Buying an STi PPP impreza 04 UK

I've been pleasantly surprised by my 2004 STi, and it hasn't been coddled. It seems pretty reliable - indeed, very little needed done at the 30,000 mile service. The Subaru dealer I'm using has kept everything very cheap - e.g. a regular 3,000-mile service is USD20 with the coupons they send me. It's the first car I've owned that I've positively enjoyed driving. (Mine's the US-spec STi, so without prodrive stuff, but with good HP from the 2.5l engine, so probably similar in the end.) It's worth it to me to know I can significantly outperform most of the other cars around me, because then I can easily evade idiots.

I can't compare to other WRX, though, because I've never tried a non-STi one.

Of course, many parts are more expensive for the STi - e.g., the brake pads. They're not /very/ much worse, though, and I was kind of used to that with my last car anyway so maybe I don't notice so much.

Yes, you can get away with it. mpg isn't terrible unless you drive it hard all the time - drive more gently, using the turbo less, and mpg won't be outstandingly bad. So you can pick times when you feel rich to have fun. (-:

Biggest cost for me so far was that I wanted tyre traction to match the rest of the car's performance, so I have separate wheels+tyres for summer and for winter, so as well as the OEM ones I use in summer I bought a separate set of 17" x 7" wheels with Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2s.

One question you have to ask yourself: will you regret not having an STI if you get the WRX turbo instead? Maybe try test-driving them both.

-- Mark

IMO if you're considering an STi, you will not be happy with a WRX.

If you work out that you can't afford the STi yet, don't get a WRX, wait until you can get the STi, or get an older STi even.

Loren

davea wrote: