Talk to me about scoobies

I didn't know they were so thirsty I was expecting low 20's but not low teens.

Seems lots of mixed opinions on which to get I suppose I will have to drive some and see which i prefer and weigh up if its worth the extra running costs over a focus or civic
 
kaptainmarc said:
I didn't know they were so thirsty I was expecting low 20's but not low teens.

Seems lots of mixed opinions on which to get I suppose I will have to drive some and see which i prefer and weigh up if its worth the extra running costs over a focus or civic
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They're no different to any other performance car tbh. My old 250bhp Rover would see low/mid teens on a hoon and mid 30s on a run. On average, the Scoob seems to get 1mpg more than the Rover on a run, and that's with it lugging round a 4WD system and a bit more weight.

People quoting 200 miles to a tank of fuel etc... high running costs... you buy a Subaru because of its performance. Just like you'd buy a Focus ST because of its performance over a normal model.

If you're worried about running costs and fuel consumption, you might as well rule out pretty much any 200bhp+ turbocharged car. Don't skimp on servicing and the car will treat you well.
 
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If you can scrape a newage STi i'd do that, everything is usefully better compared to the WRX. I averaged late 20's MPG when i was commuting in my '05 STi and mid to low 20's when hooning it around. As you can see from my sig my lifetime average was just under 25 and that was with quite a few track days.

I personally at least found them very cheap to run as long as you can do work yourself, parts are really cheap and easy to get hold of so as long as you keep the engine and gearbox in decent shape by changing the fluids & belts and not driving like a mental from cold/over revving it's all good really.

The 2.0 engine is the one to get rather than the 2.5 unless it's already been rebuilt with forged internals, suspension struts tend to go about the 70k mark, you can fix them by taking them to bits and re-greasing it all but most go coilovers at that point which is what i did. Brakes are cheap for good fast road pads & discs all round its under £300 with the STi Brembo's. It's cheaper for the WRX's but their callipers tend to seize up after not too long so you'll need to either get stainless steel pistons or replace them, they're also not up to much compared to the STi's.

Everything else is just normal car stuff really, tyres are a cheap size and if you want another set/different rims there's tones to choose from on scoobynet at any given time. Various bits of trim or any switch gear are again very easy to find if you did manage to break something, to be fair even changing the spark plugs isn't too bad considering the engine layout.
 
I managed low 30s with my classic UK turbo - it had the standard TD04 but had ECUTEK.

I drove completely off boost from West Wales to Oxfordshire and used just under half a tank.

My Type RA had a VF29 and drank like a fish whether it was hammered or driven gently. Gearing didn't help. Was a chore on anything other than short blats.


Edit - what about an EVO?

A decent Impreza Hatch say a 330s that has been forged or an EVO IX both about £15K.
 
agw_01 said:
They're no different to any other performance car tbh. My old 250bhp Rover would see low/mid teens on a hoon and mid 30s on a run. On average, the Scoob seems to get 1mpg more than the Rover on a run, and that's with it lugging round a 4WD system and a bit more weight.

People quoting 200 miles to a tank of fuel etc... high running costs... you buy a Subaru because of its performance. Just like you'd buy a Focus ST because of its performance over a normal model.

If you're worried about running costs and fuel consumption, you might as well rule out pretty much any 200bhp+ turbocharged car. Don't skimp on servicing and the car will treat you well.
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11 mpg for me would just seem a tad excessive on the fuel bill for commuting

don't mind low figures when hooning it at the weekend but a steady 65-70mph up the dual carriage way with no traffic would expect more mid/high 20's
 
I owned a 2002 (bought it in 2009) "buyege" 2.0 and it had a few minor problems in the 3 years I owned it.
I fitted a cat back exhuast and remapped it. That didnt cause either of the two issues I had.

Faulty MAF sensor
Fuel Hose leak
No other issues in 3 years of ownership.
MPG was 20-22 typically.
Road Tax = £300ish

Paid £3000 for it, and part ex'd it against a newer car... see below.


