Hey Everyone, I will be listing my 2011 STi hatch for sale in a couple weeks, but would like to get your opinion on which suspension set up would be most appealing to have on the car for the sale. Currently on the car is a set of KW Variant 3 coilovers. Although I think they’re still in fine condition, they do have around 70K miles on them and will likely need a rebuild at some point (as all coilovers do). I’m surprised they haven’t needed one sooner, but maybe KWs are that good! On another note, they do clunk a bit (spring binding?) when conditions are very humid or damp - they’ve done this for just about the entire time they’ve been on the car. I pulled the stock suspension (including OEM strut mounts) off the car at about 3K miles. They’ve been sitting in the old KW box since. If the KWs stay on the car, the stock suspension would go to the next owner. I haven’t decided what I’d do with the KWs if they were taken off. As a hypothetical buyer, which suspension would be more appealing to you? Thanks for the help! Ryan
I assume you're upping the sale price of the car, to reflect the coilovers? KW's are great coilovers, but personally, I'd rather have the low mile stockers, and not have to deal with sending in the KW's to be rebuilt. I don't care for coilovers anyway, so you need to take my opinion with a grain of salt. As a buyer, I would also need to consider if the vehicle is going to be a summer only vehicle. Obviously, suspension can be swapped fairly easily, just depends on how motivated somebody is. I say, for the time being, keep them on the car (out of convenience), but give the new owner the option of saving some $, if they want the stock suspension instead. Worst case scenario, you need to pull them off, and sell them. GLWS.
What other mods are on the car? I would say put stock on and to get a couple extra bucks selling the KW's separate. If the car is modified elsewhere then maybe keep the KW's on.
I honestly don’t know if I would change the sale price by much. Maybe $500 or so? I don’t know how much the KWs would be worth in their current condition. Maybe it wouldn’t even be worth it by the time I pull off the coilovers, put the stock suspension on, and got a realignment. I drove the car through winters without raising up the coilovers. It is lower, but not slammed. Other mods: front lip, Rally Armour flaps, SPT exhaust, KB short shifter / bushings, SMY gauge cluster. Not really a whole lot at the moment.
I’m going to buy a Forester to replace it. I have a 3 month old now, and with all of the stuff we tend to travel with, a bit more space would be nice to have!
Thanks! I’m excited to get into an FXT. I really like my wife’s. The one I am looking at is a lot older, so it will remind me of driving my WRX, which I also enjoy. Best of both worlds for my needs right now.
I’d do the same. Not really the same but when I sold my last car I did so with the winter tires/wheels included. I could of sold them separately and made a little more but it just made sense since I was selling the car with performance summer tires.
I would say put the stock suspension back on. Even though it pains me to say it. Stock with low miles makes more sense than modified with higher miles. You could of course include them both with the car and leave that decision to the new owner, but I wouldn't change your asking price by much. Some people are going to like it, and some people are not. Just the nature of mods in general. You can never please everyone.
Thanks everyone for the input! I listed the car initially with the KWs, and that’s what it’s selling with! The guy does not sound like he wants the original suspension either.
