Newby - Hawk WRX Workhorse
11 November 2015, 12:25 PM
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Newby - Hawk WRX Workhorse
Being on my second Impreza I thought it was about time I introduced myself. I won't go into all of my car history, but a quick 'back-story' as to how I came to own my current:
18 months ago I had an E39 5-series diesel and a Supercharged MR2. Then I moved house and swapped the MR2 for a very silly little Westfield. The Westy is a huge amount of fun but it wasn't nearly as usable as the MR2 on a day-to-day basis (I'd often use it as my 'work' car if the weather was nice), and I quickly grew frustrated with having to drive a wallowy diesel almost all the time. Don't get me wrong, the E39 was a great car for 2 years and 40k miles but in grandad SE spec it wasn't exactly sparkling. Even if I did manage to get it on track once. On winter tyres...
Anyway...
What I needed was a more entertaining daily drive. Now this wasn't an easy choice, due to the following prerequisites:
20k miles a year
Must be fairly inoffensive, as it's my 'customer-facing' car
Be able to tow the Westfield
Not massively thirsty day-to-day
Practical (it's the only car in our fleet of three with a decent loading space)
Reliable
After much prevaricating, during which I almost leased a new Focus ST, and then almost bought a Golf GTI, I remembered how much I'd loved my last Impreza - a 130,000 mile bug-eye WRX wagon. In truth, I wish I'd never sold it (it's still going somewhere I believe, although the MOT history site suggests it has since been clocked...)
That was it, I wanted another. Except this time, instead of doing it on a shoestring (the last one was bought for £2.5k from one of those "car dealers" your dad warns you about in Ramsgate) I could hold out for one that I wanted. Low mileage, FSH, warranty, and a Prodrive pack.
As it happened, the search took me all of two days
I found a car advertised at Adams Brothers Subaru in Aylesbury which was my ideal spec. 54k miles, FSH, PPP. I went to have a look at it and it was immaculate, went for a test drive and all seemed in order. After scaring myself with reports of 2.5 engines going bang I quickly forgot all about this when I realised how wonderfully drivable they are everyday. 13 months later I'm up to 79k miles (25k in just over a year!) and it has been an excellent workhorse, tow-car, long distance cruiser and back-road blatter. I love it.
Anyway, enough of my blithering.
Changeover day!
Mmmm...silver...
Quickly put to work!
S'pose I should clean it...
Mod-wise it's totally standard aside from a Witter detachable tow-bar I had fitted so that it can do this:
It has been a fantastically dependable car for me but is starting to show its age a little in places - there's a knocking coming from the front whilst on full-lock, along with a separate knocking from the rear struts. I'll investigate the best way of curing these fairly soon, and then hopefully it'll just need more routine servicing while I tip it over the 100k mark in, probably, about a year's time.
Sorry, not the most exciting thread but I hope there's space for me in amongst the big-power builds
18 months ago I had an E39 5-series diesel and a Supercharged MR2. Then I moved house and swapped the MR2 for a very silly little Westfield. The Westy is a huge amount of fun but it wasn't nearly as usable as the MR2 on a day-to-day basis (I'd often use it as my 'work' car if the weather was nice), and I quickly grew frustrated with having to drive a wallowy diesel almost all the time. Don't get me wrong, the E39 was a great car for 2 years and 40k miles but in grandad SE spec it wasn't exactly sparkling. Even if I did manage to get it on track once. On winter tyres...
Anyway...
What I needed was a more entertaining daily drive. Now this wasn't an easy choice, due to the following prerequisites:
20k miles a year
Must be fairly inoffensive, as it's my 'customer-facing' car
Be able to tow the Westfield
Not massively thirsty day-to-day
Practical (it's the only car in our fleet of three with a decent loading space)
Reliable
After much prevaricating, during which I almost leased a new Focus ST, and then almost bought a Golf GTI, I remembered how much I'd loved my last Impreza - a 130,000 mile bug-eye WRX wagon. In truth, I wish I'd never sold it (it's still going somewhere I believe, although the MOT history site suggests it has since been clocked...)
That was it, I wanted another. Except this time, instead of doing it on a shoestring (the last one was bought for £2.5k from one of those "car dealers" your dad warns you about in Ramsgate) I could hold out for one that I wanted. Low mileage, FSH, warranty, and a Prodrive pack.
As it happened, the search took me all of two days
I found a car advertised at Adams Brothers Subaru in Aylesbury which was my ideal spec. 54k miles, FSH, PPP. I went to have a look at it and it was immaculate, went for a test drive and all seemed in order. After scaring myself with reports of 2.5 engines going bang I quickly forgot all about this when I realised how wonderfully drivable they are everyday. 13 months later I'm up to 79k miles (25k in just over a year!) and it has been an excellent workhorse, tow-car, long distance cruiser and back-road blatter. I love it.
Anyway, enough of my blithering.
Changeover day!
Mmmm...silver...
Quickly put to work!
S'pose I should clean it...
Mod-wise it's totally standard aside from a Witter detachable tow-bar I had fitted so that it can do this:
It has been a fantastically dependable car for me but is starting to show its age a little in places - there's a knocking coming from the front whilst on full-lock, along with a separate knocking from the rear struts. I'll investigate the best way of curing these fairly soon, and then hopefully it'll just need more routine servicing while I tip it over the 100k mark in, probably, about a year's time.
Sorry, not the most exciting thread but I hope there's space for me in amongst the big-power builds
11 November 2015, 02:25 PM
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Exactly the same reasons why I love my blob SL PPP wagon Ben. It's so practical (I recently picked-up a 2m long TV cabinet and it fitted in like a glove with the seats down and passenger seat moved right forward), mine has been perfectly reliable, only a burst top rad hose has let me down, seems a common problem as it rubs on the fan blades. Before I bought it the dealer had replaced the rear shocks with new KYB Excel-G's (KYB are the OEM manufacturer) due to them knocking. Not long after the front left started clunking very slightly as well so decided to replace them (KYBs are £70ea off ebay) and fit PCA Dynamics (read Prodrive) blue lowering springs at the same time which transformed the looks and handling as well as actually improving ride quality. I still love jumping into mine and taking it for a spin!
See my thread here: https://www.scoobynet.com/members-ga...l#post11434723
And the PCA Dynamics springs thread: https://www.scoobynet.com/suspension...l#post11479810
There are loads of threads on wagon shocks on here, just remember, blob and hawk wagon dampers are the same, but differ from the saloon versions.
See my thread here: https://www.scoobynet.com/members-ga...l#post11434723
And the PCA Dynamics springs thread: https://www.scoobynet.com/suspension...l#post11479810
There are loads of threads on wagon shocks on here, just remember, blob and hawk wagon dampers are the same, but differ from the saloon versions.
11 November 2015, 03:21 PM
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Ah thanks mate - that's good to know. I'll do some investigating and see if I can work out what's knocking at the front and then replace as necessary. I'll probably hold off on the lowering springs though, I don't really want to mess with the tow-hitch height and the little bit of extra ground clearance can be pretty useful in muddy paddock carparks!
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