Hawkeye 2.5 WRX SL - yes or no?

[oobster]

Folks,

I'd appreciate opinions & thoughts on the following:

2005 '55'-plate 2.5 WRX SL (Sunroof & Leather) in Red. It's done 12K miles and is totally standard. Haven't seen the car yet though.

I'm considering trading my blobeye in against this.

Plus points:

1) A new 'Project' to get my teeth into

2) It's a 2.5

3) It's 2-and-a-half years newer than mine

4) It will still have roughly 1-and-a-half years warranty left on it (the warranty on mine runs out at the end of March)

5) It's an SL (the blobeye I own just now isn't)

6) No nagging from Dawn about spending the money buying it or modding it (she isn't bothered)

Neg points:

1) Nothing MAJOR wrong with mine - few stone chips on the front

2) To mod the hawkeye to a similar level as the blob would cost me between £2.5 & £3K

3) Means going into debt for the next 3 years - current bank loan for the blob only has 1 year left

4) Possibility (hopefully) of kids in the next 12-15 months

5) Company I work for is currently being sold to another company - no idea what the new owner will do with all the employees + what their company car policy is (the blob is mine, but I get an allowance every month on top of my wages & I am then allowed to buy whatever I like). Been here for over 13 years so fairly decent redundancy package if they decided I was out the door so any car I owned wouldn't need to be sold immediately after redundancy.

So - ladies and gents - do I go pure mad mental and get the SL, mod it to the limit of my credit card & worry about the future (kids, job) when & if they happen?

Or, do I take the sensible route - keep what I have to be mindful of what the next 12 months might bring?

The reason for asking is that right now i'm split 50/50 - I can't make my mind up. If you can think of a 3rd option then let's hear it too. BUT - to buy the hawkeye and not mod it to my liking is NOT an option - i couldn't bear to leave it standard.

Thanks in advance of all (sensible) comments received.

Andy

[oobster]

Here is a pic of the possible new purchase...

[gus the bus]

You know my opinion on it already mate![Y]

Give it the oobster touch[] and it will be a cracker. ( and leather interior to kick off with too!!) Nice!

I presume Dawn has said aye???

Gus

 

[gus the bus]

"So - ladies and gents - do I go pure mad mental and get the SL, mod it to the limit of my credit card & worry about the future (kids, job) when & if they happen?"

PS I'd go with this one! lifes too short bud and if your sums work out mate just go for it[Y]

(and like me you can always go the other way if the sums or other issues dont add up later)

[4Hero]

buy buy buy []

Not seen a wawkeye in red before Andy, nice one [Y] 

[gus the bus]

Andy, the warranty issue is always a good point too!

If yours runs out @ the end of the month what is a new one gonna cost you to extend??? Or is it better to spend the dosh on your 2.5SL instead of the warranty and get a newer car with fewer miles and a good bit of warranty too!!?

what mileage is on your current car?  

[st3ph3n]

Andy, after our wee discussion the other night I'd been having a think about it.

For a start - I don't personally value the SL at all. The UK seats are bad enough at keeping you in without being leather. Sunroof - meh.

For me the red on that doesn't really work for me as much as it does on the blob. I think white and black look fantastic on the hawkeye though. Although I bet with your white wheels and taking it off its stilts it would look really good.

I can't remember most of your mods, but you could remove a good number of them and reinstall on the new car. Wheels, centre section and backbox on the exhuast, strut braces(?), stereo(?). So that's surely a good saving anyway?

For me - keep the current car and mod it a wee bit more.

[oobster]

Gus

Dawn is 50/50 on it too - you know the situation re: kids, so she is trying to be sensible too, but at the same time deal with what we know today and worry about/deal with tomorrow when it comes.

I think to extend the warranty on the blob for another year (5th) was something like £845.00

My car is sitting at 42K miles.

[gus the bus]

I've had a change of heart[:$] 

Mileage is a lot lower than I thought tbh mate. I was thinking you were on 70k plus.

If you can get a years or two years warranty??? for a lot less then changing it and you have no finance on your current car then it would make sense to keep your one just now. Particularly with all the stuff you have done to it.

See what the next 12months brings ie kids etc... as there will always be another Red SL out there for ya if the time comes. 

God! I never thought I'd be sensible[:$][:S]

so eh, keep it![Y]

[iainc]

I'd keep your existing car and with the money you have "saved" spend it on modding it even further []

I do like red on a scoob (couldn't get it on my new one though 'cos they don't do ST's in red [])

Seriously though why change for something that's only marginally newer but essentially the same as what you have?

