By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
-juice
2) noone has complained yet, so it must be okay
3) you may have to remove the windshield washer coolant reservoir, maybe part of the intake, for easy access to the plugs, but it's not hard
4) you can use Prestone in the Subie, but not the VW. I would not mix them.
5) 1000 miles, keep it under 4000rpm if possible, avoid flooring it or stabbing the brakes, basically drive smooth but vary rpms
-juice
I'm also going to stick with either 215-45-17 or 215-50-17 because that seems to be the suggested size by Subaru and since I have a wagon, I think the smaller size would be better if I get different suspension in the future to avoid rubbing.
2) Dunno.
3) I read here some months ago that the spark plugs were neigh impossible to access. The post indicated you have to do it by feel, and there isn't much clearance. I haven't even looked. When I owned by old Rabbit, I did all my own maintenance because it was either that or have a second car on standby all of the time. Now that vehicles are virtually maintenance free I tend to take them to the dealer. Besides, they have all the high-tech diagnostic goodies that I couldn't possibly afford.
4) Dunno.
5)The manual says to keep it below 4000 for the first 1000. I believe in a slow breakin. I go reeel easy for the first 1000 - not just below 4000, but I take my time getting there as well. Above 1000 miles I gradually increase my agressiveness. Call me dorky, but I believe a car isn't truly broken in for 5000 mi or so. Even after breakin - just because the Tach goes to 7000, doesn't mean you can make a habit of it and expect a long trouble free vehicle life. Just MHO, FWIW.
When I first bought the car, I thought it had a pretty notchy shifter. That has all gone away with breakin, and it is now one of the smoothest shifters I have ever owned.
Enjoy your Roo.
Think you did all right on the price. I paid more but I was in a hurry and didn't try super hard.
Wouldn't sweat the plugs. You don't have to change em until 60K/60mths. By the time you either
a) sold the car
b) figured it out
c) saved up enough to have the dealer do it
I doubt rain through the scoop is an issue. Got to be quite a bit of water all at once to take out enough heat to cause problems. You probably get more coming up from the road anyway. I just wouldn't spray a hose in there especially when the engine is hot.
I can answer you about the turbo boost gauge. I just bought one from www.subaruparts.com (the Tacoma, WA Subaru dealer) for about $195 as I remember. It's also available on www.subaruWRXparts.com for a bit less. I've looked at the install instructions and it doesn't see to difficult. I've found that visiting the your local i-club chapter in your area at www.i-club.com finds you folks that are willing to help with an install that you may not feel comfortable doing by yourself. Hope this helps and enjoy the WRX! :-)
Stephen
I believe you've picked the perfect car. Black WRX wagon and got it at the perfect price...
...not that I'm biased or anything since I have a black wrx wagon manual for which a paid 22,500.00. So personally, I think you did alright. Enjoy!
Ken
A little water won't hurt the intercooler.
In fact, the higher h.p. (and as of right now, only overseas) WRX STi's come with a water spray that sprays directly onto the intercooler. Some folks have added aftermarket sprayers.
Further to what Stephen said, check out your local i-club chapter. Since you're in White Plains, it would be the Tri-State Area. I'm in NJ and have been to all kinds of meets. Dinner, backroad drives, drag races, off-roading, etc. A lot of fun and a good group of folks.
-Dennis
Good deal, Ken. I must say the black helps it a lot, and I haven't seen ANY black wagons other than mine, since I've started keeping an eye open.
I'll shut up about the intercooler, thanks for the advice. I noticed in the ad book, there was a stock option to replace the clock with a factory 3-gague set (boost, oil pressure and something else) I figured that would be the easiest and most factory-able way to go.
I looked under the car for the first time yesterday. I notice the exhaust pipe going under the rear axle (I think, it was a quick glance) was the lowest thing on the car. Anybody destroy this yet? I'm paranoid, I worry about stupid stuff.
cinosweive: I'm with you on the break in stuff. I have a friend who refuses to buy a new car because of the depreciation loss in the first 5 minutes. But the first 1000-5000 miles are the most important, and *I* am going to be the one doing it, not some leaser who doesn't care.
-mike
-Dennis
What reminded me, was that my Silvervision lamps came today, so I guess I need to finally try to perform open lamp surgery. They threw in a free pair of 5W BlueVision bulbs, too, but I don't know if they are the same size as any of ours. Seems like the'y'd look goofy. Maybe I'll stick them in Deb's A6, since she has those blue HIDs in there already.
Anyway, hope it worked out alright, because mine is about 2.71 HP more powerful with the clear sidemarkers.
Steve
I used the blow dryer to take the first one apart, and then to put it back together. Didn't seem to really seat too well, so I put it in the oven as recommended. I should have done this to take it apart. I did the entire second lamp in the oven. It pushed together much easier and seemed to seal tighter with the whole lamp heated up.
