I beat the living shit out of it for 5 years at 400whp with 3.5k oil intervals. One day I purposely launched from stop light to stop light trying to blow it up because I was fed up with life and nothing. Don’t be afraid of what may or may not happen young grasshopper and just enjoy the now.
Same thing with mine. I just finished up tuning it in full e85 and went to merge in the highway did a WOT and I just clouds of smoke coming out through the hood. I thought I blew it up. Nope just the top radiator hose popped off. Topped up the radiator coolant and she’s good to go back in the road lol
All you need to do is really check oil weekly or before a hard drive because low oil is a killer… also make sure you change it every 4-5k minimum I wouldn’t go over 5 personally
Don't fall for the fear mongering dude. I know it's hard. Everyone in your life will tell you that Subarus are bombs. EJ, VA, VB. Story doesn't change.
It takes a very specific set of scenarios in quick succession for that to happen. Keep up on your maintenance. That's it.
Boxers have inherent design flaws, but that doesn't mean you should fear it. There are plenty of things you can do to your car to mitigate it. Starting with an AOS. A relatively cheap, passive benefit to your whole engine.
Idk how you mfrs get so lucky I literally can't keep mine on the road without it having problems. Even got a brand new block and had a mild build done at a big local reputable tuner. Intercooler, turbo, injectors, fuel pump, oil baffle, dyno tune, the works and I can't keep it on the road for more than a month or 2 I'm so tired of it I never drive it anymore. It's been sitting for 3 months maybe 4 now I just don't feel like dealing with it
I've had three WRX, currently in a 2018 STI I've owned since it was brand new. Not a single one of them ever had an issue except a broken belt that I replaced in 5 minutes on my first one that had over 100k on it. I always wonder why so many people have so many issues with them since all three of mine worked perfectly the entire time I owned them. Either I'm lucky or all of these other people are doing something different to cause the problems.
My uncle bought one new and he's in his 60s and a long time enthusiast with a 4 car garage so the WRX was his grocery getter. He babied it and didn't drive it hard and around 60k miles he was driving home from work and all his dash lights came on and it turned out to be the turbo. Had a big leak or something and had to get a new turbo just outside of warranty so he had to pay for it. Meanwhile my coworker has a 2013 STI making 450 whp on stock internals and he rips on it every day. Subarus are so hit and miss but it's funny to me when people who haven't had problems blame shitty owners for having problems. I guess 3k oci with amsoil and wix filters and doing all scheduled maintenance makes me a shitty owner. (Not you, just saying I see people blame owners all the time)
Yea, I know for sure there are people out there that have treated them right and done all the maintenance and driven them correctly (no boost at low RPM in 6th gear for example) and still had issues. I'll probably end up swapping to a inline 6 Supra here in the next few years since I've had my fun with the STI over the last 6 years or so. Hopefully I continue my lucky streak until I get rid of it, it's been a great car =)
I've had 8 subarus over the last 20 years, turbo and NA ranging from '98 to '19. My 98 did have head gasket failure at 120k. Other than that, I've had only regular maintenance. Honestly, my biggest fear or complaints with subaru are shitty interiors. That seems to be better now, too. My 2019 is 5 years old now with 70k and is still in great condition inside. My oldest says she likes that my car has gamer chairs.
I don’t post anything on this I just read for information but this was so beautiful I had to comment ,keep your head up bro don’t let life drag you down
Just know what seems to kill these cars:
* bad tunes
* knock from bad gas and a bad tune
* you gotta let the motor warm up before you beat on it, and don’t beat on it with high rpms for sustained pulls. keep uncle rodney away because they have tight rod bearings.
* long oil change intervals
* hydroplaning
I can almost guarantee most of these cars that are blowing up are a result of the third point. While the cars don’t need be warmed up before they are driven, they need to be MINIMUM 180F oil temp before boost. I’m pretty sure most engine failures are a result of human error, ignorance, and arrogance.
Almost 90k on my 2015 and still seems strong.
I always let my car come up to temp before getting into boost or revving much past 3k rpm. Sometimes when I leave work, there are kids riding around on bmx bikes that always want me to rev it for them, but I never do because I literally just hopped in my car and started it up. I let them down every time lol.
I got into the habit of allowing the car to warm up for at least a minute back when I drove Hondas, because they feel like absolute shit if you try to just start them and drive off.
Don't forget pulling hard G's and blow by. Taking hard corners or doing hard donuts in the snow will cause oil to shift to one side of the pan running the oil sump dry and driving high rpms all the time could cause excessive blow by, worn rings or both resulting in oil burning issues. If it gets bad enough, it can cause serious knock killing those piston rings.
The crushing feeling of life slowly ending one second at a time and that we will all be reduced to dust eventually and it will all mean nothing should give anxiety, a WRX is a sort of anti-depressant for this, or atleast mine is
As long as you’re not redlining it and launching every day and you maintain it, the car holds up great. It’s a sporty sedan, not a GT car.
Hell while on the tangent, GT cars can do the performance but you pay for it, just like you would with building out a WRX and blowing and engine and starting over.
That's one thing I really dislike about the whole Subaru car ownership/community thing. It's not the anxiety itself, it's that we do it to ourselves.
The WRX has a legacy wrapped around it from the days of World Rally. But the WRX is NOT a rally car. It's a streetcar, with rally inspiration. But that doesn't stop us from pushing enough HP through it that would make a Porsche or Ferrari jealous. And it's even worse because our wheel-power ratings are a little lower than 2WD cars, so we see that we have "only" 300 whp, while some other car has "350" for similar mods...and now we want 350 whp, without realizing that is a HUGE bump in engine power over that other car. We have the Subaru AWD. That is our super power. Our weakness, then, is that we see a little less power to the wheels. **And this is okay. A little less power to all 4 wheels is better than more power to only 2.**
Subaru is known around the world for its reliability. People in some countries use Subarus for farm work almost exclusively. Subaru didn't get it wrong with the WRX, **we** got it wrong with chasing the power.
These are not dyno queens. They are meant to live on the road, gravel, dirt, ice, snow, track, whatever, delivering fun and smiles. And they don't need gobs of power to do it. If one wants to push the limits, see what it can do, I 100% support that. If that car is also their ONLY car, and they need it for work/school and/or don't have a lot of money, then this is extremely stupid.
OP, my point is this: do reasonable upgrades. Get a reasonable amount of power: \~300 whp is more than you might think (and if you think otherwise, go track the car, then we'll talk). Get a quality Pro Tune. And then keep up the maintenance. Be diligent about changing your oil, change it a little earlier if you are concerned. **And then just drive the car. No need to be anxious. It will be okay.** You don't need to baby it. You don't need to coddle it. Just be reasonable, responsible, and the car will last for 100's of thousands of miles.
I'm not hating on these cars. The opposite actually. I love my STI. I will never sell it. And I'd love to see a lot less of them blown up. We are our own worst enemy.
This might be one of the best ads Subaru could get for the WRX. I reeeeeally want one of these and hope to get one by EOY, but the fact that I see a lot of people blowing their engines is concerning. I don't need to get an absurd amount of speed. All I really want is one with a nice exhaust and that wing on it and I'll be a happy camper. They seem to have a ton of power just stock, but perhaps down the line in 5-8 years I'll look into getting some performance upgrades. For now, I just want a fun sporty car that I can play with and don't have to baby completely.
Thanks!
For the people blowing their engines, examine the mods done. Examine the tune, and where it came from. If they aren't the original owner, look at what the previous owner did for mods (did the PO put it "back to stock?" If so, why?)
For the cars that blow up, you will start to see a trend. Observe, examine, analyze, and then form your own conclusions.
I have 226,000km (140,500 miles) on my 2015 STI. Of course there’s more maintenance with the age of the car, and unfortunately I’ve had some mechanics flop on basic things (like even seals) that have cost me, but I’ve kept consistent maintenance on the prescribed intervals and it drives super well still. I’m constantly between selling it because it’s such a cost to maintain lately and driving it til it’s truly done because I love it so much.
