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Old 05-29-2020, 01:58 PM   #1
Therabitier
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Question 02 Bug Eye... Tow off or sell?

Hey all,
Been a longggg time, but I have a question that has been poking at me the last month big time.

I have a 2002 silver impreza outback sport that has been sitting around for a year now... It had overheating issues from a headgasket leak and the motor started to overheat, but never ceased up. I am trying to decide what to do with it at this point as it has been sitting out for a while and has some minor mildew inside (Seats were wrapped so they are clean). These are a very appreciated subaru and i dropped the ball, I got extremely busy between work and side business and never found a weekend to clean it up and try to fix the leak.

My question is, do I tow off to a wrecking yard or clean up and try to sell?

Some details:
Miles: 314,000 (Used motor replacement at 215,000)
Color: Silver
Tires: Nokian WR2's (Snow Tires)
Rims: 2002/03 WRX Rims
Seats: 05/06
Completely Dynamatted
No mods

I spent over $2000 the last 6 months of it running with:
New Clutch
New Heater Blower Motor
New Front Axle
New Rear Wheel Bearings
and other miscellaneous fixes around axle and joint

Thanks all for your thoughts!
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Old 05-29-2020, 03:28 PM   #2
Jack
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You're not going to get your $2k back, most likely. Put it on Craigslist for....I don't know...three grand and let the first guy with money take it. Put everything that's wrong with it in the ad and lots of pictures and it will sell. I've sold the shell of a fox body Mustang. People buy anything.
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Old 05-29-2020, 03:49 PM   #3
rtv900
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314,000 miles

uh yeah, that will be inside a bridge abutment next year once it gets made into rebar
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Old 05-29-2020, 05:52 PM   #4
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Location?
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Old 05-29-2020, 06:24 PM   #5
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Location?
Washington state
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Old 06-01-2020, 11:20 AM   #6
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Buy rebuild engine from sunwest engines in wa for 3k

+1K to install.

$50 ozone machine will kill the mildew and smell the car

sell it in CO or CA for 8-9k this winter after the first snow
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Old 06-01-2020, 12:02 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SIMPFLY View Post
Buy rebuild engine from sunwest engines in wa for 3k

+1K to install.

$50 ozone machine will kill the mildew and smell the car

sell it in CO or CA for 8-9k this winter after the first snow
SMH

Reality:
Buy rebuild engine from sunwest engines in wa for 3k

+1K to install, bringing your total out of pocket to $6,000

$50 ozone machine will kill the mildew and smell the car

sell it in CO or CA for 1-2k this winter after the first snow reducing your loss to 4 grand

SimpFly accidentally hit the numbers on the far right side of the keyboard instead of the far left when entering a realistic value for your 20 year old car
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Old 06-01-2020, 03:51 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rtv900 View Post
sell it in CO or CA for 1-2k this winter after the first snow reducing your loss to 4 grand
it all depends on the overall condition of your car. 314K miles doesn't mean its a pile of junk. Maybe cars on the east coast don't last as long.

the car is probably worth 1-2k with the heating issue. If you fix fix it, 3-4K. New engine then its worth 5-6k. Sell it in a high demand area add 1-2K.

Last edited by SIMPFLY; 06-01-2020 at 05:41 PM.
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Old 06-05-2020, 10:27 AM   #9
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I just scrapped my shell of an 02 wagon because of rust. Most of the important stuff was pulled and ready to be swapped into another chassis.
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Old 06-05-2020, 10:33 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SIMPFLY View Post
it all depends on the overall condition of your car. 314K miles doesn't mean its a pile of junk. Maybe cars on the east coast don't last as long.

the car is probably worth 1-2k with the heating issue. If you fix fix it, 3-4K. New engine then its worth 5-6k. Sell it in a high demand area add 1-2K.
So $7 to $8,000 for a 315,000 miles 20 year old car?
bearing in mind that is 1/3rd the cost of new.
yeah, that makes sense.

Please PM me with info on where you get your herb and how I can get stuff that good too
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Old 06-06-2020, 10:23 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rtv900 View Post
So $7 to $8,000 for a 315,000 miles 20 year old car?
bearing in mind that is 1/3rd the cost of new.
yeah, that makes sense.

