7/8th of the way to 200000 miles! And a little rant.

[ccrien]

The old forester is now 7/8 of the way to 200 k miles.    Maybe the new target is  a quarter of a million, but I think the rust might take a terminal bite before then? 

Engine still running sweet as a nut, burns no oil, etc. With the few comments about the future new motors in the Subaru uk invite and p1 threads,  this really hammers home what I have said before, that I honestly believe the early 2000,s 2 litre Subaru engines ( N/A or turbo) are the global ultimate pinnacle of a balance of  reliability, relative simplicity, value and performance (take your pick of the N/A plodder with pace or the turbo), that will never be matched.

ah but they are poor on fuel I hear some of you out there thinking. The extra I pay for fuel ( and road tax)  more than paid for itself in terms of reliability and driving enjoyment over the years.   

so called progress isn't always a good thing. Electronic gismo's, small highly stressed engines and the like are simply fashionable but will prove to be short lived.   We need a revolution!

bring back the old style 2 litre Subaru motors!    And while I am at it, allow us to buy new 2 stroke outboards: light, simple, more reliable ( and a nice old fashioned aroma to the exhaust).

Think I am getting old.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2017 by ccrien

[ScoobieFloz]

8 hours ago, ccrien said:

Think I am getting old.

Yes you are !!!

 

I totally agree. I have now reached 126k in the WR1 which I think is frigging awesome for a car still pushing 310BHP after 13 years, and still on the original map. The 1 is not particularly spoilt either, good fuel, good oil (when it has some ) and driven every day and parked on the road. Definitely not a Garage Queen.

The bodywork is looking a little worse for wear but looks OK if you stand a few steps further away from it  but mechanically it is still sound. The highlands trip has seemingly created a few new rattles, and the rear shocks are definitely in need of replacing but that just adds character. 

Friends have splashed out on new cars and lost thousands on depreciation and still claim they are saving money in their leaf blowing, tree hugging granny scooters. I cant see me parting company with the WR1 ever.

We maybe fighting a loosing battle in bringing back the old 2 litre but the ones we have will still be going for many more years.

 

[ccrien]

Yup,.  Worth spending a few ( hundred) pounds on them every now and then, even if it's now more often, to keep them going as long as possible / reasonable.  Simply irreplaceable in terms of capability, and the Impreza,s are still iconic!

[scoobyjoff]

Well its all gonna go wrong soon we need electricity for re-charging all these eco freindly cars and our goverment have closed or mothballed all our powerstations so how long will it be before they have to bring back on line coal fired power stations like DRAX in yorkshire i know for a fact that ratcliffe on soar powerstation burns 10.000 tonnes of coal a day just for generating electric for normal use so imagine in 3-5 yrs when were surrounded by electric cars and the power stations are all burning more coal to keep up with demand i know there are energy from waste plants that are in use but it still takes 100s of lorries a day to feed the incinerators so again when were electric or hybrid more trucks will have to be on the roads to keep up with demand i agree it will be a sad day when turbo charged petrol engines are no more i miss the old days of the cossies escorts and such like but this is so called progress and its SHITE so i think we should keep our scoobs going as long as possible and sod the emissions 

[ccrien]

Very true, and not just the "leccie".

Where is all the lithium going to come from? and in 50 years time someone will realise the environmental damage caused by extraction, handling and battery manufacturing and eventual disposal will be worse and more impact than our CO2 generating cars ever were!    Pity that some are going to make a fortune out of this going down this misled route.

its a real beef of mine that the 2 free electric car charging points in the local town council car park are usually staffed by 1 or 2 taxis most of the time I pass the since one of the big taxi firms has " gone green".  By the time a few more folks are forced electric, it certainly won't be free!

theres a few ships anchored a mile or two off the Tyne at any one time, heard the other week these are full of imported coal waiting to be docked and unloaded!     

P.S. Joff, I have a photo somewhere of my kids when they were young, before the first ever run in the UK of the Escort Cosworth, a zebra striped thing up in Harwood Forest driven by Malcolm Wilson, think it was the course car.  Class.  (Wasn't trying to kill them, it was on the start line on stage a few mins before the countdown)

Edited November 11, 2017 by ccrien

[scoobyjoff]

I totally agree i went immingham docks last week and counted at least 3 ships discharging cheap russian coal onto the docks and i have a bit of a confession i had the RS tiger stripes you mention on my RS turbo the era of the hot hatches were fun times nearly every manafacturer bought a little something to the hot hatch party even rover tried with the mgs and that didnt go too well lol i had a renault 19 turbo williams was a bloody brill car loads of fun lets hope someone can squeeze the performance we all crave out of a 1ltr turbo lump but i guess its highly unlikely 

[MarkJHarris]

Lordy, memories. I had a replica Sapphire Cossie in Flint with dark grey stripes on it too! It was a Ghia model, a 4P Pre-production car E565APU. Proper Dagenham staff car. Had been Mettalic Blue and the Brochure car in 1987, then Silver for the pictures in 1988 and at the NEC both years before being sold to a Manager and run for the next few years.

I sold it after it had been nicked by local scum for a joyride. They abandoned it after 2 miles after it never came on boost.... The SOHC Pinto looking back at them from the engine bay was all it took to run away. Shame they hadn't looked in the garage behind it. There was a rebuilt Cossie engine and Borg Warner gearbox sat waiting to go in....

Never bothered after that. Twas the last Ford I had too.

[ccrien]

Did once put a red pinstripe and I think a few stickers on my 89 Astra 1.8 SRi but no funny ford stripes! A few drilled holes in the air intake and defluffed exhaust, and it went well enough, 8 valve low down grunt. Remember the original P6,s then the not so good early P600,s?  Didn't even need winter tyres if you had P6,s on.

Edited November 14, 2017 by ccrien

[ScoobieFloz]

The old days of drilling holes in the intake. Did that on my Golf GTI

[scoobyjoff]

Well you should be ok drilling the holes in the bonnet of THE 1.bonnet catches spring to mind

[ScoobieFloz]

I WILL do it soon. I fitted those bulbs didn’t I?  

[scoobyjoff]

Ooooh yes you did young man just the rest of the stuff in the cupboard now