mystery machine

P.S. Focus ST is a nice car in nearly every respect, but personally I'd find it hard to return to front wheel drive after the Scoob...

Not fancy an M3 for a bit of wild RWD action? It'd be higher mileage than perhaps you're looking for, but hey - it's an M3!

P.S. It's also an effective camouflage, should you ever find yourself parked alongside one of these... You could rip off all their bacon rolls and they'd be none the wiser

Certainly has more 'presence' than the standard motor... But then so would a bus... Nah, too much mouldit plastic for me

John, first time I've seen your motor and - what can I say - it's exceeded my expectations! Certainly individual - no-one can take that away from you And I love the "Shake'N'Bake" sticker

Cheers again, John. I wasn't aware you were so new to the game. I'm kind of the other way around - I used to know more about cars, as I seemed to spent a lot of my time fixing/maintaining the basturds. Could quite happily sit and read a Haynes manual of an evening when I was a younger lad (!). Forgot way more than I ever learned. Never was much of a modder, save for the odd set of alloys - never had the spare cash (or credit) for much else! Thanks also for the offer of trying out your coilovers. I may well be looking for advice on replacement springs/shocks at some point when my car's out of warranty and the OEM parts give in...

I can see ma hoose fae there! Nice - looks like you chose a good day for it too!

Just meant 'new' as in 'yer new motor', not 'brand new' Looking forward to seeing some Bill Hicks!

Nice! The sun was out today and I saw quite a few rears that I would like to have gotten a better view of.

Hi, and welcome to the club Second new Hawkeye STi I've heard about this week, I'm well jealous!

Cheers, Frank.I had heard that Geo is a bit of a whizz with all things handling - I'll bear him in mind if/when I get around to doing something about this (assuming I can't stretch to that STi). I'm a bit wary about sticking a stiffer ARB on there - the independence between the two sides of the car is IMO one of the reasons it rides so well (considering its cornering capabilities) - it's just great at coping with roads that undulate quickly from one side to the other. My last car had a rather stiff front ARB from the factory (presumably to compensate for its pretty rubbish suspension) and it rode like a wh0re for it - a bump on one side of the car and the whole thing was all over the place. The WRX does roll a bit, which can play on your confidence, and less roll is always nice, but I think I've acquired a bit of a feel for it. Frank, that's a very good point. It's the outsides of the front tyres I'm seeing wear quickest, so a bit of negative camber should actually help there... hmmmm...Although I understand that the fast road settings spec a wee bit of 'toe out', which I've read can increase tyre wear ('feathered' tread?). Maybe I'd get away with it if it wasn't too extreme. Cheers, mate

That's making my wallet throb just looking at it

OK, I'll rephrase that - you listed the reasons why you should have bought an STi in the first place! Only kidding, mate - very easy for the likes of me to be wise after the event, eh? I heard rumours of your extensive mods - and that's a helluva list right there for a relatively new motor. Were you aware that you may be risking your engine & gearbox when you made the engine mods or were you of the mind that the WRX drivetrain should have been able to take the extra grunt? Just curious. Have you got an STi steering rack too, then? (the STi steering gearing is higher - another one of the reasons I fancy one). I considered the fast road geo settings when I had the four wheel alignment done, but given that the car covers roughly 60% of its mileage on the motorway, I was concerned about the possibility of uneven tyre wear. As I understand it, an anti-lift kit may have the same trade-off.Quite interested in the droplinks, though... are you certain they don't affect ride quality? I'd have thought a harder material would transfer vibrations more readily (I suppose the question is whether or not the vibrations would be transfered into the cabin). I should probably explain why I'm keen on upgrading the whole car rather than making mods here and there. Thing is (and this may sound like a strange thing to say on this forum) - as much as I love my Scooby, the car isn't really a hobby for me. I'm into driving, whacking it around bends, etc and (hopefully) improving my driving skills all the time I'm at it. But when it comes to cars, I just like to buy a car that I can enjoy more-or-less as it stands, and is also as new as I can afford so that it should give me the minimum of hassle (that's been my experience of old vs newer motors). Cars come in and out of life so often that I can only become so enthusiastic about owing them. I just don't like the idea of investing a whole load of time, money and emotion in something that will be history in just a few short years. Been there, done it and cannae be ersed any more. Absolutely no offence meant to those who like to mod BTW, each to his own! Having said that, I'm open to the idea of making the odd inexpensive tweak here and there - so thanks for the suggestions on how to sharpen the handling - I might just look into those droplinks Cheers, Tam.

