STi guys - save me 11 million searches on NASOIC

[Beej]

I know Shea only has like 10k miles or something, and Maeng is up to 48 or something (all under his belt). Here's to hoping you guys have done your research.

So I really have no idea how long I'm going to have this for, but it'll probably be for awhile. What are common issues? If we talked about it already at the party, I'm not gonna remember that so forgive me for repeating (espeically you Maeng, I already picked your brain). Is the tranny going to explode like it does on regular WRX's (doing some research, doesn't seem to be as bad...)? What other common issues should I look out for? I've heard they put crappy clutches in to reduce shock on the drivetrain - does it not last long?

I might be getting one with anywhere from 10-40k or so miles, so any and all advice you have will be helpful.

[Mike]

you're an idiot. did the drive home today teach you nothing? i seriously smiled as i was pulling away from work. cheesey, yes, but truly awesome as well.

[Beej]

you're an idiot. did the drive home today teach you nothing? i seriously smiled as i was pulling away from work. cheesey, yes, but truly awesome as well.

Thanks. That saved me a lot of searches.

[Mike]

you tit, the cars are solid.

[CaptainHenreh]

Well, the glass transmission.

Other than that, you just have to worry about boost rot.

[WRXtranceformed]

The STI absolutely does not have a glass tranny. It's a hundred times stronger than that of the WRX. The axles will break before your gears do.

The clutch is OK. It should last you as long as it treats you well. Mine was gripping solidly even with close to 400whp. It will get replaced for the new setup though.

You're going to be buying a great car. Definitely do a compression test before you buy a used STI though and check for aftermarket modifications. If you get bitten by the mod bug, the STI is just a downpipe and a reasonable tune away from 300+whp and 330-340ish wtorque.

[Nis01]

Agreed with Lee. The tranny is solid, you shouldn't have any worries of something going wrong in that department. The clutch can take plenty of abuse but once you go new turbo and supporting mods to boot, you might be looking for something thats a bit stronger. If you plan on keeping it simple (under 400 hp), the clutch should last you just fine. Another good point is to make sure you check out any aftermarket modifications on or previously on the car... intakes and BOVs are a no no on an otherwise stock boxer and can lead to some problems down the road. Compression is probably not a bad idea for peace of mind in case a poor tune was previously used on the car...*cough* Lee *cough* Just kidding bud :wink: .

Find one thats been taken care of and you should have no problems. The car was well thought out from the factory and is pretty solid in most every department. Oil changes are kind of a pain in the ass and anything you work on requires taking 6 other things to be taken off to get it to it :? . Maintenance on the car can get fairly expensive over 60k with some of your "wear" items, if you follow the recommended maintenance procedure but its worth it. Its a fun car to toss around with plenty of torque for any situation. So far mine has been problem free and I've enjoyed owning it, although gas gets a little pricey when you utilize that b00st thing :lol:

Its probably a little bit too much of a car for me but it fits my college cargo carrying need and seems to be pretty safe, plus I just love the car for some reason. Good luck on finding one, I'm sure you'll love the Subaru community! Check out IWSTI.com, Its a very knowledgable group of STi enthusiasts without all of the flaming that goes on over on NABISCO. There always seems to be plenty of nice STis floating around for sale on the forums as well. Let me know if you have any more specific questions, although I'm sure Maeng or Lee can probably answer better than I can.

EDIT: Sorry for the novel. :roll:

[WRXtranceformed]

Agreed with Lee. The tranny is solid, you shouldn't have any worries of something going wrong in that department. The clutch can take plenty of abuse but once you go new turbo and supporting mods to boot, you might be looking for something thats a bit stronger. If you plan on keeping it simple (under 400 hp), the clutch should last you just fine. Another good point is to make sure you check out any aftermarket modifications on or previously on the car... intakes and BOVs are a no no on an otherwise stock boxer and can lead to some problems down the road. Compression is probably not a bad idea for peace of mind in case a poor tune was previously used on the car...*cough* Lee *cough* Just kidding bud :wink: .

Find one thats been taken care of and you should have no problems. The car was well thought out from the factory and is pretty solid in most every department. Oil changes are kind of a pain in the ass and anything you work on requires taking 6 other things to be taken off to get it to it :? . Maintenance on the car can get fairly expensive over 60k with some of your "wear" items, if you follow the recommended maintenance procedure but its worth it. Its a fun car to toss around with plenty of torque for any situation. So far mine has been problem free and I've enjoyed owning it, although gas gets a little pricey when you utilize that b00st thing :lol:

Its probably a little bit too much of a car for me but it fits my college cargo carrying need and seems to be pretty safe, plus I just love the car for some reason. Good luck on finding one, I'm sure you'll love the Subaru community! Check out IWSTI.com, Its a very knowledgable group of STi enthusiasts without all of the flaming that goes on over on NABISCO. There always seems to be plenty of nice STis floating around for sale on the forums as well. Let me know if you have any more specific questions, although I'm sure Maeng or Lee can probably answer better than I can.

EDIT: Sorry for the novel. :roll:

+1, good writeup Shea ^_^

[ScottyB]

i've heard cylinder 3 can have a tendency to run lean on the 2.5. what say you, scooby fans?

[Nis01]

i've heard cylinder 3 can have a tendency to run lean on the 2.5. what say you, scooby fans?

You'll have to ask Lee on that one, he knows about blowing engines. :twisted:

It seems to be less of an issue on the STi, not as sure about the wrx. I believe it is the 2.0L engine that runs into the problem more so than the 2.5L boxer. Very rarely do I ever see anything about this topic, I had to go look it up. Quote from somewhere:

"Cylinder number three - the one nearest the turbo - is almost invariably the cylinder that gives trouble in GC8s. There are numerous theories, but it seems the problems are linked to lean mixtures and/or detonation in that cylinder. Number three is the last cylinder to receive fuel from the rail and we've heard any drop in fuel pressure means it starves."

[Maengelito]

the only problem i've had in my car that wasnt my fault was the rear shocks which seemed to be a problem in a lot of STi's. they were replaced under warranty though so its all good. the glass trannies were more common in the wrx, not the STi. i havent done any mods, so my personal experience is nil with how the car likes intakes and downpipes and exhausts, but i've read that the car doesnt like them too much without a proper tune. my one gripe with the car is the massive understeer, but thast nothing a big fat rear sway bar cant fix. things i wish the car had might include fold down rear seats (which the jdm version had), better interior ergonomics which i think the '05 has, and doing an oil change wasnt so god damn messy. but thats probably more my fault than the design of the car. i say stick with the stook until convertibles get put away into garages and then pick up an STi. as the transmitter of b00st rot to you, i say go for it.

[Nis01]

Well stated Maeng. You touched on a few topics I wanted to mention but didn't think of all of them at one time. As far as understeer, I went with the HUGE front sway bar tactic and the car handles amazingly neutral now. The car does require tuning for the most reliable and safe output of power. Another issue being seen is boost creep caused by open mouth downpipes with a full catless turboback exhaust... although it seems to be pretty easily fixed with a custom mapped tune, a divorced bellmouth downpipe, or the use of a high-flow cat. The rear strut clunk does seem to be a pretty common occurence but can usually be either replaced under warranty or in most situations just upgraded to something else. So far Subaru has been very good to me about replacing parts under warranty, I haven't had to replace anything on the STi yet but I hope for the same treatment... wish me luck. The only other gripe I have is that the seats seemed to be made for the average American in which case I guess I'm not one of them because they don't hold me in as much as I would like... at least they're comfortable.

BTW.. why would you want to get rid of the convertible now that its getting warm. Keep the S for the summer, buy a STi and some snow tires when the winter gets here. Best of both worlds.

[BLAIR]

understeer and added a front sway bar??? that would only make understeer worse?? did you add one in the back too?? im confused??

[Mike]

subies are weird like that... i really need to read up on suspension dynamics.

[Nis01]

Quick and basic explanation I found on NABISCO:
"The Impreza chassis is nose-heavy being quite similar to a FWD chassis in weight distribution. It also has a McPherson strut suspension, which has quite a lot of camber change as a corner loads from body roll or weight transfer.

This loading of the corner changes camber to positive, so one is essentially riding only on the very edge of the tire instead of using a more optimal contact patch. Adding a front swaybar loads a corner more (say a -1 in the grip department like suspension tuning books talk about) but helps the camber curve so greatly that the overall effect (camber change minimization worth say a +3 or +4 for grip) is a net of +2 or +3.

Another benefit to the larger front swaybar is the turn-in response; the car responds much more quickly than without a larger bar.

The "problem" of the STi during cornering isn't that the rear is not getting enough traction but rather the ratio of front to rear traction during cornering. More front and less rear traction means more looseness, or a greater likelihood to "rotate." By adding a larger front bar, you're changing that ratio of front grip vs. rear grip and thus the car will "rotate" better or push less; whichever way you'd like to look at it."

Crazy Subies. Still want one? :wink:

[.RJ]

Tuning AWD cars is a bit different - with struts up front, adding a bigger swaybar can reduce the camber change under compression (load) - I know some guys that have removed the rear swaybar as well on their WRX's.

[Beej]

I know it'd be awesome to keep the s2k for the summer, but a big reason I want to do this (and I've been debating it for awhile - I even looked at a high mileage e39 M5 at one point) is to avoid the depreciation hit that I'd take at the end of the summer. At that point, I'd have 10-15k more miles (I'm really racking them up), dead 18" tires, and a car nobody wants to drive in the winter.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE dropping the top, and I'm going to miss it...I'm just not sure that it's worth the thousands of dollars I'm going to lose in the next few months.

[JackoliciousLegs]

My Suby is a simple 2.5rs but it has a bigger rear sway bar and doesn't understeer NEARLY as badly as I expected. In fact, at a recent AutoX, the tail rotated perfectly without being too skitish.

I still don't know if I'd take an STi over an s2k. Guess it's just about what you want out of a car.

[Mike]

jack, did you leave early from said autox? you know, don't want to put too much stress on the car

[ScottyB]

would a non-strut AWD car react similarly? i'm not familiar with the nuances of the camber curve in my car but i'm curious if the monster front bar would have a similar effect.

does the STi have a LSD in the front diff? the reason i ask is that i also wonder if the bar doesn't just work in a mechanical grip sense, but also in manipulating the AWD system. if, when cornering, the big front bar causes the inside front to be light under corner exit, would that not cause the diff to transfer power to the outside front and perhaps to the rear also? that would in turn cause the car to tuck in and possible oversteer on exit, right? :?