My car takes a few seconds of turning over before it fires up. Wonder if plugs are getting a little old. Do you turbos start straight away with new plugs, or do they all take a few seconds?

If I was to change the plugs, do I need any special tools for them? I know some cars are a little more fiddly to change the plugs. Any help would be appreciated.

 

How many is "a few"? Imprezas always crank a couple of times before they fire, so expecting them to start as immediately as something like a vanilla Mondeo or Focus is probably unrealistic.

As far as plugs are concerned, the service replacement interval is 15K miles, but platinum tipped plugs like the PFR6/7 (assuming that's what you're using) tend to stay in good nick for even longer than that, assuming the engine's in good health.

If your car genuinely is taking longer to fire than it used to, I'd be tempted to suspect deteriorating earths ahead of knackered plugs, but at end of day it depends how long you've had the current set in your car...

 

As far as fitting them goes they aren't to bad. Airbox and washer bottle off and then remove them! You're gonna need a half decent socket set because to get to them easily I used (IIRC) a plug socket, universal joint and various extension bars. All of this was 3/8 gear.

Enjoy!