2007 Subaru Impreza STi Spec-D

[TartanPaint]

Yes, the 2.5 horror stories do put you off. I sort of wish they'd put me off too, because getting them solved involved a long and financially painful experience. When this one had a head gasket failure, I refused to compromise on the rebuild. I could have thrown in a second hand EJ25, but then what if that one had failed too?

So, 5-figures was spent with RA Motorsport, the block could now withstand a nuclear blast (easily good for 700bhp+), and I have slept soundly ever since.

Why am I selling? Well, sadly mostly my wife's office move triggered it. We've had to shuffle around the daily nursery runs and commutes, so every day we're using the Golf and the Fiesta between us. The Scooby just doesn't fit in any more. I'd put it in the garage, but there's another toy in there for sunny days.

It will be very sadly missed. So many happy drives, camping trips, epic b-road blasts, and one NC500 solo mission, which was just incredible. I spend a lot of time up the north west of Scotland with friends, and I built this car specifically with that in mind, for less-than-perfect B-Road surfaces and inclement weather. It's currently on Cross-climates for the cold season (about October to April in Scotland ), and I have a second set of wheels with Pilot Sport 4s for summer. In all conditions this car is very enjoyable.

I would imagine a Golf R or S3 with DSG and lots of electronics would beat it (and would probably have cost less to own if you count the rebuild and upgrades) but we don't do these things with our heads, do we?

Edited by TartanPaint on Friday 23 March 15:35

[JMF894]

TartanPaint said:

Yes, the 2.5 horror stories do put you off. I sort of wish they'd put me off too, because getting them solved involved a long and financially painful experience. When this one had a head gasket failure, I refused to compromise on the rebuild. I could have thrown in a second hand EJ25, but then what if that one had failed too?

So, 5-figures was spent with RA Motorsport, the block could now withstand a nuclear blast (easily good for 700bhp+), and I have slept soundly ever since.

Why am I selling? Well, sadly mostly my wife's office move triggered it. We've had to shuffle around the daily nursery runs and commutes, so every day we're using the Golf and the Fiesta between us. The Scooby just doesn't fit in any more. I'd put it in the garage, but there's another toy in there for sunny days.

It will be very sadly missed. So many happy drives, camping trips, epic b-road blasts, and one NC500 solo mission, which was just incredible. I spend a lot of time up the north west of Scotland with friends, and I built this car specifically with that in mind, for less-than-perfect B-Road surfaces and inclement weather. It's currently on Cross-climates for the cold season (about October to April in Scotland ), and I have a second set of wheels with Pilot Sport 4s for summer. In all conditions this car is very enjoyable.

I would imagine a Golf R or S3 with DSG and lots of electronics would beat it (and would probably have cost less to own if you count the rebuild and upgrades) but we don't do these things with our heads, do we?

Edited by TartanPaint on Friday 23 March 15:35

Ah I can relate to your sentiments totally. Not the same car but I put my Stage 3+ 9-5 Aero up for sale last Autumn in a head over heart decision. Lots of interest but no views so I took it away for the winter to sort a few little issues out. I've now decided to keep it and go further with the mods. Chiefly a Quaife lsd. What's been spent on my car makes no real sense but as you say that's not what it's about and those who don't get it, well never will.

I have always preferred the Spec D and yours looks lovely especially in that more subtle colour. Think long and hard before committing to sell because once it's gone it's gone and imagine forking out making another one as good if you ever go back.

I should also imagine 355bhp and 400 lb/ft in that is ample for a road car for any sane person.

Jimbo

[RS Grant]

I had one too, bought brand new when Subaru did insane deals to get them shifted.. absolutely loved it and had the Stage 1 stuff done within a few thousand miles, running ~360bhp and ~400lbft it was mega on the road and very punchy on track too. Sold it because I'd only done 11k in 2 years and depreciation was annoying me; although shortly after I sold it, typically, depreciation slowed down then stagnated.

Paul S4 said:

Take the rear spoiler off....then it really would look like a sleeper !

Like this:

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

I ran mine like this for a while and swapped the H&S jap cannon exhaust for a 3" system with a Prodrive PPP sized tailpipe, loved that car.

