Need help choosing first car

wikt · Post by **wikt** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 12:12 am

Hi all, new member here choosing my first car. I am tossing up between two Impreza RX's at the moment and would appreciate any advice.

Here is the first car: http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/pri ... 1&__Nne=15

And the second: http://www.carsguide.com.au/site/search ... icleType=3

My predicament is this; the red one has lower km's, leather seats, full service history, is road worthy and has more rego on it but is $1500 dearer.

While the green one is what I believe to be the (correct me if I'm wrong) "facelifted" version that began in 1997, making it far more compatible for visual upgrades. It's cheaper, has a sports exhaust, tinted windows, larger mag wheels and I prefer the colour and look of it overall.

What do you think is the better deal? Is the red one worth $1500 more, keeping in mind it's completely stock? Thanks in advance, as I said before any advice appreciated.

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:20 am

Welcome, Its okay to ask us anything!!!! Yeah I had a look on both of them, everyone has different taste in things, if it was me -
I dont like red in colour, but the red one is in a better condition and its in original piece, has service history (that is what you're paying for!) plus rego etc...

Green one - once I saw the mags, and he said replaced front tyres, no offence - Subaru with AWD you're meant to have 4 even wear tyres not odd pair, which could be a sign of how long he has been running with worn/odd tyres - you will never know the answer. The rims arent original - dunno the history if it has been mis-treated or anything, the colour is fine for me, its something I would look at, but for me I am fussy for what "mods" it has by the owner, I just walk away if anything that isnt original for that car.
Cheers
AP

sublime · Post by **sublime** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:05 pm

Personally I think you would be mad to pass on the red one! I never really liked the green.

Seriously I think any car with a full service history and less Kilometres would be much better value in the long run.

Most used car guides state Subies are extremely reliable until around the 250 000 mark on the odo (not that you should treat that idea as 'gospel') so the red one possibly has a lot more kilometres to go before things start to go wrong.

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:01 pm

If it was me I'd buy the red one but I too don't like the Subaru red (I have 2 red Subarus) as like most red paint it tends to fade really quickly, especailly in our weather but if you're going to keep it covered most times and wash/polish it a lot (being your first car I'm guessing you'll do that a lot

) then the red will be fine. I also like that it looks like the owner has kept it pretty stock.

Just noticed that the red car's pictures are almost 2 years old... best to ask for the latest pics :P

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:20 pm

RSR 555 wrote:If it was me I'd buy the red one but I too don't like the Subaru red (I have 2 red Subarus) as like most red paint it tends to fade really quickly, especailly in our weather but if you're going to keep it covered most times and wash/polish it a lot (being your first car I'm guessing you'll do that a lot ) then the red will be fine. I also like that it looks like the owner has kept it pretty stock.

Just noticed that the red car's pictures are almost 2 years old... best to ask for the latest pics :P

Thats right that is why i dont like red cars as well, if it fades you'll have a lot of trouble at the panel beaters... I used to have 2 red cars one was in a front end smash once, one side was more redder than other, and the panel beater didnt realise that both side were wrong colour so they had to do half half bonnet in 2 different red... he told me it was a real pain...

if your a good driver then go for it...

PS - red is evil eyes attraction for cops! - speed
Cheers
AP

wikt · Post by **wikt** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:05 pm

Thanks for the replies guys, looks like more of you are leaning towards the red one. I'm kinda 50/50 on this. Red one is probably a safer buy but if I was to get it I'd almost definitely get it resprayed a different colour, which will cost what, another 2 grand? Green one is just so tempting because its cheaper and so much nicer on the outside. AAHH!!!

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 10:51 pm

Here is another VOTE 1 for red.

Reasons
1 Red goes faster
2 sometimes police need a red car to finish their 'sequence'
3 if it is original, in my mind, less likely to have been driven hard
4 I have a red Brumby requires polish often on 12yo paint
5 I have a red GLTM holds shine well on 2pack
6 red looks good with the black RX exterior black bits

clarkey · Post by **clarkey** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:22 pm

i agree here, the green one does look much better, but as for a reliablity sake of things, the red one is a much better car. Maybe if you have a good look at both of them and get them both checked over and take them both for a good drive, see what one drives better and what one that you prefer to drive, dont forget, you will be the one driving the car every day, you need to make sure that you feel safe and comfortable behind the wheel, the other good thing about the red one is that if you do want to do it up, then you can strat from scratch and do it the way that you want, where the green one is how the owner that has it now wants it. that is how i see it. i am a 18 year old and my first car was a 1998 rx liberty sedan, and that was already lowerd, and had 250,000kms on it, but that was still going strong.

just have a good lookk at both of them, get them both looked at by a fully qual mechanic and see what one you pref to drive and feels safer. dont do what most of us do and jump into the first car that you see for your first car, i was lucky doing that, but alot of people arnt, i have lernt my leson from doing that.

Cheers Mike.

wikt · Post by **wikt** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 5:33 pm

I agree but starting from scratch = $$$$
Sadly I won't be able to test drive both and compare as the owner of the red one is leaving for NZ this weekend, and the owner of the green one lives about 5 hours away meaning I don't have enough time to see both. Guess I'll just have to wing it!

Barry1956 · Post by **Barry1956** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:45 pm

As only the green link is still functioning I guess you (or someone!) must've brought the red.

Based on this discussion, if it was you I recon you made a good, intelligent decision.

The only suggestion I would make at this stage is drive it for a while before you start making changes or mods.