Morph.

Anyone help to clear up some confusion over service intervals on my EU import MY01??

Even though I've had the car since mid-Feb the service book has yet to appear, despite several visits/phone calls to the car supermarket I bought the car from. Latest fob-off is that a duplicate book is being ordered from the supplying dealer on the continent - no time frame for arrival etc etc.

My local dealer seem unsure if the car should be serviced at 7,500 or 10,000 miles. If 7,500 then the service is imminent.

Did the service intervals change during MY01? If so how do I determine which interval is correct?

Any help gratefully appreciated.

Alpine

I'm in the same situation with Virgin cars...

Morph.

Cheers Boultsy,

Would probably have got it done at 7,500 just to be on the safe side, but that puts my mind at rest that I'm not messing up the future intervals.

Alpine,

maybe it's a common problem with import cars. When I took it in for the first service without the book the dealer commented that they'd had prior experience of other import owners not being in possession of their service books.
Despite the imports being so much cheaper I'm not sure if I'd go down that route again.

Morph.

Just rushing outside to check my tyres....

tinydelete

if they are worn like mine were on my01 get yourselve along to graham at tsl to set the car up you will not be dissapointed

Harry_Boy

Hi Guys - got to agree 100% with Boultsy (as usual!). Also got ours from Alain Knockaert in Belgium and, to be honest, the pre and post sales service we received is better than you'd expect from a dealer on the doorstep. In fact, see the new issue of the Car Import guide for my case study.... (so I'm told by Chris Rees!).

It totally depends on where you get the car as to whether they come with the right papers, service books etc. Ours was in with the instruction manual (in English!) when Alain went through the handover.

Anyway, back to the original point..... The MY01/02 service intervals were unilaterally altered in the UK by International Motors, following competitive pressure, and badgering by the guys at Autocar etc.

As such, the 7,500 intervals still apply to MY01/02's sourced from the EU, even though they are the same cars, from the same factory. If you decide to adopt the 10k intervals as advocated by IM, you'll void your European warranty, should a problem arise. Daft, but true!

davyboy

I only has a one year warraty on my car which has now expired. However I am still sticking to the 7500 mile service interval.

I think it may sell easier than a 10000 UK sevice interval cars.

Harry_Boy

Wise choice Davyboy - especially if the buyer is in the know...

warbs

Ditto the tyres with my MY01 - waited till 7500 miles and the two front tyres had nearly had it - got TSL to sort out the geometry - it's already paid for itself!

As for the servicing intervals being more frequent than a UK car - look on the bright side - your Import will be worth more than an equivalent UK one - due to the extra TLC!

Cheers

Chris

chrisp

I have the oil changed on mine every 6 months anyway. They are turbocharged and run very hot. Have you looked under the bonnet after coming in from driving a distance hot isnt the word .

WRX Hard

Hi Warbs,

What did TSL charge for the geo set-up? I had worn inners after 8k, so may need to make a visit!

DaveR

Hi Guys,

I'm still fairly new to Scoobies (my EU import WRX MY02 has now done about 3000 miles) - but to be honest, despite the extra servicing cost of the 7500 mile interval I'm quite happy with the idea. Especially on a car like this, having a service more often can only add to your driving enjoyment, quite aside from the sell-on aspects.

Even on my previous car (106GTI) I found as it neared the 10,000 interval services there was a noticeable drop in performance......

Just MHO

warbs

WRX Hard :

I think it was £85 plus VAT or v.similar - they swapped my fronts and rears at the same time as well - which added a few £ to the price as well...

Cheers

Chris

Jon1T

Can't you get service books from IM or the dealer? Bought one for my pervious dutch import Celica from local Toyota dealer.

Got my MY02 from Well Lane - came with Manuals, service book etrc in English - Belgium car.

If you got your car from from a supermarket chances are it's a cyprus import, and not coveed by Subaru 3 yr warranty

boultsy

Service intervals only changed for UK supplied cars, EU import's are still every 7,500/6months.

boultsy



Give the UK dealer where your going to get it serviced a call, explain your problem and check that he'll be cool about stamping it once you have received the service book. If he's not happy about this then relay that info back to your supplier and ask them what they are going to do about it.

[Edited by boultsy - 6/12/2002 5:17:43 PM]

boultsy

morph it depends on who u get the car through mine is also an import, direct from Belgium via Alain Knockaert. I've had no such problems, manual and service book supplied and both in english, I made sure of this before I paid the remaining balance. He even offered to post them to me but I declined.

These larger companies may seem like a better option as they say they'll do everthing for you but more than often it seems that they don't. Service manuals seems to be a common issue with these importers. Better doing it yourself direct next time, then you know it's done rather than trusting some numtie who may only be working for said company for 2 weeks and not really care if they carry out your request or not.

The problem of course is knowing what to look out for, but you learn from your mistakes

I've just discovered a good example of this, just had my 7,500 service and the mechanic commented that the alignment was out, so 2 inner edges are low, only about 3 mm left. First thing I should have done when I got the car was to have the alignment checked, after following the write up's of the impreza in EVO I was aware that this was a potential problem. But when I got the car I was too busy wiping the grin off my face and forgot.


PS check your inner edges for wear


[edited to say, you'll save even more doing it direct aswell]

[Edited by boultsy - 6/12/2002 6:08:57 PM]