if you want to find a really nice RS with a turbo, be prepared to drive a lot more than 100 miles!! Those are few and far between my friend. From what it sounds like, he did it right, and only running 4psi is pretty safe. Does he have a turbo timer on the car? That's generally a decent indication that the car is well cared for, since it's only purpose is to protect the turbo and engine...

As a side question, why is it that you (and many others as well, so maybe someone else can help me understand...) would seek out an aftermarket turboed 2.5RS, and pay $15K for it when you can get a 3 or 4 year newer WRX which makes probably equivalent HP for the same price?

I understand that the bigger block IN THEORY can eventually have more power than the 2.0L in the WRX, but the number of RS's that are faster than a tastefully (inexpensively) moderatly modded WRX are few and far between, and their owners generally have a LOT of money into them to get them that way. So much so that it would seem far more economical to just get an STi and perform basic mods to that. The thrill of the build is fun and all, but 1) why buy it already built then, and 2) is it fun enough to justify the cost?

When you purchase a car with significant aftermarket work, you're buying a question mark no matter what. There are some legitimate cases which would force someone to have to sell a car that they've put that much time, money and effort into building, for a lot less than they spent, but those legitimate cases are often dwarfed by the "I turbo'ed this car at 40K, and now it's running like crap because I did it myself, and screwed something up, and I can't figure out what, so I'd better sell it before it gets worse"

Some other questions to consider before driving might be "how long has the turbo been on" and "why are you selling". If the answer to the first question is less than 10,000 miles, I would be nervous.

 

this was exactly the situation from which I bought my 3000GT VR-4 when I had that (bought it from a shop that got it from a guy that thrashed it). It worked very well for me. It's one of the rare legitimate cases.

As he mentioned, the next step for that car is to redo the fuel delivery, and crank up that turbo (if you want more performance). A SAFC or EBC would also be a logical investment. Right now, as I mentioned before, I would estimate the performance of that car to be at, or slightly below a stock WRX.

I guess to me, the only remaining issue is whether you want to go this route @ 15K (which, IMHO, is a reasonable, if slightly high asking price for this car in that condition), or whether it would be better to pursue a WRX. 15K gets you a decent 02-03 stock or slightly modded WRX with middlin' miles (30-50).
If you look at what you would have to spend on that RS, my estimate would be about 3K would put you around 250HP. 3K in mods to a WRX would put you well over that mark, especially if the one you picked up already had a few mods on it (ECU& exhaust would be the ones that come to mind). Then you'd be dealing with a several years newer chassis as well. Just my $.02

 

I would not be worried about the mileage. My 03 has 46,300, and runs as strong as the day I got her. I would also not be concerned about any of the mods except possibly the BOV. It's not TOO difficult to restore a Blow off Valve to stock, and you can probably get a factory BOV for peanuts simply by posting in the wanted section of NASIOC or here. I have heard of dealerships refusing a warranty claim for a BOV (but not observed it), although I have never heard of a claim on anything other than emissions systems being refused for an exhaust (if you try to get an oxygen sensor warrantied and you have an aftermarket catback, honestly, you should be taken out back and shot IMHO)

regarding the price, never let mods on a car drive up it's private party sale value. Mods DO NOT affect the value that a car can sell for. Perhaps a car with $10,000 in mods might sell for a few thousand more than a stock one, but a few bolt ons have absolutely no effect. Tell the seller that you don't care about the mods, and you just assume he return it to stock, reduce the price and part the mods out on his own (which he likely won't do, since he'll look online, and realize that if he's lucky, he'll get a couple hundred bucks for all of them combined). The price is a bit high, but not totally out of line. Assuming the car is in good condition, I would think a fair private party price would be in the high 15's. If it's really clean, and has new tires, and the 45K service completed and documented by reciept (along with 30K reciepts etc...), it might be worth low 16's. Keep in mind though, this is just my opinion, but nobody else seems to want to post to help you out.... (this part is where the rest of y'all pipe in and tell this guy I'm smokin' crack or something.... GDogg, where are you?). You do see WRX's listed for sale here, and on e-bay and autotrader for 18,19,20K but I have NEVER heard of one actually selling for that.

 

@ $16k, his asking price is about where it should be, but that doesn't mean he won't sell for a little less. If you have specific color preferences though (especially if you don't like blue or silver....), make sure you don't loose a car that meets what you're looking for, because as you've seen, there's not a ton of them just lying around. It's not like it's a civic or corolla.