15k: 2007 Subaru WRX Wagon
As a nice change of pace, today we decided to feature another car that appears like it doesn’t need to be disinfected, serviced, repaired, straightened, de-scuzzified, or otherwise un-DB’d. This 2007 Subaru WRX looks sweet as a stocker in black and has managed to avoid the HellaFlush stanced-out scene so far. The seller wants $14,500 and it’s traveled 83,500 miles. That’s 17 cents per mile! Too good to be true? Grab a surfboard and a machaca burrito, and go see for yourself in Oceanside, CA (via cragslist).
2007 was the final year for the first generation (in the US) GD/GG Impreza WRX, and would be the one to get if you’re looking for a hoonable AWD wagon for less than $15k. The 2008 re-styled successor was panned by auto journos as being soft, wallowy, cheapened-out and resembling a ‘roided-up Toyota Corolla. But for ’07, we still got the classic earlier Subie body style at the zenith of its refinement. The 2.5L engine (224 horsepower and 226 ft-lbs of torque) was an upgrade from earlier years and grunts out the midrange torque that was sorely lacking from the peaky 2.0L. Now if you’re looking to take on full-time road racing or time attack, there are stiffer chassis available than the GG wagon. But for a 5-door Daily Turismo that’s great for picking up groceries, doing a track day or two, dropping the kids off at their behavioral therapist, shagging in the back, then donating a greasy engine block to your local LeMons team, it would be hard to beat this black beauty from Fuji.
The seller of this particular wagon seems to be reasonably talented with a camera, was nice enough to include full-size pictures on his craigslist ad that show the entire car at once. Because the photos were taken on an overcast day it’s easy to check reflections and see that the car is straight – black paint shows dings and bad bodywork more clearly than any other color. As a bonus, the seller seems to be literate and hasn’t been hitting the CAPS LOCK crackpipe. It is a claimed one-owner car, which we would tend to believe since the ad doesn’t smell of flipper (the gold-chainer lowlife variety, not the hyper-intelligent dolphin). We would check for accident damage just to be sure, but it has allegedly never been wrecked, “raced” or abused. Tires, fluids and battery are fresh so this one looks like it’s ready to motorvate as-is.
The interior looks just as fresh and clean as the smooth ebony skin. It’s too bad Subaru ditched the sweet Momo logo’d wheel from the earlier ’02-’03 WRX, but the controls and switchgear improved over the years and the important thing – the 5-speed manual shifter – is right where it should be. These cars are sometimes derided as having cheap interiors, but we don’t know who would expect Lexus or VW grade soft touchy feely plaz-tecks in a low priced rally car for the street. Seriously? It’s nice enough not to be embarrassed by, and doesn’t tend to squeak or rattle much. Just enjoy the fact that this car was vacuumed at least once and is free of Sourdough Jack wrappers, hair scunchies and half-empty pill bottles.
Hey look – it even has a back seat! Which is sufficient for kid, dog, and friend hauling duties. We know from experience that with the seats fully folded, a full set of four 235/40R17 race tires, tools, EZ-up, cooler and safety gear will fit in the back, no problema. It’s a great occasional track day ride and has a nice cushy but controllable suspension tune from the factory. This seller wouldn’t have a clue about that though…wink, wink. A common upgrade to help reduce the propensity to understeer is a larger rear anti-roll bar. That and some Hawk Blue or Porterfield R-4 brake pads with some sticky tires makes it very beginner friendly on a road track. The black paint might take a beating from rock chips but at least the rubber marble marks won’t show! The Daily Turismo editors have had our share of World Rally Blue Subarus, and if we were in the market for another we’d pick a more low-key color like black, white or silver. We want to make some derogatory jokes about this car, but we’re at a loss – it is just a super nice example of the AWD turbo formula.
Find a crappier Subie you’d like to beat up instead? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
Such a clean machine. Giggity!
Yes – it looks like it just fell off the showroom shelf.
why do you need to imply that you want to make racist remarks about a car because it's black. that is so immature and rude.
2012, those were the days. Lookit all the writing and stuff.
“Race” in this context, if I may pedanticise, refers to an activity where essentially equally equipped participants—sometimes themselves such as people or horses, sometimes with equipment such as bicycles or cars—compete to complete a set distance the fastest. Early, typically shorter “races” often were constrained to separate tracks or channels, but quickly evolved to include a more liberal style where the contestants mix freely and equally while progressing. Give it a try sometime.
clean car tho