Fair enough, I know what you mean - a few years ago I used to have to park my motor on a main street and the side whit faced the road didn't stand a chance staying clean, what with all the lorries, 4x4s and tractors (!) hammering past all day Class! Sounds like someone might've gone home on Saturday night with an altogether different sort of STi after those on-the-bunnet shenanigans!Got to love Camelon, makes Monklands look quite cultured... (just kiddin', Monklanders ). P.S. Wonder how many times can I use that STi joke and still get away with it...

Loving the new motor - was admiring it in the showroom before you bought it Gavin - what's with that Spec D on your forecourt? Looked like it had been dragged out of a quarry when I went across to take a butchers' at it couple of weeks ago...

Cheers, Colin I saw ScoUK's thread, and was most impressed by the lustre on his bug. I was also intrigued by this 'clay' business, as I've never heard of it before! Must look into that... Aye, cue the rain... never mind, at least it's beading off the paintwork now!

Power, power, power... it's a bottomless pit, I tell you! In all seriousness, the stronger gearbox, stronger engine internals and bigger turbo are all very nice, but don't really address any of the issues I have with the WRX. I think you've probably listed the reasons why you have an itching for an STi, John Of course, as you say, when it comes to sharp handling there's plenty room for improvement in an STi too, but for me it's all about striking a livable balance. I mean, I can understand why some of you track hounds go to great lengths to tune your engines/suspension to their absolute peak performance, but I don't intend on going on track at all, so any car I drive has to be able to do the business back and forward to work on our less-than-perfect highways - without twisting my spine or rattling my fillings oot A boggo STi would (for me) probably be a good compromise between performance and comfort. Cool - looking forward to seeing some Harvey Nics when it's finished (rhyming slang for the toffs there)

P.S. When I add up all the wee things I'd like to improve about the car - i.e. sharper steering, better braking, less understeer, flatter cornering - it would make most sense just to flog it at some point and replace with an STi

Cheers for the compliments, guys Thought that someone might say that Aye, it would certainly do the looks no harm to lower it a tad, and that would likely sharpen the (sometimes woolly) handling a little too. But because of the gash state of the roads I drive to work I don't have any plans to touch the suspension for now - perhaps once it's well out of warranty and I'm facing a bill for replacing the OEM choc-absorbers... It doesn't want for grip, that's for sure... Is that you getting your car park and boulder damage sorted at the moment, John?

I'm impressed that he managed to generate that amount of oversteer in the first place... although I'm guessing that the vid makes it look like he was approaching the HP a lot slower than he actually was

That's a shine that wouldn't look out of place in the window of Ernest Jones', mate - spectacular! And you weren't farting about with that soap, either!

Thanks, Andy - I must admit that I didn't really think the photos were doing the paintwork justice. The sun was fairly high when I took the pics, and you know how it is - when the sun is lower in the sky you can get a far cooler 'glassy' look Having said that, the pics don't show up the cat scratches on the bonnet either, so that's a bonus! I've only polished it twice since purchasing last autumn (although the most recent polish was last week). I use this: http://www.turtlewaxuk.com/prod.asp?Partcode=FG5585 IIRC, it's a silicone-based polish, so one downside is that it can be difficult not to leave polish streaks after you've taken it off (only visible in direct sunlight - although perhaps a machine buffer would help with this). Having said that, any streaks usually disappear after a couple of washes.

I would guess that the ECU has pulled back the boost (and timing?) after sensing knock when you were using the low octane fuel. The ECU learning on these cars is quite noticeable (intrusive, even), e.g.: Off work recently for a week - every time I took the car out I had the opportunity to use the rev range a few times. After that week was through the engine performance felt smoother and quicker than it ever had - generally more 'boosty' and predictable. Now that it's had a week of pottering about back and forward to work, it's back into 'economy' mode... Took it out last night for a bit of a caning to help 'persuade' it back into fun mode (where I wish it would stay!). Feels a bit better today... So make sure you give it a decent spirited drive or three after flushing out that "punters' unleaded"

P.S. I did well to score that reg, especially considering that I had to outbid these three wannabes: