Hi!

Reason for asking is I've seen so many Hawkeyes and Hatches with engine failures and I'm after a reliable car.
I have owned a 200sx S13 and a few SAABs s. So I am pretty sick of having to be more under the car rather than driving it.

Is the EJ20 in the 2005 STI reliable then? I have not seen many of those with failures at all. I am going to use the car as a daily and even in the winter and it gets COLD up here in Sweden so I need to trust the car.

I don't drive like a thief and I'm not sloopy with service intervals.

What do you say, is it a good car for me?

 

treat them well they will last, moded correctly and they will last.

treat them crap and they blow up in your face, let a monkey mod them and they will blow up in your face.

 

Yes - I ran a remapped (340bhp) MY05 STI for 5 enjoyable years before I sold it.
Its new owner is happy with the car and its still going strong another 2.5 years later

 

The cars you pointed out are 2.5ltr engines and do suffer issues, the 2ltrs are a more reliable engine on a unit - unit basis.

 

As tony says, the 2.0's go forever if treated intelligently!

Should imagine that the temperatures in northern sweden would put it up against tests which we just dont get over here in blighty though .... but saying that, all cars go through cold weather trials, so that shouldnt be a problem! just might be worth getting an oil pressure and temp gauge to keep an eye on whats going on through the warmup stage.

The 2.5's are a bit fussyer and it doesnt take a sensor to go too far out of tolerance before your running lean and playing con rod fon doo due to the weak pistons in the 2.5.

 

Thanks for you answers!

Seems like a pretty solid engine, I'm just hoping I find a good example that has been taken care off.

I live in south Sweden but we've had some extreme winters these past years too. Some gauges to keep an eye on the oil pressure and temp isn't a bad idea!

 

They can suffer the usual big end knock, but the most common thing I'm seeing is fueling issues, i.e. going lean and cooking pistons. Not 100% sure why but could be tired fuel pumps, poor mapping or injector probs?

 

I'm hijacking my own thread now as I've spotted some really nice Hawkeyes and they just look soo much better than the Blob!

BUT I've read that a lot of people have blown their engines.. How common is it really?

 

Then buy a jdm Hawkeye sti which come with the 2.0 block and you have best of both worlds

 

Here you go

https://www.scoobynet.com/subaru-444...-in-white.html

 

+1

Vash Car is mint



Yes the JDM Hawk is the best Scoob around

Engine is good for 400Bhp and no problems, as long as done correctly

There are a few runnig 500bhp on std internals

Tony

 

Best handling is the JDM Widetrack blobeye, the change they made on the diff setup for the hawkeye was a backwards step IMHO.

 

So what we have now is buy the car vash is selling and fit the earlier diff and away you go :-)

 

Yea, a JDM would be awesome.. But they are unfortunately to expensive. My max budget on a car will be around ~8000£

It doesn't really matter if the Blobeye handles a bit better, but I do prefer something reliable! So, how is the EJ25?

 

I'm really interested in some Hawkeyes with mileage around 40-70k miles, how worried should I be that the headgasket will fly away or that the pistons will melt?

It's soo hard to decide between a Widetrack Blob or a Hawk! Looks and torque vs Reliability?

I really want the Hawk but if it's not reliable, it's nothing for me.

 

My hawk wrx has been running 355bhp 400lb/ft for almost 3yrs, only thing ive had to do was go 6spd as the diff in the 5spd couldnt handle the torque,

You can get an insert done on the hawk blocks for appox 600quid which would let u take it to mch higher than 500bhp with no issues at all with the correct pistons/rods,turbo,injectors etc

Decide what power levels u want and go for it, the hawks are gd for around 400 bhp,as long as there serviced correctly then it woont be an issue

 

Internet myth &/or because you only see people posting bad news ... not many people post to say "woke up this morning and everything is ok"

In saying that though the 08-10 hatches do seem to have a HG problem or two there is a mega thread as a sticky at top of General ...

TX.

 

Thanks for your answer!

I'm only after a stock STI and will probably get an exhaust and map it eventually. But that's it.

It have just put me off reading about all the ring-land and headgasket failures but maybe I'm exaggerating..

 

If you're that worried hold out for a JDM model as they rarely have problems, just have to go a bit older for £8k is all.

TX.

Edit - http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/c...example/233938
http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/c...ll-dccd/251350

 

Yea, maybe you're right. It's just that I've had so much trouble with every car I've owned it would be nice with something that works for a change.

Never really liked the Bugeye or the small spoiler but an Widetrack Blob might be the best car for me.. But it would be nice with the extra torque from the 2.5..

 

The MY07 Hawkeye had a revised gasket, due to the failures on the MY06.

I've had my RB (standard) from new, 5+ years with 42k miles.
I stick to the service schedule, with an extra oil & filter change every 6 months.

It's not been on a track in anger, but it get's driven spiritedly...!

One of the guys with an RB320, ran it to I think 80k miles before he traded it in (company car) & that never missed a beat!
But don't get me wrong, I know of a few that have had HG failure once re-mapped with power in the region of 360-370bhp!

If you keep it standard, you shouldn't have much of a problem.

 

My hawk touch wood no issues at 5 years old and my friends hawk 6 year sold with 87000 miles and no issues