Oh no! What happened?
Are you ok?

 

Some old couple who shouldn't be on the road got confused at a junction and drove straight into my wife. Pushed the car into the other lane, fortunately nothing coming. Baby was onboard too but slept through it all!

Cayenne is awaiting some warranty work so we were using mine as the family bus for a few days. Fortunately I've been recommissioning my Bug to sell, so had another car to go to the scene and sort everything out.
Already received notification from 3rd party insurers admitting full liability. Think it's unlikely I'll ever see the car again to be honest.

Got a courtesy car delivered within 3 hours. They were going to send me a Boxster as it was the only "Sports Premium" car available and it's supposed to be like for like. But I need 4 seats whilst the Porsche is off the road, so they sent me a 3 year old Vauxhall Insignia diesel with a million miles on the clock instead

 

Glad to hear the family is ok.
Shame about the wagon though. Hope the insurance company treat you well.

 

I am so sorry to hear that about the car as I have the same wagon wrx in black too.

I am just glad your wife and baby are ok. I have a family too and know how that feels. Cars can be replaced, people cannot.

See what insurance say and if an option, buy back the car from them, and rebuild with better parts. Saloon wings, saloon bumper, sti hood scoop and mechanical parts upgraded would be a huge improvement on the looks I reckon. That's what I did to mine when some idiot bashed it in the car part and left the scene.

Onwards and upwards

 

I'm considering it. Depends how bad the damage is. Do you receive an engineers report when a car is written off?

 

I am not sure myself as I am based in Ireland and things are a bit different here. I would guess that if it is Uneconomical to repair, they will highlight that and let you know. Would be great to see her back on the road with a few tasty mods and a new lease of life

 

I think they just look at it & price it up, if it's an economical repair they sort someone to repair it & they undertake the work. If they write it off they may well offer it back to you for 10% of whatever cost of the pay out was (so if they value it at £6,000, you can have it back for £600) - I think that's how it works, been a while since I wrote anything off

A lot of money in parts there if you buy it back & break it

 

I figure if they go to Subaru for parts they are going to be charged £200 for a wing, £300 for a door.....plus paint, plus labour etc....so I can't see that happening!

Whereas I can get a door in the same colour from a breakers for £30.... I'm pretty sure MattyB would have doors, wings, bumper, bonnet etc from black Blobeye STis, plus any other bits I would need. Providing the chassis isn't bent, everything just bolts on and off.

I actually quite fancy converting it to a Bugeye as I prefer the looks, the front bumper has less over-hang so easier to get a trolley under the nose and I can fit projector headlights rather than the rubbish reflectors on the Blob. Probably not going to effect the value given that it will be a CAT N anyway. It would need a respray though as the black is different across the years. Alternatively I could just take all the body work off my green Bugeye for free and respray. Would mean the Bug being only good for scrap though...

 

looking at the pictures I think you will get away with just replacing the panels

 

The wheel isn't supposed to be touching the wheel arch.... Look again.

 

I meant non structural get a used wishbone and change the track rod when I say panel replacement I meant no frame damage

 

Gotcha. That's the hope. Still reckon that will write it off though. Not long has new wishbones from Subaru under VOSA recall. I'd probably swap to alloy arms on both sides and replace the driveshafts at the same time.

 

Buy a whole upright. hub with wishbone track rod driveshaft still attached from matty probably work out cheaper it probably will be written off but its a lovely car i would fix it if it were me

 

If I can buy it back I'm thinking now the best option is to drive my Bug until the Mot expires in September. I don't think it'll get through another one without welding. Take all the bodywork panels I need from that and then beeak/scrap it. In the meantime, I can fix the mechanicals on the Blob at my leisure. Will need to factor in a respray for the Bug bodywork.

 

UPDATE TIME

So unsurprisingly the assessors have written the car off. They have provided a detailed statement of everything that needs to be replaced and it's cost. Total cost to repair of £4300.00. They have also valued the car at £3600....so I'll be playing the negotiation dance with the insurers in due course. The assessors never actually visited the car, simply looked at a couple of photos provided by the recovery firm. Clever stuff.

Anyway, I have bought the car back for £584 (Cat N write off) plus £132 to have it delivered back to me. So I'm in for £700 plus whatever it costs to fix, offset against the payment I can haggle from the 3rd party insurers.

Ignoring the wing and door, this appears to be the extent of the mechanical damage:



One very bent wishbone which has folded in on itself.



Drop links will need replacing

That's it. There maybe damage to steering rack or hub bearings, top mounts etc but nothing visible so will have to wait until the car is driving again first.

