OCD

I am happy today. I have just ordered a new STI, but I still have time to add some extra kit, so I am looking for some help from other scooby nuts.

I have ordered one in black, with prodrive upgrade to 300 bhp, the 7 spoke 18" prodrive wheels bright flitter, clarion stereo upgrade with tweeters, sat nav, road angel, spring kit and quick shift kit.

Does anyone think I have missed out a must have, or alternatively wasted my money on one of these options..

Your help would really be appreciated..

DBY

OCD sounds fantastic you look like you have thought it all through with the spec, only problem you will have is a permanent silly grin across your face.

John

nellie

maybe the quickshift,the shift on a STI is very short by any standard and having compared it to the standard the only real difference is that the sideways movement of the lever is slightly reduced,dont know what car u had before but like i said its very short as standard.

Little Clanger

Welcome aboard OCD,
you getting your car from Gatwick Group Subaru? If so who is the guy you are buying from?

I bought my 03STi from there two months ago. I went for Ally prodrive gear ****, steering column-mounted boost gauge, Sti mats, STi door entry guards, Kenwood multi-CD changer.

Saved the performance upgrades till later. End of Jan it goes back for PPP, Prodrive handling kit upgrade, 18-inch Prodrive flow-formed flitters and front/rear strut braces (oh and some nice blue Subaru WRT mudflaps. (I wanted to get fun from standard car before I went further rather than get it all in one hit. Prolongs the smiles).

Out of everything you have ordered, I would add a boost gauge but dont go for the dah-mounted gauge pack as the three gauges, mounting pod and fitting price is over £800. Worth it? I think NOT.

Have fun in the toy, dont bend or loose it and enjoy Scoobynet.

Little Clanger

Oh, sorry OCD,
one other thing, be aware that the Clarion head unit isnt cheap by ANY standard and the standard unit isnt that bad at all really. You may want to drop this option and go for the boost gauge on the steering column AND the CD changer in the boot for more or less the SAME MONEY as the Clarion.

You may find yourself turning the stereo off most days just so you can listen to the engine working. (The overrun noise is gorgeous).

SirFozzalot

Welcome!

Sounds like a nice motor mate!!


I've got a black STi8 aswell........definitley the fastest colour! (although probably the dirtiest too! )

Enjoy!!

ARRON BIRD

I`d have bought a JDM car from Ian and saved some money and got a better car!!!

OCD

Thanks for all your input, and so quickly.

I will delete the short shift option- that was valuable guidance, thanks. At £300 that gives me money to spend elsewhere on the car.

I'm buying it from Culverwells in Robertsbridge.

My other cars are TVR Cerbera 4.5 (pile of ****e- lovely to drive, hated the repair bills, always off the road) and a new shape 996 Porsche C4 (fast but boring).

Take the point on upgrades later to prolong the fun, but I intend to upgrade it still further plus 300 BHP.

On the stereo, have to say I'm not that bothered as I intend to listen to that sweet engine noise....

Does anyone know how much the single boost gauge costs?

I have been told I will get an end Jan delivery and when I get it I'll post some pictures on scoobynet.

Anyone got any other ideas on what I should add?

Thanks.

Little Clanger

Sir Fozzalot,

If you read the performance figures, I think you will find the Blue one is faster. The black ones dont seem to handle well on tight bends at speed either. Something to do with the weight of the paint apparently.

LOL

Little Clanger

OCD,
single boost gauge and mounting pod will cost u about £200-£230-ish.

Gav

porche c4 boring

do you want to give it me???

welcome to the club mate, enjoy...


gav...

Old_Fart

The dealer-fit audio and satnav upgrades are horrendously overpriced, but obviously convienient. The PPP(300bhp upgrade) is good, but if you intend to tune it further you should cancel it as you will be invalidating your warranty and you can get the same performance more cheaply elsewhere if you don't care about the warranty...plus you will leave yourself better set up for future tuning if you choose carefully.
If you've money to burn then the mudflaps are good looking and will save you some stonchips.
Did you drive an Evo FQ330 before parting with your readies ?
Rgds
Chuck

OCD

Thanks.

