1993 Subaru Impreza
One of my previous cars was a ‘93 Subaru Impreza L purchased in (I think) March of 1999. I replaced it with a 2002 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport in June of 2001. Following is my old write-up of the car. Enjoy!!
’93 is the first year they manufactured the Impreza, it was Subaru’s replacement for the Loyale.
This was during the time that Subaru had some standard front wheel drive cars to the market and my car wasn’t among those optioned with all wheel drive. So come winter time I suffer. It doesn’t seem to handle too badly during inclement weather though, just not near as good as it could.
I’ve added in some aftermarket accessories to make my car a bit more livable. The first thing I did was replace the stereo system. Changed the head unit from a Kraco (that’s what the previous owners already had put in there) to a JVC. I also changed from the stock speakers to some from Polk Audio. I spent about $300 for the entire upgrade and I’m pretty happy with it. Good enough for me.
My next upgrade was when my dad found a set of 14 inch alloy wheels for a good price at an auction. We replaced the factory 13 inch steel wheels with those. This car handles much better after that upgrade.
My next upgrade was a car alarm, keyless entry and remote start unit. My brother so kindly put it in. It works excellent! I highly recommend a remote starter to everyone. During the winter months it allows you to give your car a bit of a warm up time before you go out to it which is better for both you and the car. You’re not freezing cold and trying to drive and the car isn’t running cold which is not good for the engine. It was a bit of a pain for my brother to put in though. First off the car already had an alarm and remote starter in it from the previous owners (no keyless entry however). It was badly put in and took a while to take out. Then to use the keyless entry it required an actuator in the drivers side door which took four hours to mount (had to figure out the best way to do it). But it’s in, and I’m very happy with it.
My next step is to replace the front left fender and add on cruise control.
This pretty much tells you what my car is.
‘93 Subaru Impreza L
1.8 Liter 110 horsepower Boxer 4 engine
Front wheel drive
14 inch tires on alloy wheels
Power Windows
Power Door Locks
Power Mirrors
JVC KD-LX1 Stereo
Remote Keyless entry, Remote Starter, Alarm
Not too spectacular (not to say it’s not a very nice car though), but I’d rather have this than a Chevrolet Crapalier er Cavalier (The interior is straight out of the 80s). Or a Ford Expire uh Aspire for that matter (Small, underpowered, etc). And I’d definitely take it over a Dodge Neon any day (we’ve had horrible luck with Chrysler products so we just don’t even bother with them anymore).
As far as reliability for this car goes . . . It’s already been in a situation where it was not taken care of by the previous owners (however many there may have been) and it’s survived it beautifully (It’s not the beauty of all wheel drive, it’s the beauty of reliability). I think their idea of maintenance was putting gas in it and having other people do the oil changing (there was two times the amount of oil in there than there should’ve been when we bought it, yet it does not have any problems). At least that’s the way it seemed when we actually went over it.
I have no doubt that, if I wanted to, I could make it last for at least another ninety thousand miles from the point where I bought the car. Subarus are about up to par with Honda, Mazda, and Toyota with reliability as far as I’m concerned.
I used to have no intention of doing that . . . Then I got a quote on insurance. It would be double to insure me on anything in comparison to my current car. I decided to make this car last until the rates go down. Gives me time to save for a new Subaru Impreza WRX. Turbocharged engine (2 litre, 227hp) and I can get the same hatchback design which is nice for hauling things.
Yup as you can tell I’m not considering any offerings from any other manufacturers. While I love the Mazda Protégé, and the Toyota Celica I don’t want to even consider them. I’ve had good luck so far with my Subaru and have heard very few hard luck stories about them (and, like any other manufacturer Subaru has a few). Why go for anything else when Subaru is just as reliable and has all wheel drive?
I used to say that if I couldn’t get another Subaru that I’d go for the Mazda Protégé. I changed my tune as soon as Ford took a more controlling interest in Mazda. Now the next Protégé will be based on the Ford Focus platform. While the Focus rides and drives very well (No better than my current car in my opinion) and looks cool, I have no faith in Ford for reliability. So, instead of that alternative I’d probably look more into a Hyundai Elantra (Powerful engine for an economy car, decent reliability, and a killer warranty) or a Honda Civic (It’s a Honda, fun to drive, reliable and all the other typical Honda attributes)
Was turned into by a semi truck driver making a right hand turn from the left hand lane with no signal. The fender wasn’t really fixable (we hammered it out and spray painted it and I eventually replaced it) and a heat shield was knocked loose. Otherwise the car was fine.
