kermitt

Am looking at £11k, its an '06 with 17k miles on the clock. Seems marginally dearer than some have seen but only a couple around. It is in a nearby Ford dealership hence the obvious markup however it still has 1 years Subaru warranty remaining and Ford are prepared to offer another year on top. Oh, yes its immaculate too. I certainly like the idea of the lower running costs, my M3 has cost me over £1500 quid in the last year in OEM parts alone on top of paying the finance. I have done the majority of the work myself where possible to keep garage costs down (however I like getting my hands dirty now and then) but obviously there are things you can't do yourself on axle stands! Bearing this in mind the warranty available looks attractive but how comprehensive this is I need to investigate further. I don't necessarily have to tune it quicker providing it compares favourably to the M3 in terms of performance. The reason I say this is I bought a C2 VTR over 2 years ago after I got rid of my RS and only kept it for 6 months cos I was disappointed with the power in comparison and got the M3 to feed my obsession (bit drastic I know). I reckon I shall probably concentrate on handling and braking mods as well as adding a couple of other subtle exterior touches rather than going for absolute power but it would be nice to know how I can improve the engine. I read on another post that subarus require an intensive 3 year service which can prove expensive, assuming of course this comment was based on a typical turbo model though. Is this correct? How much is this roughly? What does this cover that makes it different from a normal service? Also, are the older WRX turbos only a two litre turbo? I would love an STi or even a P1 but running sometyhing like that is not really feasible. I have read a review of AWD motorpsort in nearby Perth which looks very good indeed so at least I have spotted a specialist. My nearest specialist for the M3 is Dundee but the guy is getting on a bit so how long he stays in business am not sure. Last time I spoke to him a year ago he was considering retiring. Am really in a major dillema now, I love the M3 but its not that practical and I don't have the extra funds or garage space to give it some real attention plus it needs to be a daily driver. Oh and another thing its probably one of the least safest things to drive in terms of features e.g no airbags, no roll cage, no side impact and its showing early rust in a couple of patches. Basically what I am trying to say is that to keep it it will cost a lot to get to the standard I want e.g. full strip and re-spray, wheel re-furb and engine re-build etc so looking at thousands! Although they are going up in price (I can basically re-coup what I have spent easily) it will need alot of time and attention quite soon which involves taking it off the road for quite some time. As a side issue I know how gutted I was when I sold my RS turbo last year (which was seriously absolutely mint) and then I see some other punk driving it. I'm sure there are others out there that have felt that tsame displeasure themselves.

Been checking out an '06 R Sport today looks very nice indeed, has had different alloys fitted which seem similar to those from a P1 as. well as some stick on bonnet scoop. The dealer stated that could be removed cos I mentioned it looked naff and a bodge job at that done by the previous owner. Anyway, I am trying to find a more in depth review of this car but everything I have found points to the WRX and STi's of this world. Can someone point me in the right direction here. I currently drive an '89 E30 M3 as my daily driver which I simply adore, however it is very expensive for parts and is not exactly the most economical either what with being a 2.3l and some 19 yrs old! As standard it pumped out 197 bhp, not sure how close it still is to the original figure but it was aready chipped and certainly shifts! Anyway, I see that the R Sport is only a 2.0 and non-turbo. Realistically this may suit me as an everyday and something I can get my girlfriend insured on too(stops me getting nagged for having a quick car she can't get to drive), however I have always liked fast cars and would no doubt prefer a turbo version. I had an Rs turbo escort some years ago and loved that to bits. However, what can be done here? Are we talking wild cams, ported/gas flowed heads etc. I certainly don't want anything slower than the M3. Spoke with someone from Star Performance today and he mentioned that trying to tune a N/A engine is although not necessarily difficult it would be expensive and was far better of getting a turbo version if thats what I wanted. Think I need to go for another test drive and boot it up a section of the motorway first to compare to the M3. My other concern is depreciation, already compared to new this car has virtually halved in value and am concerned that it may drop much farther than equivalent WRX's & Sti's. Am I correct on such an assumption? Furthermore, am I right in saying that as this face lifted version has a different flat 4 engine and no longer has the classic Subaru burble? It did sound throaty on the test drive but not how I was originally expected. Thoughts anyone?