a big deal to me. Thanks for the reply

 

I wouldn't go for it. You can get a used rex under 20k miles and in mint condition for $16k. Look harder.

 

Not from what ive seen around here. Most of the rexs ive found w/ under 25k miles are usually around 18k, from dealers at least. I know i could possibly find a cheaper one from a private seller...EXCEPT, I have a better shot at getting financing from a dealer. My credits all squeaky clean, but my income is just about at the limit where banks start to shrug away, so I'd have a bit of a hard time just whoring myself out to banks. oh well, nuthins set in stone yet, i'll wait to see what kinda offers I get on monday

 

few things to consider:

1. check wholesale yourself at kbb.com or edmunds.com. wholesale for a dealer is User Private Party price (I beleive)

2. 9% is dang high. Interest rates on used cars is generally 2-3 times higher than no a new car. On a 60 month loan at 1.9%, I financed 20K for $900!

3. I would be cautious about buying a car with aftermarket parts from a buyer you dont know / have never met. As stated earlier, you have no idea what else might have been done to the car. And at at 50K miles, that car could have been driven very hard (who knows, maybe the girl was an auto-xer?)

Lastly, I am assuming you are kind of young. Accordingly, your insurance is going to be through the roof. Check it first before you commit. You need to factor in all of those things when determining the "true cost" of the vehicle per month / year.

You are probably super-stoked on this car. Try not to let your emotions take the best of you. I know it would be hard for me not to jump on such a sweet ride, but you dont want to jump in without doing some solid research.

Good luck to you bro... and we will enjoy seeing some pics of your ride (be it this one or another) soon!!

 

Thanks, I have checked around on values, and if wholesale is in fact the user private party value like you say, then according to KBB that would be between 15,260 for the "good" value and 16,290 for the "excellent" value, so that seems to be right in the wheelhouse.

Acording to edmunds, the trade in value of the car should be 15,702, private party 17,077, dealer retail 19,369

I even went to nada.com, which is what a lotta banks use to determine the value of a car when they finance, and there it said the trade in value of the car should be 15,675, and retail 18,075.

So if you take all the private party values and average em together you get about 15,545 and some change. So I dont think 15,9 for the car is an unreasonable price.

And I just got off the phone w/ my insurance company. If i keep the current coverage that I have w/ my car now, I'll be payin around 177 a month or so, which I dont consider to be too bad. I pay 125/mo now for my car (a 97 chrysler sebring) Im also 21

About the point you brought up w/ being cautious about buying the car from someone I dont know...thats just a chance you take w/ any used car you buy I guess (unless you know the person youre buying it from, which 90% of the time you dont, so thats just a chance you have to take, cuz I sure as hell cant afford a brand new car.

*Well theres been some new news right as I've been typing this post. I just got off the phone w/ the dealer, and he said to make things work w/ the bank they came down another 500 in the price, so now it'll be around 15,400 somthin, which brings it almost exactly into private party range, they're gonna finance for 66 months at a rate of 7.4% for 262 bucks a month, and thats the final price w/ title and registration and all that crap worked in. So that sounds pretty good to me. When i first decided I wanted a wrx I had hoped i could get a payment around 250/month so this is close enough for me

 

thanks, itd be nice to get one with less miles, but unfortunatly i just cant afford it, 50k isnt THAT bad really. I dont put a lotta miles on so it should last me, and it really is a beautiful looking car. For 50k miles it looks like it was very well taken care of, so I hope shes good to me. Gonna go over to the dealer and get everything finalized later this afternoon

 

I hear ya about buying a used car, but with mods it is another story. You are probably safe. Car does look sweet. You are gonna love it!!!

 

btw, good price considering all aftermarket additions

 

thanks man. i cant wait to go pick it up. I look forward to being part of the club and learning more about the car

 

good luck, hope its ok