Ved

Afternoon guys,
I'm strongly considering an 07 STI next year now I've changed jobs and will be doing about 18k in total. Currently I drive a lovely GT-Four but at 91k I don't want to put so many miles on such a classic so I'm thinking a new Impreza is the natural way forward. I've always liked them and since driving an 07 yesterday for a good hour I'm smitten - 3rd gear is a blast!

Does anyone else on here run an STI as a company car or use a car allowance for one (I'll be doing the latter)? If so I'd love to know how you find it as apposed to a weekend play thing. I'll be doing about 10k for work and 8k personal and I don't tend to hold back when I find a good B road so petrol costs arent really a worry since I get around 22 in total from the 282bhp my Celica pushes out.

Any comments welcome.



David

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Welcome to the board

22mpg is about what you'll see out of an STI - but TBH if you buy a new one and then put a lot of miles on it, you'll see terrible depreciation that your company mileage allowance won't get anywhere near. If you like your old GT-four then you're financially much better off using that.

A WRX with PPP isn't much slower but is quite a bit softer and may be easier to live with - I'm guessing you'll be doing a lot of motorway miles, which no car is going to make very interesting. You may as well be comfortable. (That's one reason I sold my '05 STI and bought a BMW 330D instead).

Ved

Cheers Andy and thanks for the welcome - more than I got from other Scooby clubs! The Celica is great and will easily do more miles but when things go wrong on them they blow turbos and other rather core engine parts and having that without a warranty will cost me a hell of a lot. In this sense a new car makes sense and I've never had one that would be considered a cruiser or comfortable so an STI would be no worry, nor would the MPG.

However money in the pocket is good too! I'm only going to do something around April when I'll have 6 years NCB and I'll also be 30 (late starter with cars!). I should have done 100,000 miles on the beast by then so it'll still have a lot of value but the only car I'd go to would be a Scooby as nobody else makes decent drivers cars which arent made of paper or glue or fat and slow!

A Subaru is the way forward.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

When the scooby dies, more often than not it's the big ends - which basically means take the engine out and dump it in a skip...

Do try the '05 STI as well, the chassis is similar but it has a 2.0 engine which some prefer to the 2.5 - get one with the Prodrive Performance Pack on it and you have over 300 bhp, and may prefer it. It'll work out cheaper to have a car a couple of years old, of course, and with PPP you still retain the manufacturer's warranty. Same goes for the WRX; a WRX with PPP is 265 bhp and you can get it in 5 door form too which may be useful.

Consider the WR1 also - special editions tend to hold their value a bit better, and you get 320bhp (though they're likely to be coming up to the end of their warranties now, being 2004 models).

Butty

iTrader: (2)

I lease my Spec D STi for my company and do about 16k business miles, 4k for pleasure.
As there are more motorway miles than most people do, consumption is a little better at about 25 mpg as std, but this has improved now the car is remapped.
The 2.5 engine just seems to have much more torque than the 2 litre. Combined with the altered gear ratios, this makes long distance travelling more comfortable.
The remap has made 5th gear the workhorse, pulling hard from 3k to 6k revs, which is about 70-120 mph.
yet when in lower gears, B road jaunts are a wave of torque yet no need to stir the 6 speed box.

For me, the 2.5 l is more capable in terms of comfort and spec than the 2.0 l.
Add a remap and exhaust to it and the 2.0 l car just seems unrefined.

Nick

greenonedave

I have a 52 reg WRX which I use for my own business, it has a good mix of town driving and motorway use, Its covered 74000 miles since July 03, never missed a beat, fuels about 27 mpg, wife nicks it for her 600 mile week end training course in Wales, just bloody fantastic, gonna get another one soon !

Mikkel

I'm a spec D owner too and although I don't use it for business, I would be happy to. It's comfortable when you want it to be, fast when you need it to be (it's an STi after all) and you won't look like you are having a mid/early life crisis turning up to an office car park in it.

I also have had a remap and the exhaust done and now have a great all rounder. Beforehand I found having to change gear a lot with the 6 speed box a pain during normal driving.

The only better 2.5ltr IMHO is the RB320 but that is £10k more... oh and the Type 25 from litchfield (the ultimate Impreza).

If you go for the 2.0ltr make sure you get a special edition (i.e. WR1) but to be honest the JDM imports are better, but not sure you can use an import as a company car?

