Whats up MNsubaru, I am new here, obviously. I joined because I am considering buying a WRX sometime in the near future. I am from the Honda scene, and know absolutely nothing about subies, besides the little bit of research I have done. Pretty much figured out that I want to avoid 02-03 WRX's due to weak trannies, and the raw gas smell, and since that would narrow it down to getting a 04-05, and since I like the redesigned dash in the 05 better, i would probably be looking to get a 05.
Ignore the "weak" transmission stuff. There are plenty of 02-03 WRXs running around with higher than stock power levels on the original gearsets. The majority of the failures were driver induced, not the fault of the car. And the gas smell isn't limited to the bugeyes either. Welcome!
I drive an 03, almost 70k miles and the tranny is working great for me, although I don't put my car through much abuse other than being parked outside..ahah So I guess it all depends on the driver, but that goes for any car. Honda guy eh? Where in St. Paul are you from? I grew up on the East Side, Lake Phalen area...
02 with 115k on original tranny running around 260whp. no problems. the longevity of the transmission depends on how you treat it
ex 03WRX driver... bought with 900k - sold with 75K, never had a trans issue and I beat the piss out of my car regularly... oh and welcome... besides next to teh 04 XT bugeyes are the sexiest
I am going to be honest, I am kind of afraid of getting a Subaru just because I dont know how to work on one... I did all my own repairs on my civics, and did tons of motor swaps, and put together a few turbo set ups, so I know my way a round a civic, but lets be honest, a 6 year old and a monkey can do a motor swap in a civic, its not rocket science. A subie is a different story, lol. And I have never owned a factory turbo'd car, so internally wastegated turbos are kind of a new thing to me... And then you have the whole boxer motor thing, WOW, confusing, lol. I think it would be a cool learning experience, that and everyone in the subie community seems to have alot of respect for eachother, you cant quite say the same thing about the honda community, lol, having to worry about your civic getting stolen all the time gets kind of troublesome..
Subarus are very easy to work on, surprisingly. I was wary of that as well before I got mine. Its well worth getting into it. I've helped convert several other Honda people to the AWD world.
oh yeah.. like who? :hsugh: Coming from a guy who had a pretty well equipped '99 civic si, I think you'll love a subaru. Best part.. they hardly ever get stolen! No more wondering if you'll come back to your car or not. Oh yeah, awd is a plus at time
subaru's are easy to work on. if you buy scuba_steve's, I'd bet he'd teach you a thing or two (does installs for many members here). I've owned honda, mitsubishi, nissan, ford, gm, and subaru - the subaru has been one of my favorite cars to work on (the nissans were #1 though)
i love my subi.... went from a 97 acura 3.0 cl to an 05 outback xt..... loved the acura.... but love the subi much much more.....
Welcome! I drove a D15 Civic for 2 years, +1 on suuuper easy to work on Subies are only a little intimidating at first, only because the boxer looks so different than what you are used to. But I've found they are fairly easy to wrench on too. Plus now that you're a member of the forum there are TONS of people on here that are ultra knowledgable in the ways of the Soob that are more than willing to help out whenever you have a question! p.s. buy ScubaSteve's car, it is a nice ride!
I don't follow how rolling more than 8 tenths of a million miles off of a car's odometer could effect it's transmission...:biggrin: Seriously tho - it is a good point. I am at 132xxx miles and have 29xxx on my 02 wrx since I bought it. Still original tranny and going strong. And welcome!
