Cheeky Jim

Right peeps, I am a bit of a newbie here. I have been following most of the threads for a little while and I am most confused!!

I am about to pick up my new standard UK scooby turbo on tuesday and after reading all the threads I have loads of questions..if anyone can help it would be most appreciated.

In no particular order:

Which fuel is best suited? Super Unleaded or regular unleaded?

What is a typical mpg, driving reasonably hard?

What is a typical range on a tank? I have heard a range of anywhere between 200 and 300 miles.

Are the brakes really that crap? Should I upgrade and what is a good upgrade?

IS it worth getting the prodrive tweek?

What is MY98, MY00 etc? Ignorant or what!!

I will be doing approx 25k miles per year, is the scoob ok for these sorts of miles?

What tends to wear out quickest? Pads and tyres?

Can't think of any others at the mo....

Cheers, Jim

robski

Welcome to the fold!

Some say super others normal, doesnt seem to be any definitive proof either way.

Typical MPG, Im getting about 22-23 which is mostly fun driving if thats what you want to know about!?

200-300 sounds about right, its pretty good if you can manage to cruise at about 75, but I cant!

Cant comment on the prodrive tweak, if you mean the geometry everyone says yes

Model Year = MY

Mileage, stef does 50K so I would guess it is

robski

leaskc

Welcome Cheeky

I'm going to be cheeky back and tell you to check out the SIDC faq at

leaskc

woo. posted at the same time as robski. freaky!

Cheeky Jim

Cheers chaps,

I will certainly look at SIDC, you all seem like a good bunch so I know I have bought well!!

Model Year....obvious really!!! I am a burk!

Jim

Yex

Welcome,

Robski and Leaskc beat me to the draw but I agree with low 20's per gallon, wait until you have run it in and give the loud pedal a full tap for the first time I get c240 per tank, less if 'playing', more if on along motorway run.

The geometry set up does make a difference IMHO and worth checking anyway to prevent uneven tyre wear - you can get this done at Elite on the old A13 near the Ford (sorry to swear) works.

Get along to a few meets, see events section, and speak to other owners to see what else you would like to do....oh and have a friendly credit card YOU WILL GET HOOKED

Yex

Blow Dog

Alo Jim,

Welcome to the board.
These answers are my opinion and they can and do vary depending on who you speak to.

Fuel:
The UK car runs fine on both, although on occasions when a good thrashing is in order (track days, Sunday drives), be kind to it and fill it up with Super. It takes about 2-3 fill ups to start making a difference, but on motorway miles, you are fine with just normal unleaded.

MPG:
Varies a lot. A good drive can get you about 25mpg. A hard drive can go as low as 10mpg. With my Scoobysport exhaust and non-recirculating dumpvalve, I was getting about 5-8mpg at times.

Tank:
Again, varies. Worst I ever had was about 110 miles, but that was extreme. You should expect around 220-250 miles on an average drive of both heavy and light right-footedness.

Brakes:
Depends what you expect from them. I think standard brakes are utter ****e. But then I drive hard and I should imagine you would too, otherwise why u buy an Impreza? Compared to another car, they are normal brakes, such as a Citroen Xara!, but when you are talking rally beast standards, they arent that much cop.

Prodrive:
Definately not, in my opinion. It is very costly and the money could be spent on better things elsewhere. Only redeeming point anout Prodrive enhancements is that they dont invalidate your warranty. You can buy exhaust from a multitude of makes, all ranging from sound to power. I prefer the Scoobysport one, as do many others. Brakes, well, the Brembo or AP kit is the dogs vulnerables and for a power chip, you cant beat possum link.

MY:
This stands for Model Year.

High Miles:
Scoobs is good for 100k a year. Its such a compromised car it will handle anything you throw at it. Just make sure you keep up with regular servicing and use good oils. Also take heed of the turbo tips: Always wait 1-2 minutes idle after driving to let the turbo oils run and the turbo to cool down and always allow sufficient warm up time before caning it.

Wear:
All depends on you. I finish 2 sets of pads to every set of tyres, but I like braking hard

Hope to have been of some help,

Cem

Cheeky Jim

Adding to my already ignorant q's what is wrong with the existing geometry?

Also, what does the prodrive tweek involve?

I spoke to a guy at work, he said the that it was about 1700 quid and you got the ECU remapped, a different intercooler, and some other tweeks? Not sure if he is talking rubbish or not?

