Discussion
First a bit of history
Back in November 2015 I started to look for a new car. At the start of the year I had a hawkeye Subaru Impreza WRX SL Wagon which I'd had for around a year to replace my first (and possibly last) diesel car, a Mazda 3 Sport. The Mazda in turn had replaced a blobeye Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon (clearly there's a theme developing).
The hawkeye wagon was written off on the M40 when the lady in the lane next to me decided she wanted to be in the lane I was in with me still in it. Cue loud bang and me pirouetting across 4 lanes of traffic. Possibly the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me, I was pumped for days after, but certainly an experience I don’t want to repeat.
The writing off of the Impreza led me to buying a mk2 Ford Focus for the family and a Mazda RX-8 for me. The RX-8 was great. If anyone is thinking of getting one do it but like any purchase do your homework. I kept the Mazda maintained and when one of the exhaust tips fell off I replaced it with a Toyosport backbox that sounded great. However there was a massive but, the exhaust was droning on the motorway, I couldn’t connect my phone to the stereo for voice without spending quite a bit of cash, the lack of torque was starting to annoy me, the lack of perceived performance compared to MPG was starting to grate and I was getting range anxiety.
Which leads me back to the beginning. So in November I started to looking for a replacement. The allure of leasing was investigated and the numbers stacked up for a Golf R and at a push an A45 AMG. What I can’t get my head around is I don’t own the car. I pay money and at the end I give the car back and start again. I certainly can’t afford, or don’t want to pay, £40K for a car and then the numbers started to fall apart with thoughts of nice holidays, early mortgage repayments etc. you know sensible stuff.
So I’d seen this advertised and took a trip to the good folks at Bell & Colvill.
One owner and imported from new in January 2005 with the conversion for UK done by Dave Hendry. B&C had done a major service (all belts), cleaned and weather sealed the underneath, given the alloys a light refurb (outside face looks good, inside still needs doing) and fitted two new tyres. All in all it looked perfect. As ever with these things I’d made a decision on seeing it rather than driving it.
While I waited for the sales guy and the keys I had a further poke around and it really was in good condition with the diff oil clear and the interior in a good condition with only a few scratches on the dash (more on that below). Not surprisingly the test drive was perfect and it fitted like a glove. So it’s practical for the family, mountain biking and road trips, plus there’s very few of them on the road and it’s in a great colour IMO.
Since buying I’ve had an annoying knocking noise, which my local indie and B&C diagnosed as ‘everything feels solid, must be the top mounts’. So I replaced the top mounts with Group N top mounts from ICP (you would, wouldn’t you) and for a few days the knocking had gone. Yippee!! followed by Booo!!! when the knocking returned. Recent diagnostic is the outer CV joint. The JDM’s CV joints are not the same as the UK CV joints but thankfully Propart have a number (or one) on the shelf at a reduced price. Should be getting this tomorrow with fitting on Monday.
Since purchase I’ve:
Replaced the discs and pads with Brembo OEM parts – The ones fitted when I bought it definitely were not Brembo
Braided hoses – Standard joke with my indie that I buy these in bulk and get them installed on all my cars including the family Focus (pointless)
Uprated rear ARB along with Whiteline heavy duty mounts
Rear camber bolts and all bushes
Group N front suspension top mounts - as above
Ultra Racing front strut brace
Flocked centre dash – Just pimp. The dash was scratched and I decided flocking was the way forward. Once returned and fitted my wife commented it’s a bit naff (or words to that effect) and I’d have to agree. It’s grown on me with time and looks better than the scratched console.
Pioneer SPH-DA120 Carplay Headunit – Bloody brilliant! No need to say anymore.
Future plans are:
Get that fudging knocking fixed!
Whiteline quick release rear strut brace – just because
Sports cat exhaust with Genome backbox – what a PITA this is proving to be. Not sure whether to buy a second hand Prodrive cat or go for a new decent (H&S / Milltek) cat and then get it all fettled to fit.
Remap along with panel filter and fuel pump – standard fare and going for 330/330 performance.
Replace the front door window gussets – These are letting in wind noise which is irritating. Fine below 60mph but a bit blowy above.
That should be it until I find something else to replace or do on it.
So what's it like? Bloody brilliant. Quick enough, although I want more. Comfortable and spacious for the family. Can't really complain. Only issue I've got is it's age but there's nowt I can do about that and I think they're a bit pricey but I'm that t
t that paid for it.
Back in November 2015 I started to look for a new car. At the start of the year I had a hawkeye Subaru Impreza WRX SL Wagon which I'd had for around a year to replace my first (and possibly last) diesel car, a Mazda 3 Sport. The Mazda in turn had replaced a blobeye Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon (clearly there's a theme developing).
The hawkeye wagon was written off on the M40 when the lady in the lane next to me decided she wanted to be in the lane I was in with me still in it. Cue loud bang and me pirouetting across 4 lanes of traffic. Possibly the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me, I was pumped for days after, but certainly an experience I don’t want to repeat.