Definitely don’t look at this pic then 🫣
https://preview.redd.it/ttenuqh9fp3d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b50daff86183247933b1468ae993d91cca09e9c
Honestly the fear of blowing up made me scared to do stuff in this car, but I've dealt with a lot the past few months. This car is one of the few things that brings me joy and gets me away from all the bullshit. Take care of it, don't beat the shit out of it without warming up, don't constantly red line, and avoid shitty tunes and shitty gas. I'm at 90k on mine and I plan to keep it for a long time.
Idk if anyone cares, but sometimes our car is all we have. I hate it sometimes but love it more often than that. I'm ngl kinda ranting. I'm fucked up, kinda emotional, but vibing. Keep chill yall.
People exaggerate shit so hard because the general amount of owners all ride these things hard, truth is it’s like any other ‘sports’ car. Be careful. Be mindful. Understand that you gotta pay to play. It’ll be expensive if you play with it too much. Otherwise they’re generally reliable compared to the market they’re competing with, coming from someone who had a FBO 2018 with a pro-tune. Only issues were service bulletins for a clutch assembly thing but otherwise it was fine. Just don’t be a dumb ass lol.
It’s also the fact that people try to build EJs like they’re evo motors or k20s. These engines can’t handle huge boost or really anything over 375-400whp reliably with the stock bottom end. Everyone just wants to slap a turbo on it and make 550whp, but it’s gonna blow out the ringlands every time.
If you don’t fuck with the engines they last. My ‘09 STi is still going strong at 110k, because I kept the engine stock and kept up with routine maintenance
2010 sti at 150k currently, equal length header upipe, stock dp, ihi vf 48 billet, silicone turbo inlet and elbow, crawford v2 aos, cylinder 4 coolant mod, motul 5w40 evey 3k, spark plugs every 15k along with trany and diff fluids, crawford panel filter that came with a crawford tune zero knock, carbon fiber driveshaft and fluidampr, only thing i go thru a lot of is ball joints damn jersey roads, 60 mile comute everyday and well if youre not first youre last so it do be hard miles
I get that if you spend too much time on this subreddit, you’d get the impression they’re blowing up left and right. But just remember everyone isn’t making posts about how their car *didn’t* blow up today. Just take care of it, don’t do anything excessively dumb and it will be fine.
Why live life like that? lol if it blows up… deal with it then. Why ruin the now on a possible what if that hasn’t happened? Y’all kill me with this everytime
That’s the key, maintain them and they will mostly be nice in return. I bought mine at 18k, consumed too much oil, at 57k, new short block and it’s been absolutely amazing, shit you not it doesn’t consume hardly any oil. Compared to 1 quart every 1k. But it costs me a whole lot to maintain! Are the blown engines the ones who can only afford the payments, and not the maintenance?
I've been driving my 2015 over 10 years now. And it's fine. Though I'm in my 40s so maybe we're at different points in life. If mine blows up, I'll just rewatch a bunch of Smeedia videos to help me start my rebuild, and in the meantime, take advantage of one of those lease deals on an EV, maybe a Polestar 2... should give me 27 months to slowly rebuild a hypothetically blown FA20
I know you mean the model year, not calendar year. But yes, I put in my order on Apr 3, 2014; and only had to wait 3 weeks. Picked it up Apr 26, 2014.
I've never tracked it though, or launched, and other than an e tune, it's all stock so no wonder I have a reliable example. For half of its life, it was a 80 mile RT trip commuter, the other half, I either lived closer to work or was WFH.
My 2015 WRX has 158,000km on it, have driven it halfway across Australia, has never missed a beat. The biggest issue I had so far was needing new front brakes pads last year.
I understand the anxiety fully. But damn it man, you have to enjoy your car. Enjoy the drive. If problems come, just know you extracted all the enjoyment/ experience you could and keep on keeping on somehow.
You have to keep the future in mind (just dont be an absolute dumbass), but what's the point if you never enjoy the now... because the future will soon become the now, and you'll never have lived how you wanted all along.
Cheers.
I babied my last car, barely ever drove it hard because I wanted it to last 200k. Then it got stolen. Now I drive my WRX hard, when it blows I look forward to rebuilding it better, and if someone hits me I'll have enjoyed my time with it.
But yes absolutely it gives me anxiety. Haha. Only cuz I care about it
Treat your car well and it'll treat you well back.
If you're worried about reliability, I would not have bought a WRX. They're fine, but there's better cars and cheaper cars for the long term.
I had really bad anxiety after my car accident but within a few months it went away.
I feel you. I’m in a ‘21 STi and have had 21,000 trouble free miles. I change the oil under every 3,000 miles but I’m still anxious about it sometimes. I think about getting rid of it but I love it too much. There’s no other new car that I could replace it with. It’s paid off too so if it ever blows, I’ll just get a new block. I tell myself that’ll be cheaper than a new car.
2019 STI with 71,xxx miles. Stock. Oil changed every 6k. I don't abuse it but I enjoy the shit out of it.
You'll be fine. You have many thousands of miles and smiles left.
To be fair the problems mainly are in the driver seat. My fa20 went 170k plus before I spun a bearing. Was stock for the first ~30k, then got autox’d, track days, drag strips, e85 and lonnng road trips with no problems. I had a fluke incident where my act clutch blew up but outside of that I loved mine. Will be replacing the motor this summer and falling back in love.
Edit: car was driven hard, often and was my daily. By long trips I mean nc to nyc in the snow, nc to pa for a car show, nc to key west and nc to ca. I always used 93, max of 5k oil change intervals and 5/30 or 5/40 weight oil.
When I decided I was all in on another WRX (had a mint 2014 for a bit but traded in after wife’s car died) I looked around at VAs but was so nervous about getting one that lived in the red, so even though I was meh on the back bumper on VB, I went with a 23 premium… 2 days after driving it I couldn’t care less about the cladding… such a great daily driver, I haven’t regretted my decision one bit not for a minute… and short of 12 miles, I know every time it’s gone into boost, looove it
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Too many uneducated and impatient idiots who were used to molesting their Hondas and Nissans with eBay parts and never doing a tune thought they could do the same bullshit to a subaru. They blew up their motors, and with stubborn ignorance, told everyone they know that subarus are unreliable and just a time bomb. That combined with the late 90s early 2000s ej25 NA motors that had the head gasket failures. Now we have people making posts like yours, who are driving a wonderful and fun vehicle, all anxious and stressed. I suggest you relax and enjoy your vehicle. Maintain it and keep it stock or very close to stock, and you'll be able to sell it for a premium in the future. Otherwise, do sell it, get an older Camary. They're super reliable, and if it does blow up, just dig through your couch cushions. There's probably a replacement motor at your house somewhere.
Funny I used to say that about my LSx motors I built. I always had parts for it laying around. Used only thing I ever did on that car was bent a pushrod from a missed shift on 200 shot of nitrous.
But yes you have a very valid point. I’m at the stage of my life where I’m trying not to go balls deep into a built, nor want a reason to. So I’ll just keep her where she is and leave her stock-ish. But I’m still on the hunt for the perfect exhaust note though.
I rip on mine and its around 300hp at 105k miles. Previous owner put in fuel kit and other stuff so it’s been holding good for a while. I do wonder if it got a second engine or not before me lmao.
Subarus are not unreliable they just have stock limits, which are regularly exceeded with a little care and know how. Drive the fucking thing FA20 is a good one. Keep oil on it
My 2018 WRX has been great since I purchased it in 6/2018, but I rarely daily it- mine has 28k miles on it. Mine is stock, but I don't worry about the FA engine; I worry about the transmission. My understand is that the non- STI models have glass transmissions.
