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How has your wrx held up

4K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  psinuse 
#1 ·
I don't have a WRX yet but hope to soon. I plan on buying a used WRX wagon to drive to work, hall my dog, and take on trips. I did plan on getting a forester XT because stock it looks like it should take off a little quicker and I wanted the 2.5 and I wanted a sleeper. But I can get a WRX for a lot less and they seem to get better gas milage.

My question is what should I look for? Are there any mods that will break down the engine or should I look for one that is not modded. Also are there any commin problems that I should check out?


Thanks for your help !Thumbs Up
 
#4 ·
Leather is an option now???


Mine is a STG 4+ wagon with over 50k no problems whatsoever. Just remember they will only treat you as good as you treat them. Drive it like you hate it and its gonna hate you right back ;)

the more background you can get on the car the better
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the advise. After reading through some of the forums I think I'll try to find a stock one. Oh BTW why should I avoid the air-intake. Is it because there is a chance that it ingested some water or do they cause other problems with the subarus?
 
#7 ·
01tj said:
I don't have a WRX yet but hope to soon. I plan on buying a used WRX wagon to drive to work, hall my dog, and take on trips. I did plan on getting a forester XT because stock it looks like it should take off a little quicker and I wanted the 2.5 and I wanted a sleeper. But I can get a WRX for a lot less and they seem to get better gas milage.

My question is what should I look for? Are there any mods that will break down the engine or should I look for one that is not modded. Also are there any commin problems that I should check out?


Thanks for your help !Thumbs Up
If at all possible, try to find one privately so that you can talk to the preivous owner to find out if mods were done and which one were done. Many rexs have been modded to hell (stage 4 ++), returned to stock, and resold. Look for things like new bolts on old parts. I would suggest a VERY extensive look at the car. A lot can be told from a leakdown test, and oil analysis.

I also have a stage 4 (well, pretty close to it anyway), with 30K on the car, and everything runs great. Like someone else said, treat her right and maintain her, and she'll treat you right. Do the RIGHT mods, and do you homework.

good luck!
 
#8 ·
By treat her right you guys mean regular maintance such as changing the oil every 3000k with good motor oil such as mobil1 synthetic not drive it like tracker right. Looking at some of your mods it appears that your cars are used for fast driving and quick accelerating but I just wanted to be sure. I always maintain my vehicles (except for the Audi but its maintaince is performed by the stealership under warranty) meticulously. I know Subarus have a good track record for being dependable and lasting a long time.

BTW thaks for the input on the cold air intake. The short ram is the one that I have been seeing the most anyway.
 
#9 ·
Yes, change all fluids on time, wait til she warms up before beating the piss out of her, check the oil to make sure you're not low etc etc, you get the point. The engine is VERY well desinged, and will last a long time if taken care of properly. I use royal purple synthetic motor oil, and I change it around every 6K miles, depeding on driving habits, I ran the last batch to 7K and it still had additives in it to go longer (TBN=3). Changing syntetic at 3K is a waste of money. Every other oil change I send a sample of it to a company call blackstone laboratories, and they run tests on the oil to see how much additives are left in it, and if any abnormal engine wear is occuring etc etc. I would look into them if you try to do extended oil intervals.
 
#10 ·
i got my wagon back in march w/34 miles on it. i have 32k miles on it now. started to order parts for it the night i took her home.

here's a rough breakdown of the power mods:
~1000 to ~10k miles - Bosal DP and cat-back
~10k to ~20k miles - Cobb AP (stg2 map), Bosal DP and cat-back
~20k miles to present (32k miles) - Cobb AP (VF30/93 map), Helix UP, Helix DP and Greddy Evo2 cat-back.

i change the oil at ~7500miles w/Mobil1 and just sent in oil to get analyzed by Blackstone. the tranny fluids were replaced with RedLine MT-90 & Shockproof.

she runs like a champ.
 
#12 · (Edited)
A few more questions. Is it possible to go to AutoZone and pick up a K&N filter and just bolt it to the end of the stock intake? Is a high flow intake elbow OK? And how many cats can I safely and leagaly eliminate with a turbo back?