[chris_c201]

If i had your car and was thinking of buying a new scoob i would defo be looking for an STi, regardless of blob vs hawkeye.... that said i don't know what  mods you have.....

[iainc]

That would be the only reason that I personally would upgrade to a car that was only a couple of years younger (although I have the STi now anyway).

Better spending the money on mods if you want to than spending it getting a younger car that will still depreciate.

Only other reason would be if you had issues/problems with he existing one that were going to get expensive (or time consuming) to sort out.

[johns]

Tough decision:

Minus points for me would be:

a) Leather. The SL seats are slippery when cornering hard.

Sunroof. Reduces headroom, increases noise and I've never had one that didn't leak or drip when opened.

Plus points would be the 2.5 engine which is nice and smooth, and torquier, newer car, warranty.

As long as there wasn't anything wrong with your existing car (and it looked superb that last time I saw it at Alford), I would probably err on the side of keeping the existing one.

John

[oobster]

Thanks for the opinions folks.

My car has nothing 'wrong' with it - the reason I want to go from a WRX to another WRX is that the lure of the STI has never appealed to me - i'm not the type of bloke who likes hammering their car along B roads or at Knockhill (but fair play to those that do) - for me the Subaru is about decent performance if I need it (plus the occasional bit of fun on organised runs etc) but also, and slightly more importantly, about the looks. I like to spend money on my car, clean it, polish it, see it's reflection in shop windows and say "Hey, thats smart, thats mine". So there would be no point going to an STI.

The only problem with my car is the stone chips - which could be sorted, granted.

BUT - I don't want to mod the car any further. There is honestly nothing out there that I would like to buy and stick onto the car. So modding the blobeye further isn't going to happen.

The thought of a new 'project' to mod is quite appealing - I got a certain thrill out of modding (mostly cosmetic) the blobeye and i'm looking forward to doing it again.

The thought keeps running through my head that i'd only be doing the same mods to a newer, slightly different shape car.

JohnS - I don't really corner hard often and being a big lad I don't think i'd slide about much.

[Alan-G]

For what its worh mate, rule kids out of the equation all together.

They will appear when they appear, we cant look into the future.

I got my Hawkeye 7 or so months ago and we have a 21 month old daughter with mum at Uni.

Do what your heart feels. But remember, Live for now because 'now' will never happen again.

That was as good advice I can give you. (probably as usefull as a chocolate teapot)  [:$]

[iainc]

 I like to spend money on my car, clean it, polish it, see it's reflection in shop windows and say "Hey, thats smart, thats mine".

 

You are welcome come and clean and/or spend money on mine if you want []

Like someone else said, don't worry about "what if's", etc. if kids come along you may need to get shot of it but you may not. Everyone thought I would get shot of my old wagon when my first kid came along but we kept it for a good few years after that, and now I'm back in a scoob again after being away from one for a couple of years.

[thefastone]

I wouldn't really like to say one way or another, but yeah, Kids should never affect your decision, because at the end of the day, its a family car anyways....   []

[~ ~ Cal ~~]

tough one but...........................I would stick with the blob eye and do NOTHING ! Your car does not need anything else and alloys on the new hawkeye suck. You have spent time and money on your rex' so why sell it now ?

42k is nothing ! So pay it off and enjoy the proceeds. I paid mine off a year ago and always hanker for an STi but I aint' that keen on the high wing or the gold rims. So instead I will mod what i have and save lots of dough.

CGS

[dan_jess]

Why not get 4hero to photoshop the new one with ur wheels etc.

If ur not goin to anythin else to the blob then u may get bored of it and want the newer one anyway

[]

[gordon_macdonald]

heated seats clinched it for me when i bought mine

how do u still have a warranty on the blob eye?

dont ur mods invalidate th warranty 

[cusco kid]

hi m8 go for it you will love it the engine is turbine smooth  red is sexy big spoiler gold 18 in wheels suspension sorted out maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagic geo

[colzo]

I`ve been in this dilemma before and always ended up with a new car! I think if you go for it then make it a long term car, take what mods you can of your present car and don`t look back. If you do have kids then at least the leather will be easier to clean! []

[BJM]

My thoughts are hang off for a year.  Once the new shape scoob appears the second hand value of the current shape should drop,  then grab your self a bargin.  Or consider buying an import.

[dan_jess]

Yes, but so will the price he can get for his current car, its 6 and half a dozen i suppose

[BJM]

Yes, but so will the price he can get for his current car, its 6 and half a dozen i suppose

 

 

good point [Y]