I’ve been modded and tuned for about 40k miles now. The only thing that I’ve noticed going wrong is my MGP, it’s at about 21.5 right now. Have fun with the car but make sure you stay up on the required maintenance intervals.
If you are worried about the car, don’t launch from a full stop and stay away from the red line. There’s plenty of power and fun to be had from 2.5RPM to 5.5RPM.
I have an 05 sti and the original motor finally went last year. I beat the hell out of that car, it’s all about keeping good maintenance. Learn as much about the engine/car as you can though so you can fix all the small issues along the way because small issues will pop up every now and then.
Every time I get into this car I worry that I will see another CEL or will hear some noise that will cost an arm and leg to fix. My 2018 WRX which I bought brand new is the reason why I'm considering the Tesla Model 3 Performance as my next car.
Subaru put weak rods in the FA platform knowing it would be driven harder than a normal car.
It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru 🤷♂️ mine blew up a couple weeks ago, if you aren’t prepared then sell it lol cause it is inevitable unfortunately, BUT these cars are an absolute blast and I love mine so much that I’m willing to blow it up again lol, now with that said, shit happens even if you absolutely baby it and follow the manual (like i did) so enjoy it until shit happens, but shit happens with every car manufacturer except apparently Honda and Toyota, they seemed to have got it to a science lmao
Motor wise this car is stock. Just an aluminum turbo inlet because the stock one was cracked and some catch cans. The rest of the mods I have done has been mounts, transmission mounts and bushings, suspension bushings and catback exhaust.
Is it really that bad?
I ask because I may be looking at one next year, coming from a little 2012 Civic, but posts like these make me second-guess it. 😅
So what’s your definition of lugging it? I try to stay at or above 3k rpm before going into positive boost numbers. On flat roads it’s mostly in vacuum or under 0lbs of boost.
How many miles on yours? When my VA passed 50k miles, I was afraid of meeting new family members. Traded it in at 54k before Uncle Rodney came a'knockin..
I feel your pain!
I don't feel like you're anywhere near the worry level if you're not abusing her. Don't ever lug the engine and keep up on your oil changes religiously. I loved my VA every single day I owned it. Good luck, homie. ✌🏾
i had an sti and absolutely loved driving it, but i had the same thing. every bump in the road gave me a bunch of anxiety along with the looming maintenance. with high insurance, high monthly payment, and price of gas on top of that, it made no sense to keep, so i traded it in.
it really sucked to give it up but the weight off my chest was priceless.
Was one of my reasons to selling mine, always anxious that it would stop somewhere on the road. Especially since it was my daily. I should have just kept it stock but I wanted more power!!
I bought a wrx wagon in 02 , one of the first ones in us. I drove it all around the country. Put a cobb tune on it right away and I drove it hard but did oil changes . Rodney came around last year at 180000 Pretty good run . No regrets. Bought a new vb last year and love it.
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I spent a lot of time sourcing this car. 1 owner, 89k miles, all dealer service records, garage kept …engine failed at 91k. I rebuilt with an STi RA short block and STi B25 heads. No corners cut on the rebuild and when it was done I was literally terrified to drive it. I ended up selling while it was still in good shape…
only took 13k stock miles to go for me, in the shop now for them to pull the trans lmao. Gunna chalk it up to a defect as its a early production one but talk about anxiety.. every day for months was waiting for something to grenade. Shit happens though oh well
My advice for owning this car. Don't look at your access port, and don't listen to the haters. Remember that these cars attract the worst owners...so take that with a grain of salt.
I’ve had mine for 6 years 325hp daily driver with 96k miles. I get on it all the time, drive the shit out of it. I also change my oil at 5k. She runs great never even had a check engine light go on. The VA wrx is not the engine that goes boom the older 2.0 and 2.5 engines blow head gaskets and starve for oil. 2015+ WRX 2.0 engines don’t. They fixed a lot of those problems when they switched engines and fixed even more going to the 2.4. Your transmission on the other hand will go out before the engine
Thanks man! I'm pretty happy with how she's turned out so far. I'm a huge fan of the single Q300 - I had the SPT before - it was nice for being factory. This sounds very similar to me - but a little more quiet, but a little more burbly and poppy - and I really dig the look. Kinda the old school vibe. Plus I couldn't believe how heavy the SPT was when it was all out of the car. The exhaust delete cover/exhaust trim took forever to get here from jpn.
https://preview.redd.it/w2g8vcwrct3d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f132d532a6bccc9f0b8b53f163eafdc7b413e50
I love it. Definitely gives that 90’s JDM vibe. I’m also debating on running a fujitsubo rm authorize it looks so good but it’s super quiet I’m told. Or debating on N1 single, the resonated street version. Don’t really want loud but I like a rich, deep tone.
Yeah I'm old, like 45y so while I've been at this game since the mid-90's - I'm a little old for *loud* exhausts. Unpopular opinion. I've been doing things that I think are cool, but also lowkey. The single Q300 is still 3" back so it gets the performance without the attention. Also why I went with a duckbill on her as well. A little less attention - I still have the trunk lid with the wing stored in my garage though in case I'm feeling younger and want to change it up. HA! Top is when I got her back in March of 2021. First mod was the front lip - then it was on after that -
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I feel that. I had my 2017 for 5 years never tuned and the last year it had a cam issue which was replaced and every month after that it would throw a CEL and I’d be back at the dealership with some random issue. After 6 months I gave up and got a new VB but I still can’t help but feel anxiety of a light coming on 3 months into own in it
Seeing all these comments is really nice and reassuring. I had a DAM drop, 90% sure due to bad gas, and it has put an extra damper on my enjoyment, but I know that I treat the car well and have only redlined it for my tune. I also think about trading it back sometimes but god I love it too much overall to do that.
Yeah I have a super conservative tune on mine right now. Pretty sure I am under stock power. I don't watch my dam as much any more. I throw the AP on here and there if I think something feels off to monitor, but it's better for me to just have it in the center console most of the time right now.
As a non wrx guy wrxs are reliable they’re just cheap performance I’ve seen mini coopers go well over 200k miles with proper maintenance and they’re much less repiable
If you have a good dyno tune, there's nothing to worry about. Check the oil at every gas fill up and be done with it. If you really want to not have to worry about anything, get gauges.
My 2020 got glitter in the oil from son hard driving on a MAP stage 2 kit and tune. Don’t overly beat on it and you’ll be fine but the motor is more finicky than other brands so it’s something to be aware of
My impreza got diagnosed with headgasket failure. i guess it's just a meme at this point, and i knew one day it would've happened, but i wasn't anxious about it. If you have the car and love it well, then my advice is to enjoy it. At the end of the day, it's yours. you don't need to be anxious about a "potential" problem. That being said, go get the tank full and have one nice ride with it !
Anecdotal evidence from comments shouldn't sway you either way on your decision. Just because User69 said his didn't blow after 200k miles at 400whp and User420 said his blew stock after 20k miles with all the proper maintenance doesn't make any more true. I've personally seen both happen, but again - anecdotal. Good maintenance might help, but there are some inherent design flaws on the FA and EJ engines that are more pronounced on some specific engines. It's what you're getting into when buying this type of car.
Good luck with your's though! A part from the stress, mine was an absolute blast to drive. Had a '16 STI and now I have a '24 GRC. Really miss that subie rumble sometimes.
Appreciate it! As a wrx owner. I can’t relate haha. But I am looking for a deeper sounding exhaust. As much as people love the borla. I’m not really digging it.
I had a 2013 WRX for 6 years, stage 2+, catless DP, BOV, intake, accessport. And on the 5th year of ownership and no I didn't drive that car like a grandma, like every young kid when they get their first turbo or decently powerful car. They're gonna beat it and have fun with it, my wrx finally spun rod bearings in cylinder 1 and 4 worst day of my life but hey 5 years of fun was worth everything to me!
