Hey, so for the past few months, i've been looking for a low-mid mile WRX (Sub 50k miles), but i came upon an 2004 STi with low miles for a pretty decent price. Plus the guy was located in the same city as me!

Anyways, so we exchange a few emails and he sends me over the carfax in a PDF format dated at 4/15/09. Well a few days pass and i'm really considering buying the car. So i look over the carfax one more time and notice on the top it says Subaru Impreza WRX, no mention of STi.

So i thought this could just be because they post only the general information about the car which i find out isn't the case because i find another carfax for an STi and it specifically lists it is an STi. Also, the carfax states it is a 2.0L engine when the STi is a 2.5L engine.

I message the guy and he isn't sure what the issue is and that it came with everything factory from an STi such as STi cluster, interior, 6spd tranny, etc and that he's not sure whats wrong with the carfax.

cliffs:
Guy is selling sti
I want to buy and he sends me carfax
carfax claims it is a WRX, not STi
Owner is unsure whats wrong, even though it comes with STi parts.

Question: Would you still pursue the car?

Heres some pics he posted up:

 

Bro... do this... if he's in the same city as you... ask to meet up... then YOU write down the actual full VIN number that is physically on the car....check the one on the lower part of the front dash/windshield area...AND double verify it's not spoofed by popping the hood and verifying the VIN that is stamped say on the engine block. If both #'s match... go home and look up the carfax yourself and see what it says. Only other legit option I can see happening, is if the orig. dealer that sold him the car added STi parts on the car to help it sell better or something.... That's my 2 cents....hope that helps ya out.

 

UPDATE!
So i haven't met the guy/saw the car in person yet, but based on the comments on a subie forum i go to, people are stating that the fender/rear bumper are from an '05 STi.

The owner mentioned that the suspension and interior were swapped from an '05, but not the exterior too.

This leads me to think that it really is in fact a WRX and the previous owner probably swapped everything out to make it look like an STi, but used '05 parts.

The current owner also said that it does in fact have a 6spd tranny which makes me think he also swapped tranny's.

Anyone know where the stamp is on the engine that signifies what type of engine it is? Just wanna make sure its got an STi engine in it.

 

as for where the VIN stamp is on the block...on a subbie boxer engine... just look it up online or call your local subbie dealer's service dept where it is. On an engine block, it's generally stamped on the top or side of the block. Sometimes the bottom.

 

That is a lot of work to pass it off as an STi rather than a regular WRX.

 

Why not take it for a test drive and swing by a local subbie dealer. Have them run the vin and look over the car to make sure its legit.

 

^ x2..have it verified by an actual dealer first....do the guys on the subie forum say its most likely a convered wrx?


also - how much is he asking for it and how many miles? If it's in the 40k-50k mile range I hope he isn't asking more than $23k-$24k for it.

 

yeah, i say double check the VIN numbers between the car fax and the actual car, when i got a nationwide car insurance policy from my friend, i texted him my VIN number so he could start writing my policy, and mixed up a number, he was calling me cuz the VIN i gave him pulled up a automatic tc, and he knows mine is a manual, so it could just be as simple as that, but yeah, it does sound more and more like a wrx to sti conversion if those guys on the subie forums are correct.

 

atleast you're doing your due diligence in buying this car. makes me think about initial d when itsuki bought a levin thinking it was an ae86 when it was really the much slower and less sporty ae85! hahahahaaha.