Stef

Yup, you've guessed it. CK1 has lost another box.
I find it completely unacceptable that IM replace both my engine and gearbox under warranty and both fail within four months!
My original box lasted nearly 50,000 miles before it gave up the ghost. The second one was faulty, the third dumped it's oil out and now the fourth has also failed, despite only lasting 12,000 miles, none of which were subjected to any 'extraordinary' driving techniques.
IM wangled out of my engine failure saying that my warranty was invalid because CK1 had taken part in timed runs for a magazine feature. If they think they're gonna get away with this they had better think again. Neither this box or my previous engine have done any timed events, and there is quite clearly something wrong with either the components or the fitting of them.
I need my car, so I will be fitting a second-hand box to keep me going (thanks to Pete & Scoobysport...again! ).
I will keep you all informed.

Stef.

Leigh

I think your car must be jinxed!
If I'd had as many reliability problems with my car, I think I would have set fire to it!
Good luck with IM.

Leigh

waynelivesey

I was at Millenium Motors (BREAKERS) in West Yorks yesterday buying a gearbox for my combo van.
He`s got two scoobs breaking,one with only 6000 miles,and guarantee`s the parts.Full UK box £375 or £500 for box and rear diff (ideal for converting short geared jap cars)
TEL 01977 614567
Also jap import car breakers in the local North West Auto Trader breaking a 94 WRX RA with low miles(Closed deck block etc)Had the full motor last time i spoke to them(Last week after the snow.I was after a boot lid after sliding backwards into a gatepost!!!)
Dont have the phone number at the mo but i can find out if anyones interested.

Tim W

iTrader: (1)

Oh bad luck Stef, keep at 'em!

I thought that I had been lucky with my car until last week , on my way back from a funeral in foul weather I noticed that I couldn't engage 4th with out grunching the gears if went to change up above 4k rpm without droping the clutch right to the floor!

Since then things have been getting worse, I only use the car about 5 times a week now, and in 200 miles it's gone from light grunching in 4th at high ish reves to grucnching all the time I shift and has now start to affect 2nd too!

I suspect the syncro rings are on their way out (no clutch slip, fine once it's in gear) now to test out that warranty...properly

ed-555

47 to go....

Careful with that gearbox, Stef.

Ed.

Triggaaar

Bad luck mate, hope you get it sorted soon.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Stef

I was a participant at the said magazine article ( Cossies ). Does that mean that my warranty in the future is invalid?

As I recall there were 2 "aceleration from rest to whatever you can get" runs - hardly speed trials, more an investigation into what one could do with the car you drove. You could do more abuse to an engine by driving badly on the road.

My intention in taking part was the promotion of standard scoobs ( Cossies ) taken in the mild jesting manner it was intended. End of the day, scoobs beat cossies & that would have made some people decide to buy a scoob - good for IM & good for FHI. I'll not be a happy soldier if in a potential future reasonable warranty claim I was knocked because I was timed going from 0-60. If that was the case, then the new UK STi (as & when they arrive) will not be finding a home in my garage

Still keeping my faith.

Dream Weaver

Dear All

Call me stupid but what does IM stand for? I have seen it around for a while now but still cant work it out.

Individual Manufacturer????

Gary Foster

Bloody hell. Thats unbelievable, 4 boxes and it's not even a particularly high BHP car. That has to be the most unreliable car I have ever heard of (by a long shot).

Not the best advertisement for Subaru is it (as is not holding to the Warranty claim). Surely IM must realise us stupid customers actually get to here about these things !

Gary

Ps Is it going to be ready for Donno !! (I have a 3 hour drive and was looking forward to at least watching Stef go round)

LLOYD RACING

Hi Stef, sorry to here about your specialist gearbox modification techniques, but what the hell is wrong with doing 0-60 runs, are you doing something outside the cars abilities ? Maybe we need to graft Gareth's 7-speed box into your car.

Andy

fast bloke

Stef,
If you look below the steering wheel you will find three pedals. I would suggest that you learn to use the one on the left.
On a more serious note, possibly the quickest way to get this resolved is to go and hang about outside the dealers. Get two or three of your mates to show up and be interested in buying a new model. Once they have worked out the finance etc and the salesman is sure they are going to buy, tell them about your problems in a very loud voice. A new gearbox should be on its way by the time the third person walks out of the showroon emptyhanded.

Good luck

Neil Micklethwaite

Stef - I am confused. I thought CK1 was an MY98 and green. But in FC your car was down as a MY00 and looked blue ( or did FC get the details wrong ).

Sorry to hear about the grief you are getting though and hope you get it sorted.

Stef

Andy.
If it's viable, I'll do it!

Stef.

Stef

Oh, and I intend to be at Donno, come what may.

Stef.

Chris L

Stef - what are you doing to your poor car?

Dream Weaver - IM = International Motors Group (UK) Ltd - The official UK importer for Subaru

Chris

ARRON BIRD

Stef you need to learn to drive M8 :

CraigH

Sounds more like dealer incompetence to me - guess you can't say who's done the work?