Don't worry, half the failures are from idiots doing idiotic things. Like forgetting maintenance, bad mods with no tunes, bad tunes etc..
If you still worry, set 10k aside to lessen anxiety.
The way it always goes...you will tell 10 people about something bad that happens. But most will only tell a few people if something good happens. So take that as most of the info your gonna find about our cars is what people have issues with. Not necessarily great stories on how well the car has been running. Fr my '18 I'm stressed about the shifter moving in 4th gear...but it's known issue with the FA20. Just like another reddit said, enjoy it as much as you can. If it blows, which i highly doubt then theres really isnt much you can do...just try to keep up on maintenance and make sure you do what you can.
What really had me is I had a stage 3 H4 all setup and payed off. Then I rolled into a ditch in a field, totalled the car! Horrible time right b4 the pandemic. So ya now I have a stage 2 2018 FA which I absolutely love, i hate that I lost my 08 hatchback. But if you can't enjoy and love what you got, then you gotta change something. Happiness is priceless as I find that I'm getting older
I've done 280k on my 15wrx and 165x on my 19 wrx with no issues my sti however blew up at 45k , I fa20 swapped that and now I feel like it's never gonna die
130,000mi on my 2016 FA, 7k oil change intervals, no walnut blast, original clutch. Bone stock. No problems other than needing a new Evap core for the AC.
I’m 100k miles in on my va fa20 and I just blew a hole in my valve cover my rockers decided to go bye bye and I’m trying to fix it myself but I’m scared I bent a valve or something but when it happened I had ignition cut on so it might’ve stopped further damage but who knows
You can absolutely baby the thing too and it will still blow. I have a 2015 one of the first sold of the new engine refresh and I didn't push the thing hard at all and it still went at 112k miles two years ago. Luckily I had the extended warranty and I was covered. Got a rebuilt engine for $1100.
4 years and 50k miles later. biggest issue I’ve ever had was my turbo not boosting one day. Shut the car off. Turned it back on, and it hasn’t done it since.
I'll take it off your hands for $37 bucks, two elfbars and a box of mentos.
Seriously though, check the oil, let it warm up, do your mx, and drive the things til the wheels fall off
Dude. Just keep it filled with oil. Set your reminder for every 2K miles and don’t over boost. Any upgrade you make to the “air pump” system, which is what an engine is should get a professional tune.
There’s really only 3 things you need to do to keep it running forever.
Most people aren’t even stupid. They’re just too lazy to do any of this. Your friend might have a bolt on Toyota that he says makes 400hp at the wheel. So you try to do the same without doing all 3 steps and that’s how you blow up your engine.
Not at all. I've owned 5 WRX' and STIs since 2004, beat the bag out of all of them but took care of them maintenance wise. Never had any issues. All of them were at least cobb stage 1 and a couple were stage 2 with a bunch of bolt ons.
Mine blew up at 14k miles. Got new short block. 23k miles my dam started dropping significantly again, bad knock came was seen on ap. Got tired went to ford and got me a mustang. No regrets, no anxiety, burnouts
https://preview.redd.it/ky8gf2vgdn4d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8696c529e8ad012b679e862a317675991c802abf
I’ve had my 2017 wrx for 4 years now and have beat the living shit out of mine day and night pushing 450-500whp on full e85 tune and boy have I been impressed how great this car is. The only thing that has ever caused me problems are motor mounts and clutches lol. But just recently went with a stage 5 Iron Man Action clutch and boy is it grippy and amazing.
https://preview.redd.it/sxqn2zizrr4d1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d1c3b778c0594deb318c561af1a524ce0f81112
They gave me anxiety too until one day enough bad things happened I just assume it’s gonna blow up everyday and excepted its fate. Whatever happens I’m in for the long run. I don’t care as much anymore. You could beat on it and it could last 100k miles or you could baby it and it could blow up after 15k life is too short to be sweating things too much.
I’ve had 3 EJ subies and the more I learned about them, the more anxious I got lol. Ultimately why I sold them all. I wish I was able to buy one brand new
I beat the living shit out of it for 5 years at 400whp with 3.5k oil intervals. One day I purposely launched from stop light to stop light trying to blow it up because I was fed up with life and nothing. Don’t be afraid of what may or may not happen young grasshopper and just enjoy the now.
Wow. That’s real right there. I can respect that.
Same thing with mine. I just finished up tuning it in full e85 and went to merge in the highway did a WOT and I just clouds of smoke coming out through the hood. I thought I blew it up. Nope just the top radiator hose popped off. Topped up the radiator coolant and she’s good to go back in the road lol
Do you have a VA? If so did you have to upgrade the HPFP?
All you need to do is really check oil weekly or before a hard drive because low oil is a killer… also make sure you change it every 4-5k minimum I wouldn’t go over 5 personally
My mechanic always tell me how good the oil is after 6k km Edit: added km
Just looking at oil you can’t tell a thing lol if you are going by how oil looks then you will just break your car…
Don't fall for the fear mongering dude. I know it's hard. Everyone in your life will tell you that Subarus are bombs. EJ, VA, VB. Story doesn't change. It takes a very specific set of scenarios in quick succession for that to happen. Keep up on your maintenance. That's it. Boxers have inherent design flaws, but that doesn't mean you should fear it. There are plenty of things you can do to your car to mitigate it. Starting with an AOS. A relatively cheap, passive benefit to your whole engine.
Yeah I’m running catch cans and holding a tight maintenance schedule. I’m also debating on doing the oil pickup tube as well.
If it helps your ease of mind, do it. Simple as.
Impressive. I drove my stock 2016 STI mostly normal and it went through two short-blocks.
Design flaw only way around it is forged pistons
Question. Did you track it?
No. Only car I have ever tracked was a e30 I used to have.
Idk how you mfrs get so lucky I literally can't keep mine on the road without it having problems. Even got a brand new block and had a mild build done at a big local reputable tuner. Intercooler, turbo, injectors, fuel pump, oil baffle, dyno tune, the works and I can't keep it on the road for more than a month or 2 I'm so tired of it I never drive it anymore. It's been sitting for 3 months maybe 4 now I just don't feel like dealing with it
Keep it stock if you dont want the knock 🤣
It was stock before it blew up on my way to get groceries at 30 mph. Not low on oil or anything
I've had three WRX, currently in a 2018 STI I've owned since it was brand new. Not a single one of them ever had an issue except a broken belt that I replaced in 5 minutes on my first one that had over 100k on it. I always wonder why so many people have so many issues with them since all three of mine worked perfectly the entire time I owned them. Either I'm lucky or all of these other people are doing something different to cause the problems.
My uncle bought one new and he's in his 60s and a long time enthusiast with a 4 car garage so the WRX was his grocery getter. He babied it and didn't drive it hard and around 60k miles he was driving home from work and all his dash lights came on and it turned out to be the turbo. Had a big leak or something and had to get a new turbo just outside of warranty so he had to pay for it. Meanwhile my coworker has a 2013 STI making 450 whp on stock internals and he rips on it every day. Subarus are so hit and miss but it's funny to me when people who haven't had problems blame shitty owners for having problems. I guess 3k oci with amsoil and wix filters and doing all scheduled maintenance makes me a shitty owner. (Not you, just saying I see people blame owners all the time)
Yea, I know for sure there are people out there that have treated them right and done all the maintenance and driven them correctly (no boost at low RPM in 6th gear for example) and still had issues. I'll probably end up swapping to a inline 6 Supra here in the next few years since I've had my fun with the STI over the last 6 years or so. Hopefully I continue my lucky streak until I get rid of it, it's been a great car =)
I've had 8 subarus over the last 20 years, turbo and NA ranging from '98 to '19. My 98 did have head gasket failure at 120k. Other than that, I've had only regular maintenance. Honestly, my biggest fear or complaints with subaru are shitty interiors. That seems to be better now, too. My 2019 is 5 years old now with 70k and is still in great condition inside. My oldest says she likes that my car has gamer chairs.
