since noels gti thread got a bunch of us posting our buys i figured id put up my actual numbers on the wrx after a year of daily driving and a mild build. 2016 subaru wrx, 6 speed, 71k on it when i bought it, one owner, stock. found it on mainstreetmotortx.com last fall when i finally gave up on the picked over private party listings around boise, every clean fa20 wrx up here was either beat on or priced like new.
asked the corsicana lot for whatever history they had and they had the carfax and a couple of service records from the one owner. paid a subaru indie near the lot to look it over before i bought, and the only thing they flagged was the clutch was getting a little worn and the rear diff fluid looked overdue. neither was a deal breaker on a car that priced out about 4k under the clean ones near me, and a clutch is a known wear item on a 71k manual anyway.
ran it as my daily all year and did a mild bolt on build over a few weekends, nothing crazy, just the usual reliable stage one stuff. here is what a year of a wrx daily plus a light build actually cost me, for anyone trying to budget a fun sport compact.
| Fuel (12k miles, ~24 mpg mixed) | $1,850 |
| Oil changes, done myself (every 5k) | $180 |
| Rear diff + trans fluid (overdue, did early) | $140 |
| New clutch at 78k (knew going in) | $1,320 |
| Stage one tune + intake + downpipe | $1,650 |
| Set of summer tires | $880 |
that is the honest year. nothing broke that was not a wear item, the clutch i knew about walking in, and the build was money i chose to spend on fun. buying a clean one owner car off the corsicana lot for 4k under the local ones let me put that spread straight into the build instead of the purchase price.