Sorry to hijack the thread slightly, but I think my query is sorta related.

Are all Spec D cars silver?

I'm looking to move to an 2006/2007 impreza from my current trusty forester s-turbo. I quite like the garnet red cars, and I'm also liking the idea of a STi, and the spec d cars look best of all, for my tastes anyway. A quick look on autotrader to see what's about shows me that I can have any colour I like... so long as it's silver.

 

They are all crystal grey, all three hundred of them.

You can get Euro imports that claim to be spec D's in different colours I believe, but the official UK car is crystal grey.

 

As above there all Grey ! It doesn't sound a very interesting colour but with a good detail (polish and wax) its actually a beautiful colour, when the sun light is on it the flicks of the metallic paint look really cool

 

I'm surprised that so many Spec D owners hate/have had probs with the SmartNav. I use it extensively and never had any real problems with it. Sure, its not exactly an attractive setup, and recently I have had the screen start to flash between the standard compass screen and the menu screen. Usually settles down after a while though.

The actual nav system has been spot on for me travelling all over the country.

Back to the OP's points though, it was the one thing that struck me when I bought mine, that if you are after a 'discrete' STi, then a crystal grey STi with a WRX spoiler and any form of silver wheels (or powder coated originals) does the job.

The extra bits that make a Spec D - the Bluetooth head unit (which is cr@p - the Ipod connection and stereo are fine and work well, but the BT handsfree is cr@p, so I had a Sony Ericsson HF unit installed), SmartNav, leather and extra soundproofing aren't worth the extra. Or at least the leather is, if you look at the cost of converting a standard Sti to leather.

Don't get me wrong - the Spec D is a lovely car and its nice to know there were only 300 made - but a discrete STi is straight forward to do.

Gareth

 

I can't see where the extra £4000 over an STi went?
Probably why the Spec D ended up being flogged off for less than the STi in 2007, which the main reason I bought one.
My drivers seat leather is pretty stretched after 40k miles. Its not a patch on the leather from my old 90k S2.
The BT handfree did seem to have a few problems to start with but now performs perfectly.
Foglights are useless and I've dabble with ditching them and fitting an oil cooler instead.

 

Really was that how much more a spec d was over the STI (£4000)
I suppose when you think about the cost of which Subaru charge for ANY of there extras then you can see where the 4 grand went. I bet if you went into a dealer and asked for some sound proofing they would come back with some ridiculous price, that goes for all the extras that the Spec D had.

 

I thought it was only £2k? Spec D was about £28k new and STi was £26k. Am I wrong?

Anyway, never bought a new car at new car prices in my life. I always get mine a year old or under and save a small fortune.

My SmartNav has now gone so I have a lovely shiny upgraded removable screen if any of you Spec D owners fancy an upgrade

I sometimes feel a tad guilty for modding my Spec D with it being limited but, with the exception of the spoiler it is all easily returned to standard if necessary.

 

My dealership gave £24995 for a standard STi and full wack £28450 for the Spec D.
I then saw a thread on SN about Spec Ds being offered much lower and picked one up from Stan Palmers at £22k.
Some Spec Ds even went for £21k in the end.
My Spec D WILL be standard when off leased next year and it'll be easier to de-mod than other cars I've had.

nick.

 

Thanks for the replies folks!!

Only 300 of them? Wow, ok. Might take a while to find the right one.
I guess what I'm after is the STi spec but I'm not some poseur interested in attracting attention with a giant cosmetic rear wing or blingy gold wheels. The spec d sounded good - I also liked the idea of leather and perhaps a little more comfort with the noise deadening. Is there any other options to get this sort of level of trim? Do the RB320 or UK270 models have the same features?