Subaru P1 Questions
17 June 2005, 09:07 AM
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Subaru P1 Questions
What people opinion on these cars? Is there any difference between the 2000/2001 models? If I purchased one would I be able to buy extended warranty from Subaru? Please post some pics of car and engine please
rob.
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17 June 2005, 09:09 AM
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why not try on
17 June 2005, 05:56 PM
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Haven't quite worked out how to attach a link to a previous threads, but I gave this advice to someone before so have cut and pasted - hope it's useful - was given in response to "I am thinking about buying a P1 what should I look for" - but think I rant a little bit about how you're better off going for an STIv5 import with the torque spliter and better 2 pot rear brakes as is a better car, cheaper and hence can spend the saving on the extra insurance and mods! - Having said that I fecking LOVE mine!
Nearest thing to same level of performance which I've driven in standard tune was an EVO VI Tommi Makinen. Everything else seemed too refined, wallowy, heavy and slow (my mates Vauxhall VX220 Turbo was pretty good fun, but not as grippy with standard tyres). Haven't driven an import or type R/RA though - and would suggest you check these first. Too late for me as have fallen in love with the P1 and sp*nked too much money on it to trade her in and start again!
Hello Mate,
You'll probably get this from the P1WOC, but I can't access that from work at the mo so here's my tupence happeny's worth...
As well as the usual things to look for when buying any car -
The standard brakes are beyond rubbish, so you should find a car which already has a brake upgrade (plenty of them have done this) - if you have options go for one with an AP racing 4 pot kit - this might mean that you'll need bigger wheels - so if you can find one with the 18 Prodrive option fitted, that's 600-800 saved (or at least factored in to the purchase price for you already!). Different schools of thought on whether the standard 17s or the optional 18s give a better ride, but the 18s fill the arches better and allow you to onstall BIG brakes, which are a must over the standards. If the car has the Prodrive kit, check there's plenty of life left in the discs as you may know they cost about £500 a set. Also check the clutch - as mine was knackered at 30K (and a few of the other P1 guys said their's went around the 35-40K mark - especially noticeable if you remap) if still original. AP Racing is the way forward with this.
Check the interior seats very well, as they are a total bgger to come by - took me months to find a replacement rear seat from a breakers duer to *** burns in the original (there a few which come up - some for sale earlier this week as it happens on Scoobynet, but as only 1000 cars were made you have to be lucky to find one trimmed in P1 cloth as it is different from the other coupe's cloth trim).
The paint work is quite thin and easily chips - so expect a few chips and stone dings - and factor in a Chips Away trip or equivalent body shop visit into your buying price - I had a lot of small stone dinks (about 6 or 7) removed and the front splitter and door edge resprayed for about £500, and it now looks mint (spiltter needed doing as AA inspection guy bumped it on the curb on his way back...as well as completely missing a few other major items such as headlamps being cracked - so beware IMHO!).
The other thing to check for, like with most cars, is the suspension bushes , as these can split or in hard use can be squeezed out of position - especially on the front. Not big money to replace, but a pain in the ase if lots of little things to do (from memory both fronts cost me about £70 I think - bushes are less than a tenner I think) - and you should opt for the STI ones as they are slightly harder should you need to change these).
Interior plsstic trim as with all classic shapes is not that durable but you can get replacement parts from any classic shape STi so don't worry too much about that.
A common fault with the 2 door body shells is window scratching due to dirt and other crp getting in between the window glass and the rubber protectors on the door. Replacing this strip and the glass only lasts so long before a repeat performance - if you have a warranty (see below!) this is covered and most dealerships I have heard of will change this no problem.
Lots of the guys worry about the warranties, or lack therof - in my opinon the warranty is not worth the paper it's written on - it technically only covers manufacturing/design defects which were inherent when the car was built (like the window scratching) and not wear and tear - however quite a few guys on the P1WOC have said that they have had worn out cutches and the like replaced under warranty - but I think they have been lucky. There have been a few engine blow ups, but I think a combination of bad fuel, too thin an oil, and modifications were to blame, and a car with over 30K on the clock, regularly serivced should be OK as inherent design flaws should have come to light by now (I'm preparing to be corrected...!!).
I understand that there were early incidents of melting pistons due to incorrect mapping when some of the early cars first came over but I think they were recalled and all remapped????