Oh and some superficial damage around the inner wing



Haven't been able to remove the wing yet as this nut/fixing is causing me issues as it just turns and I can't get anything on to the fixing to hold it. Will have to take a Dremel to it whilst avoiding damaging the bumper.I think the bumper may pop out once the wing is remove as it's the wing that is pulling it inwards, rather than being bent.


Subaru have quoted me £330 for a new steel wishbone including bushes (I had both sides replaced under VOSA recall last year). I think this is the cheapest option. The alternative is to fit second hand saloon alloy wishbones. But if I factor in all new OEM bushes and ball joints and then double it for both sides, plus a saloon ARB and droplinks, it will be at least £400. Classic arms would be a bit cheaper as I could keep my ARB and drop links (I have a spare set of wagon ones). Obviously double the work also. I did notice that ICP have complete saloon arms with all bushes and ball joints for £165. Sadly only the passenger side is in stock.

I guess the question is whether fitting alloys arms is worth the additional cost/time? With regards to bodywork, it needs a new door and wing minimum to make it driveable. Inner arch, bumper and headlight are all useable, if a little scratched and dented. Even the door would not be an immediate issue with a new wing fitted.

 

Spoken to Subaru, they can sell me a RH saloon alloy wishbone, complete with everything, for £197. LH ones are £260...of which they have none in stock....
Going to check with ICP now about their stock levels.

Presumably I am correct in thinking that I just need a saloon ARB and droplinks, then wind the Track Rod Ends out for this to all work on a wagon?

 

Am I going to run into any issues with having wagon front struts fitted? Perhaps I should look to fit Classic arms instead?

 

You could use gc8 sti aluminium arms?
Press out the classic front bush (and sleeve) and press in a newage front bush.

Then you wont have to worry about track width, increased camber and the driveshaft length. As the gc and gg are the same.

Use the slightly wider widetrack front bar with the gd sti (not gc sti) drop links. As the brackets on the gc arms are wider apart and angled.

 

Do I need access to an actual press to swap the front bushes/sleeves over?

 

You could burn the rubber out. Then you'll have the outer sleeve left in the arm. You could hacksaw blade a cut through the sleeve, without nicking the arm, and butcher it out.
You could then use a gd urethane replacement bush - I don't like urethane in a pivoting position. I'd rather use rubber, hence the press.

 

With lockdown I don't really have the option of travelling to a garage to find someone with a press I can use. I think all things considered, it would be simplest to replace like for like (even at £330 for one arm) and put the alloy arms down as a future mod. It looks like the U cradle needs dropping for access, so I'll change the ARB bushes whilst I'm there. Once the car is driving I can then determine what else may be damage and need replacing.,

 

Another question, are the Bug rear ARB compatible with the Blob? I've read that they aren't but couldn't imagine what the difference would be.

 

good news on the car - another one saved

 

I'll probably have to get a pair of STi wings as they are more readily available. But I expect I can get them in the same colour. Ditto the door. It may need a new rack also but that's an excuse to fit an STi one anyway. The main thing is to get it driveable ASAP as I only have the leggy green Bug as the Porsche is stuck at the dealers. No rear tether in the Bug for kids seats and there is about an inch of travel left on the clutch, so don't want to have to rely on it exclusively.

 

Have you tried Matt at MB developments?

I’d imagine he has everything you need on the shelf.

 

That's a good a shout!.SJ.

 

I got a set of gd alloy control arms off Matt a year or so ago for £80, removed the bushes myself by cutting them out and replaced with PU bushes from Strongflex (decent quality, alot cheaper than others) and theyre holding up ok. Had to get a saloon front ARB and droplinks off him too but all up I think it cost me like 250 quid (brand new bolts from icp as well) mines is a blob wagon

 

I had planned to contact Matty about the body panels. Whether he'll deliver is the big question as I can't really go and collect them! If I had more time I would definitely look to replace with alloy arms but as soon as my claim is settled, they will take the hire car back, so its going to be easier and quicker to just replace the wishbone like for like I think.

Worst case scenario is that I swap over the whole front end of the Bug.

 

Big thanks to Simpsons Subaru Swindon who couldn't have been more helpful in looking up parts and prices for me. Ordered steel wishbone, ball joint pinch bolt and a new nylock yesterday afternoon and they were hand delivered to me this morning by one of their parts delivery team, rather then being couriered next week.

Highly recommended if you need OEM parts.

 

I bought my Blob wagon and my derv Legacy from them. It's great you are keeping your old friend on the road.