One warning for anyone doing this. Don't do the stupid thing I did. I didn't notice until I took the second lamp out of the oven, but somehow I must have bumped both lenses against the top burner. Grrrr! Now I have a couple of scuffed marks on the clear lenses. Not too bad, and it will probably come out with some plastic polish. Stupid mistake, and I did it twice.
I ended up using the BlueVision bulbs in my headlamp as running lamps. One had burned out already somewhere along the line. Maybe I damaged it when removing or installing. Whatever happened, I replaced both. You don't see the blue at all. They are just noticably whiter than the OEM running lamp bulbs.
So now I have all white lamps on the front and sides of my black wagon. Looks really nice without any other colors. It is wet (raining off and on here) and dirty now, but I'll post a photo after I get it cleaned up.
Steve
The clear sides came yesterday. I also picked up my OEM rear mudflaps from a fellow i-clubber who does great paint work. He painted them platinum silver for me. I'll try putting them and the clear sides on tomorrow and post pics, weather withstanding.
I noticed that the Silvervision bulbs don't fit well in the headlight connections as the nubs are not aligned to fit light hole connection. I got mine to go in w/o shaving down any nubs. The lights work fine. I did manage to get some goo residue on one of my headlamp lenses. As far as the clear sides, I need to get some amber bulbs for behind because I'm pretty sure the bulbs now are white behind the amber lenses. I thought about putting silvervisions in but I don't want to wait on another order or pay $23. I don't want to risk any "officials" attention with white bulbs "on" behind the clear lenses. :-) Maybe I'm being paranoid?
The other items I'm waiting on are:
STi painted grille
Front and rear strut tower bars
STi hood scoop
Pocketlogger for my Palm Pilot
Brake caliper paint from Folia Tec
(see why I don't want to wait for more Silvervisions, LOL)
Stephen
In it is a comparison test of four small wagons, all automatics: Saturn LW300, VW Jetta GLX, Volvo V40, and the Subaru WRX. While the WRX did win the comparison, R&T did not like the WRX's automatic one bit. The WRX's engine charactoristics and the 4-speed automatic were not a good mix, in their opinion. The car was 1.1 seconds slower 0-60 than the 5-speed they tested earlier, and the shift points and turbo lag were not a good match. They said as long as you had your foot to the floor, it was fine, but how often do you drive a car that way?
Their advice: get the WRX—but with the 5-speed...
Bob
Stephen
Bob
My SilverVision bulbs fit with just a little filing. I aligned the one nub with the slot, and filed the other down until it was a very tight fit in the non-slotted area. Worked fine. I probably could have forced it in without filing, but I didn't want to risk pulling out only the bulb and not the base whenever they need replaced. Thanks again for the tip on getting the Silvervisions!
Glad the guy from eBay worked out for you. Sounded at first like you were having trouble with him, so I was feeling bad about recommending him.
Next for me? Hmmm..trying to give D Stock auto-X a go, so I can't do much. I even put the intake resonator back in. No more Phisshhh- whoosh sound. Most things have been cosmetic to stay stock.
Removed DRL module
Removed intake resonator
Removed Impreza from liftgate
Removed steel box under armrest
Added STi shifter trim
Added MOMO Race Airleather shift knob
Added clear side markers
Replaced intake resonator
Replaced one blown RE92 tire
Removed amber gel in headlamps
Replaced turn bulbs with SilverVision bulbs
Relpaced running lamp bulbs with free BlueVision bulbs
I think that's it.
I've pretty much got the monochrome sleeper look I want for now without changing wheels and tires. Not sure what I'll do next. I am sure that you guys will bring up something sooner or later to grab my attention!
Now if only someone would have a go at me. Where did all those potato blasting Civics go I saw while deciding to ge my WRX!
Steve
I briefly scanned through that article.
Basically, they were referring to the WRX upshifting too quickly etc., but anybody with a rudimentary knowledge of "Adaptive automatics" know that the tranny can be re-trained to hold the gear till redline in every gear. So they basically got a "Green" WRX, whose tranny had not adapted to holding the gear (for acceleration) and was basically programmed from the factory for upshifting too quickly (for fuel efficiency).
Another thing that stood out, is that they test Manual-Sedans with the lightweight 17" optional BBS wheels with light and sticky summer-only RE011 tires, while they test the Auto-Wagon with the heavier, sloppier 16" wheels with the pathetic all-season RE92 tires.
In addition to the above, the 17" wheels with the RE011 tires have an overall diameter that is 1/2 an inch less than the RE92-equipped 16" rims, with a resultant "effective gear ratio reduction" which will enable it to accelerate like a mofo, even excluding the lightweight nature of the rims/wheels. This would affect every statistic, including acceleration, braking and also handling. So I was kind of pissed off at those folks, even though they positioned the WRX at #1.
