I just thought I would share my experiences as a relative newbie to the joys of scooby ownership.

I bought a new parallel import MY05 WRX from Alliance in February and can say that apart from a delay in getting the Warranty/Service book and the original sales invoice from the Cypriat dealer they were excellent and come highly recommended. Total cost from Alliance with Cat 1 Alarm was ~£16500 (came with better seats although no locking wheel nuts). Had RAC Trackstar fitted with SmartNav satellite navigation - cost including fitting £499. Now have approved tracker with benefit of satnav - £10 per month for Satnav, £8 per month for tracker.

Car was insured with Privelige (who insisted on tracker) for ~£550 (£470 basic price + £80 for NCB protection) - 36yrs, no points, 9y+ NCB, car on drive, wife on policy.

Running in for the first 1000m was very frustrating, but got the first oil service done after approx 1 month with ~1250m on clock. As it was an import the service was not free but cost around £180 with locking wheel nuts and WRX mats.

Next 8000 miles of trouble free (apart from a stone chip and a small scuff on one alloy) motoring was great fun - the car definitely loosens up beyond 5k miles. Always run on Optimax or BP Ultimate (except when wife put half a tank of normal u/l in! - now she's banned from driving it especially as she's recently had an 'incident' with her Cooper S).

However I knew something was missing - I knew I could have more. After reading the posts regarding warranty issues with imports and PPP I spoke to my local dealer who seemed to think that fitting a PPP may not invalidate the pan-european warranty (even though the Cypriat warranty doc states that any damage caused by increasing BHP will not be covered) - hmm not sure about that - maybe the dealer just won't tell Subaru Cyprus about the PPP. I also spoke to Sam at TSL who very patiently led me through the options for mods up to 280bhp - very helpful, cheers mate.

In the end I went for the PPP - after a short delay because my car was not registered with IM and until this was done Subaru wouldn't supply the kit - because I have slightly more chance of my warranty being intact. Only time will tell with the warranty issue. Time between ordering PPP and fitting 4 days! PPP was fitted at 10k service (well 9.3k as it is an import) last week, cost of PPP and 10k service £1803, and all I can say is I can't stop smiling:-). Only downside is insurance has gone up to around £800 with much bigger excesses of £600-700. I guess I'll shop around at renewal time - but it's definitely worth it. Differences - better torque spread and a much much much better shove in the back between 3.5 and 6k, and it now sounds like a proper scooby. Don't know about fuel consumption as too soon to tell. Next steps are Prodrive springs which the dealer has quoted me £517 fitted - but I need the bank account and wife to get over the shock first - and new head unit and front speakers.

All in all I am one happy-m***********r. I don't care if it's not the fastest car on the road - it's now fast enough for me (at the moment anyway) and it's practical enough for everyday use - I use it for work as well as fun. I have read the recent my-car-is-faster-than-your-car posts and although I am not going to get drawn into the argument give me a twisty country road (in almost any conditions) and I fail to see how anybody cannot call the newage WRX a quick car! (Please note: I didn't say the fastest or that a classic is not quicker).

Don't worry not all posts will be this long!

 

glad your enjoying it mate!

so 16500 + nearly 2k for ppp+ 500 for tracker and nav etc. thats over 19K. personally i think that this shows that euro imports are not good value when your going to add extras. for 16500 fair play but a wrx300 (UK car with ppp as standard and tracker as standard + special seats and extras) can be had for sub 20K with no warrenty issues.

as for ppp springs thats a hefty price fitted. if you had bought the car from the dealer in the first place you are likely to have got a lot better price than that.

I know what i would rather do.

glad your happy though. just hope this warrenty crack doesn't catch up with you

 

Glad you like you MY05, mine came from Alliance as well.
Sent you a pm in regards to PPP and options from TSL

Richard

 

Good post , thanks and welcome

Dave

 

I agree and had that sort of offer been around in February I would have gone down the UK route - however best price back then was around £19.5k for UK WRX without PPP or tracker or any other extras so total would have been ~£21.5k. So by my reckoning I still saved around £2.5k at the time.

Having read a few threads on fitting of springs I know that it is a little more expensive but not that much more - unless someone can tell me otherwise. I trust my dealer with my car and will happily pay a small premium. Having previously used a number of other main dealers - Ford, MG Rover, Land Rover (not to mention friends experiences with VW/Audi, Vauxhall and Nissan) I will always pay a little extra for good customer service and trust.

 

Good for you mate.

I bought a wrx from Alliance in March and thought the service was excellent.
Chased for my service book and reciept and the came within a fortnight.

I would like to PPP mine but dont want to loose the warranty - think I will have to see what my local dealer says. Also I only have 4500 miles on the clock so might be best to wait a while - probably to insurance renewal time and get quotes for both std car & PPP.

Like you say even the std wrx is not slow - I used to have a 307 HDI 90 company car - that was slow. I appreciate there are faster cars but not many for around £16K new.

C2forwrx - At the time we both bought free PPP wasnt available so it was £16K from Alliance or £19.5K from a UK dealer - either way PPP would have been an extra £1600. The 300 wasnt available either.

Like everything - as soon as you buy someone comes up with a better deal.

Bet some people wish they had waited for the 2.5 MY06, but its the waiting that hurts !!!

 

very true.

When ever you buy something, theres always a better deal to be had after the event...

Never mind, its yours, enjoy it....

Happy motoring

 

Hello,

I also have bought an Cypriot import from Vigincars , very happy with it , I am thinking of having the prodrive fitted (£1600 fitted and increase power by 40hp) . my insurance was £550 with £370 excess this is with Norwich Union .
The question is should I have the prdodrive fitted? .

 

i would talk to your local dealer mate, because it seem from what the others say you will have warranty issues...

Harsh tho this may be, i dont think a dealer will be bending over backwards to help with a parrallle import seems as you bought the car cheaper else where...

I hope im wrong, but i would check...

As for if you should get it done, warranty aside, its a big YES, you will certainly notice the differencs, and the difference is all good, believe me...


John

 

I personally don't know of anyone who's been given the cold shoulder when it comes to servicing/warranty jobs on EU cars.

Most main stealers are falling over themselves for the work..! Infact, AFAIA, most main dealers make their money on aftersales/service not the actual sale..!

 

As regards to fitting the PPP, check out where you stand with the warranty, if it invalidates the warranty you might not want to risk it, but if you decide that you are not that bothered about the warranty as an alternative to the PPP it may be worth considering a good aftermarket exhaust such as a Hayward and Scott along with a centre decat and a Tek 3 remap, this would give similar if not better performance than the PPP and may be considerably cheaper.

 

Any warranty claims must go back through the supplying dealer, there for if the ppp invalidates it, the repairing dealer either has to say, no its not fitted, there for keeping the warranty, or they will just say sorry but it aint covered, thats what im getting at....