Other desireable additions are a Knocklink - to warn of pre-detonation and an exhaust system (assuming you want to modify for more performance). Most cars I've seem have the latter. The P1 is based on the STI V as you probably know but without some of the extra bits and pieces such as 2 pot rear brakes etc. As such it is quite stressed and Knocklink is worth the investment of £120 from a group buy.
You have to use a super unleaded - Optimax is favourite I think, but some people have said their P1 runs better on the BP ultimate (which is only 97 Ron as opposed to Optimax's 98).
I've had mine remapped by Bob Rawle and have spoken to a few others who have too, and we were all convinced of the improvement in smothness and pickup.
A piece of advice re servicing - I've got a real bee in my bonet about the standard of dealership service on my car. I've used three dealerships and they were utterly useless and clueless about the car - and overpriced. Dealerships in my experienced are not very used to seeing the special edition cars and treat them as novelty items. When I picked mine up after a service it had 40 miles on the clock and I assume that all the guys jumped in to have a go. IMO you should get the car serviced at a subaru specialist, who know the more stressed cars much better as they see them day in and day out and generally offer a better service - all IMHO and due to bad personal experience!!
Having said all of the above, and to confess that I truely LOVE the P1, if I had my time again, and had known a bit more about tuning before I bought the car, I would probably have gone for an import STI iv or v for around £12K and spent the extra 5K on mods/insurance increase. The P1 as you know has a limited edition bumper and front splitter and this makes these parts pime targets for thieving scum. I get nervious if I leave the car parked out of sight for too long, and whilst the other Scoobs are not that discreet, the replacement parts are more common place and hence cheaper and so less likely to be nicked. The P1 is awesome, as you know it has different suspension from the standard STI, is rapid, and in my opinion looks the business. But you can achieve the same performance with an import STI which will have extra goodies like 2 pot rear brakes and electric folding mirrors, and a torque (front/rear) splitter on the R versions for less money.
Hope at least some of the above is useful (and accurate!). All the best with it.
Nearest thing to same level of performance which I've driven in standard tune was an EVO VI Tommi Makinen. Everything else seemed too refined, wallowy, heavy and slow (my mates Vauxhall VX220 Turbo was pretty good fun, but not as grippy with standard tyres). Haven't driven an import or type R/RA though - and would suggest you check these first. Too late for me as have fallen in love with the P1 and sp*nked too much money on it to trade her in and start again!
Hello Mate,
You'll probably get this from the P1WOC, but I can't access that from work at the mo so here's my tupence happeny's worth...
As well as the usual things to look for when buying any car -
The standard brakes are beyond rubbish, so you should find a car which already has a brake upgrade (plenty of them have done this) - if you have options go for one with an AP racing 4 pot kit - this might mean that you'll need bigger wheels - so if you can find one with the 18 Prodrive option fitted, that's 600-800 saved (or at least factored in to the purchase price for you already!). Different schools of thought on whether the standard 17s or the optional 18s give a better ride, but the 18s fill the arches better and allow you to onstall BIG brakes, which are a must over the standards. If the car has the Prodrive kit, check there's plenty of life left in the discs as you may know they cost about £500 a set. Also check the clutch - as mine was knackered at 30K (and a few of the other P1 guys said their's went around the 35-40K mark - especially noticeable if you remap) if still original. AP Racing is the way forward with this.
Check the interior seats very well, as they are a total bgger to come by - took me months to find a replacement rear seat from a breakers duer to *** burns in the original (there a few which come up - some for sale earlier this week as it happens on Scoobynet, but as only 1000 cars were made you have to be lucky to find one trimmed in P1 cloth as it is different from the other coupe's cloth trim).
The paint work is quite thin and easily chips - so expect a few chips and stone dings - and factor in a Chips Away trip or equivalent body shop visit into your buying price - I had a lot of small stone dinks (about 6 or 7) removed and the front splitter and door edge resprayed for about £500, and it now looks mint (spiltter needed doing as AA inspection guy bumped it on the curb on his way back...as well as completely missing a few other major items such as headlamps being cracked - so beware IMHO!).
The other thing to check for, like with most cars, is the suspension bushes , as these can split or in hard use can be squeezed out of position - especially on the front. Not big money to replace, but a pain in the ase if lots of little things to do (from memory both fronts cost me about £70 I think - bushes are less than a tenner I think) - and you should opt for the STI ones as they are slightly harder should you need to change these).