I then part-ex'd it for a 2007 2.5l "hawkeye" I bought this car with 45k on the clock in 2011. Sold it last year with just under 60k on the clock. I fitted a full decat 3" bore exhaust system on the car and remapped shortly after buying it.

Didn't have a single issue with this car, not one fault in 4 years of ownership. I bought the car for £6500 and sold it for £6000 4 years later. :) The car was kept immaculate and treated really well.
Standard exhaust - 24-28mpg
My exhaust - MPG 13-15
Road Toad - £495

Use only super unleaded on Subaru Impreza engines, ensure that all fluids are replaced regularly and you shouldn't have any real issues imo.


One thing to note my 2.5l engine would only get 13mpg - I drove from Stoke to Santa Pod last October in mine and did 60 all the way there (another scooby was following me and he had a LSD in his boot so we took it easy) and then coming back at the end of the day I drove 70 all the way back. It used a full tank of fuel pretty much, and averaged 13-14 mpg. This was purely down to my exhaust I had installed though.

So in a nut shell - 7 years of ownership of 2 scoobys and only issues was a fuel hose tear (£25 repair - but I did have to remove the manifold header - I assume a garage would have charged a fair whack for that) and the MAF sensor (£30 replacement - 2 screws to take old one of and fit new one - takes less than 2mins)

EDIT: OH and one caliper siezed on me, I striped it down and took it to a metal work shop who had to forge a new pin which cost me £10 - this happened when I swapped my brakes. I did install braided hoses and uprated discs and pads at the time - sadly I decided to sell her a month later cos I wanted the cash for a house deposit.

Fuel costs = LOTS THOUGH

When I bought my first scooby I was traveling 25 miles to work and 25 miles home. But I moved closer to my work shortly afterwards.


This was mine

12087276_10156240100620533_6252902977095540274_o.jpg
 
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kaptainmarc said:
11 mpg for me would just seem a tad excessive on the fuel bill for commuting

don't mind low figures when hooning it at the weekend but a steady 65-70mph up the dual carriage way with no traffic would expect more mid/high 20's
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Read my post again :)

You'll only see 11mpg when giving it absolute death, lol. Depending on how hard you accelerate up to 70 you'll probably get between 15-25 (but don't forget, you're only accelerating for a brief period).

Once you're up to speed and cruising you'll easily get 30+. I get 33-35 in the Scoob... consistently.

Lets say 330 miles covered, full to fuel light is around 45 litres. That's almost 34mpg.
 
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Yeah jesus i worked out on a track day i was getting 9MPG, the fuelling must be have seriously seriously broken, like limp home mode super super rich broken to be getting you 13-14 on a run in a 2.5 :eek:

Most i ever got was 33.5 over a tank in my 2.0 running 320ish BHP
 
Ace Modder said:
Standard exhaust - 24-28mpg
My exhaust - MPG 13-15
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There was something wrong with your car - in no way should your MPG effectively halve from fitting an exhaust! Surprised you didn't get that looked at.

I have a 3 inch system including the turbo elbow and get 28-30MPG on low load cruise.
 
Gayjin said:
There was something wrong with your car - in no way should your MPG effectively halve from fitting an exhaust! Surprised you didn't get that looked at.

I have a 3 inch system including the turbo elbow and get 28-30MPG on low load cruise.
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Yeah, I had a Hayward & Scott angled exit 5" backbox and straight through pipe on my Impreza and it didn't really make any difference to MPG. My hearing on the other hand....
 
Gayjin said:
There was something wrong with your car - in no way should your MPG effectively halve from fitting an exhaust! Surprised you didn't get that looked at.

I have a 3 inch system including the turbo elbow and get 28-30MPG on low load cruise.
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Placebo effect from constantly gassing it to make lotsa noise ;)
 
If it helps at all I've been commuting 14 miles each way for a year in a blob wrx, and apart from the fuel economy there's been nothing went wrong with it.
 
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