Looking at a ej25 hawk eye on 69k mi with one owner. Every time I do any research at all there's mention of these engines going bang and that they're unreliable as hell. This one I'm looking at is unmolested and regularly serviced. It's on for £9k. Should I avoid?

 

dont avoid as the 2.5 once built right is a great fast road engine. in standard form its ****e. have around £5k in an account sitting there just incase it does go,and if it does then get it rebuilt properly NOT just the head gaskets. most people will say it will need a full build and i would agree.
rest of the car is very hard wearing so dont worry about that.

 

I loved my 2 spec d’s with the 2.5. When I got into my 410bhp blobeye after owning the ppp spec d the spec d would have smoked the blobeye off the mark. Great cars and probably even better once forged. Listen to shreksta above 👍

 

I'd go as far to say, rather than have 5k sitting for a rebuild, just spend the 5k from day one. There's nothing worse than having a car dung itself on you. It made me sell mine even though I got mine rebuilt and it was then "bulletproof" I never got over the original failure.
I liken it to having a car stolen/recovered with no damage, just had a niggle in the back of my mind.
Just buy a 2.5 you like and send it straight for a nice rebuild in a reputable garage, have it sitting nice and safe and you wont be disappointed.

 

It’s a lovely engine on the road. But mine failed running standard power at 27k…