So my refinace is done on my house and I am looking to buy a 04-07 STI. I was wondering if there is any common problems with any of the years, also which year do you think is the best. Yes I have done research on the STI but I was hoping to get some info from people that either work on them own them or just know alot about them. Thank you any info will be helpful.
What is your price range? Will you just be DD'ing the car, or will you be doing track, autox, rallyx, etc? Any plans for modifications?
20K-25K The car will be a DD and yes I would like to take it to a track once and awhile most likely not rally, maybe some small modifications to start but mostly stock for awhile.
Personally, I thought the 06 was about the best of the GD STI. You get the wider track that came with the 05+, the 41/59 torque split, projector beam headlights, a better looking front end (IMO) and fewer engine issues than the 07s from what I've heard about. Plus, you can't get Aspen White in an 07 but that may not be something you're concerned with
Yes the 06 front end does look nice, I have been reading about engine problems with the 07 does anybody know what type of problems they are. I can't find anything that says what they are. The Aspen white is a nice color but I could live with other colors.
The 07's are fairly notorious for issues with blowing pistons. The stock tune was/is quite bad, and they have major issues with fuel learnings and lean conditions that can cause problems. With that said, I think the 07 is the best MY due to the new transmission ratios. In all honesty, anything newer then 05 will be quite similar. Obviously the body style changed in 06, and I am (obviously) partial to that body style. The biggest thing is just to find a used car that you trust is in good condition and an owner who took care of it before you.
No. It's hit or miss. My 07 STI popped at 8k miles. This was after putting "safe" tunes on it at 400 miles, 5k miles, and 6k miles. I've also seen STi's of all years blow stock piston ring lands. I think it just seems more prevalent in the 07 bc of the aweful stock tune. Agreed. I liked the 07 gear ratios so much better that I budgeted a short block rebuild when buying:laugh: Ended up being a bit more expensive than buying an 06 and swapping the gears, but I had the peace of mind of knowing the complete history of the car.
Yup, ring lands are bad on Subaru's period (WRX's and STI's). However, in addition to the better gear ratios, the 07 STI's plain old make more power then previous years STI's because of redesigned heads. This increase in power and a bad stock tune often led to 100%+ injector duty cycle and lean conditions at high RPM's. They also seem to have had a bad run of injectors that promoted this ringland failure.
Yes. It's "lightly" modified tho... if that matters to you. David Lavalle from WMC. He's scammed multiple members and local businesses. I've seen cars he's sold with no front or rear sway bar (mount was twisted to the point that the front sway bar couldn't mount up... no reason there shouldn't have been a rsb on it tho :dunno. I've also seen his cars at a frame shop with a wrx turbo on a STi longblock. There are many pictures on this site showing grossly aligned body panels and mimatched parts from his cars. His business practices also seem suspect (read the wmc thread). Sure, these cars piece together like legos, but he's taken it to a whole nother (shady) level.
I am very partial to the 04-05 body style and the aspen white color and it sounds like you are too. Get what you really want, that's my advise. There are plenty of these cars out there if you have a little patience. Between the 04 and 05 year, the interior is different. I prefer the older interior in the 04 but I know most people generally prefer the 05 interior. I'd advise taking a look at both before you buy. And here's a recent pic of my white 04 STi. Note that I ditched the fog covers and the massive wing. And it's not really for sale... worth more than 25k to me anyway.
mosc, your car looks nice. I really don't like the wrx wing I think they look funny, but to each their own. Paul yes there is a 04 WRB for sale, I have been thinking about checking it out. Is 65k miles alot for a STI or are they still pretty good, I am use to honda's so 65k is nothing for those.
what do you consider "lightly"? if it is done right and by somebody that knows what they are doing it doesn't bother me. Also is this company that you talk about in St. Paul? If so I already know about it, email him once and he emailed me back with a bunch of B.S. and figured it was a scam, did some research and found out it was.
I wouldn't worry about mileage as much as I would worry about maintenance and care. I would take an 06 STI with 125k highway miles with proper maintenance done over a 10k mile 04 STi with a ton of 2 mile trips at under 3400rpm and a lazy previous owner. Great example is a friend who just bought an 05 STi with 35k miles on it. Previous owner had the shift light set to 3500 rpm. The oil was overdue (no used oil analysis, but the car was throwing an avcs code when the car has no avcs filters. Oil change cleared that code right away), the air filter looked to be original, the car was behaving like the MAF sensor was never cleaned, the car smoked for literally 15 minutes after seafoam tretment, and now it's throwing other codes and exhibiting behavior that I'm guessing are due to a faulty front 02 sensor.
Yes, we are talking about the same company. Kudos for doing research beforehand! "Stage 2" with some suspension, audio, and interior mods. Motor was built by bikerboy (cp forged pistons, arp head studs). Tuned by Bullwinkle. Aligned by Jeff. I did the rest of the work and I kept all the stock parts except wheels and radiator. Car is driven hard but meticulously maintained. Oil changed every 2k miles except this past winter when it was garaged. Come to Firestone sometime and feel free to pick it apart. Looks like this except without the sticker on the wing and without a hoodscoop currently:
Nice looking car, looks clean. Looks alot like what I was thinking for mine when I get one. Yeah I guess who owned the car makes a big difference. Say I have always wondered with going to stage one and two what did that do to your MPG, It really it's a big deal but I have always wondered that.
Thanks, like I said, come check it out. I'm casually looking for it's replacement. Stage 1 was significantly better for fuel economy. Stage 2 is marginally better than stock (from what I understand). My day to day driving is too erratic to use as a benchmark, but my semi-annual 1200 mile round trips to my parents' house showed 28-31 mpg hwy on stage 1 tune and 26-28 mpg hwy on stage 2 tune. I only had the stock tune for a few hundred miles, but I've heard 22-25 hwy.
Wow that is suprising, I would of thought that the MPG wouldn't of changed that much, that is good to hear once I get a STI and if it doesn't have a tune I will look in to do that.
Nate went through and leaned out my high rpm fuel trims yesterday. ECU was calculating 12ish AFR up top while my wideband was showing 9's. Gained a bit of power and injector headroom. Stock maps run pig rich (rightfully so).
Well how much would you be looking to get or your car? Also how many miles? Also how much does a tune run price wise stage one and two? Is there any other mods that you have to do when going to either one?
Close; the car was mapped at around 10.8 and was running about 9.9. Now it's right in the sweet spot at 11:1. Anyway, Sheen's car is a gem. If I was shopping 07 STI's and found one with CP pistons, I would be in heaven, as those are quite a safety valve .
I'm open on price. Still shopping for it's replacement, so that will sway my decision as well. 12k miles on the body. Under 4k miles on the block. I have a very detailed history and parts list if you are seriously interested. thanks for the correction. Alls I know is it doesn't fart as much anymore. If there's a similar mod for the driver, lmk.
Thank you for saying that about sheen's car it helps to have other people comment on a car. Could you shed some light on the second half of my question about price and other mods? Well I am not to sure how much your car would be worth, do you have a range on how much you would like for it.
Check it out first, then we can talk price. Looking at your price range, I could do something in that area, but would be putting a lot of it back to stock.
Ok, I will find some time. It might not be for a week or two, I have to get ready for a fighting robot comp at the MOA.
I get about 28 on pure freeway calm driving and more like 15 with a lead foot around town. Course, my injectors are upgraded and my turbo's not a VF39 but it's still pretty close to a "Stage 2" type car.
Well yes in person would be nice but a photo will give me an idea to what it looks like. Idget do you by chance go to D-wood for night classes?
