pwbchris

Apologies in advance if this is all a bit OTT.. but just wanted to see if anyone else has ever felt the same way. So i've wanted a scoob ever since being a young lad, and finally managed to get one last year after just driving 'normal' cars up to that point. Now while i'm obviously over the moon with being a scooby owner, I also just have moments of peoper anxiety about it, at the smallest thing. Bare in mind that I do have a bit of a history of aniety and mental health struggles, so i'm sure that plays its part. I just sometimes can't stop worrying about things with it. Rolled into work today a bit quicker than usual and due to the slight dip in the surface of the entrance, it made a loud noise as I turned in and went quickly over that dip. I know all it was was the mudflaps scraping, as I know that happens when going over dips like that sometimes, but I couldnt help getting super anxious that i'd ****ed something underneath. Leading to multiple trips out from my desk to the car park to peek around underneath and look for any sign of damage.
I'll be the first to admit im overly precious about it, as its been my dream car since forever. But I just wanted to know if anyone else has that 'scooby anxiety' at the smallest of things that usually are easily explained away?
2002 Bug WRX by the way.
Probably just another avenue for my anxiety to go down I guess, as with other big parts of my life (and sometimes even minor ones).

NOSSY_89

Welcome to scooby ownership mate. You aren't the only one. Hear a noise from the rear......................engine blown, that was deffo the engine.

pwbchris

glad i'm not the only one

hedgecutter

iTrader: (5)

Try having a first generation Subaru diesel from new! My first and only brand new car. Then I discovered the growing complaints of engine failure on forums.
I'm always listening out now.
It's only because you care, because you've invested in it both financially and emotionally, but it's important to remain realistic and logical about noises heard, otherwise it will spoil your ownership.

TheVoices

iTrader: (5)

Best thing you can do is make sure that you maintain it to the best of your ability and budget.

Treat it with respect and you can at least take comfort in the fact that anything that might go wrong isn't down to something you have or haven't done !

IdonthaveaScooby

Make sure you are able to look after / replace the major parts , otherwise its always going to be stressful

albob

You are definitely not alone -- I bought mine brand new ; Slightest noise at night and I was looking out the window to make sure some ****** wasn't messing with my car : I was that bad that I vowed never to buy
'Brand new'....

Filski

I do not have history of anxiety bud, but have the usual worries. I appreciate that there is a degree of worries with any car ownership but i guess my advice would be , to mitigate a degree of your anxiety, is to have a small reserve of fund, well maybe not small but around 1k just sitting in your savings account for any thing that scoob may bring. this will give you a piece of mind that even if you brake something you have some savings to fix and be back on the road... that way you dont need to worry as much about driving the car.... or what should be a joy to drive will soon become a burden of anxiety when it really doe not have to.

I had my scoob for almost 10 years now and as long as you look after it it will be a good car.

My top tips:

- check oil in the morning before taking the car out, i know it sounds daft but for the sake of 5 min thing to make sure car is at nominal oil level to reduce starvation is a small inconvinience and top up if need be, being 2002 car it will mostlikely either burn some oil or most likely lose some through oldish seals.
- get yourself an oil temp gauge.... again just because your water temp gauge tells you car is up to temp you will find that oil warms up lot slower than water so if u start thrashing the car thinking its warm it is probably not again,,, will cause excess wear on an engine that is now 20 years old... even if its been refreshed it is still just good practice to wait for oil to warm up. i dont know the exact sciece behind what temp its should be ideally but tend to wait till its around 70c before i get revs up and have a good go (it dont take that long to get there with normal driving bear in mand i would suggest not reving its nuts out to get out of a junction.... just wait)
- keep eye under the car for wet patches, mainly for coolant leaks hot subaru is not very happy car and they do run warm so keep eye on levels and top up if need be but unless u have a leak your levels should not drop.

beyond that, just be sensible with usual service and maintenance do it least once a year even if u don't do the miles clean it look after it and it be a pleasant experience, and i know with cost of living crises, just dont skimp out on quality parts when it comes to servicing, like you dont need to go to RCM for everything but at a least subaru OE stuff...

Oh and modding be sensible with that u r in wrx its a fun car and treat it as wrx... not an sti, so dont go throwing silly turbos and looking for silly power figures again more power more stress on you and the car and also think twice whether you really need a launch control or als on it... you probably dont :P

ScoobyDuManny

Try to enjoy it. I know the feeling but its honestly its not worth it, It is only a peace of metal at the end of the day remember that. I own a Litchfield Subaru Forester STI and i use to worry all the time. All you can do is maintain to car oil change every 5k or 12 months whichever comes first. Change timing belts when needed, And service once a year. Ill be honest it is going to break i have had 3k in bills over the last couple of years which was to replace the good old chocolate head gasket on the 2.5 with a Cosworth one and i needed track rod ends and some exhaust wielding doing. oh and discs and pads all round not cheap!!. Mine is a 2006 so its over 15 years old with 120,000 miles on the clock, It is running great and it has only lost 5hp since Litchfield imported and tuned the car to 330hp in 2006. Checking oil mine drinks a lot a litre of oil every 1500 miles or so, it is worth checking you oil level every time you go for a drive as if its very low or all gone the engine will blow in no time. I was going to sell this but after spending alot of money onit getting it tip top i have decided to keep the hearse rather than get a warning light machine like a BMW or Merc. Pic below let me know what ya think.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Trust me... when you have destroyed an engine, you'll never fully trust the car again.
Anxiety?
Oh yes.

pwbchris

thanks guys. I suppose existing anxiety/mental health issues dont help my situation at all. Just having a nightmare at the moment with battery drain after another instance of heading out in the morning to start it up and no joy.. In the garage tomorrow to try and finally get to the bottom of it. That ontop of just hearing all the extra things that an anxious brain will in a scoob during these winter months. Am just about ready to get rid and buy a bloody Fiesta at this point

JdmSti2006

No worries with mine and it has hard life,i just turn music a little louder.

silver-sub

I’ve had 5 Scoobies and not one has missed a beat, apart from minor niggles. I must be the lucky one.

Beej777

Yes I totally get this - mine (Forester Cross Sports) has caused me plenty of anxiety over the first 7 months of ownership, not helped by stuff like the radiator splitting 5 days before we were meant to be going to Scotland on holiday in the summer!

As others have said I think all you can really do is make sure you do what you can in terms of maintenance, and I have also found the more I have done / had done to the car the less it becomes an unknown quantity. Not to say that nothing is going to go wrong with it, but I know it's been looked after since I had it and have a better idea of what it sounds and feels like when it's running ok. Still get the "will it start when I need it to" feeling from time to time, but I don't think that will ever totally go away with a 17 year old JDM import - just have to hope that the fun times when it's all running nicely make it worth it overall!

Filski

I would say dwell into YouTube pages and learn to use multi meter to find the drain... it may not even have a drain, i just found where i have not been driving a lot battery just went flat and for some bizare reason batery took charge only when lights were on....

i say give it a go and follow the tips and tricks and oyu should be fine

pwbchris

Cheers mate. Got it back from the garage and they advise that it's most likely the aftermarket headunit that was added just before I brough it, combined with a crap Halfords (I know, I was desperate at the time) battery. So i've removed the headunit and stuck the OEM one back in (which is a throwback with the tape deck!) and promptly ordered a decent Bosch S5 batt for it, to hook up as soon as it arrives. Batt charges well when its driven, even a short distance, issue was just when it was sat. Hopefully that will get her sorted and quell that anxiety about it randomly not starting, haha.