Looking at a 2003 WRX with 103,000 miles. It has been impeccably maintained. All 30/60/90/105k services have been completed by a trustworthy Subaru shop. But someone told me that the engines on WRX's will only go about 150,000 miles before they need a new one? Is this true? What can I expect as far as engine life in a car that has been well taken care of, no engine mods, never abused or wrecked?

Thanks guys,
Colton

 

honestly i cant come out and tell you it will be good for 200k

dont know if it was flogged or the owner did some goofy crap

my car is at 147k original motor and original clutch

clutches arent suppose to last that long but mine has

so it really goes by car to car

but i have used my motor pretty hard borderline abuse but i wouldnt say so and its still OK

but i mean worst case you rebuild it or get a different motor. depends on your budget but you can get away fairly cheap if you just want the wrx stock motor

 

my mother in law has a 93 subbie with over 200k on the motor and she abuses that thing i sometime feel sorry for it, but hey if the motor does die get an sti motor.

 

My brother's Loyale wagon (AWD, N/A) made it to 280k with no issues, didn't even burn oil

 

My forester XT has 150k on it and runs like a top, pulls hard. I drive it like I stole it, but I do change the oil every 3k, do tons of cleaning and maintenance on it, so I expect to get anther 50k or so before I need to replace the motor.

 

There's no reason to think that the engine wouldn't go past 150,000 miles if it was well-maintained and never mistreated, but that usually isn't the nature of the average WRX owner.

Subaru turbo engines do see quite a bit more load under boost compared with its non-turbo brethren, so it may not be directly comparable to normally aspirated engines.

Do you know the owner personally? If so, buy it if it's a good deal.