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Buying 06 wrx and mods

5K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  titter 
#1 ·
Hi

I have been into wrx's for a while now and my dream car is an 06 Sti (as a daily).
For the mods im thinking of exhaust, intake and tune for power. Wheels, Tires, Coilovers and sway bars for handeling. Is this a good mod list and what would (on average) would these mods cost? I would install sways and coilovers myself and get professionals to 'tune' it and get wheel alignment (if needed).

What other mods you call nesseary to increase the reliability or fun factor of the car?

Would love to hear your opinions on the issue.
 
#2 ·
First consider is that you purchased a 10 year old performance car. Assuming it has the average 12k a year on the clock its definitely time for a timing belt replacement and it probably needs plugs and fresh vac lines. While your in there may as well swap all the fluids and run a cylinder compression and boost leak test just to make sure the engine is healthy before you start trying to make more power.

I would swap the order of intent and your missing a few important parts but nothing we cant help you sort out. Definitely start with suspension before making more power. Swaybars, Endlinks and Bushings all make for better handling. 10 year old struts/springs/bushings definitely need to be replaced and I personally prefer the adjustable strut/spring option but a decent quality coil over should have a similar effect. Once the suspension is sorted out you can turn to make more power.

As far as making more power the exhaust and tune are considerably more important than the intake and finding a reputable tuner really makes the difference between making more power, and SAFELY making more power.

When you have a moment post a few photos of your new WRX

Oh and dont forget to wave.
 
#3 ·
I got to say this segment of the market just doesn't make sense to me.

1) You have a certain performance from your car in mind
2) You have a certain budget in mind for the price of the car
3) the thought of spending some extra money on your car to make it substantially better is appealing

But your budget has pointed you towards a pricepoint that is in the land of very little reliability from a sports car like a WRX. Honestly if you were the owner of an 06 WRX I'd tell you to save your money for repairs. Buying better suspension when your current one wears out is much more cost efficient. After all, if you had money to burn would you own an 06 WRX in the first place?

If you can't afford a recent WRX, you probably should not be buying and older one. They maintain a tremendous percentage of their original value for how many miles/years are on them. They don't make good heavily used cars (certainly 10+ years old) due to how people drive them, modify them, and their tendencies with oil starvation/manual transmission weaknesses. There is demand clearly from people (I would suspect 16-25 year old boys) wanting to buy these things and that has really taken any kind of "sleeper value" out of the market.

Really the only people who should own a near-stock 06 WRX are guys who have nostalgia for their specific car or are financially in a position of easily replacing anything major that breaks and don't mind the other joys of a 10+ year old car. Most of the people in the later group end up modifying their cars with investments that dwarf the value of the car itself.
 
#4 ·
Most of the people in the later group end up modifying their cars with investments that dwarf the value of the car itself.
Hey there! nice to meet you :) lol

a little story for the OP:

i bought a 2002 wrx in april 2015 for $3700 safted, etested, 30day warranty from a dealer. ran great. pulled hard. was even able to re-sell the original motor i swapped out.

after an engine swap, new suspension, new brakes, and a plethora of other things done i am about $15,000 in total spent and i still have this to deal with... which he didnt find untill half way through the build. the outside repair was done well enough that i couldnt imagine the inside to be this bad.


whem im done though i'll have an almost brand new car.

can i sell it for what i put into it? not even close... but i never understood how people hold value into cars that arent some rare collectable. every car i ever had i drove untill it died and the wreckers took it away.

cars are a tool. you buy the tool, use the tool, and then throw it away when its no longer works. mind you its a really fun tool :)


in the end what im saying is you dont really need deep pockets, just understand that running a 10yr+ old performance vehicle is going to cost you alot more than just the purchase price.
 
#5 ·
I don't think there's anything WRONG with your course of action there titter. It's a lot more interesting than just buying a 2016 off the lot and driving it without so much as popping the hood for a few years. With less to risk in terms of the value of your car too, it can be much more rewarding to modify. Especially if something resembling stock wouldn't satisfy you (I'd say if the stock turbo is simply too small) then a used one has less valuable functional parts you're ditching for superior upgraded ones. I just think it should be made clear that the COST of that choice in vehicle to drive for a few years is not well reflected in the car's sticker price and not necessarily any cheaper than buying that 2016.