TimH

iTrader: (11)

I gave up company cars (2 of which were Scoobies, before the tax hit got too much to stomach) to buy a second hand 05STi (funnily enough, mentioned above ) to run with the car allowance I got in lieu.

Bottom line - there's no way my car allowance pays for the STi - don't tell 'er indoors - but there's no way I'd go back to the BMW diesel I had before (hmm...I give up BMW diesel for STi, Andy gives up STi for BMW diesel - but mine was only a 320D not a 330D)

A very consistent 22 mpg, mostly commuting on good A-roads, dropping to 8mpg on the track but it's such a pleasure to drive, it just doesn't matter. Nothing's gone wrong with it (so far!) and to date (1 year on) the bills are:

• Fuel (£2800)
• Car Tax (£190)
• Insurance (£460, A-plan)
• an oil change service (£100)
• 30,000 service (£360)
• 4 Toyo Proxes T1-R tyres (£350)
• First MOT (£50-ish)
• Loan repayments (don't ask)

But then there's also:

• 3 port boost solenoid (£20, eBay)
• gauges and pod (£220)
• goodness knows how much on car cleaning stuff (£200 at a guess)
• New Genesis bass speakers (£100, Scoobynetter) to add to the pre-existing, stonkingly good, audio setup
• 2 track days (£160, £235) plus insurance (£100, £60)
• Monthly subaru club meetings (beer, food, petrol)
• and not forgetting the Milltek exhaust and re-map to 360bhp (£1100)

Hmm - I wonder why the car allowance doesn't pay for it all

Seriously - the car allowance just about pays for the day to day running, but it depends on how you budget for the mods that you know you'll have to do . Go for it, I'd say.

superstar1

Weekend training course? is that what she tells ya?

simscooby

greenonedave

but at least I get the benefit !

lestippp

I run a 05 STi PPP and it is great on short or long runs, fast blasting or slow cruising. Average about 20 - 21mpg on mixed driving. Car is very comfortable for a performance, rally derived, road warrior.

I looked at the scooby's and the evo's (sorry but true) and the deciding factor was the scoob's incredible blend of ferocous power and comfortable cruising.

When I bought the car I drove it from Warrington to Aberdeenshire and had no lumber pain or other discomfort, also managed 23 mpg on that run although it did only have 4.3k on the clock, so still wasn't run in.

Plenty of space and easy to use for the missus as well

That's why more people buy them, they are better all rounders but give you the chance to experience supercar acceleration every time you push the loud pedal Speaking of loud the 2005 burble is spot on (not to loud and not to quiet), not so good on the 2.5lt (which I also tested and almost bought).

Follow your instincts...........buy it....buy it! You will not be disappointed

fattb

iTrader: (1)

I use mine for commuting and do 14k to work and about 7k pleasure each year

MPG is around 18-20 overall

Servicing costs come in at around half of what i was paying for previous VAG cars

Its a MY05 STI with PPP

The biggest drawback is going to the petrol station every 2-3 days

Mikkel

The difference in sound is due purely to a resonated centre pipe on the exhaust of the 2.5ltr. This can be changed for less than £100.

Phildodd06

Mines just a wknd toy only!
It comes out Friday night saturday night and sunday night, i fill it up friday night and by sunday night its empty!
I do about 200 miles on 50 litres.
It's a 1999 (S) WRX STI Type-R Version 5

GeeDee

iTrader: (2)

I ran my Classic WRX as a Company Car and, being an import, it did not have a CO2 rating and so was taxed at 25%.

Unfortunately, I do not receive the same "benefits" with my Spec D.

06/07 STis are good for motorway work with respect to MPG owing to 6th gear. They are, however, very hard on the suspension front which is not too bad when by yourself but when you have passengers it suddenly appears to be very choppy.

danfranklin1

I do over 20k a year, mostly on my motorway commute, in my MY99. It's getting leggy now at 103k (bought it at 77k) but it's been 100% reliable and is still as fast as anything. Keep these cars serviced well - I change my oil every 5k miles rather than 7.5, Motul fully synthetic - get stuff like cambelts done, drive them sympathetically, and they'll not let you down. They're tough cars - when I was talking to Len at Subaru4You at my last service, thinking of chipping it in soon for one with less miles, he told me he has a customer who runs one with over 200k on the clock. They're not as delicate as some seem to think - obviously if you rag them senseless though they're going to break.