After months or persuasion, the boss has agreed to get me an STI in September. The difficulty comes in that it will be leased not bought which brings in restrictions.

Does anyone have any pictures of a black 04 model with silver FF7s since he's flatly refused to get one with gold alloys.

Do I have any chance of getting the Prodrive pack and does anyone have fuel consumption and CO2 figures.

Is it possible to get DCCD fitted to the STI?

How reliable is the STI? (hopefully better than the Audi TT it's replacing)

Is it possible to fit a normal-sized radio into that double DIN slot? (I need my MP3s)

What are the seats like if you're doing long drives? (say 5000 miles a month)

Any other suggestions or things I should be looking for?

 

Yip, go test drive one.

You cant buy if you dont try.

And you will get humped for tax when it comes to buing a scoob, with a company car .

You will be, however, "liberated" from that TT pretend golf drag , dog wagon.

LOL

Chris

 

Already test drove one

The TT was fun to drive, but the gearbox seemed iffy (felt like a MkIV Escort gearbox) and many things broke. I did like being able to corner without slowing down (I dont speed much as I want to keep my job) but I miss being able to get my mates in the back and getting random kit into the boot should have been a challenge on the Krypton Factor.

The STI I drove seemed to have much smoother acceleration, amazing grip on the corners and generally most of the things I liked about the TT without any of the annoyances. (such as coil packs being a consumable, and

The tax can't be much worse than the TT can it? And the bumpf about the PPP claims lower emissions and better mpg making it a good option to have all around (at least thats how I'll be justifying it to my boss)

Only disconcerting thing about the STI is the way the bonnet flaps about when you drive fast, but I imagine you get used to that. I did in my first car anyway

 

The more gadgets you have on it the more the tax man will love you!!

Will cost a fortune to run as a company car!


Jewels

 

I know its not the same but how about a WRX with PPP? Not far off a standard STi pace and might be a bit cheaper on the ol tax front?

MY step dad leases a wrx thro his company, after you take off the tax he can claim back etc plus depreciation it is costing him about 200 a month! For a brand new WRX SL!! (nice leather seats)

 

A standard 25 grand STI with no PPP would cost you about £450 a month (based on private fuel paid for and 40% tax payer and no personal contribution). A standard 27 grand 1.8T 225 TT would cost you about £340, based on similar criteria.

Chris

 

I pay my own private mileage (not that I do much) and I think I'm in the 33% tax bracket. I'm not too worried about the tax bill, was just curious to see if the PPP would reduce it at all.

I'm not really after top speed, more cornering, acceleration and generally being fun, which is why I think the STI would be a better choice than the "standard" WRX. I'd go for a Legacy if I was putting practicality and cost first. (though that did seem like a fun car to drive as well)

Anyone got answers to the other questions?

 

reliability, after 15 months of ownership ive had no problems
comfort, long drives are no cause for concern

 

Just what I wanted to hear

My back dislikes the TT, and it's needed two new coil packs and a new cylinder head. (after a pully fell off and made the valves go out of time... dealer told me the fault I reported an hour before this happened was caused by a fault oil level sensor)

 

I am on my third Impreza since 1999. I have had absolutely no problems whatsoever with any of them. I had an MY99 Turbo for 3 years = no faults, MY02 WRX PPP for 2 years = slight oil leak after 1000 mile service found to be sump plug, replaced and cured, MY04 STI for 2 months so far and loving every minute in it! Hopefully this will be just as reliable.

Incidently, my bro has a Golf GTI PD and he's had numerous faults, interior rattles, faulty climate control, excessive oil consumption, worn gearlver gaitor etc. What do they say about German reliability?

 

I had no problems when I had a company Golf, apart from an annoying rattle that is.
The TT has had all kinds of weird and wonderful faults including:

Indicator relay that clicks randomly for a few minutes after you stop indicating
Fuel gague that reads randomly (but usually full)
Excessive oil consumption
Coil pack went, twice
Red oil warning came on without giving a yellow warning first. Took it to dealer who said it was a faulty sensor, an hour later the engine died, turned out a pully in the variable valve timing fell off and caused all the valves to get mashed.

My GF summed it up nicely. Initially she liked it then after a few months, and seeing all the crappy plastic covers in the engine bay to make it look full, described it as "a car that Apple would build". She currently wants a Legacy

 

Although Impreza's can be quite reliable you will struggle to do 5000 miles a month in one.