Please PM me with info on where you get your herb and how I can get stuff that good too
So every part could be new except for the odometer and it would still be worth the same as an old car? you don't know what you are talking about. did your daddy buy you an sti for christmas?

and no i don't buy my herb, i grow it
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Old 06-07-2020, 01:10 AM   #12
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I would take Jack's advice. The whole fixer-uppper and flip kind of strategy does not make much sense to me. Unlike a home, for a car like this, the buyer probably wants to do the fixing part himself. You are probably better off betting that there might be a buyer who might want this as a project car. Pumping money into it and hoping somebody will pay thousands is risky imo. As rtv pointed out, the context helps - a third of the price of a new car for a 20 year old car? Most folks are gonna look at it and say hard pass.
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Old 06-07-2020, 02:33 AM   #13
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Nobody will want an impreza sport for a project car.
If OP wants any of that 2K back, its either part out or fix.
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Old 06-07-2020, 11:47 AM   #14
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I just put new endlinks on my 17 yr old/290k mile car last week. Below is a pic of the under carriage. Not a spec of rust!! I got your rebar right here

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Old 06-08-2020, 11:11 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SIMPFLY View Post
Nobody will want an impreza sport for a project car.
If OP wants any of that 2K back, its either part out or fix.
If not rotted out, why not? Do a better engine and drivetrain (WRX or STi, or even flat 6) and have a boring Impreza NA vin when you go to insure it.
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Old 06-09-2020, 08:34 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SIMPFLY View Post
So every part could be new except for the odometer and it would still be worth the same as an old car? you don't know what you are talking about. did your daddy buy you an sti for christmas?

and no i don't buy my herb, i grow it
no I buy my own cars tool

Quote:
Originally Posted by SIMPFLY View Post
I just put new endlinks on my 17 yr old/290k mile car last week. Below is a pic of the under carriage. Not a spec of rust!! I got your rebar right here

I got news bruh, if you went to sell that thing you'd get a little over rebar pricing for it's weight
Nobody gives a crap how many "new parts" you throw at a 17 year old 300k mile car. People aren't that stupid.
It's a car not a house.
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Old 06-09-2020, 09:53 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SIMPFLY View Post
I just put new endlinks on my 17 yr old/290k mile car last week. Below is a pic of the under carriage. Not a spec of rust!! I got your rebar right here
Looks like new CV axles, control arms, sway bar bushings. I'll assume tranny mount and engine mounts have already been replaced. If we figure similar treatment in the rear, that's what.....$1500 worth of parts alone? So if the OP's high miles car hasn't had all that, to not handle like a 1952 dump truck, he'd have to spend that kind of money. Then another three grand for a used engine. So at that point, he'll have a good running, good handling car for $4500 on top of the car right now. No matter that he'll smell like mold every time he exits the car. Check the Private Vehicle for sale classifieds here. Because I moderate it, I see cars like this all the time. Recent sales were $1500, $3000, $2500. I expect none of those have all these parts mentioned replaced and likely are either going to be someone's beater car till it dies, then goes for rebar or they rolled their STi and just need any chassis to put the parts into.

I do get trying to extend the life of a car. A coworker had a VW rabbit long ago that had a head gasket leak. Mixed oil with coolant. He drained both and put the lightest oil he could find into both the crank and the radiator. He drove it for a summer like that. Maybe that's the way out of this. Wouldn't take any value out of the car as it sits.
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Old 06-09-2020, 09:55 AM   #18
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Agree with Jack and RTV900. You won't get anything near what SIMPFLY is claiming. Must be something about that Bay Area air that leads to statements of fantasy.

With that age & mileage, you won't get much if anything.
Two biggest money pits in the world are homes followed by cars.