I know it sounds silly, but the 996 C4 is boring. It is so fast, but so un-involving. If you ever test the limits of its grip, and have suceeded in finding them, then you probably are not alive anymore.

Great car, but not a real drivers car- hence the STI purchase.

Thanks for the boost gauge note. I have added that to the car now.

OCD

I thought that the PPP upgrade was Scooy approved, i.e. does not affect the warranty?

Front and rear mudflaps now added to the car.

What about the front and rear strut braces- worth having?

I did think about the Evo but to be honest I got the impression that the STI/ scooby generally was more popular and has a good social side to it- such as this forum etc.

DBY

OCD you are correct about the PPP

John

Little Clanger

OCD,
there are two types of front strut brace and one for the back. You can get a front n rear in aluminium with red anodised mounting brackets for about £400-ish (£200 each incl. fitting) and there is the supa dupa carbon fibre STi front strut brace which is a smidgeon under £500 incl. fitting (looks nice does that baby)but you will have to settle for the ally item out back.

Strut braces are a good idea - anything is really if it stops the suspension turrets trying to headbutt each other. Whether the average person will push the car to a point where they are a real necessity is questionable but they can only be a good thing.


I noticed you mentioned a suspension upgrade. A little word of warning / advice / comfort. Gatwock group offer a similar upgrade which includes lower stiffer Prodrive springs, different swaybars n bushes, re-shimmed suspension all round and altered steering geometry. When I considered this, it was a dealer-fit option onlyu and there was a question over whether Scooby UK would cover it with the warranty. 2-weeks ago Gatwick Group got written confirmation from Scooby UK that the warranty would cover the handling package. Make sure YOUR dealer knows this, and will cover you in the event of the worst.

On a happy note, I had a little fun with another Sussex guy who has an un-ppp'd 02 STi that had this package on. I couldnt keep up with him. My 03STi was all over the place under power on roundabouts but his car stayed flat with grip, grip and more grip. He said the kit absolutely transformed the car. Like a go-kart apparently. Sounds like your motor is gonna be a force to be reckoned with.

Hope this all helps.

marky1

OCD

That's pretty much what I got on mine, which I have had about 3 weeks. the only thing is all in it came to about £33k - quite a bit more than the £25k standard. The only thing I would not get is the boost gauges - in my opinion they are very tacky!

Mark

Little Clanger

Marky1 - maybe, but they can be very handy, not only for checking overboost but also for fuel economy (I know this is never really thought about on this site as a real consideration). If you are a long run you can back off till the needle points to negative boost and hey preston, good indication that you are running economically.

The little boost gauge mounted on the steering column is actually quite discrete.

Old_Fart

Sorry if my reply wasn't clear. You stated you may want to upgrade the car beyond the 300bhp in an earlier reply. I just wanted to point out that at *that* point you have invalidated the warranty. So if you feel the likelyhood of wanting to go further than the Subaru UK aproved modifications is high then you should skip them entirely in the first place, as otherwise it is a much more expensive route you will follow.
Rgds
Cman

D1CCY

OCD, Get a set of DS2500 pads, mine were £153 front and £60 rear from asperformance, easy to fit yourself. Standard pads are noisy and feel a bit indifferent when used hard. Also make sure the geometry is done properly, I don't think normal dealers have the kit or knowledge to do this properly. Enjoy, D.

OCD

Thanks for all your input.

I have ammended the kit order following your advice. It now looks like this:

Prodrive performance pack

18" Prodrive 7 spoke bright flitter wheels

Stereo upgrade- the dealer said that I would be better served getting this after delivery as the Subaru dealer fitment is not best value for money

Sat Nav

Road angel

Spring kit

Everyone including the dealer said the quick shift gear change is a waste of money so that's gone now

Single steering column mounted boost gauge

I'm going to leave the strut braces. The dealer reckons that on the current STI there is little point having them unless you are driving at 10/10th's all the time- so I will review later

The mudflaps are silly money- £600. Maybe later.

