Foz STi and other fast JDM estates - am I daft?

Foz STi and other fast JDM estates - am I daft?

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Discussion

yellowstreak

613 posts

151 months

Tuesday 23rd January 2018
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My FSTI has been very reliable over the last three years and with over 300bhp they still feel quick. I like the proper, constant AWD, its now saved me on at least two occasions. If you get one that someone has already modified, remap, exhaust, ARBs + drop links, then you will save.

They need a bit more maintenance than a modern car and the body parts that are FSTI specific mainly the bumpers) are no longer available. Although some people get over 25mpg, I find it eats fuel on short journeys.

TEKNOPUG

18,844 posts

204 months

Tuesday 23rd January 2018
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MurderousCrow said:
Hello Suba-gurus. I'm looking for a new car. Needs are as follows:

1 - Reliable
2 - Japanese
3 - Manual 'box
4 - Estate body
5 - Good to drive, not too wallowy
6 - Five seats with 3-point belts
7 - Sounds nice
8 - preferably AWD or RWD

I've considered the following:

- Accord Type-S estate. Rare, often rusty, bit slow, FWD with no LSD
- Nissan Stagea RS Four. Most are autos; manuals rare, much more expensive and often a bit rough.
- Legacy estate. 3.0, 2.5 twinscroll. Quite quick, meets most of the criteria, but seems only to have a lap belt for middle rear passenger??
- Forester STi. Meets all the criteria. Except possibly number 1. I've owned two Subarus before, both blob STis, and I'd love to have another one.

So, am I nuts, is my heart ruling my head? How reliable is the Foz - headgasket, cooling issues, etc.? Is a history of remap for UK fuel essential? What things to watch for?

Any other suggestions?

Cheers,

Luke
Foz is the same size inside as a Blob. If that's sufficient, consider a Blob WRX Wagon with the less worrying 2.0. If you need more space inside, consider a Legacy.

Sad Weevil

118 posts

147 months

Tuesday 23rd January 2018
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Another thing to maybe consider is a Forester 2.5xt. I picked mine up for £5k, with Prodrive performance pack (280bhp/310 lb ft with an Enginetuner remap), whiteline arbs and drop links, lowered 1" on KYB Excel Gs and Springcoil springs, and the troublesome secondary air pump deleted. More comfort goodies than an Sti too - leather, cruise, sunroof. No 6-speed though, 5-speed or auto only, and no Brembos. But, half the price of an Sti. A very rapid utility car, it's 0-60 time is about 5.1 seconds.
Another car I sometimes wonder about is a Nissan Stagea.

MurderousCrow

Original Poster:

392 posts

149 months

Wednesday 14th February 2018
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Hi all,

An update - I bought Mr Bones' car, and I'm jolly pleased with it so far. It's had a service, but I haven't yet managed to clean it yet, and in my opinion it looks good plastered in road grime smile

Regards the first point on my checklist, this particular car has had the benefit of an engine refresh and upgraded HG in response to a slight HG leak 20,000mi ago; given the rest of the history and where the car has been worked on (TDR in Warwick), I feel confident it will continue to be reliable for me.

It's done a big road trip, comfortably transporting 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs plus lots of baggage. I've also done a fair bit of town driving, and it's surprisingly civilised for this with excellent visibility and abundant torque. And it's had a leg stretch across some rural A-roads, keeping well within limits of course but using its fantastic overtaking ability when safe. All in the engine's effortless power delivery encourages a relaxed style. One can pleasantly thread corners together while the excellent suspension copes brilliantly with the worst that UK roads can offer.