Jim

JayDee

Prodrive do lots of "tweek" packages - I think you mean the Prodrive Performance Pack, which consists of chip, revised intercooler ducting, and exhaust back box, and costs ,yeah about £1,700 plus VAT. Look at dyno.scoobynet.co.uk for before and after comparisons, although I have my doubts about the outight accuracy of calculating bhp at engine from bhp at wheels (The powerstation result is probably nearer the mark for this)

Anyway, I intend to get the PPP for my MY00 DBM

JD

chuckster

Re the Prodrive tweeks,
The PPP (prodrive performance pack) makes a huge difference to the car - I had a MY99 with PPP and the torque is much higher you can really feel the differnce at low revs, BHP gains are less impressive though. I'd definitely go for it if keeping the warranty intact is important to you.
Alot of people put a few thousand miles on the car, running it in and loosening it up, before doing any performance enhancements - this is probably a good idea, and you'll appreciate the extra performance even more then!
Cheers,
Charles

GaryC

Welcome to the clan!

The Prodrive Pack is expensive, but does keep warrenty completely intact. IMO it is definitly worth it. £2000inc VAT isn't cheap, but the improvememnts it makes to the car are highly noticable! It increases BHP by about 10/15%, and increases torque by about 20%. - enough to keep up with an STi!

To re-iterate the above comments - standard car is fine on NUL, PPP'd cars run better on SUL and improved mpg more than covers cost over NUL. High mileage not a problem - I do 30,000 a year and have run a MY99 with performance pack for 8 months with no problems at all. Commuting I get 28-30 mpg, weekends that drops to c20 or below

The brakes are pretty much fine unless you are used to track performance - the standard 4-pots will feel like F1 brakes compared to usual saloon stoppers. The only upgrade to the brakes that is worth looking at straight off is to upgrade to Mintex 1155 pads (£60) which will make your teeth shift in their sockets when you brake (when warmed up) and contrary to rumours - if the pads are bedded in properly they do NOT squeel at all.

Geoemtry again is worth looking at further down the line as it does improve turn-in etc. I am getting mine done next week but a decent set of tyres (SO2s are the best option) will make more difference.

Finally, and most importantly - you are getting one hell of a car even in standard trim. Your face will ache from grinning. There are lots that can be done, but do them in stages and you will appreciate the modification all the more. Run the standard car for a month or two, then start looking at playing

Gary
(MY99 now 'upto' Prodrive performance, Mintex pads, Pipercross induction kit, Scorpion mid section, strut brace.......and counting )

Blow Dog

All fast road/track pads squeal, especially when cold.

DocJock

Jim,

Warm welcome to the crowd.

Not even collected the car and already thinking of ways to spend more money ? You'll do for me !

Re Prodrive tweeks, GaryC sumed it up nicely. If you want to compare, come along to one of the track days and cadge a ride.

Personal opinion on the PPP is that it fills out the low down torque very nicely. Prodrive geometry settings are a good idea if you are going to 17" wheels and/or upgraded brakes mainly to reduce tramlining but as GaryC said decent tyres (and Pressures) probably make a more noticeable difference.

You are at the top of a long and slippery (not to mention expensive) slope my friend.

Regards, John

ps Mintex pads might not squeak but they ain't half dusty !


[This message has been edited by DocJock (edited 14-04-2000).]

BladeRnnr

Jim ,

Well done , and welcome i got mine in March.
If its a my 00 run it a bit stock for a couple of weeks first you appreciate things more,

as for running in first 500 miles do NOT go above 4000rpm after that(for remainder 500 of 1000) do small increases to 6000 but don't keep it at that return down to less than 4000 , don't run at a constant speed (glaises pistons-v.bad)for long.
You can use it on a motorway but keep changing speed 50 up to 70 down to 60 up just above 70(within police prosecution limits anyway).

Thats what i did following SUNILP'S(another BBS member)advice and the car gives ultimate smiles, BUT the fuel gauge drops quicker than a fat man in a vacuum.(about 24mph urban ,9mph with big grin ,34 mph when running in)

Best brake upgrade Brembo/AP racing

The only upgrade i got with the car was dealer 17"speedline st2 wheels with 215/40 17 goodyear F1 tyres on (fitted the tyres at chas browns saved a packet!) just get the wheels find your own tyres its worth it.

