So I have narrowed down some winter beaters for myself here... although this WRX Wagon has stuck out for me because I could actually use it for the hauling all year round if need be.

Car has about 150k miles on it. I'm finding not much luck on forums on normal parts that go bad. Anybody with experience on what I should look out for on a WRX with 150k bone stock, adult driven?

 

Wheel bearings and spark plugs

 

transmissions

 

Love them but to scared to buy one because they are so damn hard to work on and i like to do my own work still love them!

 

What years are you looking at? Transmissions if the engine has been modded - they can't take the extra power. Subaru added a CDV type clutch for full throttle launches in 2003 and transmission failures basically disappeared, but the big problem was drivers abusing them. The 2.5L engine had some head gasket failure issues, but that was revised in 2003 and failures went way down. The 97-02 2.2L engine is hailed as bullet proof, but all the engines are generally reliable. Stock, I think just the wheel bearings and keep up on the oil, plus anything else that typically needs cars on a 150k engine.

 

The car is a 2002 WRX Wagon, 5sp, Silver. One owner. Belts/plugs/fluids all been changed about 30k miles ago.

 

^^^ That sounds like what I would want: a one owner car with lots of service records. I would pay a premium for a car like that that I know was maintained and not moddified.

Someone else said wheel bearings, sparkplugs (PAIN to replace on a boxer), and transmission. I'll add rear diff and turbo, especially if the car had been modified at some point in its life.

Andrew

 

If there's a turbo issue though, lots of owners (or previous owners like myself) have stock WRX turbos laying around and you can swap it out in less than an hour.

Service records and an adult owner would make it a great car though for sure.

 

Any car with 150K is probably going to be bad news.

 

why not get a 2002-2005 2.5TS (I think thats what they were called) wagon. It's the NA version of the WRX. It may be dog slow, but at least you can get a cleaner car, with less miles, more reliable, runs on regular, and cheaper insurance if it's just going to be a beater