Morning all!

This is my first post and my first foray into the world of Subaru’s. I have an itch and it needs scratching, I’ve been hankering after an Impreza for a while now and yesterday popped over to a local dealer to have a look at a one owner 06 WRX 2 litre (Blue with gold alloys), its got 27K miles on it and looks and drives lovely!

I’ve never had a Subaru before, are there any issues with that model of car? Am I doing the right thing? Should I get the later 2.5 engine?

Your comments would be greatly appreciated

John

 

Get a STi instead
You'll regret it if you dont

 

Thanks for the advice -

I’ve been driving Landrovers for that past 10 yeas so to be honest the WRX seems fast enough!

 

sti second hand is a lot better value for money and stick with the 2.0 engine as the 2.5s have a lot of problems with pistons and headgaskets.

 

Agree with above comments. Like many guys on here I had had both versions and once I drove an STi wondered why I didn't get one right from the off.
You will get used to the performance buzz very quickly and curiosity about an STi will be the result.
My advice would be to at least drive an STi and see if it's for you.

 

Cheers buddy, I guess like many people the insurance put me off a little (even though I’m 41 the quote is still £700).
.

 

^^^^ you could get it an aweful lot cheaper than that assuming you have good NCB.....aim to get a quote under £500 for a start...i'm 34 and pay £700 for my Sti and my mrs' Ford Fuson....combined!

 

Post code does tend to weigh quite heavily on how much your insurance costs.

I wouldnt rule out a WRX. I drove an STI 2.5 and bought a GB270 (WRX PPP with some Prodrive goodies).

 

Not true, minor few had head gaskets...pistons are the 08 on...

 

05 - 07 2.5 engines are fine....i coud dig up a great many posts about engine failures accross the board....08 onwards have been troublesome but only for a few owners...who were vocal, a great many more have been absolutley fine...

I have a 2.5, 2007 model and the bottom line is i dont want a 5-6 year old car, with a chequered past; so had no choice as dont want an import.

Good luck with your hunt...for the record my 2.5 is perfect, runs great plus generates a nice lot more torque than a 2.0, which is handy as is a simple re map, filter, and exhaust giving 350bhp, and 400nm torque something no other Impreza lump can offer you....

 

Welcome to Scoobynet John, you're correct not to right off the WRX, plenty fast enough with PPP, I don't regret buying mine.

 

Thanks Allan

 

Subaru have just been on the phone, they’ve increased the offer for my Discovery by nearly 1K, it looks like it may be a done-deal, God help me!

 

06-now 2.5's are not fine, there is a considerably higher failure rate on these 2.5's (the MY06's had a particular dislike to their head gaskets, and more than a few have decided to go, I know of one only a couple of months back with less than 30k on the clock in hawk guise that popped its cloggs )
The 2.5 is a bit of a hit/miss engine (just ask the yanks ) it doesnt mean its bad, just that alot of the problems that it started life with were not rectified (piston design was one of those), so the 2ltr is a more reliable engine overall.
Subaru wont change anything on these due to the fact they have a newly designed 2.5 coming out in the next month or 2

Tony

 

Had my 2.5 for nearly 2 & half years,much better than my OLD 2.0 with no problems at all.

 

The one I'm interested in is an 06 2litre (it must have been one of the last)

 

Worth going for then John
Unless your tempted by a JDM of course

Tony

 

I've got a 2 litre wrx on an 05 plate and have owned it from new, it's never give me a problem and has done almost 50k. It's been remapped to 285 bhp which isn't much slower than a lot sti's and I think the drive isn't as hard too. Don't get me wrong, I'd love an Sti but only to have it running around 350 bhp. After driving your landrover the wrx will be plenty fast enough, and you can always move up to an Sti in the future.

 

Thanks for your input -
Think I may be putting a deposit down in the morning - my last ‘performance’ car was a 106 Rallye back in 98!

 

Congrats on the purchase you won't regret it! I'm a blobeye WRX owner, have had if for 15 months and don't regret it for a second

Enjoy your new car!

 

you got any facts and figures on UK cars HG failure....as almost everyone on other posts where you have slated the Hawk 2.5 disagree's with you.

Thanks

 

Well there is a fairly long thread ref 2.5 engine failures, but if you read it the majority of it is made up from guys just talking as apposed to actually saying they have suffered an engine failure.

There are a lot of guys on here quick to slate the 2.5 lump, but one wonders what they will say about it when the cars drop enough in price for them to consider buying one....not in every case i grant you, but as a rule i guess 70% of guys on here appear to have a classic worth 3k, and 10% or less have a car worth 8k+...

I'm in the 10% and happy to be, no issues at all with my SpecD...and as i said i dont wanna own a rolling project i need a suitable daily car...and having a 2.0ltr at 5 years old or a JDM car is simply not an option for that reason....to me and imho.

 

You should use the search engine the UK had its fair share of HG failures though not as many people came on here with hawks, like any community you have to know about it to start with
Now go search the US forums and be shocked, they had the 2.5 ltr STI engine before us, hey they even stopped production due to engine failures and that wasnt the hatch either
And remember ive been on here for over 10 years, ive seen the failures people have had with the 2.5's in standard form (and some modded)

There are a fair few hatch failures, what you probably dont know is how many hatches were sold between 2008 and 2010, if you then put the ammount of people who have had failures on that model (though some of it was definately down to the map) it will be a fair bit over 10%, thats a pretty high failure rate considering most manufacturers probably only expect a .1% failure rate.

Well for the first part, pole, barge, dont touch though I understand what your saying, most of those in the "know" wont touch the 2.5 sti unit as they prefer the 2ltr engines which have a much better reliability record
And im not sure where I fall in your bracket, I have a classic but its worth well over 3k though it doesnt quite hit your top 10% mark, yet again I also have a new age which does exceed your top 10% mark, but its fitted with the best unit that Subaru has ever produced so does that put me in the top 5%?

Im glad your happy we are all Subaru owners, some just know which cars have the better engine though and the 2ltr twin scroll JDM car is just outstanding, the UK cars just dont touch them in that aspect, or in any aspect tbh, and please dont say that the 2.5 produces more torque, look at the book figures on a standard car v standard car, you may find that the JDM produces more BHP and Torque (producing 80% from as low as 2.5k rpm out of its 8k+ engine )
The JDM is really the choice for a die hard enthusiast, and they are considerably more reliable than their UK counterparts

Tony

 

So no then... shame was interested. On googling failures in the US they are mostly 1995 to 2000 2.5ltrs....used the search function on SN hence my last post

 

It was around 2005/2006 the post, it pointed to a post from one of the US forums about the ammount of 2.5ltr scdb hg failures, would look for it but ive had a hectic day and need some air (and maybe a pint )

Tony

 

Ok mate at

 

I agree, the torque is addictive ! 2.5 all the way.

I haven't tried an STI though, am I in for a treat?

 

You need to try a twin scroll car if you like torque they push out more out of the box than a 2.5 and tuned on the standard turbo they push out nearly as much as the 2.5 but without the worry of anything going pop

Tony

 

i have an 07 2.5 wrx sl. runs sweetly and not had any problems and its running 355bhp,
even with the standard turbo and remapped to 285bhp it was still extremely quick,

STIs have the ability to handle more power with less mods but then if we all bought the same car it would be very boring,

no matter what car u buy,or engine it has theres always going to be some people who have had problems with it, it just life and **** happens.

how many large car manufacturers have had major problems,and had lots of recalls etc.

if everyone listend to everyone elses complaints then there wouldnt be a lot of cars on the road!!!!!!

 

buy it, map it, love it - end of.

Oh an welcome to scoobynet