bgood

iTrader: (2)

Hope you guys can help me out here.

I'm looking to get my first Scooby and I'm trying to decide whether to go for a WRX or STI. I have read up and know what the differences are between them (blueprinted engine and some stronger and lighter parts in it, more torque and alloy suspension bits) but what is the difference in the real world.

Can anyone let me know their experience of the difference between the 2.

Also, considering I'm looking to import one and have a budget of £7k max, am I gonna get a decent STI MY96 for that with low miles??

All help greatly appreciated.

wez_sti

Well, selling my MY96 STi2 V-Ltd RA for around £7750.....

Ltd Edition, roof vent, Sti seats etc etc..

Deep Blue Mica, Gold 17'' OZ alloys, BLitz D/V and goes like stink!


Havent been in a WRX personally but from what i hear theres def a fairly large jump from a WRX to an STi. More than the 20bhp probaly suggests anyway! Think the gear ratio's make quite a difference.

If speeds your thing, get an STi, if you just like scoobs and wanna save £, get a WRX....Up to you mate

HOUSEQUAKE

Got to be!

The WRX will have mods like aircon and better brakes and engine, but theSTI is another step up. STI take aWRX and modify it at their factory, blueprinting the engine and usually suspension and gearbox.

jpar196

I would go for the STI I have owned both a wrx and an STI(current), after being in both, you just cannot resist the boost of the STI and the acceleration is a totally different experience. If you want speed go for the STI

Roadster

I have read most of your posts Bgood and feel that maybe you should be looking for something more like a saxo or an MGF


Sorry ....couldnt resist ....go out there and get yourself an STI

Power Junkie

iTrader: (1)

I have just gone from a WRX to an STI, and I haven’t stopped smiling yet

DJ WATTS

STI

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

I've driven both back to back -albeit briefly- and think I can sum it up fairly simply:

Both Cars are quick, and it's not like you'd be dissapointed either way.

However, the STi feels subjectively much quicker; certainly more than the respective Bhp and Torque outputs would suggest. Feels more agressive and highly strung than the WRX. Lovely noise too!

The WRX is significantly more comfortable, refined and is much more stealthy in its power delivery. It's more of a Jack of all trades than the more focused STi, which is optimised for playtime! :-)

If you want more pace and noise, but would also like to keep the refinement, then you could always go for the WRX PPP

Alternatively, if you'd like an Sti, but can't afford a new or lightly used one, then do what I did and find yourself a mint Classic Turbo, which is much closer in attitude and performance to the new age Sti than the WRX.

You pays your money, you takes your choice! :-)

Jamesemt

Mmm for £7k I'd be tempted to stick with a UK turbo...but that's just me!

There is far too much BS on this board about WRX's being slow..it is all relative. Back to back, my (UK) WRX is slower than a (UK) STI, but in no way is it 'slow'. I'd suggest seeing what the insurance differences are like first.

Personally I'd love an STI, but couldn't stretch to one at the time

If you've never driven a Scoob, and don't drive an STI then you'll be none the wiser. I say get the best car for the money...

TelBoy

If you're not the modifying type - go for the STi, drive and enjoy.

If you're happy to try different upgrades and so on, then you can make a WRX (which *should* cost significantly less than an STi) just as quick (and indeed much quicker than a standard STi), quite easily. Although you'll never have the kudos of the pink badge on the grille, in case that's important to you!

Keef69

No-one has yet mentioned the gear ratios of the STI. Particularly the version 3 onwards, where the red line was increased to 8,250 rpm from 7,500 rpm and therefore the close ratio gearbox was used to keep the top end down to 150mph and consequently giving very quick 0-60 times of 4.6 secs. I drove several different versions, including WRX's, STI2's V-ltd editons etc before I settled on a version 3. I do agree, if you are not into modding, the STI does not need any really. At least you can keep it standard and ensure you are not one of the poor souls on here writing a detenotion thread! (He says with all fingers crossed!)

