Twin scroll JDM Leggy as a daily?
Discussion
I had two UK Legacy Estates before, one a 2.5 from new and the other a 2.0 quad cam from nearly new.
Whilst not fast or even brisk they are the only every day cars I've had that felt special and they were thorougly satisfying to own. I stopped buying after they discontinued the old model which I though was a very nicely designed car.
I've since had Skodas and currently have a VRS230 which goes back in May 2018. I keep hankering after the old Subarus and have been thinking of going back to buying and running my own car again.
Looked at the Levorg, nice but 1.6 turbo and CVT - No. looked at UK Spec B's but all have high miles and mostly autos
I'm now thinking I could buy a JDM twin scroll and run that. Is this a sensible daily prospect? (I can live with the economy)
My main concern is insurance as this will be my daily and I do 18k miles PA and will use it for my business as well. What is a typical premium on such a car - are they loaded for being an import / JDM?
Further, what is the situation with servicing - can this be done by a UK Subaru dealership? I have a fully equiped vehicle workshop at home with lift so will do the routine stuff myself (drop links, oil changes etc) but what about cam belts and turbos?
I would be grateful to hear of anyones experiences in using one as a daily.
Cheers
Whilst not fast or even brisk they are the only every day cars I've had that felt special and they were thorougly satisfying to own. I stopped buying after they discontinued the old model which I though was a very nicely designed car.
I've since had Skodas and currently have a VRS230 which goes back in May 2018. I keep hankering after the old Subarus and have been thinking of going back to buying and running my own car again.
Looked at the Levorg, nice but 1.6 turbo and CVT - No. looked at UK Spec B's but all have high miles and mostly autos
I'm now thinking I could buy a JDM twin scroll and run that. Is this a sensible daily prospect? (I can live with the economy)
My main concern is insurance as this will be my daily and I do 18k miles PA and will use it for my business as well. What is a typical premium on such a car - are they loaded for being an import / JDM?
Further, what is the situation with servicing - can this be done by a UK Subaru dealership? I have a fully equiped vehicle workshop at home with lift so will do the routine stuff myself (drop links, oil changes etc) but what about cam belts and turbos?
I would be grateful to hear of anyones experiences in using one as a daily.
Cheers
I use mine daily. I keep meaning to write a decent report on it for a thread. Probably about 15K a year including around 4K for business. I got insurance cheaper than my UK WRX, but I did have to swap broker.
You have to be very careful with fuel on them. They're mapped for high octane and (IIRC) run higher compression than most EJ20 motors with cast parts. It's Shell, Shell or Shell for me, which works easily enough as there's one within half a mile of where I live and half a mile of where I work. It might be a pain if you have to go out of the way. The other option is to have it mapped for 97.
I don't think there's anything on the car that can't be dealt with by a switched on Subaru dealer, I don't know of any job that is significantly different to UK models, subject to getting the right parts in.
My biggest headache was the Speedo converter fitted on import was miles out!
Parts are well catered for by 3rd parties and uklegacy.com has a lot of helpful members.
I guess you know the general ups and downs from previously owning other models. In fact, you refered to drop links as 'routine' so you must do
You have to be very careful with fuel on them. They're mapped for high octane and (IIRC) run higher compression than most EJ20 motors with cast parts. It's Shell, Shell or Shell for me, which works easily enough as there's one within half a mile of where I live and half a mile of where I work. It might be a pain if you have to go out of the way. The other option is to have it mapped for 97.
I don't think there's anything on the car that can't be dealt with by a switched on Subaru dealer, I don't know of any job that is significantly different to UK models, subject to getting the right parts in.
My biggest headache was the Speedo converter fitted on import was miles out!
Parts are well catered for by 3rd parties and uklegacy.com has a lot of helpful members.
I guess you know the general ups and downs from previously owning other models. In fact, you refered to drop links as 'routine' so you must do
Cheers chaps,
Yeah, drop links around every 15k miles or so it seemed. That said both cars were the most trouble free I've ever owned.
Had an exhaust on the second one but had a custom powerflow fitted which cost around £500. Other than that and routine servicing nothing went wrong and I took the 2nd car to 115k miles.
Yeah, drop links around every 15k miles or so it seemed. That said both cars were the most trouble free I've ever owned.
Had an exhaust on the second one but had a custom powerflow fitted which cost around £500. Other than that and routine servicing nothing went wrong and I took the 2nd car to 115k miles.
Have been running a 2012MY13 2.5T for about a year as a daily with no trouble - now coming up to 100,000km on the clock. Have previously run a 2005 2.0T with no real probs. Only probs the 05 had was a misfire due to a leaky bit of turbo plumbing which was easily fixed, and a replacement clutch due to the previous replacement being fitted by chimps. Sold at roughly 200,000km still in great nick and going strong.
As others have said, 98/99RON and don’t worry about consumption, oil use can vary - both my turbos needed a little top up between services (every 8000km or so for the use they get).
Generally tough and fun - get one!
As others have said, 98/99RON and don’t worry about consumption, oil use can vary - both my turbos needed a little top up between services (every 8000km or so for the use they get).
Generally tough and fun - get one!
Hi have you made a decision yet?
I have been running a facelift JDM Twinscroll auto as my daily since March this year, was previously running a 3.0 Spec B tourer manual as my daily, both excellent cars, I would say the 3.0 was more juicy.
You will need to consider the 99 fuel or a remap, Ive stuck with 99 at the moment and it runs great, only tried Shell and Tesco , it fluffed a few times on the Shell so sticking with Tesco for the time being.
JDM cars tend to be cleaner especially underneath, my Bilsteins are bright yellow still on an 06 car with 60k on it, and all suspension and exhaust parts are still shiny.
Overall driving I prefer the TS. 3.0 was great and very competent, I just wanted an auto and could not stomach the £500 a year car tax. Twinscroll power delivery is not like a normal turbo charged car, its very linear but still quick. I've surprised many a so called sports cars from the lights.
Good luck with your search.
I have been running a facelift JDM Twinscroll auto as my daily since March this year, was previously running a 3.0 Spec B tourer manual as my daily, both excellent cars, I would say the 3.0 was more juicy.
You will need to consider the 99 fuel or a remap, Ive stuck with 99 at the moment and it runs great, only tried Shell and Tesco , it fluffed a few times on the Shell so sticking with Tesco for the time being.
JDM cars tend to be cleaner especially underneath, my Bilsteins are bright yellow still on an 06 car with 60k on it, and all suspension and exhaust parts are still shiny.
Overall driving I prefer the TS. 3.0 was great and very competent, I just wanted an auto and could not stomach the £500 a year car tax. Twinscroll power delivery is not like a normal turbo charged car, its very linear but still quick. I've surprised many a so called sports cars from the lights.
Good luck with your search.
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