The daily - Impreza 2.5 WRX Wagon

The daily - Impreza 2.5 WRX Wagon

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Discussion

BenWRXSEi

Original Poster:

2,343 posts

133 months

Saturday 31st January 2015
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7 months ago I had an E39 5-series diesel and a Supercharged MR2. Then I moved house and swapped the MR2 for a very silly little Westfield. The Westy is a huge amount of fun but it wasn't nearly as usable as the MR2 on a day-to-day basis (I'd often use it as my 'work' car if the weather was nice), and I quickly grew frustrated with having to drive a wallowy diesel almost all the time. Don't get me wrong, the E39 was a great car for 2 years and 40k miles but in grandad SE spec it wasn't exactly sparkling. Even if I did manage to get it on track once. On winter tyres...



Anyway...

What I needed was a more entertaining daily drive. Now this wasn't an easy choice, due to the following prerequisites:

20k miles a year
Must be fairly inoffensive, as it's my 'customer-facing' car
Be able to tow the Westfield
Not massively thirsty day-to-day
Practical (it's the only car in our fleet of three with a decent loading space)
Reliable

After much prevaricating, during which I almost leased a new Focus ST, and then almost bought a Golf GTI, I remembered how much I'd loved my last Impreza - a 130,000 mile bug-eye WRX wagon. In truth, I wish I'd never sold it (it's still going somewhere I believe!)



That was it, I wanted another. Except this time, instead of doing it on a shoestring (the last one was bought for £2.5k from one of those "car dealers" your dad warns you about in Ramsgate) I could hold out for one that I wanted. Low mileage, FSH, warranty, and a Prodrive pack.

As it happened, the search took me all of two days biggrin

I found a car advertised at Adams Brothers Subaru in Aylesbury which was my ideal spec. 54k miles, FSH, PPP. I went to have a look at it and it was immaculate, went for a test drive and all seemed in order. That mid-range torque is just addictive. 4 months and 7k miles later I still love it, despite a couple of niggles - the brakes are sticking slightly, and there's a clonking from the front left on full lock. Both of these will be sorted under warranty when it goes in for its service in a couple of weeks (12 months dealer warranty FTW) so I'm not overly worried.

Anyway, enough of my blithering.

Changeover day!


Mmmm...silver...




Quickly put to work!








S'pose I should clean it...




Not the most exciting car on PH, but I hope it finds some interest here smile

ALawson

7,814 posts

250 months

Saturday 31st January 2015
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Nice car, why have you got flats on a road bike?

BenWRXSEi

Original Poster:

2,343 posts

133 months

Saturday 31st January 2015
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Bought it the day before, didn't have the right shoes for cleats!

Ved

3,825 posts

174 months

Saturday 31st January 2015
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Nice car you have there smile You weren't tempted by the £14k 12 year old STI they had in? I suspect it'll be there for a very long time.

DanielSan

18,748 posts

166 months

Sunday 1st February 2015
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Ved said:
Nice car you have there smile You weren't tempted by the £14k 12 year old STI they had in? I suspect it'll be there for a very long time.
14k!!???

Has it only done 3 miles or something?

petrolveins

1,780 posts

172 months

Sunday 1st February 2015
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Really like these. Especially in estate form, less offensive to normal people. Quite fancy a bug-eye like your old one as a bit of a shed to spank around back roads, prices are tempting now too. Are they reliable as their name suggests? Do they stand up to abuse?

AntiLagGC8

1,724 posts

111 months

Sunday 1st February 2015
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petrolveins said:
Really like these. Especially in estate form, less offensive to normal people. Quite fancy a bug-eye like your old one as a bit of a shed to spank around back roads, prices are tempting now too. Are they reliable as their name suggests? Do they stand up to abuse?
Impreza's can generally take a huge amount of abuse but each model has certain issues to be aware of (like any car I suppose).

The 2.5 engine is well known for having problems when running at higher power levels - the STi has some very common and expensive problems although these can be overcome with a rebuild which many have had. The 2.5 WRX however tends to be reliable. The 2.0 blocks are usually very good if they have been looked after with quite a lot going past 350bhp+ on the standard internals and as high as 500 although most recommend the engine to be fully uprated beyond 350.

My RB5 is running a fully forged engine at about 360bhp with no problems (other than my uprated clutch giving up!). My car is now 15 years old and has had a lot of abuse and has cost me a lot which I believe is down to its previous owner not looking after it more than anything else. Ordinarily I would of just sold it but there is something about Impreza's that gets under your skin and I'm not sure I will ever sell the RB5.

Jandywa

1,058 posts

150 months

Sunday 1st February 2015
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Lovely car OP!

