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Price opinion from advertisements and recorded sales. Not an inspection or a certified valuation.
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Reference photograph of a Subaru Impreza WRX
Valuation · Subaru · GD MY03-05 · 2003-05

Subaru Impreza WRX

2.0L turbo flat four · 168 kW / 300 Nm · 5sp manual · AWD
AVOIDRated within the under $30k band · 39 of 46 at this money
Research estimate
$20,000
Must gain each year to break even
+17.1%
The projection does not clear it, and nor does most of the library.
CarQuant score
36/100
Scored against the under $30k band, not the whole library
Evidence grade
Researched
No Australian transaction of any kind
$20,000
$13,046 lowhigh $26,251
Researched, no recorded transaction
No Australian auction transaction on record for a standard GD WRX
Measured across this library, a value with no Australian result behind it runs high about seven times in ten, by a median of ten per cent. Read this one as a ceiling rather than a midpoint.

Looking at an Impreza WRX for sale?

Put in the asking price and the odometer reading. You will see what this model should make at that reading.

Should make, typical example
$20,000
At about 150,000 km. Enter an asking price to compare.

No Australian sale stands behind this value, so treat the figure as indicative.

We will not sell a report on this car. The check above stays free.

Price history

Today $20,000 · modelled median at five years $21,299
Solid line: the value this library has carriedDashed from 2026: modelled · even money $16,958 to $23,904
The green band is the even-money range and the one to plan on: half of outcomes land inside it. The pale band behind it bounds eight in ten ($13,046 to $26,251). The path is this model's own: it starts along the momentum of its recorded history and bends toward its projected median as the horizon lengthens, so no two cars share a future curve.

The verdict

The numbers argue against it. Scores 36/100, ranking 39 of 46 in the under $30k band. Liquidity is the strongest input, scarcity the weakest.
Running it costs about $4,300 a year (21.5% of value), which is what the economics score measures. All in, including the projected value change, it is $4,360 a year.
The model's five year median is $21,299, a +6.5% move, with the tenth percentile at $13,046.
Value is research, not a measurement. Treat the level as indicative and the structure as the analysis.
Evidence
Researched0 recorded sales
Off its peak
at peak
Value band
wide
An external source, but no itemised transactions. Indicative only.
Scored against every recent Australian sale this library holds, half its values land within 11.2 per cent of the price paid and the rest miss by more, in either direction. Projections are therefore damped toward flat in proportion to how little is known, and the plausible band is never narrower than the error the model is known to make.
Short term (1-5 years)$4,360 a year all in, +6.5% median value move
Long term (10-15 years)Scarcity requires a decade of attrition
Negotiate from$20,000

Recorded sales

No individual sales are logged for this vehicle.
The value is supported by the aggregate evidence noted at the top of this report, but the underlying transactions are not itemised here.

Score breakdown

Against the under $30k band median
46 cars in band · ink tick marks the median
Ownership economics30% of total
26/100-9
Scarcity25% of total
9/100-32
Demand durability20% of total
40/100-16
Liquidity15% of total
76/100+17
Risk resilience10% of total
62/100+25
Sub-scores run 0-100 before weighting; the weighted total is 36/100. Medians are computed live from the 46 cars currently in the under $30k band, so this picture moves when the library does.
The working behind each factor: baseline and drivers ↓
Ownership economics30% weight
26/100
Baseline80 pts
− 21.5% of value a year to run-54 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)26 pts
Scarcity25% weight
9/100
Baseline5 pts
+ Roughly 4,300 estimated survivors, most modified+4 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)9 pts
Demand durability20% weight
40/100
Baseline20 pts
+ Rally-era badge with a global following+16 pts
+ US attention on the era lifts the halo car, not this one+4 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)40 pts
Liquidity15% weight
76/100
Baseline10 pts
+ 45 days on market+42 pts
+ 620 sales a year+24 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)76 pts
Risk resilience10% weight
62/100
Baseline90 pts
− Modification near-universal, stock cars scarce-20 pts
− EJ205 ringland and bearing failures on tuned cars-8 pts
Sub-score (baseline plus drivers, clamped 0-100)62 pts
Model output, not advice or a valuation. Verify independently before acting.

