Is this $5k WRX a good deal?

http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/cto/3621935726.html

I am tempted to offer the guy $4k cash and see if he takes it. I am very familiar with older Subarus and am not necessarily scared of the mileage, but I wonder about the mods and anything else that may have been done to the car. That said, if $4-5k is a deal and I could get my money back out of it later, I could hop on it now. FWIW re-titling it in Wisconsin will "wash" the brand off the title so I am not really worried about that.

I sold mine with more miles (205k) but much nicer condition (Georgia car) for $6k to someone in Wisconsin about a year ago.

A clean 02 WRX with no damage, 120k-150k, with all maintenance goes for around $5000 around here. So i dont know how good of a deal that is. The parts that worry me are the missing intake "snorkus" because that tells me at some point they probably had an aftermarket intake and these cars dont usually like them. I am also not a fan of lightweight flywheels on Subarus as they tend to cause misfire problems and I havent seen that they provide any benefit.

Edit: I can guarantee that the exhaust leaks are from the turboback exhaust he had on there, but who knows what rom is on the ECM now? If he cant answer that question I wouldnt touch the car unless he was selling it as basically an engineless shell.

When I was looking just over a year ago that would have been an $8k car at least around here (Portland OR)

Ojala wrote: The parts that worry me are the missing intake "snorkus" because that tells me at some point they probably had an aftermarket intake and these cars dont usually like them. I am also not a fan of lightweight flywheels on Subarus as they tend to cause misfire problems and I havent seen that they provide any benefit. Edit: I can guarantee that the exhaust leaks are from the turboback exhaust he had on there, but who knows what rom is on the ECM now? If he cant answer that question I wouldnt touch the car unless he was selling it as basically an engineless shell.

All of this. And based of the rear quarter rust, I bet the underside is going to but a rust nightmare.

If you can pick it up for $4k, that's not bad considering the mileage. But I would at least do a compression test since it looks like he did mod it. These 2.0l's can eat bearings if they are beat on too long.

In reply to bgkast:

There are a few "enthusiast" owned Subies that are overpriced, but for the most part Subarus are much cheaper here in God's Country, also known as Texas. Most people here dont know what they are and dont really care when they can get a pickup or a mustang cheaper and with more power.

I also live in the land of Subaru love, so that probably tends to drive the prices up.

Ojala wrote: In reply to bgkast: There are a few "enthusiast" owned Subies that are overpriced, but for the most part Subarus are much cheaper here in God's Country, also known as Texas. Most people here dont know what they are and dont really care when they can get a pickup or a mustang cheaper and with more power.

I bet they can't pronounce it either.

Well it looks like I'm buying a 330ci tomorrow so this thread is kind of moot...but, the car is still there if anyone wants it!