Another question I would like to add is, is there any thing that you can do to the vacum hoses to increase boost. I have a couple of friends who say they are doing this. One had a Supra and I think he was removing a hose but that is in a twin turbo. Another friend has a SRT-4 and said that he did something to his hoses and is running 18 pounds of booste without a chip.
 
#13 ·
1) K&N does make a dropin Panel filter. Don't know if you can get it at AutoZone

2) If by intake elbow you mean a short ram intake like this

then yes and Engine management is not needed for this.

3) Safely you can eliminate all the cats, Leagally (technically None) but you can eliminate 2 and pass emmisions or replace the final one with a high flow cat.

4) You can replace the the restrictor between the Compressor outlet and the wastegate with one that is 3/16 to increase the boost. But be warned Raising the boost on a WRX without at the very least compensating with more fuel is a bad Idea.

That said, Do a search, ask more questions read ALOT then take the most educated path to the level of upgrades you want. Try to avoid the 1 step forward 3 steps back approach to tuning. You will save Mucho Deniro and Many headaches.
 
#16 ·
I don't like Autozone or Advanced Auto, but that's where I got my K&N Filter because that's all I knew at the time.

The intake elbow if you're talking about the piece that replaces the intake resonator (aka silencer) then yes, that's okay.

I have both of those items and my car still runs like it did when I drove it off the lot. I haven't had the car long, but in 7 months, I put +16k miles on it.
 
#17 ·
I don't have a wrx but i have a 2.5 and i will vouch for the engine as being indestructable. The only problems that i have had with the car is the clutch pedal squeaks and they've replaced it and it still does. Not sure why...its probably just my luck that i would get the one bad pedal in America...

-Stewy
 
#20 ·
i've taken the car in 3 times and had the whole clutch pedal assymbly replaced and every time it starts squeaking again about 10 miles away from the shop...anyone know how to fix it cause it can be heard from the out side and let me tell you...its a really impressive sound
 
#21 ·
Hmm

well... the '02 clutch pedal in my car doesn't sqeak at all.... but both my front windows sure do squeal whenever i put them down... and its sure annoying as all heck... anyone? anyone?

subarus are good, dependable, and safe cars to drive around in, but they sure do have little quirks here and there that can be annoying... but i suppose this is the case with all cars in the world, none are perfect. i'll take reliability over a little quirkiness anytime.
 
#22 ·
I have a G35 as well with the premium sound system so i don't really car about the subaru quirkys all that much. It obviously isn't a nice car that is designed not to squeak like the infiniti. Underneath it all its a race car and as it was being designed they didn't think about squeaky stuff. IMO you can't get a better car out there 2.5 rs or WRX with a 4WD system, and handling, and tuning potential like the Subaru's the way i figure it just make the engine mean and loud as hell and put a bunch of cool little gauges inside and all the squeaks and quirkies will go away...

SUBARU-The Beauty of All Wheel Drive

-Stewy
 
#23 ·
REXronald said:
well... the '02 clutch pedal in my car doesn't sqeak at all.... but both my front windows sure do squeal whenever i put them down... and its sure annoying as all heck... anyone? anyone?

subarus are good, dependable, and safe cars to drive around in, but they sure do have little quirks here and there that can be annoying... but i suppose this is the case with all cars in the world, none are perfect. i'll take reliability over a little quirkiness anytime.
OH Yea, the windows are very annoying. just when you think they stopped squealing, ITS BACK!!! :mad:

and yea, i agree that the wrx is a very dependable (at least it has not been towed home yet.) !Thumbs Up, safe, and of course the most fun to drive. But they do have there issues and can drive a man insane once in a while.
Just my $.02
Noogin
 
#24 ·
Yea, feel lucky you don't own a KIA(you should do a search on there recall list :eek: ). The Subaru line of cars are very well build cars yeah they have there quirks but you find me a car that is mass produced that doesn't. My friend has a 1998 Corvette and he just recently had the steering lock recall fixed on his car, that was a $40k+ new and it has alot more flaws than a car like that should have. I have owned my WRX for a few months now and have alot of fun with it, but then again I also had fun with my $500 Ford Festiva :D .


Later, Keith
 
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