Alan999

Hi there been reading your thread iam new to the scoobie scene as well after after looking for months I got one 2005 sti I bought the car back in March it had 5 previous owners but loads of paper work and history with it . So best of luck with your search there's good ones out there.

Melvatron

well guys with much regret i didnt go and see the car and i wont be purchasing a subaru either.. after some serious and i mean serious thought with a bit of lack of sleep thrown in from stress and worry, and all your help and guidance i'v decided to pass on gettin one. all that was sticking out in most of the advice provided was the fact that this type of car was costly to run. i had taken a loan to get the car and couldnt really afford extreme running costs. i know you guys pointed out lower class vehicles which just wouldnt be the same for me..im not a hardcore subaru fan, but do love the sti. i want to thank everyone that had taken the time to help guide me by replying to my posts. i wish i was in a position to be able to afford owning a sti too. but realistically i dont want put myself in a sticky situation. thanks again kelvyn

Busterbulldog

iTrader: (1)

Just do it,if you buy a nice straight one running costs are fine as long as your ok with 20mpg

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

25 with a WRX.

thenewgalaxy

20? You ***** must have 10cm of pedal travel or something

Busterbulldog

iTrader: (1)

20 was referring to the older ones hes looking at...I dont know what your getting Rich but mine averages 22 around town and 26plus once out.

forgedmarco

iTrader: (10)

I get 33mpg with my daily wrx forged engine brembos etc

LuckyWelshchap

Seems a little 'silly' to me Kelv.
If the projected running costs (of an STi) are too high then as a few have posted, get a WRX. The lower purchase cost will compensate for the additional running costs.

If you didn't realise what THE marque to buy would mean financially then you hadn't done your homework.
Imo you clearly did - so why the change of heart m8 ?

thenewgalaxy

I haven't driven her much since the little one was born, in fact I've covered 250 miles since the end of May and I haven't actually had the pedal more than half way down!

If I give her a blast the fuel consumption is woeful.

On long journeys I get mid to high 20s but that is the only time I make any kind of effort to keep the fuel consumption up.

Lifetime average for the car is currently 19.8mpg...

Melvatron

guys i've given it plenty of thought, and it feels right. when i joined every ounce of me was 100% committed to getting one but this week my head was swayed then when i got up yesterday morning my heart just wasnt there so i backed out. think im just going settle with having my bike as my power toy. be sensible with my commuter, sad thing is that iv enjoyed the forum much more friendly than the yamaha one i joined. thanks again chaps..

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

*****!

stuart148

iTrader: (12)

just get a sti bought or a sti type r

iv got a bike too as well as a sti type r

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go on treat your self it's Xmas soon ;-)

Hawkeye D

I can't even ride a motorbike, but seeing toys like these makes me feel I am missing out! Nice pieces.

Busterbulldog

iTrader: (1)

Tubby and the rest of the guys are letting their standards slip

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Not at all, the guy came on here, asked some sensible questions and has made his decision based on logic. Fair play to him!

If he had come on here asking crap about VTA DVs, Lexus lights, stickers, fake roof vents etc. then he would have got (rightly) roasted and driven 'out of town'

Melvatron

thanks pal.. was a big decision to make. im glad i didnt jump in feet first and regret it for a long time. surprising how you think about the bigger picture the older you get...

Melvatron

nice toys stuart

Melvatron

if you can afford to learn and buy a bike, then do it. was one of the best things i'v done with my life... YOU ARE MISSING OUT if your a adrenalin junkie

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Got to admit, bikes are pretty cheap fun, low maintenance and running costs and don't go wrong very often considering the abuse they get, but they do have a few problems as you get older.

I found that making the effort to go out on mine was such a palarva, moving cars, kitting up, takes half an hour between deciding to go out and actually being on it riding down the road, then if your off out with mates and the mrs on hers could be over an hour before I was having some fun, then waiting for every ****** to catch up always wondering if the one behind you or in front or the last in the pack has had something happen to them, crap UK weather, and the danger factor, was much easier to just jump in the Type r and go, if the weather changes it's no big deal, in the the last couple of years of owning one I did about 300 miles, and just thought it's a bit of an expensive garage ornament between that and my little lad coming along I thought bugger it and sold up.

Still miss it when one goes hurtling by though, second best rush, first being riding a horse at full tilt over a cross country course but i'm a bit too old and out of practice to be doing that as well.

stuart148

iTrader: (12)

thanks mate , I only passed my bike test last year , best money ever spent :-)

pflowers

Forget fuel cost, it's all about total cost of ownership.

