Lum

Ok, last time I posted, I said that work would not get me a Subaru, things have changed.

I've managed to get them to agree to give me £500/month company car allowance (is this taxable?) and will also be saving £180/month in company car tax.

I was thinking about a private lease then decided this is a stupid idea when I could get an 8grand loan over 3 years, own the car and after 3 years pocket the extra allowance.

Insurance is probably going to cost me £180/month (Churchill have quoted me £125 but their site only accepts two speeding tickets and I have 3 ) so I have 500 quid to spend on the repayments and the running costs, apart from petrol which work will pay for at cost. Private use is negligable but I will be doing about 40,000 miles a year. (edit: best quote so far £208/month and that's without tracker and immobiliser details)

So:

Is the B4 going to be any good for this mileage? Is it reliable?

What are the servicing costs? I hear that most places look at the twin turbo setup and go *wibble*

Is there anywhere near Liverpool or Aylesbury that I can get it serviced and still have a working car afterwards?

Is the B4 as good as it seems on paper as 8 grand for STI-like performance and silly acceleration seems too good to be true?

I'm considering going to the dark side and getting an auto (I spend a lot of time stationary on the M6 and am getting RSI in my feet) are all the autos really semi-autos or just some of them? Is cruise control present on all of them?

How many parts are interchangeable with UK Legacys and Imprezas. I assume the engine is a no-no, what about bodywork, interior, lights etc? How easy is it to get parts?

Should I just bankrupt myself and get a P1 instead?

Will you sell me a P1 for 8 grand?

GTB Limited

Not too many Q.s then

B4 is more of a tourer compared to the Impreza, plus better built.
Yes it's bloody quick, 280ps manual 260ps auto.
Autos are triptronic, cruise is an option.
Manuals account for 10% of the market in Japan.

Various parts are interchangeable.
Normal sevicing parts 'ala' Impreza, there's no problems getting parts, just gotta know where to go.

Can't comment on where to get it serviced around Liverpool.

In std guise there's no problem with the TT setup, though modding needs to be done very carefully.

HTH

Mark
UK Twin Turbo Legacy Register

Lum

Ok, sounding good.
Can you give me an idea of servicing costs and intervals, and anywhere in the Buckinghamshire area that could do that work as that is the other area where the car will spend a lot of it's time.

Also, I heard somewhere that the RSK was a limited edition with only 1000 made, is this true?

GTB Limited

Lum,

not sure of costs, I do my own.

AFAIK Power Engineering are probably the nearest,best bet.

6k intervals, i wouldn't stretch any further (do mine at 3k).

The RSK is the saloon version of the GTB (wagon), so there's loads.


Mark

pbee

The money you recive from your company will be taxable at your rate of tax ie 22% or 40 % depending on your earnings.

I presume your company also pays a per mile petrol amount, this will probablly be quite low 10-12p a mile seems the norm, You can claim tax relief upto 30p a mile on your self assesment form, not a lot in real money but might make up some of the servicing and running costs over a normal car.

If you are servicing at a specialist they tend to work out about the same as a main dealer for a vauxhall ford ect, but obviosuly you visit them more often as you are doing 40k a year. and 6k intervals.

There are a few good cars out there a work mate is looking for one at the moment.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/list.asp?p=1&s=284

http://www.import-japanese-cars.com/...r=&CartID=#832

with the sort of miles you are doing you need to budget in some big bills and possibly having to pay for a run around whilst the car is being fixed. You also need to check your companies opt out policy, My company does not allow convertibles and anything over 5 years old for example.

Lum

bugger, that's screwed up my sums somewhat. I am at least only in the 22% bracket.
They dont. I will be getting a fuel card, same as if it were a company vehicle.
I guess that means I need to do something like (miles x 0.30) - amount spent on fuel card and claim it. I'm on PAYE though and have never even seen a self assessment form.
Until I started this job, I've never owned a proper car, just bought old bangers and run them into the ground. I have no idea how much a Ford service costs.
Is that 6k between minor services or major services. If it's just an oil and filter at 6k then I'll do that myself and have a 12k service interval.
Is there an actual service schedule documented anywhere, with what needs doing when and estimated costs?
How big?
I'm going to try and blag the use of a pool car while mine is in for work, or get it done when I'm in the office for a day, as for the opt out policy, I dont think they even have one in writing, it just has to be something that looks appropriate (so I can't get a Ferrari because that would be better than the directors car, and I can't resurrect the G reg Escort 1.6 GL that's rusting at the back of my flat waiting for some new valves because it's a horrible lump of crap) They were happy with the idea of me getting a 5 year old P1, however, unfortunately the sums dont add up.

Edit: Also, how easy is it to put your own radio into a ~4yr old model? it seems impossible on the new UK Legacys and I can't be doing without my MP3 player on long journeys.

dela

I'm looking for a B4 aswell - the grown up impreza

As for servicing, theres a good independant guy in Princes Risborough. He did a sterling job on my STi, I just can't remember his name. I think its Princes Risborough 4x4?

cheers,
dela

Lum

Princes Risborough is good. Not too far from Aylesbury and a fun road to drive down

Can you tell roughly how much he charged for the Impreza servicing as I still have no idea what servicing costs on modern cars are like.

chrome

um, i think "Prosport" in stockport might be able to help wrt servicing/tuning- thery have a good rep with Impreza's so I would expect they are equally competent with legacy's?...
a lot closer to you than PE I *think*..

dela

As for servicing costs - its hard to say.

The job he did for me was a one off - fitting a quick steering rack from a bugeye STi into my classic STi...

Give Dave a call on 01844 274652, he's a good guy and will talk you through what he can do and what he charges.

Lum

Well, I've just visited the Subaru main dealers in aylesbury to ask for costs, then phoned this guy (Risborough 4 wheel drive is the name) here are the comparative costs:

Service | Subaru | Dave
15000 | £260 | £100
60000 | £600 | £325
90000 | £600 | £570

Additionally the Subaru engineer sounded a bit unsure about it. Dave mentioned the cambelt at 90k which the Subaru guy seemed unaware of, so I think I know where I'll be going

I just need to get something in writing from work, about the car allowance and I think I shall be buying me a Legacy

Superloop

If you have a card for ALL of your fuel (Business and Personal) then you need to keep a count of your personal miles and business miles and you pay 22% (or 40% if you pay 40% tax) of what it cost for the personal miles (so if 50% is business and it cost £10000 per year for fuel you will pay 22% of £5000 in tax for you fuel card.

This is all you pay you can't claim pence per mile or anything like that cos the company is paying you a car allowance for the upkeep of the car.

Lum

Fair enough. I do very little private mileage really, so this isn't too bad
OTOH, this sucks. I assume that since I can't claim pence per mile, than I do get the car allowance tax free then? If the allowance is taxed as wages then it may as well be a 6 grand payrise with no payment for maintaining the car?

Superloop

You are taxed on the money they give you toward car at your current rate so yes if you can get them to do that you may be able to claim something, but that will cost them more in NI so they may not do it.

AJbaseBloke

Don't know about the money issues, but I've had mine since 2000, and love it to bits.

Having the AVO tweaks that I do helps of course Quite a few STis have been rather surprised at the way a lardy Leggy can fly

Simply a great balance of performance and comfort, IMHO. Get her tuned for UK gas and you should have lots of smiles