What it costs to own · about 6,818 km a year

Annual cost of access, excl. fuel
$4,300a year
Share of value per year
21.5%
Scheduled servicing$75017%
Tyres, annualised$70016%
Registration and CTP$75017%
Insurance$1,25029%
Sinking fund (failure table)$85020%
All-in annualised (a different number)
Purchase (model value plus duty)$20,800
Running costs × 5 years$21,500
Median exit, net of selling cost$20,499
All-in annualised over 5 years$4,360/yr
Share of value per year21.8%
Cost of access is what the car costs to run. All-in annualised adds depreciation, duty and selling costs across a five year hold. They answer different questions and are labelled separately for that reason.
Break-even appreciation, 5 year hold
17.1%a year, only to get the money back
This library projects
+1.3%a year
The projection falls 15.8 points a year short of the hurdle. On these assumptions this car is a cost, not an asset, which can be an entirely rational thing to buy but should be bought knowing it.
Purchase$20,000
Stamp duty$800
Running costs x 5 years$21,500
Selling cost at exit, 4.0% of the salescales with price
Sale price needed at +5 years$44,063
Storage
Bought at
No forecast is used to compute the hurdle. It is the purchase, the duty, any premium and 5 years of running cost, grossed up for the cost of selling and spread back over the hold. The projection it is measured against is the weakest number in this product and is drawn that way in the chart above. Transport, finance and any restoration spend sit outside it.

Specification

Engine2.0L turbo flat four
Power / torque168 kW / 300 Nm
0-100 km/h6 s
Transmission5sp manual
DriveAWD
Kerb weight1,410 kg
Built worldwide190,000
Delivered to Australia7,500
Effective AU survivors4,300
Australian sales / year620
Typical days on market45 days
Launch price$42,940

What moves the price on this model

Colour hierarchy
WR Blue Pearl+4%
Java Black Pearl (MY04 only)+2%
San Remo Red+1%
Platinum Silver-1%
Options
Club Spec limited edition (numbered)+4%
STI dealer-fit accessories (short shift, springs)+1%
Premium pack (sunroof, leather)0%
Odometer sensitivity±1% per 10,000 km vs 150,000 km
Applied on top of these

Condition, history, originality, ownership, delivery and modification multipliers apply to every car in the library. They are applied automatically when an advertisement is analysed, and the schedule is set out once, on the analyser page.

Projected value in five years

Projected value at five years
$21,299
+6.5% on today
The model's figure. Today it is $20,000.
Even odds it lands between $16,958 and $23,904.
$13,046 lowhigh $26,251
The shaded range is even money and 41% wide; the outer figures bound eight outcomes in ten. Band width follows the evidence - a model with a tight measured record carries a tight band.
A stronger five year outlook than 50% of the library.
-26.6% weakest projected move in the librarystrongest +73.1%
Five-year cost of ownership
Value change alone: +$1,299 across five years.
Running costs over the same period: $21,500.
Duty and expected selling costs: $1,600.
Net cost of five years of ownership: $21,800, or $4,360 a year.
The projected value rise offsets part of the running cost. It does not make the car free to own.

The case for and against

The case for

The affordable half of the blobeye pair, with the STI pulling the era's values upward from above. A genuinely stock, full-history car is already the exception and trades like it.

The case against

Subaru sold thousands here and most survive. The scarcity story belongs to unmodified examples only, and no Australian auction transaction yet anchors any of it.

Known faults and risks

Risk 1Hidden tunes and returned-to-stock cars
Risk 2Ringland failure on modified engines
Risk 3Accident history common in the segment
Ringland/bearing rebuild (tuned cars)$7,500
2nd gear synchro crunch$2,200
Clutch and flywheel$1,500

Similar cars, and what they cost to run

Evidence behind this valueResearched · 0 recorded sales
Carried value
$20,000
Historical price
2016 · $14,0002026 · $20,000
Researched
An external source, but no itemised transactions. Indicative only.
No Australian auction record

For a standard blobeye WRX, so this value is research positioned between the GC8 and the GD STI records either side of it. The MY03 facelift lifted the Australian car to 168kW and 300Nm at a $42,940 list price, and Subaru sold them in real volume here, which is why the survivor pool is measured in thousands rather than hundreds.

Read the rest of the evidence notes (2 more)
International context, and its limit

American auction attention on this era is real but attaches to the STI rather than the WRX, and the American cars are 2.5-litre EJ25s where the Australian STI kept the 2.0 EJ207, so even the halo car differs under the bonnet. A standard WRX inherits attention from that market, not price.

The originality problem is the whole market

Most surviving GD WRXs are modified, many heavily, and the unmodified car with books is now the rare specification. The spread between a tuned high-km example and a stock low-km one is wider than the spread between model years.

What we will not sell you
We will not price a Subaru Impreza WRX against an advertisement.

No Australian transaction stands behind this value. A spec-adjusted figure built on it would look precise and would not be, so the report is refused instead of sold with a caveat. That goes for this car and 87 others. Everything above is free and stays free.

Read a real listing report
Watch this model
Told when the next one is called.

One line of email when this desk publishes a call on a Subaru Impreza WRX, or records a new Australian sale of one. Nothing else, no schedule, and on a quiet model you may hear nothing for months, which is itself worth knowing about a car you are chasing.

Free. One address, one model, and no account.