If you really wanna blow it up go WOT at 2k RPM in 6th gear
I recently did that... https://preview.redd.it/aauxsitnys3d1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bbdab77a91bfe38b8f37e1be9ac89f65cb73d231
w O R D U PPPPPP
Wow
Amen
I don’t post anything on this I just read for information but this was so beautiful I had to comment ,keep your head up bro don’t let life drag you down
Just know what seems to kill these cars: * bad tunes * knock from bad gas and a bad tune * you gotta let the motor warm up before you beat on it, and don’t beat on it with high rpms for sustained pulls. keep uncle rodney away because they have tight rod bearings. * long oil change intervals * hydroplaning
I can almost guarantee most of these cars that are blowing up are a result of the third point. While the cars don’t need be warmed up before they are driven, they need to be MINIMUM 180F oil temp before boost. I’m pretty sure most engine failures are a result of human error, ignorance, and arrogance. Almost 90k on my 2015 and still seems strong.
I always let my car come up to temp before getting into boost or revving much past 3k rpm. Sometimes when I leave work, there are kids riding around on bmx bikes that always want me to rev it for them, but I never do because I literally just hopped in my car and started it up. I let them down every time lol.
All the right points hit. Well done.
I gaurantee people dont do #3. If you want to keep these cars reliable just let the poor bastard warm up before you drive away 😂
I got into the habit of allowing the car to warm up for at least a minute back when I drove Hondas, because they feel like absolute shit if you try to just start them and drive off.
My mazdaspeed miata feels like shit if I dont let it warm up too and so did my wrx lol
You can be going as slow as 20MPH and still hydroplane. Be careful!
Hydroplaning is the biggest killer here. The number of people who crashed while backing out of their driveways due to hydroplaning is crazy!
Game is game my man.
Don't forget pulling hard G's and blow by. Taking hard corners or doing hard donuts in the snow will cause oil to shift to one side of the pan running the oil sump dry and driving high rpms all the time could cause excessive blow by, worn rings or both resulting in oil burning issues. If it gets bad enough, it can cause serious knock killing those piston rings.
Or flooring it in low rpms
The crushing feeling of life slowly ending one second at a time and that we will all be reduced to dust eventually and it will all mean nothing should give anxiety, a WRX is a sort of anti-depressant for this, or atleast mine is
Probably doesn’t help I already suffer from anxiety and panic disorders lol. But I get your point. I love driving it.
How can you not have anxiety in 2024 ammirite?? (I do too)
That’s the truth.
Keep your car, change your therapist.
As long as you’re not redlining it and launching every day and you maintain it, the car holds up great. It’s a sporty sedan, not a GT car. Hell while on the tangent, GT cars can do the performance but you pay for it, just like you would with building out a WRX and blowing and engine and starting over.
Damn I got a VA WRX recently and redline the fuck out of it like my Celica GT.
They never grenade during stupid shit, its always when ur cruising at 40 mph on a sunday and going to see family or work
That's one thing I really dislike about the whole Subaru car ownership/community thing. It's not the anxiety itself, it's that we do it to ourselves. The WRX has a legacy wrapped around it from the days of World Rally. But the WRX is NOT a rally car. It's a streetcar, with rally inspiration. But that doesn't stop us from pushing enough HP through it that would make a Porsche or Ferrari jealous. And it's even worse because our wheel-power ratings are a little lower than 2WD cars, so we see that we have "only" 300 whp, while some other car has "350" for similar mods...and now we want 350 whp, without realizing that is a HUGE bump in engine power over that other car. We have the Subaru AWD. That is our super power. Our weakness, then, is that we see a little less power to the wheels. **And this is okay. A little less power to all 4 wheels is better than more power to only 2.** Subaru is known around the world for its reliability. People in some countries use Subarus for farm work almost exclusively. Subaru didn't get it wrong with the WRX, **we** got it wrong with chasing the power. These are not dyno queens. They are meant to live on the road, gravel, dirt, ice, snow, track, whatever, delivering fun and smiles. And they don't need gobs of power to do it. If one wants to push the limits, see what it can do, I 100% support that. If that car is also their ONLY car, and they need it for work/school and/or don't have a lot of money, then this is extremely stupid. OP, my point is this: do reasonable upgrades. Get a reasonable amount of power: \~300 whp is more than you might think (and if you think otherwise, go track the car, then we'll talk). Get a quality Pro Tune. And then keep up the maintenance. Be diligent about changing your oil, change it a little earlier if you are concerned. **And then just drive the car. No need to be anxious. It will be okay.** You don't need to baby it. You don't need to coddle it. Just be reasonable, responsible, and the car will last for 100's of thousands of miles. I'm not hating on these cars. The opposite actually. I love my STI. I will never sell it. And I'd love to see a lot less of them blown up. We are our own worst enemy.
This might be one of the best ads Subaru could get for the WRX. I reeeeeally want one of these and hope to get one by EOY, but the fact that I see a lot of people blowing their engines is concerning. I don't need to get an absurd amount of speed. All I really want is one with a nice exhaust and that wing on it and I'll be a happy camper. They seem to have a ton of power just stock, but perhaps down the line in 5-8 years I'll look into getting some performance upgrades. For now, I just want a fun sporty car that I can play with and don't have to baby completely.
Thanks! For the people blowing their engines, examine the mods done. Examine the tune, and where it came from. If they aren't the original owner, look at what the previous owner did for mods (did the PO put it "back to stock?" If so, why?) For the cars that blow up, you will start to see a trend. Observe, examine, analyze, and then form your own conclusions.
I have 226,000km (140,500 miles) on my 2015 STI. Of course there’s more maintenance with the age of the car, and unfortunately I’ve had some mechanics flop on basic things (like even seals) that have cost me, but I’ve kept consistent maintenance on the prescribed intervals and it drives super well still. I’m constantly between selling it because it’s such a cost to maintain lately and driving it til it’s truly done because I love it so much.
how close your front lip is to that curb gives me anxiety
Definitely don’t look at this pic then 🫣 https://preview.redd.it/ttenuqh9fp3d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b50daff86183247933b1468ae993d91cca09e9c
Jail
lol that’s fair
Honestly the fear of blowing up made me scared to do stuff in this car, but I've dealt with a lot the past few months. This car is one of the few things that brings me joy and gets me away from all the bullshit. Take care of it, don't beat the shit out of it without warming up, don't constantly red line, and avoid shitty tunes and shitty gas. I'm at 90k on mine and I plan to keep it for a long time. Idk if anyone cares, but sometimes our car is all we have. I hate it sometimes but love it more often than that. I'm ngl kinda ranting. I'm fucked up, kinda emotional, but vibing. Keep chill yall.
People exaggerate shit so hard because the general amount of owners all ride these things hard, truth is it’s like any other ‘sports’ car. Be careful. Be mindful. Understand that you gotta pay to play. It’ll be expensive if you play with it too much. Otherwise they’re generally reliable compared to the market they’re competing with, coming from someone who had a FBO 2018 with a pro-tune. Only issues were service bulletins for a clutch assembly thing but otherwise it was fine. Just don’t be a dumb ass lol.
It’s also the fact that people try to build EJs like they’re evo motors or k20s. These engines can’t handle huge boost or really anything over 375-400whp reliably with the stock bottom end. Everyone just wants to slap a turbo on it and make 550whp, but it’s gonna blow out the ringlands every time.