Oh and my version 3 was £5,500 privately 3 months ago in top condition, so look around and maybe get a version 4/5. I'll be slated for saying that, but you can get them.

My main advice is get out there test driving and make your own mind up. Everyone on here, including me, has the best version ever made!!!!

7 Foot

Apart from Wez_STI

Keef69

Not being too picky, but WEZ STI was talking about the V2 7,500 rpm, I was referring to the V3 8,250 rpm model and therefore even closer ratios. But I take your point, read more carefully before I post!!!

bgood

iTrader: (2)

Crikey, that's a lot of replies in a short space of time, cheers guys

Still finding it really difficult to decide though, thing is I've bought cheap fast cars in the past (well fast ish ) and they've ended up being a lot of trouble so I'm a bit dubious as to whether I'd be able to get a good classic STI for £7K especially as I really wanted to get a low mileage car, under 40,000m (well it would make a change from 85,000 plus ) unless I'm as lucky as Keef69 and get one for £5,500 (lucky sod). Maybe I would be best just going for a really mint WRX, thing is I've gotta get a loan for the car, never had a loan for a car before cos never spent this much on one before and the idea was to get something fairly new with low miles to avoid the sort of problems I've had in the past. Having looked at fairly new low mileage cars I just can't bring myself to spend all that money on a 'normal' car cos they are sooooooo boring, hence why I've been looking at Scoobys, power, performane and reliabilty all rolled into one and I've always wanted one .

As far as modifying is concerned I don't mind a bit of that as I've done it before, although not always with the required results (poor ikkle Mazda ). The other thing is WRX or STI either way it'll be a lot more performance than I've ever had before and if I go for the WRX I might be able to get a late 96, September on which would be the facelift model so 280ps (well on 100RON anyway) where as if I go for the STI I reckon realistically for the budget it's gonna be a late 95/early 96 and with more miles on the clock.

Maybe that's the way forward, mint WRX, then save up for nice bits to stick on it to give it a little tweak here and there or then again I could save myself that hassle and just get the STI .

I was offered a chance to go on a decision making course the other week but there were 2 dates to choose from and I couldn't decide which one

ps. Roadster, any more cheek from you and I'll tell everyone on here what you drive

pps. sorry for the long post

wrxmania

UK Turbo will be the one then

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

2nd that! Seriously, take one for a spin, you won't look back....I didn't! :-)

Re: loan. Alliance and Leicester do a good car purchase scheme and if you're a chicken when it comes to financial comitments (I was) you can always get payment protection insurance for peace of mind.

If you're buying used: FSH is essential, preferably by main dealer or independent specialist. Professional Car inspection and HPI check also must do's, unless you buy from a dealer, but I wouldn't as the best deals tend to be private buys and you can meet the owner and get a feel for how they treated the car.

Best of luck.

Best.

wez_sti

280ps??? ie around 280bhp??? For a WRX?? er no.... STi's are about that???

or am i missing something?

If your buying a WRX or STi from these years, they will be imports so any mialege they state you'll have to take with a whole pot of salt.

You may well get a WRX with 40,000 on the clock but it could quite easliy be 140,000 really. My STi has 110,000 on the clock (which works out to about 90,000miles as some of it was in Kilometers) and its running like a dream!




good spot 7 foot gear ratios eh...

HOUSEQUAKE

Chris King at Scoobyscene.co.uk I got a Type R version 3 from him and he bought it back off me when I got my V-LTD. He usually has a handful of STI's in.

bgood

iTrader: (2)

wez_sti
yeah sorry i was looking at the iwoc sight but hadn't noticed it was for a 98 so yes it would be 260 on a 96 WRX

New_scooby_04
I was under the impression the WRX has substantially better performance than the UK model, is this not correct?

