which m3? i had an e46 and found it pretty dull as a comparison, although i did go from a 400bhp hawk top one then from one to a type r

Yep e46, mine just had an inspection 2, evolve map and CSL software, you need to drive them hard and they do perform but don't feel as fast as a turbo car, really miss it tbh as was a better all round car

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Any of the decent Subaru specialists will be able to tell you exactly what the noise is. Doesn't sound too bad to me in all honesty but you could have internet mechanics costing you a fortune if you listened to every one of them.

Agree for now that the M3 is the better all rounder compared to a Type R and WT Blob but my Hawk should be built and waiting for me when I get back at the end of the week and it will be 400+ so I'll have a decent comparison. M3 is hard to beat though - that's why it's staying as the daily and they're only going up in value!

Good luck with the car.

Wish I could have both! Well I could persuade the wife to get rid of 325d m sport for an m3 but then I put the fuel in that so we need one car that is e onomical really, the sti is shocking on fuel though way worse tan the m3, 2.0 4 cyclinder verses 3.2 straight six, can't believe it uses more fuel.

For weekend thrills the sti has it all day but i had a Nurburgring trip planned a few years ago and can't see myself going in the sti, the m3 was in its element for this, it was so good on the motorway and cruising with it's cruise control etc.

And I've been thinking why it's never been fixed, as no doubt previous owners have taken it to a specialist to see what it is and they've probably said its normal subaru engine noise, injectors etc, I drove the car very hard Saturday for around 70 miles trying to scrub the new tyres in and it didn't flinch.
Plus the tap isn't there from first cold start until 20 seconds in where it starts

I've written the for sale ad for the sti but not put it up yet

carefully put a long screwdriver around the engine with it running , i had a similar noise which was a leaky header

Yeah am trying to get my pal to replace the downpipe gaskets and check the headers but he's said it's a night mare of a job as all the bolts for the heat shields snap off, i'm either gonna fix it or sell it soon

doesn't have the balls out raw performance of a scoob, but as a middle ground between performance and comfort they are epic.

My old one had had the options book thrown at it, even the rear sunblind lol

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Nice, i've been looking at the carbon blacks if i go back.

I also had the csl reps on mine for about four days but couldn't live with front offset, (spaced look) mine had the polished oem's on in the end.
Miss that big six though, sounded epic and felt like it would do 500,000 easy.
Another of mine
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Have you checked for loose plugs ??

This was mine ?

No loss of power similar noise,

Only there when warm

Easy to check :)

Biggest thing i miss is the gearbox, cant beat flappy paddel lol

Was always worried would end up with a monster bill when i drove it though, daft thing is had the engine rebuilt on the type R which would have bought my M3 3 times over hahaha

My cause was these :)

Easy to check and cheap if its the cause :)


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...b0c5718ae7.jpg

Noisy injector I'm going for

Yes was going to check at weekend but mate with garage was ill, will get hopefully get him to check this week though, just a thought, if i've got evidence that it was tapping at 60,000 miles would it still be on the same plugs?

This is what i think it is, some are just noiser than others

People slate the smg but the changes in s6 are savage plus the downshift blips sound epic, i had the csl software on mine which made it even quicker.

The electric motors go on the pumps not the pumps themselves, had my pump replaced though, found a low mileage second hand pump and had it fitted for peanuts

easy enought to check bud.

If you know what side remove a coil pack and prob be covered in soot. Dont even need to get plug out

if it is then thats ur mind at ease order plugs and done.

Yeah, mrs never liked it, but i did :D TC off, wack it up to max and give it the large :D

Lol :thumb:

A lot of people struggle with the SMG box but I really like it when it's had the CSL software update. If the box was good enough for the CSL, it was good enough for the normal M3.

My car has all options too and is a lovely place to be considering it's 15yrs old and is over 100k. I service it every 4k and did the main issues as preventative maintenance when I got it. It's been one of the best cars I've owned.

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This plugs further up the page are hilariously bad! :-D

The smg pump the last time i checked was £2850 and that was with discount, they are silly money, there's a reason why you can buy the electric pump from bmw for the e60 m5 as that is the weak part, the brushes burn out and fail to prime the pump, it's not hard to fix them now but people still think the only option is a new pump, i'd have another smg but only if the pumps been done.

And yes i had the csl software which basically makes s5 the new s6 and blips with out foot on throttle, i loved mine