My STi was averaging 4000 a month for 18 months and it was a bag of ****e towards the end.

High running costs, crap dealers and hideous depreciation will soon spoil the experiance for you, been there and done that.

 

I got a MY03 Sti last August and had the PPP fitted at about 8000 miles. Well worth adding the PPP as although it doesn't noticeably increase performance it makes the car more driveable on a day to day basis. More torque low down and not so frantic around town. Mine is black but I did not want the gold wheels or pay a fortune for the options. The dealer (Days of Chelmsford (very helpful)) had the gold ones blasted and re-coated gun metal for me free of charge. Looks pretty evil. Haven't got a pic at the mo but if you want one email me. I've had a couple of niggles but no realiability issues touch wood. I replaced the strereo head unit with a Blaupunkt single din unit. Not cos I think they're good stereos but because I wanted sat nav and they do a single din combined unit. You could have another unit as well like a graphic or autochanger but I opted for the cubby as I've got a changer elsewhere. Doesn't look brilliant but it's practical. I find the seats pretty comfortable and I commute in and out of London from Sussex everyday. Economy wise I'm probably not the best person to ask as I have trouble keeping my foot off the go button. I hired a Ford Focus up in Scotland at the weekend and it's a really nice car. Quiet, economical, spacious and very easy to drive. When I pulled out onto the M23 after leaving Gatwick I was reminded that "really nice" was not how I could ever describe the Scoob. Me and fiance heading south with big grins on our faces again!! Get one and have fun!!!!!

 

The lease is going to be manic on 60k a year, Subaru lease service charges are big and tyre charges also.

as ride and comfort, god knows how you did 5k a month in a TT so a sti will be a breaze imo.

I would expect the PPP to add significanlty to the least cost and to the bik tax as the co2 emmsions are higher, but you will get more mpg when driven gently, driven hard and it will drink more i beleive.

As for the stereo, yes it is double din and is very easy to change to a single din. you have a few options, you can get a cd changer to occupy the other slot, or a colour coded pocket to match the dash, sat nav with pop-out screen, or a secs monitor, lots of people do it as the standard stereo is awful.

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthrea...38#post3446638

this is my wrx with a blaupunkt la mp3 player and in dash 5 disc changer.

 

The value of the PPP would affect the Company Car Tax calculation but I don't think the CO2 calculation is affected because it is fitted after registration.

Also the standard STI is 265 G/KM which is above the maximum anyway.

 

Thanks for all the feedback.

The running costs and depreciation I really dont care about as work will be paying for those, the only one that affects me is the manufacturers quoted MPG as this is what the company deduct from my wages for private mileage

If I get PPP fitted after registration it should not affect tax as this is based on the purchase price? The bumpf from Subrau claims that PPP *reduces* emissions and increases economy... enough to drop it down one tax bracket? what are the new quoted MPGs?

Stereo: I'll be putting my faithful Sony CDX-MP30 in there. It's nothing special but it will play a CD-RW full of MP3s. I've had it since I owned an 89 Escort, this will be the 5th car it's been in. I see no reason to upgrade.

Lease costs: I belevie we will be using a 3rd party leasing company rather than Subaru, again though this is not my problem

Crap dealers? Umm, I'm driving a TT at the moment o_O

Mileage: Hopefully this will be decreasing this year as we are slowly replacing a crap product with a better one which generates less support calls.

G00ner: in what way was it a bag of ****e? just generally poor running or TT-style bits dropping off?


Oh, and the TT is once again b0rked. This morning the sensor that tells it where the crankshaft is packed in leaving it not knowing when to fire the spark plugs. I'm stuck in a Corsa 1.4 Auto and keep slamming on the brakes when going for the non-existant clutch. I am not happy. I h ate Audi, I really really do. And Vauxhall.

 

Mate, TBH the way I see it is go for it.

The TT seats are crap.

I have had my STI8 (Sorry.... White STI 2003 model) for about 3 weeks and it now has 3500miles on it more than I bought it. Cant complain, its comfy, ive got my Pioneer headunit in it, subby in the back. Also got PPP in it for now as awaiting the Motec and a few other goodeis.

I could drive it all day long!

 

I concur
(on both points)

Just got to wait for the lease to expire on the TT, or with a bit of luck it will develop some hideously expensive critical fault and I can be rid of it sooner.

Can't wait