You never get anywhere near back what you invest in a daily car, unless it is something special.
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Old 06-09-2020, 06:18 PM   #19
SIMPFLY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack View Post
Looks like new CV axles, control arms, sway bar bushings. I'll assume tranny mount and engine mounts have already been replaced. If we figure similar treatment in the rear, that's what.....$1500 worth of parts alone? So if the OP's high miles car hasn't had all that, to not handle like a 1952 dump truck, he'd have to spend that kind of money. Then another three grand for a used engine. So at that point, he'll have a good running, good handling car for $4500 on top of the car right now. No matter that he'll smell like mold every time he exits the car. Check the Private Vehicle for sale classifieds here. Because I moderate it, I see cars like this all the time. Recent sales were $1500, $3000, $2500. I expect none of those have all these parts mentioned replaced and likely are either going to be someone's beater car till it dies, then goes for rebar or they rolled their STi and just need any chassis to put the parts into.

I do get trying to extend the life of a car. A coworker had a VW rabbit long ago that had a head gasket leak. Mixed oil with coolant. He drained both and put the lightest oil he could find into both the crank and the radiator. He drove it for a summer like that. Maybe that's the way out of this. Wouldn't take any value out of the car as it sits.

Jack, we are both making some assumptions here. I am assuming that OP has replaced many parts over the years considering he/she replaced the engine and spent 2K recently. It would be stupid to spend that kind of money at 300K unless the rest of the car is in good condition. I am also assuming that there is no rust on the chassis of that car. Used East coast cars are worth less due to the rust. One winter and brand new cars catch rust out there. Undercoatings don't work/last and are worthless. I would never buy an used car from the east coast for this reason. There is saying in the used car sales world to this effect.."Interiors from the North, Exteriors from the South". You can replace old parts easily, you can't replace an old rusted chassis easily. All new cars on the east coast become "winter beaters" in a within a few years of being on those nasty roads.

You are incorrectly assuming that i spent a lot of money on those parts. Its easy to find good used parts in CA since our pick-n-pulls aren't full of rusted cars unlike the ones on the east coast and most importantly there are tons of jdm importers on this side of the country. All kinds of sweet deals on parts if you have an older subaru. Here's an example, i purchased a used jdm hood with hood scoop for $75 from a jdm importer. I replaced my old hood due to millions of small paint chips. I sold my old one for $150 to a guy who had a front end collision. Parts are cheap if you know where to look, cmon Jack you should know that. Also all those parts that you mentioned are just wear and tear parts. To replace all those parts to sell the car would be silly, that's not the point i was making. My point was rather the rust. When I replaced my control arms last year, i sold my old used ones to a bugeye owner from MA for $40 each whose bugeye control arms for were fully rusted. Mine had no rust and the bushing were still good after 16 years. But I didn't need to replace mine they were fine, i did because i wanted to not because i had to. I found all three new group-n mounts for 100 on ebay so i replaced them but i could have bought good used one from picknpull/jdm importer for $50 if i wanted to. So ALL of your price assumptions are incorrect. Also for 3k its a rebuilt engine with 1 yr warranty, not a used engine. A used jdm na engine is $700 with 6 months warranty in the bay area. If OP has an NA engine, its even cheaper, im quoting wrx prices. In any case, I am assuming the OP has taken good care of his car to reach 300K and spend 2k recently so an overheating engine should not render it as junk.

I understand that you moderate the classifieds, that's awesome. I am very active on ebay, please do a nationwide search on ebay for used subarus (im sure ebay has more subarus listed for sale than nasioc) and see what kind of subaru junk sells for 4-5K. Anycase, you made some good points. I'm going to stick with my opinion that if the OP's car is rust free, in "excellent" condition with motor fixed, he will be able to sell his car for a profit rather than turn it into rebar.

BTW, there is guy in WA, same as OP, with 400K+ on an 04 STI on original chassis. Replaced his first engine at 330K miles. Rust buckets from the east coast never last that long!!
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Old 06-09-2020, 07:22 PM   #20
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Originally Posted by rtv900 View Post
People aren't that stupid. It's a car not a house.
You sound stupid making that statement. People are especially stupid when it comes to cars. People take out auto loans with 6%-18% on a depreciating assest like car. People taking out upside-down loans on cars. People trade in their perfectly good cars right after they've paid them off just to drive the latest model. People spend thousand on cool rims and tires more than the cost of the car. People making 400whp on a wrx engine without any supporting mods. People spending thousands on a forged engine meant only for daily driving. These are all examples of stupid people and you can find them everywhere, including this board. Buying a used car isn't that stupid if you know what you are doing.



