Who here owns a Subaru?

Frozennova said:
@Vita

How far can you stretch the budget, how soon do you want to buy?
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Not far tbh £6.5-7k would be ideal.

I'm going to have to wait until the BMW sells sadly. Only listed it for sale wednesday, having to deal with time wasters etc so I think it'll be a while before someone bites.

Thought I'd gather as much info as I could about them as I know now they're older they're a lot different to maintain.

Ideally a bugeye uk300 ticks the boxes for me. Difficult finding one that hasn't been fettled with.
 
Vita said:
Not far tbh £6.5-7k would be ideal.

I'm going to have to wait until the BMW sells sadly. Only listed it for sale wednesday, having to deal with time wasters etc so I think it'll be a while before someone bites.

Thought I'd gather as much info as I could about them as I know now they're older they're a lot different to maintain.

Ideally a bugeye uk300 ticks the boxes for me. Difficult finding one that hasn't been fettled with.
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Fair enough, I doubt I could get it cheap enough to fit your budget otherwise my dad's will be up for sale as soon as he finds a GTR

60k mile Widetrack Blobeye, AP 6 pots, light "stage 1" tune (~300hp)
 
Frozennova said:
Fair enough, I doubt I could get it cheap enough to fit your budget otherwise my dad's will be up for sale as soon as he finds a GTR

60k mile Widetrack Blobeye, AP 6 pots, light "stage 1" tune (~300hp)
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Something like that is too special for me to daily. I'd be paranoid parking it anywhere. Seems a great car but I'm going to be realistic and say it would be well over my budget.

I appreciate that you've mentioned it though.
 
agw_01 said:
hah, close enough!

What do you think to a bug WRX wagon? Possibly more chance of finding a nice, low mileage unmolested example.
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I'll have to see what I'm presented with I guess. I do like the uk300 just because it's limited, looks a bit special.

It's difficult as most of these cars are getting on and corrosion seems very common too. I can sort most things myself but then I have to question is it worth it.
 
Yeah I've just been having a look around eBay and there are a few UK300s listed. As you mention though, they seem to be holding their money well.

More so with the bug, I think you have to watch out for rusting rear arches. If you find a clean one it's well worth protecting the inner sills and inside arches with rust prevention products. Something I want to do to mine actually!
 
Front panels/radiator support that the radiator sits on are really common too, mine was virtually gone on a 02 plate sti and there difficult to see fully due to being covered by everything, this is a big welding job to put right too.

C frame on the front are terribly common too, if this is going or gone I can bet the upper frame and engine craddle are going the same way too. ICP genuine stuff aint cheap either.

Another is fuel pipes, they run through the inside of the vehicle with about 4 inches poking out underneath at the back this is where they rot through.
 
@Hybridtheory

I've been browsing the adds and a lot have the corossion on subframes and subframe advisories/failures on the mots.

I'm going to take my time with this, I'm pretty much settled on finding a decent bug uk300. I think it'll be the best option as a daily with a little hooning.
 
No, probably not worth worrying about at that sort of mileage. The main additional expense for me was the fuel cost. I was doing 30k a year when I bought my WRX which averaged 35mpg across tanks consistently. 100 mile round trip commute, mostly motorway but with some traffic either side and the occasional spirited drive. This dropped to 25-27 in the STi with exactly the same driving style.

Looking back at receipts it seems that service costs were actually very similar. I used the same engine oil in both cars, Fuchs Titan Pro Race S 5w40 @ £50 for 5 litres. Genuine Subaru black oil filter @ £10

Gearbox and diff oil in the WRX was Redline Lightweight Shockproof 75w-90 which at current OpieOils prices is £88 for 4 litres.

Compare this to the oils used in the STi; Motul Gear 300 75w90 for the gearbox (4 litres £57) and Fuchs Titan Race Gear 90 LS for the diff (1 litre £13). Genuine front Brembo brake discs for the STi are £60 each. Cambelt kits between both cars were the same, spark plugs are £11 each compared to probably £11 a set for the WRX.

So not too bad really bar the increased fuel and insurance cost. You'll save a fortune by doing the service work yourself of course which isn't difficult at all on these cars.

My interpretation of increased running costs probably stems from a brake fluid change on the STi that I didn't do on the WRX. Motul RBF 660 @ £17 for 500ml hurts a little bit :D Brilliant fluid though so well worth the expense.
 
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For me i'd want the STi if only for the gearbox, i don't know if the 5 speed i had in my classic WRX was a particularly poor one but it really felt bad compared to the 6 speed in my Blob STi. The 6 speed was lovely clickly shifts and felt very positive like it could take all the abuse you wanted to give it, the 5 speed felt very woolly and not as 'tight' or precise. Also the difference between the WRX 4 pots and the STi's Brembos is rather vast in stopping power and feel.

I found my STi to be very reasonable to run, driving it daily i was getting about 29mpg and the service costs were very cheap if you're doing it yourself. Just need to make sure you're using the correct oils especially in the rear diff as that really makes a huge difference, mine must have had standard gearbox oil in when i bought it because as soon as i changed it to the correct 90 LS stuff it felt loads different!

An STi might well hold it's money better too, i sold my 2005 DCCD UK car for £8200 maybe 4 or 5 years ago now with 80k on the clock, coilovers & remap and i think i'd be worth a fair chunk more now if i'd have kept it.
 
Thanks for the responses guys.

I see your points regarding the sti being better than the wrx, but I feel my budget wouldn't buy me a good sti. A

I don't plan to mod it performance wise. Just maintain and enjoy while keeping reliability in mind.

Not sure what to expect until I go look at a couple of examples to get a general idea. The only worry for me is rust on subframe and other areas which may hide corrosion.

I'm weeding out the ones which have these as advisories on the mots.
 
agw_01 said:
No, probably not worth worrying about at that sort of mileage. The main additional expense for me was the fuel cost. I was doing 30k a year when I bought my WRX which averaged 35mpg across tanks consistently. 100 mile round trip commute, mostly motorway but with some traffic either side and the occasional spirited drive. This dropped to 25-27 in the STi with exactly the same driving style.
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I'm struggling to believe that you drove both in the same style? I certainly didn't when I went from WRX to STi. But here was little to no difference in economy. But I agree with sovietspybob: the STi gearbox is way better. And a lot tougher if you venture down mod alley: the WRX box is good for 330bhp unless you like picking up bits of gear from the road, and the STi is good for 600.

Also, I actually now worry about my car appreciating in value. Now it means I have to care how I get rid of it if I ever get my life to stand still long enough to sell it and buy something else (job is going yet again).
 
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