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looking into subaru... running costs?


sneaky
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hey guys,

 

saw a very night subaru wrx sti hatchback

 

just wondering about the running costs i should be expecting

 

i know the fuel won't be as good as the car i currently have (i only do about 20 miles a week? haha) i also know the road tax will be £475 if i recall?

 

but i'm just a little stumped when it comes to servicing...

 

how often do these cars need to be serviced and what is the price of the services? also are these cars reliable?

 

looking forward to your feedback :lol:

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price per service varies dependant on the mileage oil and filter versus full cambelt change - there have been some issues with the STI sharkeye experiencing ringland failure due to constant high revs and potentially not using higher ron fuel - a remap, not done by a subaru dealer as allegedly their maps don't solve the issue either, will protect against that (£300 - £400) also going through top mounts (not a huge expense)

 

so from my experience there were no issues and I really enjoyed the motor.

 

dont buy this car with one eye on your wallet - the mpg is between 21 mpg normal driving around town and 35 on a run. services are between 150 to 500 approx as different places will vary

 

do buy this car for a full on driving experience you will annoy porsche drivers - it put a smile on my face every time I was behind the wheel

 

Pete will hopefully be along shortly with an opinion also :)

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My 2.0 legacy doesn't seem to drink that much fuel. I do quite alot of miles per week, driving in and around town and 20-30 miles along a dual carriageway each day. At the moment, I'm getting 31.8 MPG. Which I don't think is too bad considering its a pretty heavy car, big engine and AWD. Buying Shell Vpower is a bit pricey though, at about 136.9 per litre, however, you can collect Shell points, which certainly add up, (2 points per litre of vpower, once you get 500points, you then get a £2.50 voucher) and you get extra MPG with higher RON fuel.

 

Tax for mine is £280, although, after having a smaller 1.2 petrol at £130. The fun of driving the scooby is certainly worth the extra cost.

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Do a lot of research on the 2.5l engine in the hatch before you buy though. It does seem to be a matter of when it'll go bang not if. And when it does you're looking at £2.5k+ I believe.

If you are serious about it, search for one that's had a forged engine rebuild. It'll allow you to fully enjoy the motor without being worried about it failing on you. And from what I see they don't fetch much of a premium over the non-forged ones? Certainly not as much as what it'd cost you to do. Worth paying extra for the peace of mind IMO.

They aren't cheap to run and look after though in my experience so far. I had a heavily modified EP3 CTR for about 2 years which cost less in that entire ownership than my Impreza has cost me in the last 6 months-ish. I have been unlucky with a gearbox issue and ridiculously overpriced cambelt replacement though lol.

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2.5 are as quoted by martin " made of chocolate ":)

 

after a remap mine could comfortably get 35mpg @280bhp

 

however due to the pests (corsa VXR drivers) i found 25 was basically what i was getting.

 

and even as low as 15mpg :) 

 

Services arnt too bad, however spark plug changes are an engine lift job and as such are best done with a full service, most places charge around £300 plus for a full service, you can only run Scoobys on 97Ron plus fuel or expect trouble down the line unless you get it mapped for it, and im afraid if your into cheap oils and filter these arnt the cars to be using.

 

Hope this helps :)

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the 2.5's do have a higher than average fail rate, but it's only something like 1 in 10 fail

 

if your engine get's to 30k and it's not melted, do you stand and shout 'look everybody, my engine hasn't melted!!!'

 

there is a lot of noise made about failed engines -

one possible cure is a remap - how many paid for a remap to try to stop it, or did they just keep ragging it and then moan when it happened?

how many were run on 95 ron fuel?

FSH?

high rev's will kill them in a different way (high speed run, no air into top mount, high temp with heat soak, running rich = dead engine), but probably still slagged off for being a 2.5

 

the forged ones do fetch more money, but not what it has cost. even a forged wrx will be good for 380bhp

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Average mileage for me with a 12-15 mile round trip to work is 21mpg, that's driving sensibly in i mode.

Switch to S# and that will drop to about 18mpg even driving sensibly.

Fuel cost for me are about £70 every 2 weeks that's using Optimax nitro I'm in greater London so petrol prices are not the best. You could use cheaper fuel but I would deff recommend getting the car remapped if you want to use 95ron. Most owners will recommend Optimax, some say BP or Tescos 99 is fine but the cars seem to run better on Optimax.

As long as you keep an eye on the oil and don't redline it all the time the engine will be fine. It is worth having someone take a look at the mapping just to fine tune it to avoid any problems.

A lot of it is bandwagon scaremongering, if the car has been looked after, not ragged and serviced properly FSH then I personally wouldn't have an issue.

My mate had the same cars as me and his engine went bang, that was down to low oil and not ring land failure. The HB is just like a woman high maintenance and only the best will do.

brake pads, fluids and other servicing items are like any thing car related, you generally get what you pay for. I will always pay a bit extra for the proper oils and oem parts as using cheaper stuff and eBay pattern parts you are asking for trouble.

If no warrenty due to age of car avoid main dealers for any work and use a recommend local Subaru specialists, they may be a bit dearer than the local garage, but they will still be a hell of a lot cheaper than main dealers. And you also have the option of sourcing your own parts.

If you want to mod the car then be prepared for higher prices as you will have to get a some stuff from Japan/USA as the later cars don't have the market here for most suppliers to do more than the basic stuff especially of you want body kits or STI branded stuff.

This may come across as a bit negative but it's best to have eyes wide open, the smile on your face when driving the car will more than make up for it.

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TBH serviceing cost on my STi 330s haven't been to bad.

 

3rd yr service was £270

4th yr service £350

5th yr service £195

 

all at main Subaru dealer in Europa @ Sheffield :)

 

 

petrol cost is the biggy along with Road Tax.

 

insurance for me is now cheaper than the RT

 

I'm still under warranty, so break down parts I'm now worrying about till next January ;)

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I've never owned a car for so long. My first Impreza I bought brand new (bugeye) and owned for 6 years. I only sold it as I was emigrating. Every day I got behind the wheel and smiled. Incredible car. You just can't put a cost on that :) life is too short.

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I've never owned a car for so long. My first Impreza I bought brand new (bugeye) and owned for 6 years. I only sold it as I was emigrating. Every day I got behind the wheel and smiled. Incredible car. You just can't put a cost on that :) life is too short.

Amen to that :D 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi guys, I am thinking to buy Subaru Impreza 2007y+ like you said above either 2.0 WRX or 2.5 forged.

But now I do not know which body estate or soloon? I will need not small boot because of push chair for baby. Can some tell me which boot is bigger?Saloon or estate?

 

and also do the WRX got isofix car sit fitting? 

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We have STi hatch and get two pushchair in and stuff, don't think saloon is as much room. Spud on midlands scoobies is selling his blue WRX hatch if your interested. Only lives at Newark

Sent from my ST23i using Tapatalk

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