Posted this on SIDC, but thought I'd ask here also......

Guys n Girls,

Being tempted back into the world of scoobs! Theres a P1 for sale in S+S Services in Ayr which has really whetted my appetite.

Does anyone from the west coast know of this car? Is it someone on here's former steed?


Registration is X802 RWS

I know you just gotta look yourself and really be careful that your not buying a dog, but I'm in Iraq, wont be back till End of Jan, and dont want to drive all the way down from Elgin to view it, if its rough as....

Also, as I've never own a P1 before, my only scooby experience being a bugeye WRX, then a bugeye STi ppp, is there any particular problems/common snags with this model? I hear they are pretty much similar to a type r - Would this be an accurate assumption?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Al

 

Basically...... they are a Type R that has been imported, then tarted up by Prodrive! Only trouble is they had a habit of going bang, so I wouldn't touch one that hasn't hada engine rebuild or was remapped very early on in its life. Hope this helps mate

 

Yep, i agree, most of them seem to go bang around the 50,000 milage mark!!
Ud be better getting one with a full rebuild done by a well know tuner or such!!

I know a fella whose P1 went bang at 46,000, and i know of plenty others as well around this 40-50 milage mark....great car just be careful and make sure u get a good one!!

 

Complete tosh. It's all about luck and how well you keep it/drive it.

I'll bet the same percentage of Type-R's have gone and about the same mileage.

My P1 has 45.5k miles and has never been apart. I'd MUCH rather buy a stock engined Impreza(ANY Impreza), than one that hasn't been rebuilt by RCM. You can't put a figure on luck, but you CAN put a figure on a WELL built engine. At least when you get a stock engine, you KNOW what your getting.

 

ask on ayrshirescoobies.co.uk,someone on there will prob know but are there none for sale up your way?

 

Well said that man.... don't listen to the scare mongers buddy, just a lack of knowledge..

 

Fair enuf, but was there not a recall on the P1's by Subaru, due to a bottom end problem that needed fixing??

Maybe im wrong but i recall my mate telling me this about his P1....but he says he missed the recall and only found out about the recall after his motor went pop. Dont think all the P1's were affected, have any of uz heard of this??

 

No recalls for bottomend problems, no. No recalls for anything infact.

 

would be interesting tho how many of the 1000 or so P1's built have went pop or suffered big end failure,i know theres one sitting in a car park near me aint moved in weeks with a blown piston,and yes typeR's are just as susceptible,i found that out

 

Oh and a friend of a friend works for s+s as a spanner monkey,i text him about the car see what he knows about it for you

 

Guys, thanks for all the replies. Sorry its taken my a while to reply, I'm away in the desert just now and dont have regular tinternet access.

With regards P1 engines going bang.... I've heard these sort of horror stories before - Is there something inherently wrong with Type R's/P1's for these to happen?

Is there a high percentage of Type R/P1 Owners who badly mod/tune their cars?

Is it our UK fuel that they do not like?

Or are they no more likely to go bang than any other Impreza?

I really love the look of the P1, and it'll remain a classic for years to come - Just dont want to shell out a lot of cash for a potentially 8+ yr old car, for it to blow up on me. (I know thats sometimes the chance you take with high spec cars)

In answer to some of your queries, I havent seen many for sale any closer to where I work back home. There is a couple of crackers for sale privately, which If I didnt have the Golf to punt, I'd go see for sure. The one in S+S certainly looks good, decent milage etc. Would obviously have to travel a long way to have a good look at it.

EXVAUX - thank you, that would be very much appreciated indeed.

thanks to everyone for the replies

Al

 

i bought mine from s+s,all ill say is check everything,and i mean everything

 

I work very near s@s m8 , if you like I'll pop in and take a look . Been around subaru's for 4-5 years now and would like to think I know a good un .

 

How come mate? Have you had bother with your car from there?

Al

 

If its not too much hassle for you mate, and you fancy a wee look around there, then that would be very good of you.


Al

 

The follwoing is a quote from Mike Wood of Prodrive; they'll be no worse than a Type R, both require a proper remap to be assurrred of safety on UK fuel IMHO!

