New Subaru Owner!

Hi all! I have been on the site for a couple months and figured I better introduce myself. My name is Justin and I recently purchased my first Subaru. After a long time of looking, researching, etc, I bought a WRX. I love the car and have enjoyed putting a few miles on it. I was referred to the forum by a friend and was suprised to see how active it was. I look forward to the new adventures I will have with the new ride and am excited to join the Subaru family!

Thanks,

OnTheRocks

 

Welcome to the boards!
What year is your W?
Any mods / Plans for the car?

Wish I would have gone hatch myself, but I still enjoy my sedan. Congrats on the purchase.

 

Thanks! It's a 2014...its a base WRX with the short throw and SPT exhaust. Put the winter tires on last weekend...went a little different with blue rims. Only other items are cosmetic at this point...window tint, mud flaps...

No plans for major mods at this point, but I would like to do a stage 1 tune in the future. That being said, things snowball quickly with this stuff so who knows what the future will bring!

 

If you have a have / plan on getting an aftermarket downpipe. Why not consider going stage 2?

 

Great question! I will tell you I have a lot to learn and that's exactly why I joined the forum. I guess that makes more sense. It looks like the power gains are pretty crazy with the stage 2. How has your experience been with your wrx?

 

nice ride!!!! enjoy the winter rally

 

Thanks! First winter I have ever looked forward to...

 

The downpipe is a crucial part to have if you are looking for a power gain. The stock down pipe has a limited opening :
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...JcyVvw6Rzz1Csu1L08JQWceti14iMYeTTHSc3MAnwuLKc

I've bein lurking around myself when I was in the market and I found that many people either go with an aftermarket downpipe with a 3" bell mouth or divorced wastegate. example of this :
http://www.velocityfactor.net/ProdImages/cobb-downpipe300.jpg

When I went to NF to have my Stage 1 tune done it was essentially a stock tune for your car that smooths it out. Seemed like it ran more efficiently and had a bit more of that pull feeling when the turbo spooled. I put on a invidia downpipe on my car recently and added a Grimmspeed electronic boost controller to the car. We turned up the boost a little bit but not enough to where I would run into problems on the stock td04 turbo that sits in my car. Overall, stage two like many people will say is the difference between night and day. Many of the members here have purchased the electronic boost controllers by grimmspeed which is local in minneapolis.

My two cents is to skip the stage one. Get a downpipe and electronic boost controller, and get a stage 2 tune. Your car will feel like pretty different.

 

Thanks for the detail and information tehfuzz! Sounds like you get a lot of bang for your buck with the Stage 2.

Did you get the Cobb tune or something different?

Any longer term concerns going from Stage 1 to Stage 2?

 

I went with an open source tune from Nuke at NF. They use an open source tuning program (tactrix?) . You can buy the cobb accessport, but that is a chunk of change, but if you like changing it up on the fly then it might more handy.

Any concerns not that I am aware of at the moment. if you have any questions about tuning information you can always send Nuke a PM on here.

 

Thanks for info tehfuzz!

BroCo - yeah, the warranty is the big one! Hesitant to do anything for a little while at least. It is still a fun car right now, bring on the snow!

 

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Personally, I'd leave it stock for a while and enjoy it as-is until you've outgrown the current state. That's what I did originally with my 08 STI...then I decided I needed to mod it and it was a very slippery slope!

Anyway, enjoy the car (its still pretty darn good all around in stock form) and welcome to the forum! NASIOC and IWSTI also have good information, but I always recommend checking multiple sources before making any decisions. Check out the events section here too as we frequently have different events going on. Namely tonight for the weekly Tuesday night meet.

 

I'm gonna sound like a mom here, but remember that AWD only helps you accelerate faster in snow...frequently in the sideways direction AWD doesn't help you brake or turn faster than anybody else...snow tires do.

 

It all starts with a simple exhaust. Then a stage 1 tune. Then a downpipe... And by the time you know it, you'll be drinking that corn juice. Modding is NFectious.

 

I appreciate the words of wisdom! I can see how tuning can be a very slippery slope, I am trying to enjoy things and tread carefully on that path.

Glad to be a part of the community, thanks for the warm welcome!

 

I was in the same boat with being on the fence with warranty/mods. I dove in pretty quick to stage 1 and then stage 2 came soon after. If only I didn't have a faster car before this, it might have been different. Welcome and good luck!

 

A mid 13 sec car is pretty fast in my book. I'd leave it and just enjoy driving it and taking it on trips

If I could do it again, I'd just leave mine stock

 

Thanks for all of the responses guys! It is a blast to drive as is, so I am going to enjoy things for awhile. Only thing I may change would be audio upgrades (headunit and/or sub).