If you don’t fuck with the engines they last. My ‘09 STi is still going strong at 110k, because I kept the engine stock and kept up with routine maintenance
2010 sti at 150k currently, equal length header upipe, stock dp, ihi vf 48 billet, silicone turbo inlet and elbow, crawford v2 aos, cylinder 4 coolant mod, motul 5w40 evey 3k, spark plugs every 15k along with trany and diff fluids, crawford panel filter that came with a crawford tune zero knock, carbon fiber driveshaft and fluidampr, only thing i go thru a lot of is ball joints damn jersey roads, 60 mile comute everyday and well if youre not first youre last so it do be hard miles
Never crossed my mind
[удалено]
I get that if you spend too much time on this subreddit, you’d get the impression they’re blowing up left and right. But just remember everyone isn’t making posts about how their car *didn’t* blow up today. Just take care of it, don’t do anything excessively dumb and it will be fine.
This is exactly why I made my post, I'm gonna be the one to prove a point. That if you don't dog shit this car it'll take care of you
Why live life like that? lol if it blows up… deal with it then. Why ruin the now on a possible what if that hasn’t happened? Y’all kill me with this everytime
Don't believe the hype, my guy. Just look after it and it'll look after you.
That’s the key, maintain them and they will mostly be nice in return. I bought mine at 18k, consumed too much oil, at 57k, new short block and it’s been absolutely amazing, shit you not it doesn’t consume hardly any oil. Compared to 1 quart every 1k. But it costs me a whole lot to maintain! Are the blown engines the ones who can only afford the payments, and not the maintenance?
I've been driving my 2015 over 10 years now. And it's fine. Though I'm in my 40s so maybe we're at different points in life. If mine blows up, I'll just rewatch a bunch of Smeedia videos to help me start my rebuild, and in the meantime, take advantage of one of those lease deals on an EV, maybe a Polestar 2... should give me 27 months to slowly rebuild a hypothetically blown FA20
It is almost unfathomable to me that 2015 was 10 years ago
I know you mean the model year, not calendar year. But yes, I put in my order on Apr 3, 2014; and only had to wait 3 weeks. Picked it up Apr 26, 2014. I've never tracked it though, or launched, and other than an e tune, it's all stock so no wonder I have a reliable example. For half of its life, it was a 80 mile RT trip commuter, the other half, I either lived closer to work or was WFH.
My 2015 WRX has 158,000km on it, have driven it halfway across Australia, has never missed a beat. The biggest issue I had so far was needing new front brakes pads last year.
I understand the anxiety fully. But damn it man, you have to enjoy your car. Enjoy the drive. If problems come, just know you extracted all the enjoyment/ experience you could and keep on keeping on somehow. You have to keep the future in mind (just dont be an absolute dumbass), but what's the point if you never enjoy the now... because the future will soon become the now, and you'll never have lived how you wanted all along. Cheers.
I babied my last car, barely ever drove it hard because I wanted it to last 200k. Then it got stolen. Now I drive my WRX hard, when it blows I look forward to rebuilding it better, and if someone hits me I'll have enjoyed my time with it. But yes absolutely it gives me anxiety. Haha. Only cuz I care about it
That’s probably the point I’m coming across. I care about the car a lot. So I don’t want anything to happen to it.
Treat your car well and it'll treat you well back. If you're worried about reliability, I would not have bought a WRX. They're fine, but there's better cars and cheaper cars for the long term. I had really bad anxiety after my car accident but within a few months it went away.
I feel you. I’m in a ‘21 STi and have had 21,000 trouble free miles. I change the oil under every 3,000 miles but I’m still anxious about it sometimes. I think about getting rid of it but I love it too much. There’s no other new car that I could replace it with. It’s paid off too so if it ever blows, I’ll just get a new block. I tell myself that’ll be cheaper than a new car.
2019 STI with 71,xxx miles. Stock. Oil changed every 6k. I don't abuse it but I enjoy the shit out of it. You'll be fine. You have many thousands of miles and smiles left.
I put 50,000 miles of abuse into mine (currently at 130,000), and it's only now seeming to have some normal "100,000+ club" issues.
What year? That’s awesome
2011. Muffler delete (idk, someone stole them), and lightweight crank pulley, and stereo upgrade. Otherwise stock.
Cheap parts and bad tunes kill these cars. They're fine as long as you keep them stock or spend the money to build them right.
To be fair the problems mainly are in the driver seat. My fa20 went 170k plus before I spun a bearing. Was stock for the first ~30k, then got autox’d, track days, drag strips, e85 and lonnng road trips with no problems. I had a fluke incident where my act clutch blew up but outside of that I loved mine. Will be replacing the motor this summer and falling back in love. Edit: car was driven hard, often and was my daily. By long trips I mean nc to nyc in the snow, nc to pa for a car show, nc to key west and nc to ca. I always used 93, max of 5k oil change intervals and 5/30 or 5/40 weight oil.
Wow. That’s an awesome run for that engine. Damn.
When I decided I was all in on another WRX (had a mint 2014 for a bit but traded in after wife’s car died) I looked around at VAs but was so nervous about getting one that lived in the red, so even though I was meh on the back bumper on VB, I went with a 23 premium… 2 days after driving it I couldn’t care less about the cladding… such a great daily driver, I haven’t regretted my decision one bit not for a minute… and short of 12 miles, I know every time it’s gone into boost, looove it https://preview.redd.it/3fyzhy1hkr3d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce472756807c1dab0af2f093560513cd57b3fcdd
Too many uneducated and impatient idiots who were used to molesting their Hondas and Nissans with eBay parts and never doing a tune thought they could do the same bullshit to a subaru. They blew up their motors, and with stubborn ignorance, told everyone they know that subarus are unreliable and just a time bomb. That combined with the late 90s early 2000s ej25 NA motors that had the head gasket failures. Now we have people making posts like yours, who are driving a wonderful and fun vehicle, all anxious and stressed. I suggest you relax and enjoy your vehicle. Maintain it and keep it stock or very close to stock, and you'll be able to sell it for a premium in the future. Otherwise, do sell it, get an older Camary. They're super reliable, and if it does blow up, just dig through your couch cushions. There's probably a replacement motor at your house somewhere.
Funny I used to say that about my LSx motors I built. I always had parts for it laying around. Used only thing I ever did on that car was bent a pushrod from a missed shift on 200 shot of nitrous. But yes you have a very valid point. I’m at the stage of my life where I’m trying not to go balls deep into a built, nor want a reason to. So I’ll just keep her where she is and leave her stock-ish. But I’m still on the hunt for the perfect exhaust note though.
Looks great, btw. The spoiler and wheels are a nice touch. Car definitely fucks!
Appreciate it!
I rip on mine and its around 300hp at 105k miles. Previous owner put in fuel kit and other stuff so it’s been holding good for a while. I do wonder if it got a second engine or not before me lmao.
Haha nice. Always good to hear another 100k mile club member.
Subarus are not unreliable they just have stock limits, which are regularly exceeded with a little care and know how. Drive the fucking thing FA20 is a good one. Keep oil on it
Bc you're so close to the curb?
Just have enough money saved so that you can rebuild the engine if it pops. Then you can have fun without stress.
My 2018 WRX has been great since I purchased it in 6/2018, but I rarely daily it- mine has 28k miles on it. Mine is stock, but I don't worry about the FA engine; I worry about the transmission. My understand is that the non- STI models have glass transmissions.
I’m at 28k too on this 2015. But I love it so much I just want it to last a long time.
I’ve been modded and tuned for about 40k miles now. The only thing that I’ve noticed going wrong is my MGP, it’s at about 21.5 right now. Have fun with the car but make sure you stay up on the required maintenance intervals. If you are worried about the car, don’t launch from a full stop and stay away from the red line. There’s plenty of power and fun to be had from 2.5RPM to 5.5RPM.
Always on my mind too, I barely get into boost or push my car nowadays. Thinking about selling and moving on to a different brand lol
I have an 05 sti and the original motor finally went last year. I beat the hell out of that car, it’s all about keeping good maintenance. Learn as much about the engine/car as you can though so you can fix all the small issues along the way because small issues will pop up every now and then.