----Start quote-----
Edd

We didn't recalibrate the ECU at all and have never claimed to have done so. FHI (Subaru in Japan) did make some changes that they felt were suitable to make the car more tolerant running on UK fuel but we didn't tell them what they had to do and we weren't told exactly what they had done. At that time we did not have the necessary ECU access to do any recalibration in any case.

My own personal thoughts on the matter is that most of the engine problems are related to MAF issues or modifications made to things such as the exhaust. The original calibration is pretty well optimised and a small change can tip it over the edge quite easily. Contamination of the MAF will lead to det almost immediately, as will a change in exhaust backpressure.

MAF contamination can happen naturally over time but may well be accelerated hugely by a different airfilter being fitted, hence why we didn't include an air filter in the 99/00MY PPP. Contamination by oil also occurs if the oil level is too high and the car runs at high rpm and/or high cornering loads. In this scenario, oil mist gets into the breather system which can get to the MAF. Maybe this is why some failures are happening shortly after a service...

The subsequent det is normally not fatal the first time but there's only so much the pistons or bearings can take so the normal failure is a bearing failure as the det has knocked it out eventually.

My suggestion would therefore be to make sure the oil level isn't too high, change the MAF on a regular basis, avoid fuel surge and don't fiddle unless you know exactly what you are doing and what the likely consequences are

Mike

----End Quote----

 

I Work there as a prt time valeter on a saturdays, and have worked on this car, valeted it when it came in before it was put on for sale.

I Will PM you about the car, and if you want to ask any questions, feel free to do so.

 

Thanks mate. Have PM'd you back. Cant download the pics unfortunately, as these yank computers wont have it.

Al

 

all of our internet access offshore is monitored to fvck as well, what i do is use another server, then all is well

go into google and type

kproxy

(then)

go to a secure connection

(then)

accept certificate temporarlily

(then)

bobs your uncle, but remember to put http:// in the little box where your link goes

 

s+s = walk !

 

funny how the locals seem to have that opinion of them to be fair my problems were with the old lot,if you have any problems call and ask for lorna,she was the one that sorted things out for me.

 

to be fair, i wasnt aware that they had been taken over or the the staff were changed , so if they were, it might be a different story !

 

Guys

I don't know if any of you guys know me but I've been in Subaru's since year 2000. Thats when I bought my first brand new Impreza Turbo in DBM from John at S&S when it was in Mossblown. Before that Subaru I bought a BMW 325i Sport from John when I was 19.

I'm onto my 6th Subaru Impreza Turbo now. This one is the only one I didn't buy from John at S&S. I've had the following from John and I have never had a problem dealing with John:

1 x DBM UK Turbo
1 x Terzo
2 x P1s (nothing went bang, both were modified)
1 x Red Mica UK Turbo

As drb5 says, so long as you don't drive your Subarus like you've just stolen it, you'll have many many trouble free years. I can vouch for that.

As i said before, alot of you guys would know me in the earlier years on Scoobynet when it was a close community as I attended rolling roads, meets and charity events. Now I'm just a spectator but I'm a Subaru enthusiast and I still own and look after my subarus well.

To sum it all up, I'm a local, I've owned 2 P1s, none of mine went bang and I've NEVER had a problem with staff at S&S Services.

Gordon

 

i bought my terzo about 21 months, no problems at all from s and s

 

personally, ive never had a bother with the company as far as buying a car is concerned (as i import/sell them myself) but as a subaru dealership and parts/source/point of contact with subaru....pityfull(in my experience only as others have their own opinion ) .....so the car may be very good as S+S never built it ! therefore, not really their responsibility how owners treat the cars (before nor after) they sell but how they deal what after market sales/parts which has been my issues ! just my dealings............

 

I've got to agree with you as regards to aftersales/parts/service side of things. But as someone mentioned earlier on, John and Lorna are the 2 people which will sort things out for you if you have a problem and needs to dealt promptly. They're the only 2 I really deal with whenever I'm in there.

I suppose I've got to say something nice about Lorna as she frequents this board on a regular basis and she'd kill me if I said something bad about her!!! Besides, I don't want to lose my "Special Discounts" that I get from Lorna and John!!!!

 

Thanks again for all the interest/advice - It is appreciated.

Al