Judd

Neither of those, but i've been runningYokohama GO15 AT on my Prado sized Landcruiser for the past 5 or 6 years. One of the best wet and poor weather tyres i've ever had, quiet comfortable and wearing well too, sensibly priced in the UK at least, they're snowflake and mountain symbol stamped so officially winter rated all season tyres (which may or may not be needed in Spain), quite a few members on our Landcruiser forum are using them and happy to buy again when the time comes, they're not rock hard sidewalled like some AT tyres designed for serious offroading.

The price sounds scandalous to me, compare with a bog standard 2.5XT which can be found here for circa £5/7k with similar mileage. No it won't have quite the same looks as the STi but the performance is more than adequate and it's just a standard UK car for insurance purposes (our premium approx £300 but i am an old geezer) with easily available parts*, the only downsides are the £700 VED stinger and the higher possibility of underbody rust (exacerbated if the vehicle has lived in Scotland), the difference in the initial price would take dozens of years to eat into the VED difference. Our 2008 XT isn't rusted, i've taken steps to keep it rust free but it won't be the only one. * exhausts are always an issue with rare models, OE are ridiculous costs, no correct aftermarket mild systems anywhere for the turbo versions (2" instead of the correct 2.5" bore) so stainless is a must when the time comes, this will be the same whether XTi or standard XT, our stainless cost £300 fitted 4 or 5 years ago.

Yes i might list them cheap, better than skipping them if it helps someone out for a year or three. I used the car at the weekend on various roads, country bumpy pot holed etc, ride quality itself is little changed but damping feels better controlled which has made the vehicle noticeably more stable on the twisties and over undulations, all in all very pleased. I see KYB also make shockers for my Landcruiser, thats on air at the back with electrically adjustable shockers all round, adjustable shocks are scandalous cost OE only @ some £600 each, no worries about springs because air sets its own ride height via sensors. KYB replacements will be going on that when the time comes.

Job done, everything fitted fine, car sits probably an inch or more higher at the back than it did before which is to be expected. New springs needed a lot more compressing than the standard OE set required during dismantling.

Surprising MOT failure, rear self leveller leaking which i hadn't noticed, bit disappointed in myself for missing that but the leak was hidden by the dust cover until jacked up, thats my miserable excuse and the only one i've got, cars only done just over 50k from new but age and the state of the roads have taken their toll, rust is not an issue the car itself is solid. The KYB shocks and stiffer springs as recommended by MrB are on their way, i've got the self levellers off and the springs and SLs seperated, top mounts are as new and the rubber bottom spring seats are fine too so can be re-used. Much obliged to MrB especially for his invaluable parts numbers and general info and his encouragement to others who have attempted the job, and for anyone thinking they might have a go and unsure about it, i'm getting rapidly close to 70 years so if i can do it you lot can. The NS self leveller is fine, no sign of any leaks so if someone has a weeping nearside SL and needs one to keep their car going for a few years more let me know, if its any use to you MrB i'll glady post it down to you.

Get it removed and programmed out of the ecu, no more issues.

Depending on model some Rav4 boots aren't that big, i would have a good look see if it would be big enough for your use before Older square Foresters and almost all Outbacks have useful estate car type boots, our SG9 is plenty big enougn for our 3. Avensis would be a better choice if you don't need 4WD, but avoid the 2.2 Diesel.

Also, ebay still takes some beating for things like brake calipers.

https://www.importcarparts.co.uk/ About the only place that comes to mind.

Colleague recently had yet another repair on his (just out of warranty) BMW, needed new DPF sensors to the tune of £1200 apparently all in, all specialst parts not easily available elsewhere are expensive through the main dealers with few exceptions. Your problem isn't with Subaru as such, its whether your indy should have asked you whether you wanted a pattern or genuine part fitting given the cost difference assuming they knew one was available, some indies will only fit genuine parts because they know it will work (assuming they've diagnosed correctly) first time and stay working, maybe your indy has had bad experiences of pattern parts and resulting bad experiences with customers who complained to them when the cheap part didn't do what it should for more than 5 minutes. This is a particular problem with relatively rare makes, there just isn't the pattern part back up, i recall back in the 70s when buying parts for many cars was a nightmare, yet get a copy of Exchange and Mart and there from German and Swedish would be lists of cheap parts for Audi Porsche Mercedes BMW etc, there's never really been the equivalent of Eurocarparts or GSF for Japanese cars (nor British cars come to that)...one of our other cars is a Prado sized Landcruiser, compared to LandRover the aftermarket spares market is abysmal, but then they tend not to need much in the way of a back up industry, you pays your money and takes your choice.