I bought my latest impreza in May 2012, it's an 03 WRX wagon, bog standard for £2300. In 12,000 miles all I have spent other than a remap and a decat up pipe, is an oil and filter change and some wiper blades. I reckon my car is still worth £2000

My mate at around the same time wouldn't buy an impreza so went the sensible route and bought a Vectra for £5k, he's had a head gasket, water pump, battery, discs and pads, clutch spending at least £2000 in the process. It only does 5mpg better than my impreza and is boring as ****. It's worth about £2k now.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Yeah but you're comparing a bad example of a Vectra with a good example of a WRX, I had an 03STI and it was a complete lemon, would have bankrupted some people the amount I spent on running it in the last year of ownership and it was only 5 years old. The point is a part for a Vectra is about half the price of the equivalent part for the Subaru in most cases.... hence why on balance they are cheaper to run!

pflowers

Yes, I agree. However the point I am trying to make is that not buying a car because of the perceived running costs is silly.

It's all about the total cost, depreciation etc.

Any car can be a lemon, but I would argue that on the whole an unmolested, looked after impreza can be very reliable and cheap to run overall.

LuckyWelshchap

Have I missed something or have Scooby owners suddenly become accountants??????????????

• You pay for what you want (and get, hopefully).
• You experience the thrill of taking YOUR experience beyond what you think you were capable of;
• You have a car that sets you apart from 95+% of drivers on the road.

What more do you want ????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In my experience - GET ONE, ENJOY THE THRILL.
YOU'LL NEVER BE HERE AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

pflowers

Yes fair comment, the point I am making though is that with the right car you can go with your heart and your head as there is no reason why an impreza should cost any more overall than a far more mundane car.

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

The impreza is now rapidly becoming a second/weekend / low mileage user sort of car for the enthusiast only
Running costs compared to normal boring cars is the main factor
The enthusiast wants to preserve and keep his impreza for years as there will never be a car made for £20-30k that will be a great performance car like it was in its hayday


Not many on the roads now and even the chavs are moving away from them now On to fiestas and small diesel hatchbacks and clipping big exhausts on to them

pflowers

My wife's C4 picasso costs the same to run as my WRX.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

You could say the same about anything though with that logic. My AMG costs way more to run than my Scoob ever did, but it is at least twice the car (for what I want .. I know that's subjective... but 0-100 can be done in under 10s without the need to rattle your fillings out for instance) and I am lucky in that I can afford to run it properly... oh, and it sets me apart form 99% of the drivers on the road as opposed to 95% (not that that matters one iota to me)!

That said should I just get a Ferrari instead?... always wanted one.... but I know I could not afford to run one comfortably and that is where the OP is with a Scoob!

You will always get people saying they cost the same to run as their wife's Fiesta or the likes, but that is clearly bollocks! They are expensive to insure, drink fuel (my AMG is not really worse on fuel than my Scoob was which is jawdroppingly bad on the Scoob's part), are expensive to maintain (if it's done properly) e.g. a cambelt change and are hardly faultless in the reliability department when they get older although better than many. If something big does go wrong the bills can be very high compared to a run of the mill car (e.g. the rear diff went on my STI at 63K - £2K total repair bill).

All that's fine if its a fun weekend car, but if it's a daily driver running costs need takling into proper account and that is what the OP has done. He also has a bike which will far outperform 99.9% of cars on the road and give him way more of an adrenaline rush so why bother with a Scoob... he's made a sensible decision in my book

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

I think running one of these as a daily is a tough call, Milage is the deal breaker for me in the UK, out here in Croatia fuel is a bit cheaper so it only costs about £40 to fill the tank as opposed to £60 in the UK, I never let it get below 1/4 of a tank and I average 260 ish from B road reasonable progress driving, looking at other cars out there, there's not much that can do what a turbo subaru can, sure there are the Clio's and ST's that cost similar money for a decent one that's not been to the moon, and handle really well in the dry, but they can't overtake the way the scoob can.

I had a bit of an eye opener last year running the Rover 25 1.4 out here, sure it was £15 a fill cheaper, and between a set of winter tyres, two punchers which required new tyres, a back box and doing the H/G I spent £500, ok it's wear and tear and the Mrs is currently getting the benefit of what I spent
and the car is good for another year or two so I don't mind, but that £500 split in to £15 increments comes out at 33 fills to be in the same place as the scoob fuel wise, OK it's not a scientific analysis BUT it is what I spent keeping it on the road, I also do ALL my own servicing and repairs so I feel sorry for the poor buggers that pay someone to do it because it would have been over a grand, which is more than double what the car is worth, if I could sell it, which I very much doubt.

Point being that even a cheap **** box runaround can cost a fair few quid every so often just to keep it on the road, don't get me wrong the Rover has been a fantastic car over the 60k we have done in it, but it came to that point in the cycle where it needed a few quid spending as with any car, problem being if you go out and buy a car at the WRONG point in it's life cycle then it's going to cost, but by my experience the scoob is no worse than any other car out there, provided your not driving it to timbucktoo and back every week.

Don't get me started on diesels.

jbaker21

2003 v limited sti, remapped, bc coilvers and a couple of other light mods. The car is blue and has 100k on the clock but this is in kilometers. if you change your mind and decide you want a subaru