Scooby Pete

Nice looking car. If it were me I'd give it a full service ie a 50,000 mile one where all the diff/gearbox oils are done, plugs, fluids, cam belt ect. May cost a bit but would give peace of mind. Essex Subaru owners club meet up in Chelsmford. http://www.pistonheads.com/gAssing/topic.asp?h=0&t=1268873&mid=0&nmt=Essex+Subaru+Owners+Club+-Welcomes+you!

I'm no expert but best advice is give them a test drive and see what you like best. There are subtle differences between versions and I don't know enough anorak stuff to tell you what's what. What I will say is, You will hear a lot about ringland failure on the 2.5's. Whilst in my opinion it's a fair amount of scaremongering there is some truth to it. Whilst this was an issue with a small percentage of cars it was down to people putting too much power into the standard engine, poor maintainence, bad mapping or ragging the nuts out of the car. If the car your looking is well maintained, well set up and hasn't had it by now then as long as you maintain it properly there's no reason it shouldn't carry on. If the engine has been rebuilt then as long as it was done properly again no issues. Although it would be wary of a rebuilt engine and would want a proper inspection before buying. Don't get blinded by the rally look stickers on cars, do the proper checks and if poss get a local Subaru specialist to do an inspection it rather the RAC/AA Being from Surrey you are lucky in that there lots of scoob specialist in the area. Dan at Surrey Subaru specialists is very good There is also TFS, GRD, Jolly Green Monster (one of the best mappers in the country) Proven Subaru (Dealer) just off the top of my head. I would recommend you join up at http://www.surreyscoobies.co.uk/forums/index.php It's my local club aswell and they are a great bunch of guys who are all local to Surrey. We meet every 2nd Sunday of the month at the Fairmile pub in Cobham. Your more than welcome to pop along Sccob or not.

As long as you like it who cares what others think :D

Pm me your address and I will send you a copy next week.

Vredstein setanza's great grip levels and not much road noise. Check out http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk for unbiased user reviews rather than car mags.

Welcome along :)

Got some Padig rear break pads from eurocarparts for under £25. No point paying £60+ for EBC's on the back.

Loads of info on the I-drive and DCCD settings here. http://uk.subaruownersclub.com/forums/topic/4392-i-drive-dccd-explained/

Welcome along there is a growing number of 2014 owners on the site. Shame you can't mod them too much thanks to the warrenty.

Scoobs are well know for clutch Judder when cold, nothing to worry about unless it gets really bad.

Go to a Subaru Specialist local to you. will get a much better quality of service than from a Kwick fit ATS place. It's about an hours trek for you but I would highly recommend Dan at Surrey Subaru Specialists in Camberly. http://www.surreysubaruspecialists.com/contact-us/ Dan Knows his stuff and is a top bloke and dos loads of work for the Surrey Scoobies Club. May even be able to get Simon From JGM down at the same time to do the remap.

JGM.. Simon @ Jolly Green Monster is your best bet. http://www.jollygreenmonster.com/ Tel 07912 872581

Just Give Simon (Jolly Green Monster) a call he will sort you out and he is one of the best around.

Loads of options for gauges, there's been a few threads on here, the Depo range are popular on here a few of us have them. Good quality and fairly easy to fit. That's not to say any old ebay boost Guage will not work they all just plumb into a vacum pipe on the scoob and I ran a cheapy one with the tube running to the back of the Guage on my classics for years. If you want to splash the cash Defi is the prefered choice but that involves a separate Comander unit for the gauges and senders. The guague aren't cheap either. Looks the dogs though :)

Most dealers were only given 25 each a year to sell.

If this link doesn't help. http://www.tech-faq.com/how-to-reset-a-kenwood-security-code.html May have to go to a local authorised Kenwood service agent rather than a Subaru dealer. Look on here with the drop down menus and it list 2 places in Norfolk 1 in Great Yarmouth and one in Norwich. http://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/where_to_buy/ I had to do it with my pioneer and ended up at a car radio shop that looked like it was still in the 70's, it was an old fella and he plugged in an SD card and it was unlocked in seconds.

alternatively check with Subaru Breakers they'll have loads of bits

Welcome to the club :)

The 525ish is usually for a licence and remap. If the car has been mapped in the past then it's from £150 upwards depending on what you want, ie launch control, anti lag ect.

Welcome to the club, must admit after driving the '14 this weekend I really like them :)

Welcome along, do you own a Basset called Flash?

Great write up as ever Salsa.

Drove the '14 STI at our local meet. Shelley Motors brought down their demonstrator and I have to say I was impressed with the car. The chassis feels really positive and give a feeling of confidence. You can deff tell they have done development on it. Inside is really smart has keyless start as standard, half leather seats and all the toys. I would deff consider one in a year or so when the 2nd hand market has some good examples.

No photos unfortunately. One of the dealers brought their 2014 STI demo car down. So I got to drive the new '14 STI and have to say I was well impressed. You can deff feel the chassis is more positive and has had developlement on it. Inside the car is very good, look well built and futuristic. Only minus point for me was that it could do with a PPP option as it deff felt slower than my own 08.

It's every 2nd Sunday of the month.