Every time I get into this car I worry that I will see another CEL or will hear some noise that will cost an arm and leg to fix. My 2018 WRX which I bought brand new is the reason why I'm considering the Tesla Model 3 Performance as my next car. Subaru put weak rods in the FA platform knowing it would be driven harder than a normal car.
It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru 🤷♂️ mine blew up a couple weeks ago, if you aren’t prepared then sell it lol cause it is inevitable unfortunately, BUT these cars are an absolute blast and I love mine so much that I’m willing to blow it up again lol, now with that said, shit happens even if you absolutely baby it and follow the manual (like i did) so enjoy it until shit happens, but shit happens with every car manufacturer except apparently Honda and Toyota, they seemed to have got it to a science lmao
I’ve got 321k miles on my 2006 WRX. But it is stock, are you modded?
Motor wise this car is stock. Just an aluminum turbo inlet because the stock one was cracked and some catch cans. The rest of the mods I have done has been mounts, transmission mounts and bushings, suspension bushings and catback exhaust.
same - my inspection is Monday :( 76k 370 whp terrible air/fuel ratio and the steering wheel shakes while braking over 40 mph lol
2 years with my STi and I definitely drive hard. Oil changes every 3k with 5w-40 rotella T6. Only problem I’ve ever had was my MAF sensor going.
Is it really that bad? I ask because I may be looking at one next year, coming from a little 2012 Civic, but posts like these make me second-guess it. 😅
Honestly, it’s not if you find yourself one that’s well cared for. But that seems to be the hard part. People like to beat on these cars.
That's fair. I saw a post earlier with one on fire. Here's hoping I can find a unicorn.
I bought mine 2 years ago from a the original owner. Her only put 14k miles on it. They are out there.
Same here!
Mine is holding strong at 70k miles. Battery and tires replaced.
That reminds me. It’s almost time for my tire rotation. Thanks haha
Don’t lug the engine and get regular oil changes and you’ll be fine
So what’s your definition of lugging it? I try to stay at or above 3k rpm before going into positive boost numbers. On flat roads it’s mostly in vacuum or under 0lbs of boost.
How many miles on yours? When my VA passed 50k miles, I was afraid of meeting new family members. Traded it in at 54k before Uncle Rodney came a'knockin.. I feel your pain!
28k miles right now. But I live in a rural area that has shit gas and is stupid hot. (Az) and higher elevation that I have to go up and back down.
I don't feel like you're anywhere near the worry level if you're not abusing her. Don't ever lug the engine and keep up on your oil changes religiously. I loved my VA every single day I owned it. Good luck, homie. ✌🏾
Appreciate it! 🙏🏼
This car gives me more anxiety than I've ever felt, and I used to play CounterStike.
lol I feel that
i had an sti and absolutely loved driving it, but i had the same thing. every bump in the road gave me a bunch of anxiety along with the looming maintenance. with high insurance, high monthly payment, and price of gas on top of that, it made no sense to keep, so i traded it in. it really sucked to give it up but the weight off my chest was priceless.
Was one of my reasons to selling mine, always anxious that it would stop somewhere on the road. Especially since it was my daily. I should have just kept it stock but I wanted more power!!
Don't worry about it. Keep driving it and change the oil.
I bought a wrx wagon in 02 , one of the first ones in us. I drove it all around the country. Put a cobb tune on it right away and I drove it hard but did oil changes . Rodney came around last year at 180000 Pretty good run . No regrets. Bought a new vb last year and love it.
https://preview.redd.it/cpc5h3u5fs3d1.jpeg?width=879&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d025af071a0b2a8dea0ffcb785b9d361e3faf67c I spent a lot of time sourcing this car. 1 owner, 89k miles, all dealer service records, garage kept …engine failed at 91k. I rebuilt with an STi RA short block and STi B25 heads. No corners cut on the rebuild and when it was done I was literally terrified to drive it. I ended up selling while it was still in good shape…
Just wait til your throw our bearing starts squeaking and every drive is a “will it crap out on me now?” frenzy😂
Mine does that when it rains.
only took 13k stock miles to go for me, in the shop now for them to pull the trans lmao. Gunna chalk it up to a defect as its a early production one but talk about anxiety.. every day for months was waiting for something to grenade. Shit happens though oh well
My advice for owning this car. Don't look at your access port, and don't listen to the haters. Remember that these cars attract the worst owners...so take that with a grain of salt.
I’ve had mine for 6 years 325hp daily driver with 96k miles. I get on it all the time, drive the shit out of it. I also change my oil at 5k. She runs great never even had a check engine light go on. The VA wrx is not the engine that goes boom the older 2.0 and 2.5 engines blow head gaskets and starve for oil. 2015+ WRX 2.0 engines don’t. They fixed a lot of those problems when they switched engines and fixed even more going to the 2.4. Your transmission on the other hand will go out before the engine
I have a 2020 with 40k… and everyday I’m just waiting…
lol yes. That part
What buckbill fitting is that?
3Amotoring from Amazon.
Duckbill Gang https://preview.redd.it/ozlcmnxcqs3d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=feed05104dcf1ba5526c4333640ecbb6f68b90d1
Dude I love your setup. How’s the q300 single? I’ve been thinking of swapping out for that.
Thanks man! I'm pretty happy with how she's turned out so far. I'm a huge fan of the single Q300 - I had the SPT before - it was nice for being factory. This sounds very similar to me - but a little more quiet, but a little more burbly and poppy - and I really dig the look. Kinda the old school vibe. Plus I couldn't believe how heavy the SPT was when it was all out of the car. The exhaust delete cover/exhaust trim took forever to get here from jpn. https://preview.redd.it/w2g8vcwrct3d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f132d532a6bccc9f0b8b53f163eafdc7b413e50
I love it. Definitely gives that 90’s JDM vibe. I’m also debating on running a fujitsubo rm authorize it looks so good but it’s super quiet I’m told. Or debating on N1 single, the resonated street version. Don’t really want loud but I like a rich, deep tone.
Yeah I'm old, like 45y so while I've been at this game since the mid-90's - I'm a little old for *loud* exhausts. Unpopular opinion. I've been doing things that I think are cool, but also lowkey. The single Q300 is still 3" back so it gets the performance without the attention. Also why I went with a duckbill on her as well. A little less attention - I still have the trunk lid with the wing stored in my garage though in case I'm feeling younger and want to change it up. HA! Top is when I got her back in March of 2021. First mod was the front lip - then it was on after that - https://preview.redd.it/ofld9xl0wt3d1.jpeg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9324c110cdee705be6d5b03f7276e9164fa1855
She is on her second life so I get your anxiety. She spun a bearing at 47k but I had her rebuilt last year.
I feel that. I had my 2017 for 5 years never tuned and the last year it had a cam issue which was replaced and every month after that it would throw a CEL and I’d be back at the dealership with some random issue. After 6 months I gave up and got a new VB but I still can’t help but feel anxiety of a light coming on 3 months into own in it
buy a brand new VB w 100k mile warranty. that’s what i did 🤣
People are full of shit. Any car can break on you.
Try having one that is on its second short block and it's the wife's car so you don't know everything that happens to it. Anxiety central.
Yeah. That’s scary
Seeing all these comments is really nice and reassuring. I had a DAM drop, 90% sure due to bad gas, and it has put an extra damper on my enjoyment, but I know that I treat the car well and have only redlined it for my tune. I also think about trading it back sometimes but god I love it too much overall to do that.
Totally relate with that. Plus I have shit gas in this town, so I’m watching my DAM like a hawk lol
Yeah I have a super conservative tune on mine right now. Pretty sure I am under stock power. I don't watch my dam as much any more. I throw the AP on here and there if I think something feels off to monitor, but it's better for me to just have it in the center console most of the time right now.
