My Sensible Estate Car - Subaru WRX STI Wagon

[omgus]

It's time i put my wagon up in this section. It is a 1996 JDM Subaru Impreza WRX STI Wagon, and after that mouthful of a name you can understand why it's referred to as "the Scoob" in my house.

After two and a half years of mostly happy mk2 MR2 ownership i had one to many unexpected sideways moments and decided that instead of looking at an MR2 Turbo i should find something safer, quicker and much more practicle. Things never turn out as you plan them though. I quckly narrowed my list down to a BMW328 Touring (i like fast estates), a Lancer Evo or a Scooby. The Evo idea got dropped pretty quickly as i have never really had a massive attraction to them compared to the BMW and the Scoob. After looking around for a while i found myself ignoring BMW's and only looking at Subarus so my descision made i started the hunt.

After a little research i had the folowing critea:
It had to be a classic.
It had to be an STI Redtop.
It had to have had certain mods done - Brakes, uprated intercooler, boost-controller, alarm and a tracker fitted.
It couldn't be a STI replica.
It couldn't be more than £5000.
It couldn't be a saloon.

So that left me searching for Wagons or Coupes. £5K budget meant Wagons.


The search was on in earnest and of course that week after seeing loads of STI wagons the week before, the only ones that i could find once i had made my decision were on autotrader at some car import place in Yorkshire that i really didn't fancy buying from.

I had my criteria, i had my budget, i had time so i waited, and waited, everytime an STI Wagon came up there was
something wrong with it. One i looked at had a blacktop engine and foglights, so it wasn't an STI. One was worringly cheap, phoned the bloke and got an international ring tone and spoke to a lovely man who had just emigrated to Nigeria and would have the car shipped back to me the moment my money cleared. Every car i looked at had a fault or a reason not to buy it, and then after calling about pretty much every Classic Wagon for sale in the country a new one appeared on autotrader.
It had a big brake kit, it had an uprated intercooler, it was an STI redtop and it was perfect, utterley perfect. It was also £2000 over budget. i didn't want to call, i knew my budget, i felt i knew this car would be perfect so i shouldn't call, i thought "if this car is further than 10 miles away i will not go and look, any further than that and it would be a wasted jouney for a car i really cant afford, i looked at how far away it was from my home.

"bkS"

4 miles, it was 4 miles away. Damn. I called, i arranged to visit. I had a look round, the seller was a great bloke and occasional PH'er (Hi Gordon if you read this) and i knew i had found my car, it was just way over budget. I decided to phone Gordon and explain to him my situation and to tell him that i was sorry for wasting his time.

I did, to which he said, "no worries, do you want to test drive it anyway?"



3 days later i drove it. Wow, the power delivery was so different to anything i had driven, the grip was insane and on the route we drove on i went down one of my favourite roads faster, cleaner and less scarily than i had ever managed to do in my MR2. We got back to the sellers house and over a cup of tea i did some maths and some insurance quotes. I could afford £5500 max, i explained this to Gordon and told him that if it didn't sell i would pay that figure for the car.

I continued my search, another 4 fruitless disapointing weeks of looking a Scooby's that where not as good as the one still on auto trader and still £2k over budget. Then the call came, £5500 by Friday and you can have the car. GET IN!


Living with it has been excellent, surprisingly comfortable on a long run, fits 5 people (provided i realise that the exhaust will scrape on bumps when fully loaded), still fast by anyones standards, able to destroy b-roads, fluster much more expensive machinery in a straight line, but really cause them problems in the twisties and it's economical, i sometimes get 25mpg on the motorway at 65.

I love that the barrys and chavs ignore it because it's an estate, i love that i moved house with a car that can keep with a "proper sports car" down a country lane, i definintely love the look on that certain demographic of scooby owners faces when they give it the beans in their alledgedly 450bhp WRX's and i leave them behind and i love that it has been reliable for the majority if the time i have owned it ( http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... ) and that it still puts a smile on my face when the roads are clear, or when i go though a tunnel, or when i just put my foot down to join a duel carriageway.

The bad sides are the insurance and the fuel bill. I am 29 now so insurance is getting better, it was £1300 when i first got the car and i couldn't insure the OH on it until she turned 25 now it is around £890 with all mods declared and OH on there. Petrol My record is an entire tank in 74miles(about 7mpg), i average 200miles for every tank and the highest i have ever seen was 300 on a long and very slow motorway run. But considering that i knew that it wouldn't be cheap to run when i brought it and i honestly cannot think of any one car that could do everything it does for the price, i can live with those costs.

Apologies if i have rambled on and i hope you like it. Piccies to follow.

Edited by omgus on Tuesday 6th July 17:26

[omgus]

Piccies - Apologies for the bad pictures, all the good photos i have seem to be over the max upload amount. I will get pictures of the inside and the engine bay sorted asap.

Edited by omgus on Tuesday 6th July 17:25

[omgus]

Side View, i always think the Wagons are a better shape than other scoobys.

Small, quiet exhaust not found on this car. PH sticker applied to bumper.

My carbon look PH smiley, hidden under the rear wing.