Quote:
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I got news bruh
Your news isn't news bruh, its generalization and oversimplification. The devil is in the details, as the saying goes.
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Old 06-09-2020, 08:02 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SIMPFLY View Post
All new cars on the east coast become "winter beaters" in a within a few years of being on those nasty roads.
You are making far too many assumptions about the OP's car and the current condition it is in.

You are also making far too many assumptions on your above statement. Your statement is totally untrue.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SIMPFLY
Nobody will want an impreza sport for a project car.
Again, another totally lack of knowledge statement. Guess you never heard the term " Sleeper "?

Quote:
Originally Posted by SIMPFLY
You sound stupid making that statement. People are especially stupid when it comes to cars. . . . These are all examples of stupid people and you can find them everywhere, including this board. Buying a used car isn't that stupid if you know what you are doing.
Just because there are some people doing what you mentioned above does not mean that everyone is as stupid as you claim. But, then you say that people aren't stupid if they know what they are doing.

You have no idea why someone buys a built engine for a Daily, or anything else. Again, making far too many assumptions by you on what people do or why.

What do you think the others have been saying? You keep contradicting yourself.
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Old 06-11-2020, 12:19 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SIMPFLY View Post
You sound stupid making that statement. People are especially stupid when it comes to cars. People take out auto loans with 6%-18% on a depreciating assest like car. People taking out upside-down loans on cars. People trade in their perfectly good cars right after they've paid them off just to drive the latest model. People spend thousand on cool rims and tires more than the cost of the car. People making 400whp on a wrx engine without any supporting mods. People spending thousands on a forged engine meant only for daily driving. These are all examples of stupid people and you can find them everywhere, including this board. Buying a used car isn't that stupid if you know what you are doing.


Your news isn't news bruh, its generalization and oversimplification. The devil is in the details, as the saying goes.
No you actually sound stupid continuing to display your total lack of understanding of economics. (extra funny how you mention cars being a depreciating asset in this post right after you mention that in 20 years it will sell for 35% of new in your previous post. Do you know what depreciation means???)
Used cars don't depreciate because they are "on the east coast." They depreciate because every single year new ones are made and the cost of used HAS TO justify the cost of each newer version. Think it through and imagine going to a used car lot willing to spend $8k on a 20 year old car with over 300k on it. The salesman would have to go clean out his underwear, and I mean the front side not the back.

All of your examples of stupid behavior are irrelevant. You might as well point out it is stupid to take out a home equity loan to gamble on a sports game, because I guarantee it's been done.

And your last point is the most wrong of all. My news IS in fact news BRUH.
You think you're too cool for school, but I got a news flash for you walter cronkite. . . . . . .you aren't!
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Old 06-11-2020, 01:44 PM   #23
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SIMPFLY, I just re-read his first post. He needs an engine....he does not have a running one. Well, he does, but with a leaking head gasket. That was a used replacement 100k miles ago. He needs another one now. Aluminum prices are in the toilet as is steel. The seats have mildew on them. It's been sitting for a year. He spent $2k on things before the head gasket sidelined the car and he abandoned it for a year. It has over 300k miles on it.

I do understand that in the Northwest, in particular, people overpay for Subarus for some reason. I don't know where the OP is. If he's in the rust belt, I can probably declare the car toast.
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Old 06-11-2020, 04:36 PM   #24
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I would try to clean it up atleast to lure in possible buyers.
You need a game plan.
If it were me KNOWING I'm not keeping it, I'm taking out all the interior, carpet, seats etc, and blasting it all with a pressure wash.
Dremel with brush tip to the floorboards to knock off any rust or any build up. Let it dry, blow out or vacuum all the junk, Reinstall, perfume, quick sell on to the next.
Who knows you do all this and you'll probably have a change of heart and fix it again until the wheels fall off.
I know I would try. Haha.
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Old 06-18-2020, 01:55 PM   #25
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True, here in the NW, Subies are deemed necessary for our climate and people love them. Fix it up and list honest issues and/or improvements and someone will need a good all-weather car for themselves or their kid.
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