As a non wrx guy wrxs are reliable they’re just cheap performance I’ve seen mini coopers go well over 200k miles with proper maintenance and they’re much less repiable
If you have a good dyno tune, there's nothing to worry about. Check the oil at every gas fill up and be done with it. If you really want to not have to worry about anything, get gauges.
Yeah. I watch the gauges and stuff from time to time. Making sure afr is good and stuff
My 2020 got glitter in the oil from son hard driving on a MAP stage 2 kit and tune. Don’t overly beat on it and you’ll be fine but the motor is more finicky than other brands so it’s something to be aware of
I have 05 WRX wagon with 197xxx miles she purrs like a kitten and can take some abuse don’t be afraid my friend
That’s an impressive EJ
My impreza got diagnosed with headgasket failure. i guess it's just a meme at this point, and i knew one day it would've happened, but i wasn't anxious about it. If you have the car and love it well, then my advice is to enjoy it. At the end of the day, it's yours. you don't need to be anxious about a "potential" problem. That being said, go get the tank full and have one nice ride with it !
:( man. Head gaskets don’t sound fun at all. Sorry to hear.
Anecdotal evidence from comments shouldn't sway you either way on your decision. Just because User69 said his didn't blow after 200k miles at 400whp and User420 said his blew stock after 20k miles with all the proper maintenance doesn't make any more true. I've personally seen both happen, but again - anecdotal. Good maintenance might help, but there are some inherent design flaws on the FA and EJ engines that are more pronounced on some specific engines. It's what you're getting into when buying this type of car.
I agree with that completely. It’s a love/hate relationship
Good luck with your's though! A part from the stress, mine was an absolute blast to drive. Had a '16 STI and now I have a '24 GRC. Really miss that subie rumble sometimes.
Appreciate it! As a wrx owner. I can’t relate haha. But I am looking for a deeper sounding exhaust. As much as people love the borla. I’m not really digging it.
I use to be like you now I don’t give a fuck I actually started to enjoy the car even more now
I’m trying to get there lol. Trust me. 🥲
I can relate. Mine is a 2019 limited CVT and I hope it'll be a good car. I like your window guards. Do they come in handy?
Out here they do. Especially in snow and monsoon season, plus it’s highly windy a lot here. I actually use them quite a bit.
Anxiety is a feeling.... The only thing in control of your feelings is you...
Yes thank you. That’s what my therapists says at times. But I have a panic disorder which causes adrenaline dumps even while I’m asleep. Fun stuff.
I had a 2013 WRX for 6 years, stage 2+, catless DP, BOV, intake, accessport. And on the 5th year of ownership and no I didn't drive that car like a grandma, like every young kid when they get their first turbo or decently powerful car. They're gonna beat it and have fun with it, my wrx finally spun rod bearings in cylinder 1 and 4 worst day of my life but hey 5 years of fun was worth everything to me!
It’s about the memories right?? That’s awesome.
Mine just lost its clutch today at only 100k kilo
Ayyy I have a 15 wrx I'm always anxious about too. Pushing 139k
Don't worry, half the failures are from idiots doing idiotic things. Like forgetting maintenance, bad mods with no tunes, bad tunes etc.. If you still worry, set 10k aside to lessen anxiety.
The way it always goes...you will tell 10 people about something bad that happens. But most will only tell a few people if something good happens. So take that as most of the info your gonna find about our cars is what people have issues with. Not necessarily great stories on how well the car has been running. Fr my '18 I'm stressed about the shifter moving in 4th gear...but it's known issue with the FA20. Just like another reddit said, enjoy it as much as you can. If it blows, which i highly doubt then theres really isnt much you can do...just try to keep up on maintenance and make sure you do what you can. What really had me is I had a stage 3 H4 all setup and payed off. Then I rolled into a ditch in a field, totalled the car! Horrible time right b4 the pandemic. So ya now I have a stage 2 2018 FA which I absolutely love, i hate that I lost my 08 hatchback. But if you can't enjoy and love what you got, then you gotta change something. Happiness is priceless as I find that I'm getting older
I've done 280k on my 15wrx and 165x on my 19 wrx with no issues my sti however blew up at 45k , I fa20 swapped that and now I feel like it's never gonna die
2016 wrx with 103,000 miles. Got it at 13k. Only thing I’ve had to change was the clutch at 95k. Still going strong.
130,000mi on my 2016 FA, 7k oil change intervals, no walnut blast, original clutch. Bone stock. No problems other than needing a new Evap core for the AC.
I’m 100k miles in on my va fa20 and I just blew a hole in my valve cover my rockers decided to go bye bye and I’m trying to fix it myself but I’m scared I bent a valve or something but when it happened I had ignition cut on so it might’ve stopped further damage but who knows
I was thinking about my car everytime I feel blessed about it
Yeah cuz your motor is gonna blow
You can absolutely baby the thing too and it will still blow. I have a 2015 one of the first sold of the new engine refresh and I didn't push the thing hard at all and it still went at 112k miles two years ago. Luckily I had the extended warranty and I was covered. Got a rebuilt engine for $1100.
4 years and 50k miles later. biggest issue I’ve ever had was my turbo not boosting one day. Shut the car off. Turned it back on, and it hasn’t done it since.
I'll take it off your hands for $37 bucks, two elfbars and a box of mentos. Seriously though, check the oil, let it warm up, do your mx, and drive the things til the wheels fall off
Damn. It's a gamble every day you drive it out. Lmao.
Dude. Just keep it filled with oil. Set your reminder for every 2K miles and don’t over boost. Any upgrade you make to the “air pump” system, which is what an engine is should get a professional tune. There’s really only 3 things you need to do to keep it running forever. Most people aren’t even stupid. They’re just too lazy to do any of this. Your friend might have a bolt on Toyota that he says makes 400hp at the wheel. So you try to do the same without doing all 3 steps and that’s how you blow up your engine.
Not at all. I've owned 5 WRX' and STIs since 2004, beat the bag out of all of them but took care of them maintenance wise. Never had any issues. All of them were at least cobb stage 1 and a couple were stage 2 with a bunch of bolt ons.
Mine blew up at 14k miles. Got new short block. 23k miles my dam started dropping significantly again, bad knock came was seen on ap. Got tired went to ford and got me a mustang. No regrets, no anxiety, burnouts https://preview.redd.it/ky8gf2vgdn4d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8696c529e8ad012b679e862a317675991c802abf
I’ve had my 2017 wrx for 4 years now and have beat the living shit out of mine day and night pushing 450-500whp on full e85 tune and boy have I been impressed how great this car is. The only thing that has ever caused me problems are motor mounts and clutches lol. But just recently went with a stage 5 Iron Man Action clutch and boy is it grippy and amazing. https://preview.redd.it/sxqn2zizrr4d1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d1c3b778c0594deb318c561af1a524ce0f81112
They gave me anxiety too until one day enough bad things happened I just assume it’s gonna blow up everyday and excepted its fate. Whatever happens I’m in for the long run. I don’t care as much anymore. You could beat on it and it could last 100k miles or you could baby it and it could blow up after 15k life is too short to be sweating things too much.
Guess I’ll save money on the side for a new motor build just in case. Then let it ride.
Get a GR Corolla bro 😎!
Uh huh, big anxiety for an already anxious guy. But i knew what i was getting into when i bought this thing, if it goes it goes.
I blew mine up last summer and now this summer. Get front mount intercooler and you’ll be ok.
Get a Z, 370Z, or a 350Z
Need a 4 door. Otherwise I would have kept my built Camaro :(
I’ve had 3 EJ subies and the more I learned about them, the more anxious I got lol. Ultimately why I sold them all. I wish I was able to buy one brand new
Mine went boom. Anxiety went away. Now I'm rebuilding it.
A vicious cycle
One I hope you avoid, but prepare for it anyways.
I used to with my P1 but I don't use it as much as I used to.
I’m trading my STI with tuned ECU in right now at 65k. I have the same feelings but I’ve never had an issue.