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My dear old mum needs a new car. Her 2003 Micra is dying an undignified death. I am thinking a brand new car is a good option for her - something like Kia or Hyundai with their long warranty. Anyone used a site like Broadspeed or DrivetheDeal?? Any horror stories?

so mine will be in 49 months time...

called up Ian Grieve Subaru in Falkirk, who are the nearest franchise to me. I'm now on the waiting list - apparently there are 50 cars in front of me on the list though...

I got mine in July this year, so no idea if the last owner would have had it done. Any easy way to check? Or should I just call my nearest franchised dealer? I can't find anything obvious in the paperwork. How long was your car in when you took it to get done?

Just noticed this on Subaru UKs home page - not sure how long it's been up there though. Since I have a 2005 Impreza I guess mine is affected. Have any of you taken your's into a main dealer for this work to be carried out? SUBARU RECALL NOTICE: IMPREZA MODELS (2004 – 2007) As part of its quality processes Fuji Heavy Industries, parent company to Subaru Automobile has issued an official recall campaign relating to possible front passenger air bag SPI inflator failure.The recall notice applies only to Impreza models (including WRX and STI) built between 2004 and 2007. The recall does not affect any other models in the Subaru range. The vehicles affected are equipped with front passenger air bag SPI inflators manufactured by air-bag maker Takata. The recall has received widespread media coverage as Takata supplies a number of Japanese vehicle manufacturers. It has been found that the inflators in the passenger airbag may experience an alteration over time, potentially leading to over-aggressive combustion in the event of an airbag deployment, leading to risk of injury. Subaru UK is advising owners of all Impreza models built between 2004 and 2007 to contact their local dealer at their earliest convenience to have the front passenger airbag inflator replaced free of charge. Please note, this applies to passenger side airbags only and we therefore advise you avoid seating occupants in the front passenger seat until the work has been carried out. Please contact our service department to confirm whether or not your vehicle is affected by this recall and to make a booking for the work to be done at your earliest convenience.

@Tidgy lol yep, wherever there is a magazine or plastic bag lying around, she will find it and settle herself on it.

Lucy the cat!

for the numberplate, you can always get a free valuation from someone like reg transfers: https://www.regtransfers.co.uk/sell/selling-registrations might be worth a shot before you decide to sell it with or without the private plate. Keep in mind the £80 transfer fee you would need to pay, so take that off any sale figure you get.

my last car was an Audi A3 with 1.9 TDi engine and a DPF - it had done about 78k miles and the DPF was beginning to get pretty sooted up. Often the dpf warning light would come on. I used dpf cleaner and regen fluid in the fuel tank (something like Fotre) - then you could drive it, even in limp mode, to try and clear out the DPF a bit. This was a VAG engine so I don't know if Subaru diesels will like being driven in limp mode? But I would try some of that fluid before going back to garage again.

well you could say that about any car, would have thought our AWD would have meant ours had a better chance than many at stopping and having better control in snow/icy conditions. Guess its a personal choice since our government have not made them mandatory.

do we really need winter tyres with Subaru AWD? I had a BMW 118d once upon a time, and a bad winter here in Scotland - so I got 4 Pirelli Sottozero 2s for it (205 50 R17 I think). They were definitely good with snow and when it was cold, but at any temp above about 10degrees they were very very soft, and the handling became rotten.

I had Goodyear Eagle F1s on my last car (diesel Audi A3) - they didnt wear very well at all. They were done after about 17k miles, and that included swapping fronts for rears half way through. So personally I don't think they are worth the money. Have a look at Camskill for good prices on tyres, and find a local fitter. Normally I get mine off there and a local guy does them for £5 a corner. Had Kumho ecsta lesports on a car before and liked them. Avoid anything by Nankang - they nearly killed me. My Impreza came with 4 new tyres when I bought it in July - the dealer clearly wanted something cheap. So its got Jinyu YU63 all round...honestly they are not that bad. Decent grip in dry and wet, quiet and I'm getting 32mpg so cant complain. No doubt other's will call them ditch finders, and I probably wouldnt have picked them myself - but so far so good.

so that's 10 days and about 400 miles since I've had the car back, so far so good - the symptoms have not come back. [touch wood] using Shell V Power for now, but will probably switch back to supermarket 95 RON again, with maybe every 4th or 5th tank with some V Power. What do you guys run your N/A engines on?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Subaru-Impreza-Car-Diagnostic-Interface-Scanner-OBD-OBD2-EOBD-can-bus-freessm-/222237894221?hash=item33be69264d:g:CnEAAOSwFTRTowO9 Something like this? Does anyone have any experience with the freeSSM software? For £9.95 delivered that seems worth having - if anyone knows it's any good or not?

I like the look of the freelander 2. No experience of reliabilty with them though. My sister's partner had an original freelander, 2004 model I think - and it was a total nightmare, always in for something or another wrong.

lol, I find that the reversing lights on most of the cars I've had before have been junk, but the one on my Impreza is the best I've had in ages - really bright and can see the kerb when I'm trying to reverse alongside it. Think you have the newer shape model than me though? so maybe Subaru let their reverse light brightness slip with the new design... I suppose fitting an LED is the only sensible option...

So I got my car back - and it's running sweet again! New plugs (according to the history they were last done in 2010 at 36000 miles, so well overdue), new MAP sensor, cleaned throttle bottle and egr valve. Then an ECU reset. Hopefully that will be it for a while now! £268 all in.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-DENSO-Subaru-Impreza-Legaacy-Forester-Outback-MAP-Sensor-079800-5660-/252299064011?hash=item3abe3232cb:g:k8UAAOSwPc9WzmPz have ordered this...fingers crossed. Not a fan of ebay for parts but it was that or going through Subaru...

still not car my car back! He found a couple faults when he ran diagnostics. First plan is to renew MAP sensor (manifold pressure) and clean up the throttle body. Apparently getting hold of the MAP sensor part is proving difficult though...any good parts suppliers? without having to go through Subaru which I assume would be costly.

its in with my local trusted mechanic today - he's going to do the spark plugs anyway, and see if he can work out the fault... fingers crossed it's something easy! will keep you posted...

tried some shell vpower and redex - hasn't helped. Will get sparks and fuel filter done anyway because not got any recent history showing they have been done. How can I tell if its got AVCS? engine code is EH204L - according to google it probably does have AVCS - so this could be the issue?

anyone got any thoughts on this? engine code is EJ204. air filter is clean - cant find the fuel filter though?! is in located within the fuel tank on these models? Going to try some Redex today and V Power fuel to see if that helps.

Hi All, My lovely hawkeye wagon (2.0 160bhp) is occasionally a bit hesistant accelerating, there's no warning lights on the dash but it's annoying and keep having to drop down gears to get moving. My first plan is to change air and fuel filters (oil and oil filter was done about 1000miles ago), then I guess spark plugs? then it need to think about MAF and/or throttle position sensor? any other thoughts? For the fuel filter - I cant see fuel filter in the engine bay...so is it located inside the fuel tank? Thanks for any help,,,

@stants - thanks, hoping it's that because I assume any repairs/parts for the diff would not be cheap...

got my new head unit sorted and working great. Needed a couple bits from ebay for wiring loom and aerial. I ran the mic up to just above the rear view mirror, works pretty well so happy with the outcome.