Subaru guys school me on the WRX

[Turbo]

I have had 2 Subaru’s, 02 WRX (Bugeye) and a 05 Sti (Peanut). Neither car required any repair other than normal maintenance (oil, tires etc.) in the years that I owned them. I liked the Sti’s better brakes, power and interior. The WRX had a better ride, better gas mileage and cheaper insurance. A co-worker had a 2012 Sti that I think road a little better than my 05 did….
PS: I happen to have a nice “clean” up pipe for 02-03 WRX that I don’t have a use for.

 

[Droberts]

longtime subaru owner here, i do my own mechanic work on turbo swaps as well.

biggest advice i can give you is

1. check your oil level at every fillup.
2. dont launch if you cant afford a new trans.


the mitsubishi TD04L turbo shipped stock with a lot of subarus will boost good at low rpms at about 6psi & will help with driving around town, but will have greatly diminished returns past about 4000rpm.
the mitsubishi TD05H turbo can be swapped in with any factory TD04 non-sti subaru turbo & will provide high end boost from 3200-6500rpm, the stock wastegate on the td05h is capped at 10psi, but the turbo itself is capable of 19psi. ($550ish ordered online from hong kong)


if you want good power put putting around town a normal subaru turbo will do for you. if you want to maximize boost under top speed go with a turbo trimmed to provide boost at higher rpms.

keep pressure on a stock boxer block under 20psi to avoid cracking it. 50psi GT's will blow your engine.

get a plain'ol wrx and swap in a turbo with the trim you want imo. will save you some cash.

 

[riper1]

I owned and drove a 2004 STI for 5 years as my dailey driver, added a cobb stage 2 tune and invidia divorced wategate downpipe with a 3 inch mandrel bent tanabe exaust with a medalion muffler, i changed my oil with royle purple @ 3000 mile intervals, never gave any problems, drove it pretty hard but never abused the transmission, i launched it a couple of times, drove it 50,000 trouble free miles, still had the original clutch, dubchops youve seen mine, we meet for a deal at bass pro, all these people who say there crap is because they abuse it or got one that was abused.
I owned a 2002, plymouth lazer all wheel drive turbo (mitsubishi eclipse rebadged)for 7 years now there a suspect car the trans were weak on these, the sti will go, stop, and handle awesome

 

[Glocktogo]

I owned a 2002, plymouth lazer all wheel drive turbo (mitsubishi eclipse rebadged)for 7 years now there a suspect car the trans were weak on these, the sti will go, stop, and handle awesome

I can't see one of those Mitsu's without being reminded of this:

 

[roachjuice]

I can't see one of those Mitsu's without being reminded of this:

The 2g dsm was real bad about crank walking. The 1g didn't have that problem. But again, people drive the dog **** out of them and expect them to stay together. If I were to get a dsm, it would be a 1g awd automatic. But id never own a dsm. Buddy of mine has one and its always on jack stands.

 

[Capm_Spaulding]

To me... they are like the new fr-s, eclipse, non srt8 challenger/charger.
Great to look but not much else except high revs in a high school parking lot. I would advise not getting anything but the STI. And honestly shop around and see what else you could get for STI money. They are all overpriced, most I see are 10k plus for 100k miles. I had an '06 sti for a few months but it had too many electrical problems for me to put up with so I'm a little biased. Check out some of the subi forums and search around to get a good idea as well.
My unbiased opinion though, don't buy one high mileage. Turbo's don't last that long before the bearings wear out and they really wear down an engine especially in a car that gets hotrodded around. The boxer engine can handle them a lot better but the wrx not so much.

 

[mprvise]

I've got a 2006 WRX wagon that I bought new to use as a fun daily driver that could haul my guitar and bass gear around. It's been a great fun car for the last 47,000ish miles, with the exception on one $3,000 problem right after it went out of warranty. I'd be looking elsewhere if I thought there was a better daily driver for my needs. Will probably replace it with a new STI in the next year or two.

 

[twoguns?]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1Iz2gq-zwPs Like This

 

[Kozmos]

I have an '08 STi and love it! It's one of our cars I have no plans to ever get rid of. With that said it only has 24k miles on it and is being prepared as a semi-dedicated autocross/track car. Take good care of them and they'll take care of you. Of course the STi gives you better brakes, transmission and power than the WRX but both are fine cars. The '08 STi's are much softer, better riding cars than the '07-earlier models. They still handle well but are in my opinion better daily drivers than the earlier models.