Consider a boost gauge (use an A pillar pod-trust me -they are better than centre pod's+ cheeper)to keep an eye on things.
If it reaches over 17 Psi drive v.gently to the dealer.
There is a book Training Wrx from Mrt in australia with some good reading if you want to Modify(who doesn't-just need to to win the bloody lottery).
address

GaryC

Blow dog - mine don't after almost 2500 miles!

"bed them in properly and they won't squeel" was what I was told - worked so far!

Stef

Come on then Gary, I can see you're dying to tell us what this amazing bedding-in procedure is. Share it with us mere mortals!

Stef.

Smudge

Loads of great advice has already been posted, so I won't add to it, other than to give a personal viewpoint on ownership.

Lots of people slag off certain parts of the Scooby. Make no mistake, this is a fantastic car, far superior to most other things you will drive for anywhere near the money.

The guys who slag the brakes off are generally used to hammering their motors around a track - I have had an MY99 since October and am delighted with their stoppage. I find they tend to bring on the ABS far less than my Golf Gti, and have much better bite.

I still enjoy taking mates & relatives out in it to a nice big roundabout and to give them a tour "on the limit". Their faces will tell you what a great car you have.

Only "human" niggles I would have are:
Headlights are pretty poor
Paintwork seems to scratch / chip quite easily

Your view of your Scooby will largely depend on what else you drive / have driven. If, like me, it is at the "top end" of what you can afford, rather than a "cheap runabout", then I hope you are as delighted with it as I am.

Smudge

Cheeky Jim

Eh Up Gang,

Thanks for all the good advice, only have to wait another 2 days and we are green for go!!

I think I will take heed and run it in properly, (although the temptation will be to give it some welly!!).

You are right about the smile factor, I test drove one at a dealer near Maidenhead and although I only got about a 5 min go (I think the dealer didn't think I was serious....big mistake I went somewhere else because of the attitude!) I had grins galore and I wasn't giving it that much pasty as it only had 200 miles on the clock!

I've got a Lexus IS200 Sport at the mo, nice car though it is, I don't know why they call it Sport, it has a feeble 150 odd BHP and quite frankly, I've been blown away at the lights by some old biddy in a Nissan Micra!!

So I'm afraid it has to go! I went up to Yorkshire this weekend to see the folks, and I cannot wait to belt down some of the backroads...All in good time eh?!!

Right, enough rambling, one final question.....

What is the 'real' standard BHP on these things? I have heard it is as high as 230bhp...can that be confirmed at all?

Ta,

Jim

V697DMO

UL or SUL makes very little difference on a STD UK car, aprt from the price.

MPG varies a lot. 30mpg is there for granny, 25 is average, hit the little noisy pedal and watch the revs rise the speed climb and the fuel gauge sink to 10mpg without much effort.

I get between 200 (lots of fun on the windy stuff) to 300 (no fun at all on the straight stuff) between filling up

Brakes can be a little bit of a dissapointment comapred to how quickly the car goes but they work fine until abused. It is, however, pretty easy to abuse them.

Think very carefully about any mods, given the cash I would go for - lights, wheels and tyres, brakes and hoses, exhaust and filter, suspension, intercooler, ECU upgarde - in that kind of order (control before power remember its no good being able to drive at 140mph if you cant turn corners and it takes a calendar to meausre your stopping time)

MY = Model Year ... MY00 is Model Year 2000, MY99 is Model Year 1999

25k miles a year is nothing to a scoob, many peeps run 40 to 50k per year with not soapy bubbles

judging by the brake dust crap on my wheels every weekend I would say pads first

DJB

Cheeky Jim

In reply to your last question, it does seem that the true power output is nearer 230-240 bhp for unmodified turbos (see

GaryC

No secret in bedding in Mintex (and I would think all)brake pads.

Mintex rep told be to 'town drive' for the first 5 miles braking from 30-0 5 or 6 times, then take straight up to 90 and brake down to 30 with medium pressure, then do 5 or 6 90-30 with maximum pressure. This apparently gradually heats the pad through, then 'seals/bonds' it! I did it on way out of Kendal - much to the bemusement of an old guy in a Sierra who I kept catching up then slamming on!! and its worked a treat. Have now done almost 3000 miles with them fitted and not one squeel!

They are dusty though! but not significantly more than the standard pads. But until the Green Stuff (alledgedly) dust free pads are released for MY99, it is dusty brakes all over!

Stef - being knowledgable about EBC kit - are the 'green stuff' really dust free? - when you've got OZ Super T wheels, a dust free pad would be worth its weight gold! and save an hour a week cleaning!!