Guages, Boost controller, apexi unit, rarely used turbotimer (winter warming device) hidden behind apexi unit and my ipod, thankfully not displaying any of my terrible tast in music.

Edited by omgus on Tuesday 6th July 17:24

[Martin_Hx]

7mpg good effort !

[missing the VR6]

Wow a Mini Disc player?

Seriously though, nice looking car, I do like the look of the classic Imprezza Wagon, sounds like a total result on the price too.

[phillyctr]

and i thought putting £60 a week in my old wrx was bad,one of the reasons it had to go

[omgus]

missing the VR6 said:

Wow a Mini Disc player?

Seriously though, nice looking car, I do like the look of the classic Imprezza Wagon, sounds like a total result on the price too.

I had forgotten it was a Minidisc Player. I'm not an stereo person, as long as i can hear it on the motorway it will do. Now where did i leave my minidiscs?

[scotty_d]

Nice car i used to have a classic wagon myself good fun and plenty of room for junk, however it was by far the most expensive car to run and insure and in general own, I have run insurance quotes on them lately as i would like one as a daily drive again but they are still near £800 a year to insure compared to the TVR which is a little over £300 a year and cost a damn site less to own and run.

If you can live with that side of running them good luck still one of the quickist cars point to point on the road.

[GravelBen]

Nice wagon I've looked at Imprezas a few times but always end up going the next size up for the extra space.

[RB Will]

Looks tidy, what are the vital stats?

[omgus]

RB Will said:

Looks tidy, what are the vital stats?

I'm not exactly sure of the exact stats now, it was Dyno'd at around 300bhp at 1.1 bar of boost by the previous owner, and he had done a claimed 5.1 0-60 at a drag day. However i have never managed to get that good a launch, it will either spin all the wheels or cook the clutch, and i imagine a few ponies have run off since that dyno day so i wouldn't be able to give exact figures.
It has left behind some Imprezas WRXs that have claimed to have 370bhp+ but i think that one of the big problems with the Scooby crowd is the ridiculous power claims that you seem to hear. Judging by the performance on hoons it has a enough straghtline grunt to overtake and it fires out of corners. It has kept dead level with a midly tweaked Hawkeye STI owned by a PH'er on a duel carriageway till we reached a safe and sensible speed.




ETA due to a bloody speeling mistake i had just noticed when contemplating an thread update

Edited by omgus on Thursday 5th May 16:18

[omgus]

Update time.

Firstly the update:

Since the last update the Scoob has been hooned, ragged and abused in proper Subaru driver style. It has a new layer of stone chips on the front (mostly from a Tuscan that seemed to end up in front of me on a few recent hoons)and new tyres that are already showing their age.
To go with the hard driving it has also got a new Mechanic (Stuart at TFS) who has managed to keep me slightly broke but has dealt with all the little niggles that i needed doing, kept the old girl in good condition and who has fixed the non-starting first time in the cold issue i had since just after x-mas 2009.
On top of all the fun stuff it has continued to perform in the daily driver duties perfectly and can put a smile on my face on even the dullest drive home.
It was broken for 2 weeks in Feb after a period of slight starting jitters, it turned out to be the fairly recently replaced coil packs, so after finding a way to get it home Scoob went off to see TFS, simple fix and it is all working perfectly now.
The exhaust had to be fettled withwelded after an incident on the B4494 that resulted in a complete lack of exhaust/engine attachment.
Oh and since the exhaust and coil pack have been fixed it is overfuelling slightly, the way the exhaust pops and bangs on gearshifts is giggle inducing, but not practical and can result in less than 200mile to a tank on normal driving and 100/tank on a hoon.

Then the slightly less good points:


I have had a crisis of faith with the Scoob in recent months, even leading to me putting it up for sale on PH and AT.
But over the last 2 weeks my love has returned, yes it has got even more thirsty, yes it has cost an average of £250 a month in maintainence since November and yes it had a slight un-reliability issue from mid January until finally late Feb when it died for 2 weeks, when i most needed it, however it is currently working and may very well be getting better as it ages (and has money spent on it - funny coincidence that).

So currently i am looking to get a cheapish runaround and then there are plans afoot for the Scoob.

First a remodelled interior the moment i have a new daily, i am feeling that the minimilistic look will be the rage for 2011 and as such am going to lose everything i don't use.

Then, and even though i don't really like the look of them i am thinking a Front mount is an obvious choice to go with the much needed remap. I am hoping this will provide a "normal use" map and a full power map that are both usable, my current low boost map is set up in a manner similar to a 1980's Saab, nothing, nothing, nothing, BOOST! Very entertaining but not what i'm after in day to day driving.

The standard turbos have more give in them, so i am going to leave it at that, but the rear suspension will need refressing soon, and the pads are due to be spent on the AP's by the end of the year.

Now i have found a local a specialist who not only knows his stuff, but who also can explain things in a manner that i can understand i seem to be able to justify spending more money on the Scoob. Well that and the fact i no longer have an OH who is constantly telling me to ditch the car.

