Limerick91

Hi all,

Just bought myself my dream car, a WRX STI Impreza, picked one up from Max at Hurst Cars in Bedford, a scooby specialist.
When I say "just", I actually picked it up Tuesday night, heres a few pictures of it from when I test drove it:







I LOVED the appearance, it is a 51 plate, Jap import, 276bhp 2.0l wrx sti with 43k miles, fsh and 1 previous owner from here in the UK. I was looking for an unmodified, clean, slightly sleeperish looking, well maintained one for months and finally came across the perfect specimin, being 22 the insurance companies aren't too keen on me having any mods whatsoever on an impreza. Surprisingly the insurance isn't too bad at £1400 fully comp for me.

HOWEVER. This is where it gets interesting...

A grand total of 18 hours after picking the car up (and after about 90 miles, 60 of which were travelling to work and back through 50mph average speed cameras on the m25), I was at about 50mph, slowing down for traffic on the A41 here in Watford and I feel the boost completely cut out, revs drop and the engine start to judder, after managing to carefully crawl the car through the traffic and to a little car park, the pain of the situation set in.

AA called out, advised me that he thinks it's a low compression issue as the engine wasn't even turning over right, after deciding the night before that I was going to have an early night Wednesday as I get up for work at 5am I jumped aboard the recovery flatbed at 9pm to make our way back to Bedford.

I rang up Max at Hurst Cars when the problem happened and all credit to him was as helpful as he has been the whole way through and advised me to tow the car back up to him in Bedford, he himself couldn't believe that this would happen, especially after only 18 hours of owning! Max, again all credit to him, went out of his way to meet me at the mot garage he uses at around 10pm last night and advised me that it feels like the bottom end bearings but has assured me that his mechanic is going to look at the car and will sort the problem by early next week, a small follow up this morning has advised me that it may be oil starvation on cylinder 3 but whatever it is, it doesn't sound good!

Unbelievable back luck, especially seeing as I had saved up and bought this Impreza after my last car (a 99' mx5) had developed knocks in the engine.

SO, I work for London Underground so THANKFULLY I get free travel on buses and trains so have to resort to, a free, all be it much f****** longer commute to work than jumping in my new found love of an Impreza for now, waiting for Max's mechanics to fix the problem and let me know what was wrong early next week.

Continued (on a happier note I hope) next week

scoobyboy1

iTrader: (16)

Keep the faith mate!!!

Looks nice and subtle, hope you will be driving it soon!!!

Limerick91

Yeah definitely, loved the subtlety about it! With any luck they'll fix the problem and I'll be on my way again Cheers!

JohnnyBlaze

What a nightmare, hope it's a one off issue. At least it happened now and not later where it would of cost you.

Limerick91

That's the only silver lining I guess! Can't wait to jump back in it next week.

LDNSTi

Ouch. I hate hearing things like this. I'm sure you'll get in sorted and once you do, it'll be a sweet car. Looks mint too.

Limerick91

May as well add some more content to this thread seeing as I have nothing else to do in the meantime (grr), here is a picture of my previous automobile nicknames "Bluebird" by my little cousin:

When I picked her up:



When I added a set of wolfrace eurosport alloys:



When I had added the exhaust, springs, a set of Rota Slipstreams and all the other little bits:



It's a 1999 Mazda MX5 10th Anniversary Edition, which only came as a 1.8. Similar/Same spec as the sport versions with a Torsen LSD, 6 speed gearbox, front strut brace, nardi interior goodies and some other nice touches.

I purchased it for a measly £1950 with 63k miles on the clock which wasn't too bad and had it since August last year. Although they are famed as a girls car, that was half the fun, after putting on some 45mm lowering springs, de-catted exhaust, induction kit, magnecor leads and some good tyres on it, it handled better than most things I caught on the road (aside from an Exige S but that was silly).

Immense fun for how much they cost and I will definitely be purchasing one in future, after owning it for a year and it getting a bit rough round the edges and a few knocks and rattles here and there, I decided I wanted a car that had more torque, was a 5 seater, nicer in winter and able to get over bumps and turbo'd preferably, which lead me to the Impreza.

I got the idea of getting an mx5 from this man:



Who happens to be my Dad, who has owned 2 mx5's, current one is an 08 mk3 with 4k miles on the clock and no I did not miss a second digit there! He's interested in keeping it spotless which he does a very good job of, BUT, who now, after seeing my scooby, has now decided he is pretty certain he's going to invest in a twinscroll Hawk Eye, hopefully from Hurst Cars providing everything is sorted out fine! As long as it's not faster than mine, it's all good

Hope you enjoyed the mostly non-scooby related essay

JonMc

iTrader: (51)

Cylinder 3 is the weak spot - I'd make sure it gets rebuilt properly. Then start to enjoy it, there's plenty of us around in Watford and I'd check out the local hooligans in here

https://www.scoobynet.com/middlesex-...c426f40149e613

Limerick91

Yeah I was told that cylinder 3 is prone to go, any idea of anything else I should look out for/make sure is rebuilt properly that is prone to go at the same time? I've got all faith in Max from Hurst Cars saying that, read up on his company on here before buying and heard nothing but good so i'm sure his mechanics will do a good job

Once it's back up and running i'd love to meet up with a few fellow Watfordians for a scooby shindig

JonMc

iTrader: (51)

I'd get the cambelt and tensioners changed in the rebuild and if there's scope during the rebuild you could stump up for a few upgraded extras - forged pistons and rods, larger head bolts, uprated oil pump etc all ready for big power

Limerick91

Haha, had the car for 18 hours...TIME FOR FORGED BUILD AND 400BHP. I like the thinking

But on a serious note, thanks , i'll be sure to ask about that when I collect it, I think i'm gonna get used to the 280bhp first, (double my last cars output!) and then start piling money into it, amazingly quick car as it is I think!