I've always had a soft spot for Impreza estates (my dad owned 2) and imo the exhaust that comes with the PPP is perfect in terms of both sound and looks. All too often you see imprezas utterly ruined with a piece of oil pipeline stuck out the back blaring out a horrendous unrefined noise.

BenWRXSEi

Original Poster:

2,343 posts

133 months

Sunday 1st February 2015
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Ved said:
Nice car you have there smile You weren't tempted by the £14k 12 year old STI they had in? I suspect it'll be there for a very long time.
Blimey! Er, no, bit rich for me. Plus the STI is a little too extrovert for my needs, I visit customer sites in this car so it had to be relatively low-key.

petrolveins said:
Really like these. Especially in estate form, less offensive to normal people. Quite fancy a bug-eye like your old one as a bit of a shed to spank around back roads, prices are tempting now too. Are they reliable as their name suggests? Do they stand up to abuse?
Thanks - my bugeye gave me no problems at all, partly why I bought another. I think the general rule is try and buy an un-modified one, most of the issues seem to stem from ill-advised power hikes etc. I spotted 'my' old bugeye on eBay a few months ago with ~150,000 miles on it (IIRC), and the only performance mod it has is a Prodrive exhaust.

Jandywa said:
Lovely car OP!

I've always had a soft spot for Impreza estates (my dad owned 2) and imo the exhaust that comes with the PPP is perfect in terms of both sound and looks. All too often you see imprezas utterly ruined with a piece of oil pipeline stuck out the back blaring out a horrendous unrefined noise.
Thanks! thumbup

I agree about the Prodrive exhaust, it's just right as far as I'm concerned.

AntiLagGC8 said:
There is something about Impreza's that gets under your skin.
Agreed! There's certainly more well-rounded dailies I could have bought, but I just couldn't resist another hehe

Ved

3,825 posts

174 months

Sunday 1st February 2015
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My STI goes to customer sites. No issues here smile

BenWRXSEi

Original Poster:

2,343 posts

133 months

Sunday 1st February 2015
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Ved said:
My STI goes to customer sites. No issues here smile
Fair point. If I'm honest I had my heart set on a wagon, though smile

Ved

3,825 posts

174 months

Monday 2nd February 2015
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No shame in that. I bloody love them too! The GB270 wagon is lovely.

Bungleaio

6,324 posts

201 months

Monday 2nd February 2015
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Lovely car, the best looking front end of all the newage models I think.

The following bits will make it handle even better for not a massive cost.

http://www.cdfracing.co.uk/product_info.php?produc...

http://www.cdfracing.co.uk/product_info.php?produc...


wombleh

1,778 posts

121 months

Monday 2nd February 2015
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Very nice, had one of these in standard form and loved it, silly amounts of grip! Traded mine in as it was a bit small inside for two lanky adults + baby kit.

BenWRXSEi

Original Poster:

2,343 posts

133 months

Monday 2nd February 2015
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Today's progress:





I'm pleased with that, tidy job (not by me, I hasten to add!) and no cutting required. Now I just need to get the Westfield sorted!

BenWRXSEi

Original Poster:

2,343 posts

133 months

Sunday 12th April 2015
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Realised today I had no half-decent pictures of the Impreza, so after a quick clean...











...and the most important bit:


Realised today I've done 11k miles since I bought it six months ago spin

BenWRXSEi

Original Poster:

2,343 posts

133 months

Sunday 12th April 2015
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Oh, forgot this one as well. Work-horse mode biggrin


Ved

3,825 posts

174 months

Sunday 12th April 2015
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Still great smile

I'd get the scoop props painted black though, as it just doesn't look right, and since it's now Pheasant suicide season you might want to look at a Zunsport lower grill - it saved me last week.

Edited by Ved on Sunday 12th April 21:53

BenWRXSEi

Original Poster:

2,343 posts

133 months

Thursday 9th July 2015
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Now at 72k miles, still going well. Recent activities include towing the Westy on a 300-mile round trip to Woodbridge and back...





And then a 600-mile round trip into Wales for a few days, including some pretty entertaining unmade roads on the way to the remote cottage we were staying in:



The incline isn't clear in this picture, but the hill it's parked on was made of loose slate and gravel and was pretty tricky to walk up. The Subaru, despite being on three wheels in places, took it all in its stride hehe

Top workhorsing continues biggrin

BenWRXSEi

Original Poster:

2,343 posts

133 months

Sunday 20th September 2015
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MOT and major service this week just gone, needed a couple of ARB bushes as well as a cambelt tensioner. Still, no advisories on the MOT! Looking at the mileage record I've now done 22k in the last year... Not bad considering it had only done about 5k in the three years leading up to me buying it.

Sort of thinking about moving it on, but I don't really know what I'd replace it with... Maybe I'll hang on over winter and reassess come spring.