Colleague has a very smart BMW with all singing dancing turning you name it they do it LED headlights, something over £3000 a side he says. Ludicrous. Jaguar XF's from around 2011 had LED indicators in the headight units, one fails you were looking at £1100+ for a headlight unit over 10 years ago. The lunacy goes on.

Then you've got the issue with some engines where during an oil change you have to get the fresh oil back in the sump within 15 mins because the oil pump can't self prime. Never hear anything so ridiculous in all my life.

I cannot believe that in 2024 this is an issue. When the rounded Escort was a thing, so early 90s? if we had a flat battery in a car compound and jump started an Escort or similar, we could leave the thing running all day and not one bit of charge would go in, you had to turn something on to trigger charging, typically hazard lights wre used so a car half a mile up the compound wouldn't be left running for days on end...which has happened. This wasn't an issue with Japanese cars as i recall at the time so why now with new Subarus must be infuriating when you've spent a serious wedge of dosh on a new one.

I'm just thinking aloud here, so please don't take any action on my say so but would welcome any comments on whether this might be a goer or worth further investigation. Under a Subaru CVT is there a drain plug as well as a filler plug? Assuming yes would it not be possible to buy a 20 litre drum of the correct CVT fluid and over the course of several hours, or days, drain and refil the gearbox sump with the exact amount that came out, then run the vehicle to mix the old with the new, rinse and repeat over several changes till you've used up most of the new oil, leaving a little for final topping up, which itself often isn't as easy as things once were requiring temperature checking for one. I suggest this because i used this method on the 5 speed TC auto on my Prado sized Landcruiser, this later box loses the dipstick (bad move Toyota) so topping up is from a not easy to access filler plug. The oil on these is supposed to be lifelong (don't follow Landrover down that path Mr T) but with periodic checks on its quality. I wasn't going to disturb the sump pan and knowing how fast hydraulic oil can flow in these things wasn't going to try the heath robinson method of running the engine with the oil cooler disconnected pumping the old out at the same time as hoping to refil via the inlet side sucking fresh oil...visions of 5 gallons of Dexron 6 everywhere except in the gearbox, er no thanks. I know this method doesn't drain all the old oil out where a torque converter is installed, but maybe that isn't such a bad thing, by the time you've changed 3 or 4 sumpfuls by the time you've used 20 litres you should have more than 50% fresh oil in the mix. Its simple enough, if still messy, when i did the Toyota this way, and fortunately Toyota WS oil i actually Dexron 6 of which a 20 litre drum cost around £70 at the time. Food for thought? or not on your nelly? On our Forester auto transmission oil changes are easier than the engine, open the sump bung and 4 litres or so runs out, easy as can be feeding the same amount back down through the dipstick tube, i do this every other year, also the Foz auotbox has its own external spin on oil filter, which supposedly has no change date but i've changed mine...should mention at this point it seems some people have tried fitting a similar looking engine oil filter to the box because much cheaper, but the two filters work in completely different ways, an engine oil filter isn't designed to work like the transmission filter.

Never tried EBC myself, but as in your post most reports i've read have been positive for the 'greenstuff' the redstuff being more suited to track days, i've usually found better than original brakes both in action and rates of wear by choosing decent quality aftermarket products (as well as saving money) over OE, though it must be said decent regular brake servicing and properly lubed calipers will have played their roles too. Seeing where you live Rob_B in a heavy winter salting area do you have a regular clean/lube regime for your brakes, because you don't appear to have had any seizing issues since fitting the EBC friction materials yourself several years ago. One question if you don't mind, the discs that came from EBC, were they painted? i have an OCD about badly rusted unswept areas of discs so if the discs are bare metal i always paint the unswept areas before fitting, i also paint calipers black hate seeing those rusty too.