JonMc

iTrader: (51)

Every cloud and all that, it'll hack 400 as it is if it's built properly, forged and you could reliably go further, especially if you add a stroker kit

Limerick91

Oh god you're gonna get me pricing up stuff I can't afford pretty soon!

I found a subaru specialist 2 minutes away from my house here in Watford that deals with all of that aswell. I. Must. Resist.

JonMc

iTrader: (51)

That'll be Lateral Performance then

Limerick91

That'll be the one just on a totally, hypothetical, theoretical note....if I happened to want to visit them, they any good?

JonMc

iTrader: (51)

Yep

I'd phone him first to make sure he's in

scoobyboy1

iTrader: (16)

Didnt you own the car for a few hours(just bought it)?? How is a cracked piston going to happen in them few short hours, obviously it must have been an on going problem?? How many times did you fill the car up??

Who told you that it was your fault, Hurst Cars or a independent garage??

I understand that Hurst cars, wouldnt want to pay for a new engine as the car seemed good when it left them, but have you seen if they would maybe go half on a engine build, as you only had the car in a short space of time??

JonMc

iTrader: (51)

You bought the car in good faith; were you told it needed mapping for 99RON fuel, if not you were sold a car that was not fit for purpose and I would either demand a repair or a refund. You have not done anything to compromise your statutory rights. I'd get professional advice, CAB or a local solicitor that does a free initial consultancy. If they get picky I would expect a magistrate to side with you in the small claims court if you were not told about the map and fuel issue. As stated previously a piston shouldn't crack in a few hours.

LDNSTi

Sorry to hear this Ryan. I hate hearing of 'messy' things like this. Thought hurst cars were spot on. So I'm surprised. Hope you get it sorted. And ASAP too.

yabbadoo4

iTrader: (8)

what utter rubbish! get to trading standards m8! its your fault for not mapping it? its like buying a dvd player then taking it back because it broke down and the guy telling you its your fault for trying to play dvd,s in it. if you put v power in then youve done all you had to do run a jdm car in uk. if it hasnt been mapped for uk fuel they should have advised you of the fact it would need to be done. im sure they sell a lot of subarus so its not like they dont know the cars.

scoobiepaul

I have a 2001 jdm sti, it has been run on tesco 99 or v-power for 4 and half years with no issues, I may be wrong but I think it has a ecu that will adjust to the fuel that it is run on.

JonMc

iTrader: (51)

I would get into the CAB and get some sound advice. If my sister was local i'd get her to go through some of this but she's based in Manchester and away at the moment anyway. Sounds like you've got a fight on your ands

scoobyboy1

iTrader: (16)

If you filled it up with 99-RON petrol(V-power), what was you supposed to fill it up with??? thats the highest RON petrol from the pumps??? If thats the case, then wasn't you told to put some Octane booster in with the petrol to get a higher RON???

There's always two sides to the story, and im sure Max from Hurst cars will be along shortly to explain, when he see's this thread. But be interesting to see what he says!!!

scoobyboy1

iTrader: (16)

Fair play to Hurst Cars!!!

I guess thats why you did your homework on where to buy your car from!! Glad you got it all sorted!!!

JonMc

iTrader: (51)

Why only the majority, surely they should pay the lot, at least it's progress

scoobiepaul

+1 good service from Hurst Cars.

Limerick91

Everything sorted, thanks to Hurst Cars

lofty35

Is the car up and running now?

adam405sti

iTrader: (14)

Just to clarify a few things. I am not clarifying any of this to get into a slagging match on here or a hand bag fight. Only clarifying the facts of what happened and nothing else.

1. The car was 100% prior to leaving the premises. All cars are run/tested for approx 200 miles prior to sale.

2. The OP has stated we requested for a further £1450 to put the car right. In fact we requested a further £1000 from the OP, which i later dropped to £800 with myself footing a £2000 bill which the OP failed to clarify. So a total of close to £3000 for putting the engine right. The additional £450 was mapping in order the same problem does not occur in the future which i stated is recommended to save "any future problems" not definitive. So i was prepared to pay a majority of the bill although the car was sold without a warranty as signed for by the OP (as are all our jdm cars as our warranty company or any other warranty company for that matter, do not want to get involved with jdm's for obvious reasons).

3.We also stated if you are not happy with this, then please lay your cards on the table and come with a counter offer.

4. I stated my help towards the engine bill was purely out of good faith as i would have been annoyed if the same had happened to me i.e a engine popping within 24hours. A lot of companies would have run for the hills but as an honest and up front company who pride themselves in offering a straight and up front service, that was not something we were prepared to do. No matter how slow or how hard the car had been driven. And let's face it these cars are not bought for slow Sunday driving.

5. From this point onwards, jdm cars will be sold with a signed for disclaimer as these cars are getting on (this one being 12 years old). Again being sold in good faith and up front honesty.

6. This car in particular had a full service history, with cambelt change etc and only 1 UK owner. Very surprising this happened as it was a very nice example. But that's cars for you especially a 12 year old performance Subaru as i'm sure many on here have been through this before, you will no doubt know what i mean.

7. We had the car seen to right away and always kept in contact with the OP's father (Phil) who has been spot on to deal with and very understanding, to keep him in the loop. A decision was concluded within 5 days.

8. A final decision was concluded when the OP's father requested his money back. So a bitter taste is not left on this whole episode, we decided a refund will be returned.

Max, Hurst Cars

lofty35

Fair play max