The writing off of the Impreza led me to buying a mk2 Ford Focus for the family and a Mazda RX-8 for me. The RX-8 was great. If anyone is thinking of getting one do it but like any purchase do your homework. I kept the Mazda maintained and when one of the exhaust tips fell off I replaced it with a Toyosport backbox that sounded great. However there was a massive but, the exhaust was droning on the motorway, I couldn’t connect my phone to the stereo for voice without spending quite a bit of cash, the lack of torque was starting to annoy me, the lack of perceived performance compared to MPG was starting to grate and I was getting range anxiety.
Which leads me back to the beginning. So in November I started to looking for a replacement. The allure of leasing was investigated and the numbers stacked up for a Golf R and at a push an A45 AMG. What I can’t get my head around is I don’t own the car. I pay money and at the end I give the car back and start again. I certainly can’t afford, or don’t want to pay, £40K for a car and then the numbers started to fall apart with thoughts of nice holidays, early mortgage repayments etc. you know sensible stuff.
So I’d seen this advertised and took a trip to the good folks at Bell & Colvill.
One owner and imported from new in January 2005 with the conversion for UK done by Dave Hendry. B&C had done a major service (all belts), cleaned and weather sealed the underneath, given the alloys a light refurb (outside face looks good, inside still needs doing) and fitted two new tyres. All in all it looked perfect. As ever with these things I’d made a decision on seeing it rather than driving it.
While I waited for the sales guy and the keys I had a further poke around and it really was in good condition with the diff oil clear and the interior in a good condition with only a few scratches on the dash (more on that below). Not surprisingly the test drive was perfect and it fitted like a glove. So it’s practical for the family, mountain biking and road trips, plus there’s very few of them on the road and it’s in a great colour IMO.
Since buying I’ve had an annoying knocking noise, which my local indie and B&C diagnosed as ‘everything feels solid, must be the top mounts’. So I replaced the top mounts with Group N top mounts from ICP (you would, wouldn’t you) and for a few days the knocking had gone. Yippee!! followed by Booo!!! when the knocking returned. Recent diagnostic is the outer CV joint. The JDM’s CV joints are not the same as the UK CV joints but thankfully Propart have a number (or one) on the shelf at a reduced price. Should be getting this tomorrow with fitting on Monday.
Since purchase I’ve:
Replaced the discs and pads with Brembo OEM parts – The ones fitted when I bought it definitely were not Brembo
Braided hoses – Standard joke with my indie that I buy these in bulk and get them installed on all my cars including the family Focus (pointless)
Uprated rear ARB along with Whiteline heavy duty mounts
Rear camber bolts and all bushes
Group N front suspension top mounts - as above
Ultra Racing front strut brace
Flocked centre dash – Just pimp. The dash was scratched and I decided flocking was the way forward. Once returned and fitted my wife commented it’s a bit naff (or words to that effect) and I’d have to agree. It’s grown on me with time and looks better than the scratched console.
Pioneer SPH-DA120 Carplay Headunit – Bloody brilliant! No need to say anymore.
Future plans are:
Get that fudging knocking fixed!
Whiteline quick release rear strut brace – just because
Sports cat exhaust with Genome backbox – what a PITA this is proving to be. Not sure whether to buy a second hand Prodrive cat or go for a new decent (H&S / Milltek) cat and then get it all fettled to fit.
Remap along with panel filter and fuel pump – standard fare and going for 330/330 performance.
Replace the front door window gussets – These are letting in wind noise which is irritating. Fine below 60mph but a bit blowy above.
That should be it until I find something else to replace or do on it.
So what's it like? Bloody brilliant. Quick enough, although I want more. Comfortable and spacious for the family. Can't really complain. Only issue I've got is it's age but there's nowt I can do about that and I think they're a bit pricey but I'm that t
t that paid for it.Certainly am, got to update two areas. subaruforester.org is very much like the RX8 owners club, thoroughly helpful lot.
Been a relatively peaceful few months, just accumulating parts and planning the future. Currently looking at sports cat exhaust systems and weighing up various solutions, brand new, second hand Prodrive cat with Genome backbox or custom. Other life things in the way first.
For now just a continual refresh and upgrade of parts. This month an oil change, Whiteline front droplinks and uprated front ARB mounts. On the brief drive back from the garage there's a bit more weight to the front end, but a few more exploratory drives are needed to really see if there is a difference.
As other owners have said, this car so many things well that I'll struggle to replace it and more than likely won't as it'll move onto my wife as the family car. Other than the exhaust and a remap for the future for now I've got an uprated fuel pump and panel air filter to fit and I want to replace the window gussets to remove the wind noise above 60mph.
Been a relatively peaceful few months, just accumulating parts and planning the future. Currently looking at sports cat exhaust systems and weighing up various solutions, brand new, second hand Prodrive cat with Genome backbox or custom. Other life things in the way first.
For now just a continual refresh and upgrade of parts. This month an oil change, Whiteline front droplinks and uprated front ARB mounts. On the brief drive back from the garage there's a bit more weight to the front end, but a few more exploratory drives are needed to really see if there is a difference.
