reevo1

In all seriousness bud, with an NA engine i dont think theres that much you can do besides letting it breathe better etc. You can change the cams and stuff but i think it starts getting expensive at that point, may as well insure the turbo. Another member may have a better idea but thats my knowledge coming from corsa backgrounds

you owe him a set of tyres is that a gb270 i spy in your avatar?

On a side note insurance seems to have jumped up £500 in the last week or so for my quotes on an STI. Not sure if this is a general rise across the UK. For anyone who's interested i saved a quote with an insurer last week. Hit "edit" on it today, changed nothing and pressed update, £500 added............nice lol Be curious to know if anyone else has noticed anything similar? in the last week to two weeks

Possibly a button just lights up red when pressed? Jokes aside maybe a mod to the diff as that button is normally around that area on hawkeye's as far as i know Reevo

Cheers lads More questions: 1 - with regards to the head gasget, what exactly am i checking for, that the headgasket has gone? (i.e temp going through the roof) or am i checking that some work has been done on it in the past? 2 - independant inspection, i assume this is a paid for service, any reccomendations? 3 - if a private buy isnt possible, how have you guys found haggling at garages? I dont have much luck lol they just seem to be along the lines of "thats the price of the car take it or leave it" which refers to the advertised price 4 - on my corsa vxr i had to have the gearbox bearings replaced under warranty at 40K due to a whining noise. I put it down to crap build quality to be honest as i had a string of problems before and after this. is there a rough expected milage that the clutch / gearbox last? i know this is down to the driver and car history but id rather not buy the car at 50k only to replace the gearbox at 60k for example as this is the expected lifetime. From reading i suspect this wont be the case however as i've only read posative about reliability Cheers, Reevo

Thanks for the replies so far guys I checked out the GB270, not keen on the grills at the front (yep im that picky lol) and also no blue STI interior =( The rear spoiler is something different though which i quite like. Still looking like an STI at this point. some more questions: 1 - noticed the STI has short shift gears, does the wrx have this (although in 5 speed) and how do people find it versus a non-short shift gearbox for day to day driving? 2 - with the PPP, since the car is kicking out more power does it use more fuel? ignore the fact that the driver will probably boot it more lol 3 - Milage, is it worth me going for something less than 50K or over 50K providing the major £800 service has been carried out? might seem like a daft question but if theres nothing that tends to go on the car besides what is changed in the 50K service then i may as well go for one over 50K. 4 - Private or trade? is it worth me paying higher prices at a garage for piece of mind or are these cars generally well looked after unless strikingly obvious? I realise i've posted a few questions on cost so far, which may seem a daft thing to ask considering the nature of the car but its always good to plan ahead and double check (i.e someone confirmed my 20mpg thoughts earlier) Cheers lads, Reevo

Thanks for the replies so far guys To jebus82, its not so much that it comes down, but more opens the door to cheaper insurers who wont normally touch me as I'm under 25. I'm with elephant at the minute but they only accept a max no claims of 5 years so i have 1 year sat doing sod all lol. Think quote me happy come back the cheapest, only about £300 more than what i've just payed for the vxr, which is still a darn sight cheaper than my first 1.2 lol!! Keep the replies coming!! Thanks, Reevo

Hi All, New on here so thought I'd give everyone a shout Looking to buy a 2006/7 STI (Hawkeye) and had some questions which hopefully you guys can answer: 1 - Are there any common faults with the STI? More specifically is there anything i should look out for when buying one. 2 - Leading on from q1 are these cars mechanically reliable? (assuming all servicing is carried out on time etc) 3 - how often does everyone replace tyres and do all 4 wear evenly due to the AWD? 4 - not too important but what MPG is everyone getting? 5 - noticed the factory sound system appears to have a tape player, are they crap in general, loudness etc? (be honest) 6 - looked at Graham Walker but in my opinion they were a little over priced and i've also read another topic on here about poor aftercare from them. Any other views would be appreciated. 7 - Can anyone reccomend a Subaru specialist near Blackburn, Lancashire? 8 - Fuel/tax/insurance aside, whats the cost of running these cars per year? (i.e do they need an oil transplant every 5 feet etc). To give you some background I've owned a Corsa VXR for the past 3 years and I'm coming up on 25 so insurance drops quite a bit as well as 7 years NCB. I'll be looking to trade my corsa in as a private buy seems to be out of the question with this new insurance law. Sorry for all the questions, seemed to make more sense asking you guys since you own and drive Subaru's you'l be the experts i hope lol!! Thanks, Reevo