Went looking for a BRZ, tempted by a WRX...

[callahan]

Hi

I have been idly looking at changing my car for a while and test drove a lovely BRZ at the weekend, which was excellent. However, after looking at the finances I don't think it's the wise thing to do, so have been looking at my old favourite again.

I need to be able to trade my car in as I am inherently lazy and hate selling cars, so I was looking at these two:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2013...

http://www.sytnerselect.co.uk/Used-Car-Details/use...

I think the first one is overpriced by at least a grand and the second one looks a bit dull. Any feedback on the cars and dealers, links to better options etc would be welcomed. Budget is around the £8k mark at the most and I would prefer a hawkeye saloon if possible.

Thanks

[lilwashu]

I wouldn't go anywhere near a hawkeye Impreza due to the potential engine issues and cost of getting them sorted. Blobeye ones seem to have held value well as a result, I would be looking at a late one of those with the refreshed interior.

[callahan]

lilwashu said:

I wouldn't go anywhere near a hawkeye Impreza due to the potential engine issues and cost of getting them sorted. Blobeye ones seem to have held value well as a result, I would be looking at a late one of those with the refreshed interior.

I knew there were issues with the 2.5l engine, but thought it was with the hatchback car. Maybe a blob with light conversion then..... I was thinking bugeye, not blobeye..... as you were.

Edited by callahan on Monday 14th October 21:39

[Ved]

You're pretty close to WR1 money but a tidy blobeye would be your best bet but don't discount a bugeye either. Extremely strong engine in the STI and personally I think it looks great with the Prodrive style bits on it.

[My Evil Twin]

Keep an eye on http://bbs.scoobynet.com/

I love my Bugeye WRX wagon.. much less of a 'scene' car than the salon and more versatile.
Blue is the correct colour tho'

Check if the 2.5 engines have been 'fixed'. I think it means new pistons, (ringland failure I think) but a read around Scoobynet will confirm.

The 2.0 in a WRX is a strong engine and mine is at 110k miles (touches wood) n all OK.

[callahan]

Thanks for the info so far, I have been trawling through Scoobynet, but it's taking a while....

Went to see this one earlier: http://www.totallytradedirect.co.uk/used-car-subar...

Nice spec car and drove well, although the suspension was a bit solid. There also appeared to be a bit of overspray inside the rear wheel arches - or is this something else? Bit of a typical used car place, so zero peace of mind for buying from them, but well priced.

Then I had a look at this one: http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/s...

Much newer car with less mileage and the 2.5 engine. Must admit that I far prefer the hawkeye, is the engine issue only when they're highly tuned, or is it purely random? Nice Prodrive exhaust and strut brace (with pink fixing points if that means anything to anyone?), drove very nicely, had only come in today so hadn't been prepped but was nice and appeared to be trustworthy Subaru dealer. Liked this one a lot, but it is expensive and I preferred the wheels off the other one.

Any thoughts welcomed.

[My Evil Twin]

from what I understand its even stoc cars it happens to..

first few posts in the epic 41 page thread are..

• ...Bought May ish 09 failed at 8500 miles bout Jan
• ...Date bought: May 2008 Mileage: 0 Date of failure: Oct 2008 Mileage: 3500 Outcome: Short engine.

so even fresh engines..

I saw a nice 07 Fozzi STI for sale but ONLY reasly my wife is still talking to me is that it had a 2.5 in it and I couldnt put myself in that situation where it could grenade n cost me an arm n leg

[Twinpipe]

But does anyone actually know what the problems are with the 2.5.
Also what would it cost to rectify them before it lets go.

[My Evil Twin]

as it says in the thread on scoobynet,....
http://bbs.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-general-1/82899...

Ringland failure, so the piston material near the rings are not strong enough/too brittle and a bit of the piston breaks off and try's to embed itself into the bore.. cost for fix depends on how much damage was done to the bore...
from a set of forged pistons
to a whole short block.

If i were getting a 2.5, and I might one day, I would budget a full set of forged pistons to be changed out ASAP if the engine had not been rebuilt already..
I'm not sure if later engines have had the issue fixed at factory??

[Twinpipe]

I see..... Cheers for that

[callahan]

Going to see is one today http://bbs.scoobynet.com/subaru-444/987760-immacul...

Looks nice, not quite the colour I wanted and I would have preferred a PPP version, but I believe that is easy to remedy. Anything in particular to look out for?

Thanks

[texaxile]

The issues with the 2.5 engine seem to be confined to the hatchback STi's.

I haven't personally seen any threads relating to a hawkeye going grenade on anyone in standard form, or even those tuned a bit. I could be wrong though.

I've got an 07 hawk which I got from dingles subaru in Norwich. Must admit the whole experience was pretty good, I paid 7 grand for it and it came with a years tax , service, cambelt , air freshener and keyring it had 50k, 1 owner and fssh.

I'm really enjoying ownership, running it on shell nitro makes a difference and tbh I wish I'd have got one sooner, or better still not got married years ago and got one instead

[Ved]

callahan said:

Going to see is one today http://bbs.scoobynet.com/subaru-444/987760-immacul...

Looks nice, not quite the colour I wanted and I would have preferred a PPP version, but I believe that is easy to remedy. Anything in particular to look out for?

Thanks

I hope you bought it as it looks great value. PPP isn't worth it. Just book it in at powerstation or another good dealer for a filter, turbo back exhaust, fuel pump and remap. Shouldn't be much more than £1500 and will bring it to about 280. And better mpg.

[callahan]

Ved said:

I hope you bought it as it looks great value. PPP isn't worth it. Just book it in at powerstation or another good dealer for a filter, turbo back exhaust, fuel pump and remap. Shouldn't be much more than £1500 and will bring it to about 280. And better mpg.

It was indeed very nice, just negotiating with the seller....

I thought the PPP enhancements were basically a new y pipe and a remap? It has the Prodrive backbox already and is utterly standard apart from the (much better) anthracite wheels.

[texaxile]

Hi,
From what has been posted here and also from what I can gather by asking around, yes the PPP involves the changing of the "Y" pipe, the centre & rear sections of the Exhaust and a replacement / reprogrammed ECU supplied by Prodrive.

I've checked out Powerstation, their claims seem impressive and they appear a professional outfit. Their kit comes with a Miltek Exhaust (not sure which parts) Panel filter and a remap. The charts show approx. 280bhp and just over 400 NM of torque (I mistakenly thought it was ft lbs, which would've been nice), all for about £1300 I think.

[callahan]

Thanks, I've also found some useful info on here: http://racedynamix.co.uk/remap/subaru-remapping/

There's a good breakdown for each type of Impreza (he seems to do plenty of other cars too) from a man that runs a Time Attack Impreza with 855bhp!!

I'm not particularly into tuning, but the stage 1 for the blobeye sounds interesting, giving 250-260hp without any significant changes other than the ecu map. Could be fun.