Used Car of the Day: 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Coupe

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

Attention, Midwest-based Subaru fans.


There's a 2000 Impreza 2.5RS for sale for just $9K.

The car has a tick over 180K miles and the owner says it's mostly stock, except for the radio and aftermarket shocks, along with a few other aftermarket parts that replaced wear and tear items.

The owner says the car is pretty well maintained but has had some minor problems, and it appears that the timing belt has been replaced. There are some minor rust and cosmetic problems. The cruise control doesn't work.

It's a five-speed stick, and either the transmission or differential whines at highway speeds -- and has since the owner took possession of the car six years ago.

The owner claims to change the oil every three-thousand miles, or thereabouts, and he or she has posted a timeline of when work was done. He or she even has a journal, one that appears to be infrequently updated, about his/her time with the car.

Trades for a Miata or manual Subaru Forester XT appear to be acceptable.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Nov 15, 2022

    Do ya feel lucky, punk?

  • TDIGuy TDIGuy on Nov 16, 2022

    I had the hatchback/wagon "Outback Sport" version of this, but it had the 2.2L engine. Fake hood scoops and vents and all. Couldn't get the STi here in Canada at the time, so it was the next best thing I guess? Was still fun splashing in puddles on the cottage country roads.

    Also, I found the four door version of the RS like above for sale in Quebec for $3900 CDN.




  • MaintenanceCosts If I were shopping in this segment it would be for one of two reasons, each of which would drive a specific answer.Door 1: I all of a sudden have both a megacommute and a big salary cut and need to absolutely minimize TCO. Answer: base Corolla Hybrid. (Although in this scenario the cheapest thing would probably be to keep our already-paid-for Bolt and somehow live with one car.)Door 2: I need to use my toy car to commute, because we move somewhere where I can't do it on the bike, and don't want to rely on an old BMW every morning or pay the ensuing maintenance costs™. Answer: Civic Si. (Although if this scenario really happened to me it would probably be an up-trimmed Civic Si, aka a base manual Acura Integra.)
  • El scotto Mobile homes are built using a great deal of industrial grade glues. As a former trailer-lord I know they can out gas for years. Mobile homes and leased Kias/Sentras may be responsible for some of the responses in here.
  • El scotto Bah to all the worrywarts. A perfect used car for a young lady living near the ocean. "Atlantic Avenue" and "twisty's" are rarely used in the same sentence. Better than the Jeep she really wants.
  • 3-On-The-Tree I’ll take a naturally aspirated car because turbos are potential maintenance headaches. Expensive to fix and extra wear, heat, pressure on the engine. Currently have a 2010 Corolla and it is easy to work on, just changed the alternator an it didn’t require any special tools an lots of room.
  • El scotto Corolla for its third-world reliability.
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