Thanks everyone for the helpful input.

vxr2010

2,554 posts

158 months

Wednesday 14th February 2018
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good to hear you like it , they are a very good all rounder

bonesX

902 posts

179 months

Wednesday 14th February 2018
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Aah, hearing that fills my heart with V Power joy smile

Effortless is what it is. A lot of that comes from the free-flow exhaust (and Mark Thwaites' mapping ability)

markiii

3,565 posts

193 months

Wednesday 14th February 2018
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bought a Legacy Tourer 3.0R SpecB last year. Beautiful flat 6 wail from the engine. Positively 911esque

really enjoying ti

MurderousCrow

Original Poster:

392 posts

149 months

Wednesday 14th February 2018
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bonesX said:
Aah, hearing that fills my heart with V Power joy smile
thumbup

VPXavier

112 posts

79 months

Thursday 15th February 2018
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Hey guys, maybe diverting a little from the original topic but... Does the legacy 3rd gen have isofix?

MurderousCrow

Original Poster:

392 posts

149 months

Thursday 15th February 2018
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VPXavier said:
Hey guys, maybe diverting a little from the original topic but... Does the legacy 3rd gen have isofix?
If the 3rd gen is '03 - '09 then yes according to Parkers:

'The basic equipment list includes equipment that is standard across all versions of the Subaru Legacy Sports Tourer (03-09).

... Isofix child seat anchor points'

https://www.parkers.co.uk/subaru/legacy/sports-tou...






GravelBen

15,655 posts

229 months

Friday 16th February 2018
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MurderousCrow said:
VPXavier said:
Hey guys, maybe diverting a little from the original topic but... Does the legacy 3rd gen have isofix?
If the 3rd gen is '03 - '09 then yes according to Parkers:
3rd gen is '99-'03, you're thinking of 4th gen. I have a 3rd gen GTB but no kids so no idea about isofix.

Stig

11,817 posts

283 months

Friday 14th September 2018
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Sorry for the thread resurrection, but thinking of replacing my venerable (well, '04) 2.5 SE Outback with a Legacy B Spec.

A bit torn between a UK 3.0 vs a 2.0 import Twinscroll.

Pro's of the UK car, leather easier to come by, dealer support
Cons, mostly autos (though there's a v.low mileage, but high cost, manual available at the mo), high VED

Pro's of an import - more POWA smile Manuals thinner on the ground, but not impossible. Mostly cloth with a few alcontara, £255 annual VED
Cons, reliability, parts, clocked?

Would welcome opinions from owners who've trodden this path before me smile

Tall_Paul

1,915 posts

226 months

Friday 14th September 2018
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Stig said:
Sorry for the thread resurrection, but thinking of replacing my venerable (well, '04) 2.5 SE Outback with a Legacy B Spec.

A bit torn between a UK 3.0 vs a 2.0 import Twinscroll.

Pro's of the UK car, leather easier to come by, dealer support
Cons, mostly autos (though there's a v.low mileage, but high cost, manual available at the mo), high VED

Pro's of an import - more POWA smile Manuals thinner on the ground, but not impossible. Mostly cloth with a few alcontara, £255 annual VED
Cons, reliability, parts, clocked?

Would welcome opinions from owners who've trodden this path before me smile
Further cons of the TS:

Cruise control limited to 68mph
No underseal/protection
KM to MPH conversion
Price - For a decent manual facelift you're not far off £10k for one!

Also: http://www.uklegacy.com/forums/winkthumbup

Paco Jones

12 posts

84 months

Friday 14th September 2018
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Tall Paul is largely right about the Twinscrolls, but let me elaborate:

Cruise control limited to 68mph - if it has cruise, it's an auto, manual Twinscrolls don't have cruise. An Ecuteck remap will sort out your cruise limiter anyway (talk to David Hendry Cars) and you'll want a remap regardless of auto or manual as the car is built for 102RON, and the best you can get is Shell or Tesco 99 which isn't really quite good enough - and if you have to put 97 in for any reason and you haven't had it remapped, it'll det under boost. Get it remapped for 97, or 99 if you can always rely on getting it. Bob Rawle or Duncan at Racedynamix if you just want the remap and don't need the cruise limit removed,

Speedo in kms - any importer will convert this to miles, but you can leave in kms, it's not a problem come MOT time.