But you must definitely have a case.

Reckon Subaru need to keep as many punters happy at the moment - don't see to many new or existing owners going for the new model......

shows what a lot of pish JD Power is........

And I thought STIs were unreliable

Orville

I think Subaru UK are one of the rara monufacturers that will actually change a gearbox under warrenty when it has done several thousand mile. Several years back I had a 1.4l VW Polo who's gearbox packed up after 10 months / 7k miles. The car had never been abused and I had to fight for months to get VW to accept liabilty. Most manufacturers will put gearbox and clutch failures down to wear and tear.

My point is that any car that does repeated standing starts or has had performance enhancements will inflict more "wear and tear" on the transmission. Can anyone blame IM for not replacing parts if rules set out in the owners hand book are broken.

Asbestos suit on.

harj

Major Bummer! I remember Stef calling me straight after it happened, not a nice thing to happen to anyone especially as its happened before.

harj

Tricky Ricky from Fast Car was recovering from a hang over so that might explain it

Stef

Orville.
It is a widely known fact that in the past my car has been exposed to some 'enthusiastic' driving. Christ, it's why I bought the car. My original engine lasted 58,000 miles and the first gearbox 48,000. Since the warranty has expired, the car has only done two track events and no 1/4 miles.
Only one of the gearbox failures could be put down to the way I drove the car, and that was the first. The fact that the second was faulty, the third dumped it's oil and now this one's only lasted five 'abuse-free' months is unacceptable. Is it co-incedence that a new engine and gearbox fail within four weeks of each other? If I'd modded CK1 to high heaven then I could understand, but were talking about a UK car with exhaust and filter mods.
As I've said, IM wiggled out of my engine claim due to the Revs feature, which itself is pathetic. They sell a car on the back of WRC success and how fast it is, and then forbid you from trying it out in a safe controlled environment! Bollox!
Countless MY98 engines have been replaced under warranty for one reason or another, and then there's the clutch and brake problems. It's all been kept hush-hush as IM wouldn't want to harm the sales of the new ca would they, but it's about time people knew the truth....and they will.

Neil.
When FC asked what model my car was I replied 'UK Impreza Turbo 2000', which it is. They mistakenly thought it was a MY00.
And it is green.

Stef.

Davvers

OK, I am putting on my flame retardant underpants as we speak...
If you do lots of trackdays you will have lots of bills.
Your car was designed to run on the road where you are not exposed to long periods of high revs - the cooling system is designed to run in this manner, trackdays will cook oil and lubricants, the extra stresses will wear parts faster - bits will wear out/break earlier.
A racer who will do much less circuit miles than someone on a track day will expect to rebuild the engine and perhaps the gearbox at least yearly - to aid reliability and to increase performance as the engine will go off duting the season.
Someone who does regular trackdays may not even change the oil between services.
I speak not as an expert or racer but someone who does 15-20 track/airfield days a year. In september after Spa I will have to get my engine rebuilt - its a fact of life, and its cheaper than rebuilding a bent engine.
However Stef if you really hadn't abused the gbox/engine in that time then it is a little suspicious, I wish you luck with your warranty claim - I had no response when my discs crazed and cracked after 5000miles.

MY00 LINK
Cat7

Neil Micklethwaite

Stef - Thanks for clearing that up - I'll get some new contact lenses.

Hope you get it sorted.

Stef

Davvers.
There are loads of Scoobs with more power than mine that have done more track days than me without any problems whatsover. Granted, they may not be driving as hard as I do, but I still consider three gearbox failures in six months unacceptable, especially as none of them ventured down the strip.
I don't expect to get anything from IM, but people need to know what's going on.
If Subaru win the JD Power survey this year, when it's MY98 cars that are being surveyed, then the survey itself will be a farce.

Stef.

Stef.

Davvers

I stand corrected, 3 gearboxes in 6 months is a little **** really.

NAF

Sounds really Sh1tty to me too
Hope you get it sorted Stef!

Niall

IntegraR

Hang on, those comments about the Scooby being a road car, that may be so, but they are sold as a performance car, so it should be built to be used as such.
I would expect a car that was built for normal road use, like say a Fiesta, to break all sorts of bits and pieces if driven like a performance car, but if you drive a performance car like a performance car, then there is no excuse for this amount of probs.
Autoexpress and Autocar handle a lot of complaints from the man-in-the-street, and they may be able to get Subaru to repair this under warranty.
Seriously, give them a try, it cant hurt, and Ive read a number of cases they've helped on, and at the very least, you can highlight your intentions to Subaru, and they may buckle under threat of bad publicity.
Its a sh1tty way to have to go about things, but if it works, thats all that matters.
I bet they are using reconditioned boxes on your car, and charging you new prices.
I dont hold much hope for my car lasting too long either, I rev it constantly into the red line, and drive it EXTREMELY hard, imagine someone trying to kill their car, constantly pushing the engine to its limits, thats me, but when something does eventually give up, I expect the replacement to last almost as long as the original.
Give them hell, just dont let it rest, and they'll get the picture.