[Vroom101]

So what are the problems with the 2.5 engine? I’ve heard plenty of people mention they’re not as strong as the earlier 2.0, but what exactly are the issues?

Oh, and that Spec-D looks excellent with the spoiler removed. I’m one of those weird people who thinks Imprezas look best naked

[Blown2CV]

does the spoiler actually have any effect or is it more a cosmetic thing?

[coldcuppatea]

Nice surprise to see a Spec D on the front page. Mine also suffered the same engine woes at the beginning of last and I had it rebuilt to an almost identical specification as your one. Don't think I'll sell it in a hurry though after the trauma and cost of putting it right!

Besides, it was absolutely brilliant in the snowy weather (on Michelin Alpin tyres to be fair) so it's earned it's place now.

This is mine:

[coldcuppatea]

Vroom101 said:

So what are the problems with the 2.5 engine? I’ve heard plenty of people mention they’re not as strong as the earlier 2.0, but what exactly are the issues?

Head gasket failure and piston ring land failure. And given the configuration of the engine it's an engine out job and two gaskets to replace (unless you're a masochist and decide only to replace the one that you think has gone!).

Just replacing the head gaskets isn't all that expensive (about £1k to have them sorted and uprated & the heads skimmed), but while the engine is out it's a good idea to sort the pistons and if you're doing that you might as well do all the other bits mentioned. And then it ends up costing....a bit more than £1k!

[DaveEssex]

Head gaskets done as they should be immediately I bought it end of 2016, with 39,000 miles on the clock, and what a great car it was through Winter with all season tyres, and that perfect symmetrical 4 wheel drive.
Love the pops and bangs from the 3 inch decat exhaust, and now with the subtle changes covered here by others, and with 345PS it is a real "Discreet" joy

[Vroom101]

coldcuppatea said:

Vroom101 said:

So what are the problems with the 2.5 engine? I’ve heard plenty of people mention they’re not as strong as the earlier 2.0, but what exactly are the issues?

Head gasket failure and piston ring land failure. And given the configuration of the engine it's an engine out job and two gaskets to replace (unless you're a masochist and decide only to replace the one that you think has gone!).

Just replacing the head gaskets isn't all that expensive (about £1k to have them sorted and uprated & the heads skimmed), but while the engine is out it's a good idea to sort the pistons and if you're doing that you might as well do all the other bits mentioned. And then it ends up costing....a bit more than £1k!

Blimey! Sounds like any car that hasn’t had the work done is well worth a swerve, to be honest. It’s a shame, as I’ve always liked this model of Impreza.

[Boyakasha]

Blown2CV said:

does the spoiler actually have any effect or is it more a cosmetic thing?

Yes, on the Hawkeye with the top spoiler it pushes the air down and past the high level spoiler reducing lift.

[Blown2CV]

Boyakasha said:

Blown2CV said:

does the spoiler actually have any effect or is it more a cosmetic thing?

Yes, on the Hawkeye with the top spoiler it pushes the air down and past the high level spoiler reducing lift.

so does removing make it a bit waaaaahaay or is it barely noticeable?

[jwwbowe]

Just picked this up off the main page, lovely Spec D. Would really like one of these, must be great having one in Scotland with great roads up there. I guess engine rebuild may have been frustrating but money well spent with a good specialist.

With that kind of power I imagine it is a very quick car point to point, but also fun without a sleep inducing dsg and of course that lovely Subaru warble sound!

It's a shame we don't see more Subarus on our roads but I think the influx of very rapid if rather unimaginative hatches from Germany have helped pave the way, combined with it becoming borderline socially unacceptable to have a big wing and exhaust in the UK. Strong Yen to GBP hasn't helped either, maybe if they were significantly cheaper than the Germans we'd see more and would see less of the lazy cliche filled motoring journalism about interior plastics being better from VW & Audi

Perhaps a Spec D maybe the way we see a return of fast Subarus to our shores now the WRX STI is gone.

[rossub]

Vroom101 said:

coldcuppatea said:

Vroom101 said:

So what are the problems with the 2.5 engine? I’ve heard plenty of people mention they’re not as strong as the earlier 2.0, but what exactly are the issues?

Head gasket failure and piston ring land failure. And given the configuration of the engine it's an engine out job and two gaskets to replace (unless you're a masochist and decide only to replace the one that you think has gone!).