As other owners have said, this car so many things well that I'll struggle to replace it and more than likely won't as it'll move onto my wife as the family car. Other than the exhaust and a remap for the future for now I've got an uprated fuel pump and panel air filter to fit and I want to replace the window gussets to remove the wind noise above 60mph.
Minor update for now. Litchfield were selling off some complete exhausts via eBay at greatly reduced prices. So I snapped up all the parts and the car is booked in for the this to be fitted by Surrey Subaru Specialists at the end of October. Just got to get a remap booked in a few days later.
Meanwhile today I freshened the passenger side front light as it was looking a bit misty, using a 3M Headlight Restoration Kit.
Before:
After:
Really impressed with the result. There is a point while you are doing this when you think 'oh fudge! what have I done!!'. Just read the instructions and press on. Noticed a few stone chips that I'll look to get done next year as the exhaust and remap should be the last piece of work on the car this year.
Meanwhile today I freshened the passenger side front light as it was looking a bit misty, using a 3M Headlight Restoration Kit.
Before:
After:
Really impressed with the result. There is a point while you are doing this when you think 'oh fudge! what have I done!!'. Just read the instructions and press on. Noticed a few stone chips that I'll look to get done next year as the exhaust and remap should be the last piece of work on the car this year.
Nearly two years since I updated, this is how the car stands now after collecting from Lepsons Alloys last night:
In the two years the exhaust was fitted, along with a new fuel pump and anything else needed for a remap. Then off to Duncan at Race Dynamics that produced 330bhp / 330lbft. Got a photo somewhere.....
However that 3" exhaust was too loud. Everytime I put my foot down it told the world I had. So I went to Longlife Exhaust in Carshalton and they made a custom back box dropping from 3" to 2.5", still got the noise but not so loud.
Then around this time last year I replaced the knocking suspension with Pedders Sports Ryder which greatly improved the handling without a large change to comfort. The car came back looking like this:
And that's where we're at now. Currently going through a bit of a tidy up before I move it on. Know what I want to replace it with but going to miss this car, had lots of fun in it.
In the two years the exhaust was fitted, along with a new fuel pump and anything else needed for a remap. Then off to Duncan at Race Dynamics that produced 330bhp / 330lbft. Got a photo somewhere.....
However that 3" exhaust was too loud. Everytime I put my foot down it told the world I had. So I went to Longlife Exhaust in Carshalton and they made a custom back box dropping from 3" to 2.5", still got the noise but not so loud.
Then around this time last year I replaced the knocking suspension with Pedders Sports Ryder which greatly improved the handling without a large change to comfort. The car came back looking like this:
And that's where we're at now. Currently going through a bit of a tidy up before I move it on. Know what I want to replace it with but going to miss this car, had lots of fun in it.
Always liked the FSTi.
I've also always thought of these as one of the cars from the last really great line up from subaru. Back in 2005 ish there was the wrx and sti impreza, the XT and FSTI Forrester and a few fast legacies, any of which I'd be happy to drive.
The current line up is just not as interesting.
I've also always thought of these as one of the cars from the last really great line up from subaru. Back in 2005 ish there was the wrx and sti impreza, the XT and FSTI Forrester and a few fast legacies, any of which I'd be happy to drive.
The current line up is just not as interesting.
Cambs_Stuart said:
Always liked the FSTi.
I've also always thought of these as one of the cars from the last really great line up from subaru. Back in 2005 ish there was the wrx and sti impreza, the XT and FSTI Forrester and a few fast legacies, any of which I'd be happy to drive.
The current line up is just not as interesting.
Makes me think much like Honda from a few years back, however I don't think Subaru have the breadth of models to even think of a resurgence. Makes you wonder where the whole WRC program came from.I've also always thought of these as one of the cars from the last really great line up from subaru. Back in 2005 ish there was the wrx and sti impreza, the XT and FSTI Forrester and a few fast legacies, any of which I'd be happy to drive.
The current line up is just not as interesting.
MDMA . said:
Had mine just short of 3 years before selling to another PH'er. What do you fancy next? I went back to VW and got a really nice MK5 GTi. Not as practical as the FSTi but every bit as quick, if not quicker (modified 
).
Really liked yours and like the GTi you've picked up and started to tidy up. Going to replace it with a RS Megane, the previous shape. ).Philv8s said:
I had one for a while and was great fun to drive. Ultimately I couldn’t live with the low rent interior and easily scratched plastics so moved it on.
I hear ya, they spent the budget on the drive train. It's been pretty practical when used on family duties but now we need something with a few more interior niceties for the kids (and me).Continual tidying up of the Forester. The bonnet was resprayed the other week due to stone chips and some lacquer lifting. Decided to clean the rest of the car myself and get some pictures.
Still love this car. We recently bought a very cheap BMW E90 325i to replace the family Ford Focus and as nice as the BMW is it's not a patch on the Forester.
Exterior
Engine Bay
Interior
Still love this car. We recently bought a very cheap BMW E90 325i to replace the family Ford Focus and as nice as the BMW is it's not a patch on the Forester.
Exterior
Engine Bay
Interior
Edited by Zaim on Thursday 8th November 07:20
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