Interior plsstic trim as with all classic shapes is not that durable but you can get replacement parts from any classic shape STi so don't worry too much about that.
A common fault with the 2 door body shells is window scratching due to dirt and other crp getting in between the window glass and the rubber protectors on the door. Replacing this strip and the glass only lasts so long before a repeat performance - if you have a warranty (see below!) this is covered and most dealerships I have heard of will change this no problem.
Lots of the guys worry about the warranties, or lack therof - in my opinon the warranty is not worth the paper it's written on - it technically only covers manufacturing/design defects which were inherent when the car was built (like the window scratching) and not wear and tear - however quite a few guys on the P1WOC have said that they have had worn out cutches and the like replaced under warranty - but I think they have been lucky. There have been a few engine blow ups, but I think a combination of bad fuel, too thin an oil, and modifications were to blame, and a car with over 30K on the clock, regularly serivced should be OK as inherent design flaws should have come to light by now (I'm preparing to be corrected...!!).
I understand that there were early incidents of melting pistons due to incorrect mapping when some of the early cars first came over but I think they were recalled and all remapped????
Other desireable additions are a Knocklink - to warn of pre-detonation and an exhaust system (assuming you want to modify for more performance). Most cars I've seem have the latter. The P1 is based on the STI V as you probably know but without some of the extra bits and pieces such as 2 pot rear brakes etc. As such it is quite stressed and Knocklink is worth the investment of £120 from a group buy.
You have to use a super unleaded - Optimax is favourite I think, but some people have said their P1 runs better on the BP ultimate (which is only 97 Ron as opposed to Optimax's 98).
I've had mine remapped by Bob Rawle and have spoken to a few others who have too, and we were all convinced of the improvement in smothness and pickup.
A piece of advice re servicing - I've got a real bee in my bonet about the standard of dealership service on my car. I've used three dealerships and they were utterly useless and clueless about the car - and overpriced. Dealerships in my experienced are not very used to seeing the special edition cars and treat them as novelty items. When I picked mine up after a service it had 40 miles on the clock and I assume that all the guys jumped in to have a go. IMO you should get the car serviced at a subaru specialist, who know the more stressed cars much better as they see them day in and day out and generally offer a better service - all IMHO and due to bad personal experience!!
Having said all of the above, and to confess that I truely LOVE the P1, if I had my time again, and had known a bit more about tuning before I bought the car, I would probably have gone for an import STI iv or v for around £12K and spent the extra 5K on mods/insurance increase. The P1 as you know has a limited edition bumper and front splitter and this makes these parts pime targets for thieving scum. I get nervious if I leave the car parked out of sight for too long, and whilst the other Scoobs are not that discreet, the replacement parts are more common place and hence cheaper and so less likely to be nicked. The P1 is awesome, as you know it has different suspension from the standard STI, is rapid, and in my opinion looks the business. But you can achieve the same performance with an import STI which will have extra goodies like 2 pot rear brakes and electric folding mirrors, and a torque (front/rear) splitter on the R versions for less money.
Hope at least some of the above is useful (and accurate!). All the best with it.
17 June 2005, 07:56 PM
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theres talk of the sti5 in favour of the P1 but then the P1 has a number of things going for it over the sti. such as unigue front bumper and rear spoiler(personal taste I know). higher top speed. ABS braking system and suspension that has been set up for britsh roads. dealers won't turn u away for parts or servicing. and a warranty if u buy from a dealer. as already said the standard front brakes are crap but that applies to both models. both models need remapping if u do any mods. traded by 2000 uk for a P1 two years ago and am still very pleased with it.
ken
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17 June 2005, 09:47 PM
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I had a P1 then sold it and bought an STI5 Type R. I love the Type R, and it's definately a more raw/loony car to drive - but I think i'd go for the P1 if i was using it every day. I've had a few scares in the Type R on the road, as it's a bit tail happy and there's no ABS - very fun to drive but you really need to be 100% on the ball. The P1 was almost as much fun just a little more forgiving.
As long as a P1 has warranty still running (most do) you can transfer it to the new owner and extend it.
As long as a P1 has warranty still running (most do) you can transfer it to the new owner and extend it.
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