Everything being equal (tires/wheels etc), and with a well-adapted Automatic-transmission, the Auto-WRX should be slower than the manual by around 1/2 a second to 60mph (which is plenty fast enough), even though 0-60 and such things are not the reason for owning a WRX.
But having an Automatic-WRX equipped with an Adaptive-automatic-trans, in an un-adapted state, and equipping it with RE92 all-seasons on a heavier sloppier, narrower wheel with tires/wheels having an unfairly high diameter affecting gear ratios (when compared to the other combo), is not a fair-and-balanced test. Publishing such comparison figures (without stating the different conditions of the other test)would make their opinions irrelevant to say the least.
Later...AH
Stephen
I coulds see having preset programs or even two or three adaptive programs that work in different ranges that you manually switch between but I can't see how an all the time adaptive can be a good thing if it takes a week to learn. What am I missing?
-mike
For what it's worth: I've driven the auto (wagon) twice at a dealer, and the experiences were night and day. The first time, you could have 2 cups of coffee and read the paper while waiting for the engine to slowly grasp it was needed for something back in the world...it was just dreadful, and seemed a total waste of the turbo. But the second time, the car that had clearly been broken in a bit. I noticed almost no turbo lag, and exceptionally smooth shifting (at the not too terribly fast speeds I travelled during the test drive).
Personally, I'm still going to get the MT, mostly because with this engine, I'd rather have instant control all the time. But the AT in the second car I drove was surprisingly effective. If that one experience is indicative of the true capabilities of the adaptive AT (and other posts suggest it is) then I would have no qualms about recommending the AT to anyone who really needs or wants to say good-bye to two-foot driving -- it will still feel like a WRX.
Still sounds like the transmission would be better with a switch. Of course our Camry has a switch; the mysterious ECT button. Does absolutely nothing as far as I can tell. Well it does switch on a light on the speedo that say ECT and it is an enless source of amusement. We use it whenever we want to pass with the driver giving instructions to the co-driver to engage the ECT; great fun. So maybe the switch idea is a non starter.
Where is track actually measured? Is it center to center, inside tire wall, outside tire wall or something else?
If the cars have substantially differ track measurements from the US spec it might be because its measured differntly.
Even so, it still won the overall comparison test.
Bob
When re-trained to the aggressive mode of driving, the shift patterns dramatically changes to "holds the gears in the power band", "downshifts when needed" etc. There is no rocket science in it. The car would intuitively do the gear-shifts perfectly !!
All R&T did is to test an Auto-Wagon with an un-adapted Auto-Transmission and make comments on how the Auto-Trans in the un-adapted state performed. This does not reflect how the Auto-trans would perform with a few hundred miles of aggressive driving.
I blame only Subaru for this blunder, since they presented a "Green" car (with an adaptive trans in an un-adapted state) to R&T, while Volkswagen (smart guys!) presented a car that had been well-adapted to the aggressive driving mode. If you go back and read their comments on the Volkswagen in the same comparison test, it states that "the adaptive transmission downshifted when needed and upshifted appropriately" or something along those lines. Do you think it was some magic or something ?? Superior VW engineering ?? Inferior Subaru engineering ?? NO !! The VW folks gave a good workout to the transmission to teach it the aggressive driving mode (possibly over several hundreds of miles) before handing the car with the well-adapted transmission over to the R&T folks. No rocket science there !!!
Later...AH
BTW, how long does it normally take an adaptive transmission to re-learn its shift points? A few miles? Several hundred miles?
Let's hope Subaru will offer the SportShift feature on the '03 WRX automatic, as they are doing on the '03 Legacy GT, and as is found on Japanese-spec WRX automatics.
Bob
this statement was hilarious--
quote: even though 0-60 and such things are not the reason for owning a WRX.
Oh really? What's the point of owning a WRX if you don't mind me asking? Racing people 0-60 should not be any adult's point of owning a car, but some like it. 0-60 however is often a decent overall measure of the power and (straightline) performance of the car... and if no one cared about that, we'd all be driving Metros.
-Colin
Steve
set of the stock 16" wheels?
Thanks,
SKIREX
I've also seen a for sale set of wheels/tires split up among buyers; one getting the wheels and the other the tires.
Oh, and if you just want some replacement RE92 tires for any reason, Tire Rack has new take-offs for $71 each. I just got one this week to replace my blown out tire.
HTH
Steve
It looks like I won't be able to do my clear sides and mudflaps until tomorrow because of windy/rainy weather here today. Oh well, I still have to go buy the amber bulbs so....
I'll post pics when I finally get done. Heck, with the weather the way it's been I might have the STi grill and hoodscoop by then! :-)
Stephen
Like the "bug eyes" myself. Think the front end styling is a bit retro 60s british sports car but I may be seeing things.