[wackojacko]

Certainly goes alright through the twisties.... how I know this I will not comment on





Traffic cone 'zorsts are a must have on a Scoob.....

[mcelliott]

That's a seriously cool scooby you've got there omgus. I bet it goes like stink! The wagons are a bit more understated but you've just got to love those loopy looks and bonkers performance!

Here's a quick pic of mine

[Kovac]

wackojacko said:

Certainly goes alright through the twisties.... how I know this I will not comment on





Traffic cone 'zorsts are a must have on a Scoob.....

I have hitched a ride with omgus on the way to an event before and witnessed this impressive beast, It is one of my favorite feasible estate cars out there. I cannot wait to see what happens with the upgrades. I cant work out what the exhaust does better, Make a pile of noise or start conversations like 'I can fit my fist in there'

[wackojacko]

Kovac said:

start conversations like 'I can fit my fist in there'

Always starts a good convo on a SAS hoon.....

[omgus]

So I'm a little bored at work and figured an update was due.

The Scoob is hibernating and current daily duties have been taken over by a Focus ST170.

Firstly the disappointment of not having the Scoob available all the time was massive. Since June it has been SORN'd and i miss the power, the noise, the sense of occasion and the ability to overtake with ease.

I about 8weeks ago i had a bad day, I was broke, i had just put the Focus in for a little work under warranty and i headed home depressed, on the journey home i decided that to cheer myself up i would get the scooby started and move it to a more sheltered location in the garden.

Imagine my deep gloom when i realised my jump leads where in the Focus at the garage, and without the focus there would be no vehicle to help jump the Scoob.

I sulked, then like all bored, depressed, wretched, moaning bds i put a status up on FB about it. Within minutes PHer Hewlett (who lives even closer to my local pub than me) was on the phone, "Gus, i have a car, jump leads and I'm parked outside your house"!
Brilliant, so we attached the leads, gave it a few minutes, turned the ignition, there was a buzz from the fuel pump and when I turned the key further there was ........ nothing!
Ok, the battery was really dead, only one thing for it "Hewlett, rev your car!" (As all proper petrolheads know, revving a car when jumpstarting massively increases the amount of electricity forced through the cables)
Repaet stage one;
Turn key, buzz from the fuel pump and when I turned the key further there was ........ nothing!

The stink of failure was heavy, the Hewlett looked at me and said something so simple and yet so clever that i could have hugged him. "Have you turned the immobiliser off?"
I had to confess i hadn't

Start process again;
Turn key, check.
Fuel pump buzz, check.
Turn key all the way round, check.

After 4 months of not moving, neglected, ill and massively overfuelling on idle before being Sorn'd and abandoned what do you think happened?

Well it's a Scooby, so it caught in less than a second and settled into a healthy, if lumpy, idle.


So my love for the Scooby was reborn, i had a bit of a play in my lane and moved it to a better place in the garden for winter storage. Saving for the planned upgrades is not going as well as i had hoped, i blame this on two of my best friends getting married and the expense that 2x weddings and stag do's entails. However, the fund is now growing and my hope to have it back on the road by my birthday at the end of April looks possible.

The new Scooby resting place. Ignore the Rav it was on loan from the parents that day, if you can ingore the state of the garden too, i haven't really been arsed with it this year.



So now the new daily. I present my Focus ST170 5 door.




Complete with Smiley.



So, what to say about this seemingly mediocre warm hatch.

A 2.0 170(ish) brake, revvy engine.
Pinsharp turn in.
A very sweet and accurate gearshift.
Very long gears, 65-70 in 2nd, approx 25mph/1000rpm in 6th.
Very competent chassis.
And a different suspension set up to the rest of the already fine handling mk1 Focus' (Focii?).

If ever a car is greater than the sum of its parts then it is the Focus ST170, it is a delight and has proved to be an everyday hero.
It has kept up (and surprised a few people) on local hoons.
I managed to get 440miles out of a tank during some very steady motorway work.
It averaged 8.4 leptons over 5 hours on a dash back from Edinburgh at 29.8mpg, complete with a petrol and loo break.
And on top of all that it has aircon and a radio you can hear at above 50mph.

It took a few days to get used to something FWD, it turns in far sharper than the scooby and on the limits of my ability it has a twitchier rear end. Although lacking the grunt of the toy it replaces it is quite capable of entering a corner at the same speed as the scoob without undue drama, but it requires a different line and does not respond as well to trail-braking.
Oh, and strangely it has a worse turning circle than my Scooby, it is seriously st at any tight turns.

The only bad news is that it is now on a strict "No hooning until i have two working cars" policy. I need to concentrate on getting the Scoob fixed and as such i must leave this as a DD and not a weekend hooner.

Although my drive home can take in some great roads if i feel the need. And in a car that likes to be revved and chucked about as much as this every journey can be a hoon when the road is clear.

[christofmccracke]

Love a scooby wagon

[TotalControl]

Nice buy Gus. 7mpg is bloody good going!

[omgus]

Yep, 7mp was a good day, I love Scottish roads.

After that update yesterday i am struggling not to search for bits and bobs for it now. I do feel that she may get started and cleaned properly this weekend though.