Buying an 05' WRX STI (HELP PLEASE!!)

[Prestigous]

Please take your time to read this, it is utterly life threatening =).
Okay, I'm 16 and I'm looking for my first car. (I know how to drive.. If you don't believe me so be it. (Yes I know how to drive a manual, I practice with a friend 3-4 hours a week for a couple of months now). And Yes I know how to drive according to the law and will not split my STI (if i get one) in half with a pole at 140 MPH.

Sure you guys are probably thinking "this kid is 16, what the heck is he doing here? Stop wasting our oxygen".

Well, ever since I saw a WRX STi (04' or 05') drive by me at the age of 14, I fell in love with the car so much. Since then I've been looking and researching into and about WRX's and STI's and i fell even more deeply in love with one. I know this may sound impossible, but I found a couple of STI's for 7,500-10,000 US Dollars (05') with below 50k mileage.

Now heres my question,

I'm a very skeptical guy (or kid if you'd like to say), the base MSRP for ANY STI is well above 30k (33k to be exact)-US Dollars. Is it possible for anyone to even consider selling their beloved STI for that much, or are they just yanking my chain?

One guy emailed me back about his STI, and he mentioned that his car is in the US (up north some where around Missouri or something of that sort) and he is in Scotland, while I live in Houston, Texas. He told me that if i was interested in his car, we would have to make the transaction via Worldpay ( www.worldpay.com ; sorry im new to the forums, please void the website if outside links are not allowed.) or through Euro-trans-group ( www.euro-trans-group.com ).

Are these sites trustworthy? Or is it the people that I'm buying from whom i should be more concerned about? Is there anything I should inspect for in particular? (Damage to the engine, enternals (i dont know what im talkign about), transmission, mount(?), intercooler, etc?

Please notify me about these things that I have asked, for I want to be a happy boy that wet's his pants when he starts up his first car, not a boy who's dreams are crushed.

If you have read up to this point I greatly appreciate you. And if you post replies helping me, I thank you in advance.

[freakray]

At below $20,000 I wouldn't be going anywhere near the car unless you want to get seriously scammed.

If you seriously believe a guy in Scotland is selling a car in MS, you've not been following the internet scams.

CN: any STi costing below $20,000 is likely a scammer and should be avoided like the bubonic plague.

[SabreKhan]

And also, see previous threads about 16 year-olds driving STi Imprezas. There is no way on God's Green Earth that you know how to drive well enough to handle that car appropriately. I don't care how much you've practiced. Get a less fast car and really, really learn to drive. Get your high-insurance-premium years out of the way in a slow (ie, cheap to drive, fix, insure, etc.) car, then reward yourself when you get a "real job" in a couple of years.

Really, honestly. I was a straight-A kid, never got a ticket until I after I graduated from COLLEGE, most reserved person in my class, goody two-shoes boy. Still am. And I can honestly say I would have killed myself dead in an STi. And I'm an EXCELLENT driver. To this day have never had a wreck, have only gotten one ticket (in a 55mph zone I thought was a 70 zone), and have logged far more miles on a racetrack than you have logged on the surface streets. I had close calls in my 4-banger Mustang and my mom's Suburban and my Saturn that I would have lost all control of with an STi. There's just too much power there. "With great power comes great responsibility," and you just haven't had enough experience yet to be that responsible. Get an STi, but wait until you're at least past your freshman year of college.

EDIT: And also, I'm a firm believer that you need to learn to drive a naturally aspirated car before you drive a turbo car. And 2WD before AWD. There's just no way you can fully understand turbo-power and AWD without having first become one with a simpler machine. Walk before you run, and all that...

[Prestigous]

Okay, thanks for the advice guys. I did some research on those 16-17 year old stories and I admit, I don't want to be the next victim. Sure STI's are nice.. and anyone would die for one, but I think I'll just wait until I'm somewhere in my 19's++ until I actually buy one (04-07, the 08's are damn ugly and lost my support). I always loved the Impreza and will continue. I'll first learn how to "master" stick shift, fwd/rwd, the simpler machine as sabrekhan said, then hear the roar of the STI underneath my ass when I'm ready.

[kman10587]

Don't get an STi at age 16. If you want an Impreza and it's your first car, go with a 2.5 RS, that's what I did.

[shortc]

wow, this kid seems alot like me..... except im 19.... my dream car is the sti (05 model) im tryin to do the most research i can, i currently own a 2 door nissian micra, n ever since iv wanted a subie, iv been savin like crazy, but not rushing, if theirs any suggestions on models or any thing really please let me know..... the subie is my dream car which i will be spendin money on...