I really appreciate all your help.

On the wheels, I thought they were cheap at £450 and didn't realise it's each corner! I find out that you have to buy new wheels and tyres and keep the old one's! Even Porsche, when I bought my 996, only charged me £900 for 18" turbo wheels and tyres for all four. Shame on you Mr Subaru!

Little Clanger

OCD,
£600 poxy feckin quid for Mud Flaps - they must be mad. I know of a site that sels the STi branded ones for £200. When I find the address I will pass it on.

OllyK

Check out the spec on your Sat Nav. If it is a decent one you should be able to upload your own points of interest to it (Speed cameras etc) which will avoid the need for the Road Angel.

Did this with mine, TomTom and PDA set up, but only after I had bought the RoadAngel. The Sat Nav works better and also shows my average speed through SPECS which Road Angel does not. Sat Nav also tells me the speed of the road where there is a camera (again which Road Angel does not).

Oh and best bit?? Find nearest Optimax garage

[Edited by OllyK - 12/16/2003 2:41:31 PM]

ThrustSSC

Right, I know everyone is going to laugh there @rses off, but think about the rear parking sensors. I have 'em 'cos the lady next door can't park and they make it a hell of a lot easier getting mine tucked tight into the wall as far from her as I can get. But I have to say they're bl@@dy useful when you're manouvring in a tight space and everyone else around you is getting held up!

Little Clanger

ThrustSSC,
top chap! I'm glad you said that cos I got em n all. I didnt want to say in case I got accused of being a bit of a handbag. Bloody handy indeed.

Did anyone opt for the walnut dash?

LOL

OCD

Thanks again to everyone for all the guidance on the options.

I checked out the sat nav and road angel issues to see if I can have the functionality of the road angel on the sat nav- apparently the answer is no, althought the interesting spin off from this is that this new sat nav doesn't have a screen- it just has a womans voice and all commands are giving verbally- hmmmm..

I didn't go for the park assist.

Had an interesting time with the insurance. I live in the sticks in East Sussex, have got full (5years +) no claims, car garaged and all that, 34 yeas old (when I last checked) and my first quote was £2,200. I now have a quote from the firm that advertises on the scooby uk site at £946. Does that sound reasonable?

WRX_BLUES

I've got one too, and the good thing about the rear parking sensor on the STI or any current Impreza is that it is not visible. Unlike the typical BMW or any other vehicle's parking sensor that has the small circles going round the rear bumper. It also manages to sense the corners of the bumper unlike some of the other sensors.

WRX_BLUES

That's bloomin' cheap! I suppose you are over 30. I'm 28 with 5 years NCD 3 points on a sp50 and mine's £1300.

OCD

Are there any overseas scooby trips organised? I quite fancy a trip over to France next year when the weather is a bit better. Does anyone know of such trips?

The french police, in my experience, seem to be more lenient in their treatment of bad boy speeders. I got stopped doing 125 mph last summer in my 911- lucky he zapped me after I had slowed down from 160, and after he had determined that I had not nicked the car, we had a good laugh and off I went- no fine, no serious looks etc.

Le Mans next year might be a laugh?

Little Clanger

Insurance Insurance Insurance. I can bet all you lot into a cocked hat.

I am 32, no points (although just had 9 and a ban removed (snigger snigger)) ONLY 5 years no-claims. car is kept in a locked barn overnight and my fully comp premium is !!!!£649!!!! Ta Daaaa

Give elephant.co.uk a go. All my quotes were around the £1500 mark but I did the Elephant internet quote and couldnt believe the price. I then rang elephants to speak to someone in person and go over the details again cos I couldnt believe the price - it was right though. And yes, I was honest with ALL the details.