HOUSEQUAKE
thanks for the tip, i hadn't looked there so I'll give it a try

I have seen a 95 WRX in dark blue advertised at a dealer with very low miles, 34,000, and it comes with a BIMTA certificate to verify the mileage. Has anyone had any experience of the BIMTA certificates, are they worth the paper they are written on?? I'm gonna go and see the car tomorrow anyway, the more I see the better I think just not sure if this BIMTA thing is all it's cracked up to be, anyone?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Have a look here>>> www.just-sports.org
They have a nice v3 STi in white
Impreza STi Version 3 1996 P 46000 miles £ 7995

Looks reasonable also

Tony

Buzzer

That does look nice

In white also, my *new* fave colour ATM

bgood

iTrader: (2)

Cheers for that mate, I was looking at their site a couple of days ago and I agree it does look nice but (no offence Buzzer) I don't like them in white, sorry

scoobyjimbo

Its got to be the STI, having drievn standard UK WRX's and jap import ones and having got an STI at the moment, i would go for the STI. If you do go for the STI you might want to fork out for the different springs and performance packs to get the most out of it, but i guess it depends on your budget

J

farmerwrx

got a my 95 jdm wrx and a my 99 jdm sti type r at the moment
i would go for the sti every time you won't belive the difference

bgood

iTrader: (2)

There I was thinking I'd made a decision, I was gonna go for a WRX cos I would get a better quality car for my money, newer with less miles and it would be more stealth too . But then scoobyjimbo & farmerwrx come along agreeing with a lot of other people about the STI and now I'm all undecided again

The thing is from what I've seen for my budget, max £7K, it's hard to find a low mileage STI where as there are quite a few low mileage WRX's around that price.

My plan was to get a really good clean standard WRX with low mileage and then do some sensible mods. Some monitoring bits on first, knocklink, oil pressure guage etc to warn of any impending disaster, put a performance exhaust on it, performance air filter and maybe get the ECU remapped, whiteline drop links and KYB shocks with maybe some lowering springs, Eibach maybe, and a full geometry setup.

Wouldn't this give me more for my money than spending out on an STI with more miles and still having to do half the above mods as well??

scoobyjimbo

Sorry to make you doubt your decision fella.. i guess you have a point regarding the budget and what you get for your money. It would be better maybe to get a lower mileage wrx and then be able to play with mods on that, gives you more scope for your buck. At the end of the day the decisaion is down to you.. if you could maybe stretch to say 9-10k then the sti would have to be a def. choice. if its 7k then maybe the wrx is the way to go..
J

BradN

I'd say test drive both and go for the one that fits in with your style of driving and the roads you normally drive on. I test drove a WRX, an Sti and an STi PPP back to back and went for the STi PPP. After taking delivery I drove for about 4000 miles before I could get it booked in to have the PPP fitted. Makes a massive difference to the way the car feels. My brother recently bought a new WRX but when he drove mine last week he said mine felt massively quick by comparison. It's obviously not but it delivers the power in a more aggressive way. He said although it was fun he wouldn't fancy it on an every day basis. The brakes etc on the STi are also better. Have fun finding out!!!

john banks

For £7000 for a first time Scooby owner, if this is a car you use daily, I would get a good UK MY99 with FSH and some good tyres and change the MAF sensor (£70) and get the geometry done, and ideally get some extended warranty. Probably save yourself a lot of unreliability, cheaper insurance, less lag etc. Unless you find it is too slow. There are some older gems about but many old imports are now quite ropey and have not had enough spent on them to keep them nice. They are cheap to buy, but arguably more expensive to run than some far more expensive cars.

What car are you changing from?

gso

Can you believe i chose a WRX over an Sti!!!!1

I drove both on the same day and in the end realised the STi is too much for me.... clutch too heavy, gear changes stiff etc.... and for my 30 mins in traffic twice daily i thought i would soon get sick of it....

.... So i've dedided to get PPP on my wrx instead.... i find it very comfy...and prolly less worse for my back than the STi...

...oh, and I couldnt see over the air intake in the STi

HOUSEQUAKE

... I think you're talking about the current UK WRX and STI type UK model aren't you gso?