Part of what you miss out on driving a significantly older WRX is that new ones are really quite reliable when taken care of and you can use that big resale value to your advantage when you buy new and sell used. I hold that the cheapest way to drive a WRX for the rest of your life is to buy them new and sell them at around 100k miles (or 10 years in my case which is sooner). Rinse and repeat. You get good money for the car used and they're not terribly expensive new compared to any other non-micro sized sedan/hatch. Buying new means you know everything done to the car too, no mysterious surprises from the previous owner(s).

What I'm also saying is if your reply to getting a 2016 WRX would be "Gee, that'd be nice but I really can't afford it" then you should seriously re-think your purchase of a 2006 WRX. It could end up costing you more per mile than the new one.

EDIT:
The Impreza is closely related to the WRX and is one of the most purely practical cars on the road. Small, cheap, efficient, and reliable it's a good baseline for car cost to compare anything to. Here's the price of a 2006 Impreza new and now:

New in 2006 2.5i: starting at $18,500
Today: $7,400 with 108k miles
Depreciation: $11,100 or $102 every 1000 miles.

New in 2006 WRX: $24,620
Today: $11,600 with 108k miles
Depreciation: $13,020 or $121 every 1000 miles

Now the gas is slightly more expensive but the point is you're not talking about a substantially more expensive car. If I put on a 2006 BMW 3-series:
New in 2006 325i: $30,995
Today: $9,000 with 108k miles
Depreciation: $21,995 or $204 every 1000 miles
 
#6 ·
i dont think there is a right or wrong way really lol. im thinking along the same lines as you are. i merely shared my story as an example to the OP. pretty much for the same reasons as you state. if someone cant afford a payments on a new STI, trying to up-keep a 10yr old STI is not going to be any cheaper. or turning a wrx into an STI is the same thing for that matter.

reason i went my route is because i love the body style of the GD wagons (technically that makes is the GG chassis). since they came out i talked about owning a wrx wagon. and now i got one :) honestly i wanted a blobeye but now that ive had my bugeye over a year its grown on me and im glad i went bugeye.
 
#7 ·
before one thinks about throwing "mods" into/onto a car, one should be setting aside money for normal wear and tear parts.

CV boots/axles
clutch
brake components
radiator
any hoses connected to the engine
sparkplugs and wires
air filter
ALL fluids
tires


That's just off the top of my head and could realistically be around $3k+ just for parts. One could argue that "turbo" should be on that list.

After that, I would start thinking about "mods". Personally, I would start with bushings. And if you do pull the car apart to replace bushings, then you might as well consider replacing engine/tranny mounts, a pitch-stop "mount", tie-rod ends, installing an ALK and some sort of subframe brace while you're at it.

Either way, in my experience, mods to a WRX typically come in chunks of $3000. What I mean is, be prepared to spend around $3000 if you are going to take apart the car to upgrade parts (doesn't mean you will spend that much, just be ready to). After that, one should already have their next $3000 ready and waiting. The key to my reasoning is that when the car is apart, everything that can be addressed will be so that the same labor does not have to be repeated down the road.

Plan your work, and work your plan.
 
#9 ·
Thanks for the advice guys!
so what im getting is that make sure my car is healthy with replaced parts that are worn.
When buying a car 10 years old i would try to get one with farily low kms (e.g. under 100,000kms).
I prefer the look of the sedans rather than the hatchbacks from 07-16.

My idea would be to buy the car and drive it for a few months to see what I think it needs and in the mean time replace spark plugs and everything else that needs to be replaced.

Me being a huge WRX fan, the cost doesnt really matter because getting my dream car is priceless (well not rly but you get the idea).
 
#10 · (Edited)
heres a good chechlist:

change oil
change coolant
change trans fluid (if over 100k miles)
change diff fluid (if over 100k miles)
new spark plugs
new timing belt
new fuel filter
new air filter
new pcv valve
clean the MAF (maybe consider a new maf if over 100k miles)
inspect all rubber hoses and vacuum lines and replace any that are old and cracked

then buy a good set of TIRES as most used cars are sold with junk tires.

from here you'll be able to enjoy your car relatively worry free and starting making notes where your car needs improvement and mod from there. also doing all these maintenance items will give you a good look into the workings of your car and you'll be able to see anything that needs extra attention along the way.
 
#12 ·
If you buy an 06 WRX, do it because you COULD afford a 2016 WRX but would rather spend your money and time making an older one your own. Don't buy an 06 WRX because it's cheaper than a 2016 WRX. It's almost invariably not.

That's all I'm trying to say.
 
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