Just replacing the head gaskets isn't all that expensive (about £1k to have them sorted and uprated & the heads skimmed), but while the engine is out it's a good idea to sort the pistons and if you're doing that you might as well do all the other bits mentioned. And then it ends up costing....a bit more than £1k!

Blimey! Sounds like any car that hasn’t had the work done is well worth a swerve, to be honest. It’s a shame, as I’ve always liked this model of Impreza.

The solution is to buy a JDM one. They’ve stuck with the 2 litre ever since 1992, so every model has it right through to this day.

[TartanPaint]

Great to see all the photos and hear from other Spec-D owners! Wonderful things, aren't they?

That's my advert live in classified now:

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Seeing it shining on a lovely sunny day yesterday was really tugging at the heartstrings.

[scottos]

TartanPaint said:

Yes, the 2.5 horror stories do put you off. I sort of wish they'd put me off too, because getting them solved involved a long and financially painful experience. When this one had a head gasket failure, I refused to compromise on the rebuild. I could have thrown in a second hand EJ25, but then what if that one had failed too?

So, 5-figures was spent with RA Motorsport, the block could now withstand a nuclear blast (easily good for 700bhp+), and I have slept soundly ever since.

Why am I selling? Well, sadly mostly my wife's office move triggered it. We've had to shuffle around the daily nursery runs and commutes, so every day we're using the Golf and the Fiesta between us. The Scooby just doesn't fit in any more. I'd put it in the garage, but there's another toy in there for sunny days.

It will be very sadly missed. So many happy drives, camping trips, epic b-road blasts, and one NC500 solo mission, which was just incredible. I spend a lot of time up the north west of Scotland with friends, and I built this car specifically with that in mind, for less-than-perfect B-Road surfaces and inclement weather. It's currently on Cross-climates for the cold season (about October to April in Scotland ), and I have a second set of wheels with Pilot Sport 4s for summer. In all conditions this car is very enjoyable.

I would imagine a Golf R or S3 with DSG and lots of electronics would beat it (and would probably have cost less to own if you count the rebuild and upgrades) but we don't do these things with our heads, do we?

Edited by TartanPaint on Friday 23 March 15:35

Agree with you there, i bought the golf with my head and whilst its hugely fast and capable, it is missing something! Luckily the heart car is in the garage and im sure will fill that missing something once finished!

Good luck with the sale, i'm sure itll not take long to sell!

[adamfraser]

Good luck with the sale - if I hadn’t bought a fully forged CDB Hawkeye with near enough the exact same spec last week, I would have been all over this!

Cracking car!

[outspan]

Just awesome how a thread gets started about a rare spec Impreza I had never heard off (I knew of the RA Type Spec C but not spec D) and 5 blokes go "here is/was mine..."

Strength of the community !

Too bad it's resulting in a sale but good luck to the seller. No matter how impressive a Golf R is, we need more rare Impreza's on the road and less of Golf Rs. The challenge seems, indeed, to literally keep them on the road and not backwards into a hedge.

[stevekoz]

I wish I could've sold mine for that asking price. originally had it up for 10500 for a similar spec. no one was even willing to come see it. eventually it went for 8k. a massive loss and a really gutting feeling.

Not quite as gutting though as recently finding out it was written off a number of weeks after selling it. The gent that bought it gave it to his teenage son and it was destroyed within weeks so I heard. Such a shame.

Personally I'd be very tempted to keep hold of it and finance a sensible commuter.

[TartanPaint]

I just priced it in line with similar ads. There's always a deal to be done of course!

Sadly, I can't keep this one. Too many toys and not enough space, and the 2-11 is definitely a keeper!

Edited by TartanPaint on Friday 30th March 15:45

[flowman]

Great plug for your car but you have inadvertently (?) rubbished every other similar car for sale, like mine: https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
A perfectly good well maintained car with no hint of an exploding engine. Maybe it’s the way they are driven but even driven carefully and smoothly with the odd blast is enough to see off most other cars on a back road, and that’s before it snows. Then ther is nothing better.
This is my third performance Subaru with never a hint of trouble. i have found them to be very reliable work horses.
Flowman