No underseal protection - I think this depends a bit on where in Japan it was sold, but the plus side is there's basically no corrosion. A UKDM car of this age won't be anything like as corrosion free, so swings and roundabouts.

Price - agreed, you can only get Gen IV TS Legacys up to 08/9, and for one of those, you're looking at the best part of 10K (or more) as a manual, depending on mileage.

Twinscrolls have a fair bit more urgency compared to the 3.0 cars, but definitely don't sound as good (no Subaru burble as the twinscroll turbo needs equal length headers).

Oh, he's completely right recommending the UK Legacy forum, a finer bunch of people would be difficult to find.

Edited by Paco Jones on Friday 14th September 21:43

Tall_Paul

1,915 posts

226 months

Friday 14th September 2018
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Paco Jones said:
Tall Paul is largely right about the Twinscrolls, but let me elaborate:

Cruise control limited to 68mph - if it has cruise, it's an auto, manual Twinscrolls don't have cruise. An Ecuteck remap will sort out your cruise limiter anyway (talk to David Hendry Cars) and you'll want a remap regardless of auto or manual as the car is built for 102RON, and the best you can get is Shell or Tesco 99 which isn't really quite good enough - and if you have to put 97 in for any reason and you haven't had it remapped, it'll det under boost. Get it remapped for 97, or 99 if you can always rely on getting it. Bob Rawle or Duncan at Racedynamix if you just want the remap and don't need the cruise limit removed,

Speedo in kms - any importer will convert this to miles, but you can leave in kms, it's not a problem come MOT time.

No underseal protection - I think this depends a bit on where in Japan it was sold, but the plus side is there's basically no corrosion. A UKDM car of this age won't be anything like as corrosion free, so swings and roundabouts.

Price - agreed, you can only get Gen IV TS Legacys up to 08/9, and for one of those, you're looking at the best part of 10K (or more) as a manual, depending on mileage.

Twinscrolls have a fair bit more urgency compared to the 3.0 cars, but definitely don't sound as good (no Subaru burble as the twinscroll turbo needs equal length headers).

Oh, he's completely right recommending the UK Legacy forum, a finer bunch of people would be difficult to find.

Edited by Paco Jones on Friday 14th September 21:43
Thanks - tbh I'm just learning all of this and I've been focusing on the UKDM 3.0 Spec B's rather than the JDM TS cars, but I tend to research cars a lot before I buy laughwobble


Paco Jones

12 posts

84 months

Saturday 15th September 2018
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@Tall Paul, just saw your new acquisition on your UK Legacy post, looks fantastic.

Tall_Paul

1,915 posts

226 months

Saturday 15th September 2018
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Paco Jones said:
@Tall Paul, just saw your new acquisition on your UK Legacy post, looks fantastic.
Cheers thumbup looking forward to picking it up, this week is going to be a long one!

binnerboy

486 posts

149 months

Tuesday 18th September 2018
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I have just bought a recently imported Mitsubish Airtrek Turbo R.

Lancer Evo underneath and Outlander series 1 on top,

Much cheaper than a Forrester STI though not as quick as standard and it is an Auto.

I couldn't stretch to importing a Forrester so the Airtrek was an alternative.

extra JDM points for being a rare sight on UK roads :-)

PomBstard

6,729 posts

241 months

Wednesday 19th September 2018
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Or you could look for a Gen5 GT - no idea of UK spec but come with the 2.5T which is noticeably torquier and less laggy than the 2.0T. It’s also usefully bigger inside without being a step up in size. But it’s no looker...

ericmcn

1,999 posts

96 months

Wednesday 19th September 2018
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UK Spec B is great in manual, a real wolf in sheeps clothing - get it mapped and on vpower and it goes like stink and the handling is up with the best, only a handful of facelift manuals exist in the UK so hardly any chance of ever seeing one. it also sounds fantastic, especially with a decent exhaust