Tim
Totally OT, but here's my contemporary era '58 MGA. See how it compliments my WRX? No windows, heater stinks, and no top. One for warm dry days, one for anything else that Mother Nature can throw my way. One for fun backroad spirited romps, the other for haulin' stuff...especially haulin' [non-permissible content removed]!
Steve
(sorry for the OT bandwidth)
BTW, managed to get the painted rear mudflaps on in between dry spells. I might be able to get the clear sides on tomorrow.
Tues, my dealer (Carter Subaru in Seattle) is launching a website for MRT products and the owner Brett Middelton will be there. There will be an openhouse for we i-clubbers. I kind of want to get the clear sides on by then.
Stephen
Tim
Let's hope Subaru will offer the SportShift feature on the '03 WRX automatic, as they are doing on the '03 Legacy GT, and as is found on Japanese-spec WRX automatics.
The adaptive feature is more of an averaging over a few hundred miles/thousand miles depending on how much past data is stored in the ECU.
For example, if there are 2 drivers with 2 Auto-WRXs, one an aggressive driver and another a "grandma-like" driver, then after a couple of thousand miles, if the grandma were to drive the other driver's car, typical comments would be - Hey, this car is very fast. A lot faster and smoother than mine. There must be something wrong with my car. Now if the grandma continues to drive the fast car, gradually (over a few hundred miles depending on how much data is stored in the ECU), the shift points get re-averaged to the "slower-mode" and the car would start feeling sluggish.
Now, if the aggressive fellow tries out the other car, the comments would go the other way This car is definitely sluggish. Maybe you should take it back to the dealer and get it corrected. If he continues to drive the slower car, the shift-points get re-averaged to the faster mode.
This would be obviously visible in a new WRX equipped with the Automatic, available at a dealer, where the default mapping from the factory is geared towards fuel efficiency (slow downshifts, too early up-shifts).
So, it would be a disservice to such a transmission, to performance test it in the "fuel efficiency" kind of shift mapping and make comments on how "sluggish it feels" or "it downshifts too late" or "up-shifts too quickly".
Now, when any magazine borrows a car from an auto-maker, obviously they intend to test its raw performance and so Subaru should have had the foresight to re-map the shiftpoints to the performance mode before handing over the car to the folks from the press, which obviously they did not do, unlike folks from Volkswagen and Volvo, who were smart enough to do so.
Later...AH
IMO, it would make more sense to have a "power/economy" switch and/or "tip-tronic" capabilities for the transmission.
Bob
-Dennis
On older subies like my XT6 and the SVX (I think older legacies also) there is a "power" light on the dash that lets you know when the higher shift points have been indicated by the computer. Basically it's like having a "power" button on the shifter, but instead of you manually hitting this button to move the shift points, the rate at which you depress the accelerator dictates when the "power mode" engages. I'll try to snap a shot of my dashboard tonight on the XT6 to show you the "power" light that is now absent (but the feature is still there) on current subies.
-mike
the 4EAT comes with the "Power Mode" you'd described. A quick depress of the accelerator and it down shifts. There's a learning curve for both the driver and 4EAT to happen though. I had been trying for the longest time, nothing; until after some 'Sunday Backroad Drives'. Now, it's easy to engage the 'Power Mode'. Guess you have to adapt the 4EAT to a little 'umph' kind of driving for it to work.
-Dave
TWRX
The auto needs another ratio. And shiftronic. Both. With 5 closer ratios the revs would not drop as much in between shifts.
Any how, the bottom line is it still won! ;-)
-juice
Ken
0-60 and other acceleration/braking figures was probably independent of it and was mainly due to the lousy, heavy and large diametered 16" wheels equipped with the All-season RE92 tires. With the optional Max-performance wheels/Summer-tires (with which they did earlier tests), it would have provided a lot more raw grip (for handling + acceleration), in addition to lower gear ratios for blistering acceleration along with its lighter tires/wheels.
Note 1: larger diameter wheels/tires = bad for acceleration. Stock 16" with RE92 = 25.1" while the Optional 17" BBS with RE011 = 24.6". Gear ratios become lower, with lower tire/wheel diameter and makes a significant dent on the accelerative response of the car, in every gear. It is almost like getting lower (numerically higher) gear ratios, on the sly. Very significant impact on acceleration.
Note 2: heavier wheel/tire combo = bad for acceleration and braking.
RE92 with stock 16" = 38.5 lbs
Optional RE011 with 17" BBS = 35lbs
This additional poundage is rotational mass and has a much greater effect on acceleration than the 3.5lbs/tire-wheel leads us to believe. It is NOT the same as 3.5 x 4 = 14 additional pounds inside the car.
Later...AH
-mike
But you are right in that, with the BBS alloys, the price would have shot up quite a bit.
Later...AH