Lurker saying hello.
20 October 2012 | 07:39 PM
#1
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Scooby Regular
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 52
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From: Shropshire
Lurker saying hello.
(LONG POST AHEAD - SORRY!)
Hello everyone, my name is Liam. Been on this site for ages as I’ve always loved Subarus, but I’ve been a lurker so far, mainly been on pistonheads, thought I’d introduce myself and tell you about the story previous cars I’ve owned. Apologies but this is a very long post. Expecting a few tl;dr comments.
Last time I looked I couldn't find a newbie section, so figured this was the best place.. feel free to move the thread if I'm wrong!
But anyway, I’ve been into cars as far as I can remember, I blame it on watching the 90s BTCC, rallying and Gran Turismo 2!!
Being eager to get behind the wheel, I started taking driving lessons pretty much straight after my 17th birthday, and finally passed my test in late 2007.
Been through too many cars since then.. Started off driving my mums 2003 Ford Fiesta around.. Looking back at it now I should have stuck with it! But you can’t stop a young guy pissing money away on cars I suppose.. So after a year in the Fiesta, one night I rocked up home with this baby!!
Yes a Ford Escort 1.6 16v, in all of its chavvy glory. At the time a 1.6 felt like owning a Ferrari. That feeling quickly diminished when bits started dropping off it and I realised what a nail it was. I was too naïve to realise that the 12 month MOT it came with was a dodgy one, when various parts of the brakes started failing I got suspicious. I began unbolting the wheels and went to jack the car up to carry out an expert inspection. After a about 30 seconds and this horrible crunching noise I looked to see the jack was still going up - but the car wasn’t. The sill might as well have been made out of wotsits!
So 2 months later I decided it was upgrade time! For some reason or another, I wanted a Honda Accord. I can only blame this on the BTCC. I can’t think of any other reason to justify it.
So one Feburary evening I turned up in this!
From what I remember, it was a good car, this one housing an Aston Martin-beating 1.8! Sadly I was travelling down the M5 one day when I started hearing this weird vibrating noise, I turned to my friend in the car and “what the f*** is that?”. About half a second later I was spinning across all lanes of the motorway and ended up smashing into the central reservation!!
The tyre had decided to slip off the rim!
I was lucky that I hit the barrier with the back of the car and not the front. Me and my mate got out without a scratch, but to this day I still can’t work out why it happened, I checked all the tyres before I had set off as it was a long journey, I can only assume I picked up a bit of glass or something.
A bill arrived at my house one day asking for £1,900 or so for some destroyed motorway barriers! I had no option at the time but to let the insurance deal with it. They sorted the claim out fine, but my NCB was in tatters and I now had 1 crash on my record. Any dreams of being a 19 year old with some sort of fast car had been utterly ruined. I was truly gutted.
I still had the Escort outside my house, with some MOT left on it so I drove that around for a bit. I ended up letting it go for £200, I’m surprised I got that much for it. The bloke didn’t seem to care about the sills made from rot. I needed something else to roll around in. I ended up buying this for about £450 or so.
(It has a bonnet inside it in that pic!)
Got it cheap because the MOT was due to run out, but despite being a bit rough it still flew through it.
My insurance policy was coming to an end, and this car ended up parked up for 4 months, from December to March. A winter with no car, great! I was forced to do this as the only chance I had to pay something mildly less extortionate was to take out a new policy after I had turned 20 years old.
I found a company which gave me a reasonable quote, and I was on the road again! You don’t realise how great driving is until its taken away from you for 4 months! It was only the 1.6 so nothing too exciting, but it would do. I was stuck with this car for a year at least.. But oh well.. I learned to love it. It ended up with the affectionate nickname “The Purple Piledriver” because on the way to Aberwystwyth one night I accidently hit a pheasant and 1 hour later, 2 little rabbits! One of them did a couple of revolutions with the back wheel before being ejected towards the Mini behind!! That was messy. But back to the cars. After 14 months of driving this Golf around I came back home from a party one evening, steaming drunk, and let loose with eBay. For some reason in my tight financial circumstances I decided I fancied a project car. Oh dear.
Had I decided to buy something fast, reliable and modern?
Nope…
A BMW E30 318i! My mum wasn’t happy when I turned up with it, but I was grinning from ear to ear.
I had been utterly stupid and could only ever get temporary insurance on it, so it ended up parked up for 10 months, but I never forgot how tail happy it was, despite being a lowly 4 pot (and not even the 16v version).
The car became my pride and joy, always looking through my window at it despite not being to take it anywhere. Sadly it ended up getting paintstripper thrown over it one evening, all over the bonnet. Fortunately I found another one for £30 quid and fixed it. (Hence the bonnet inside the Golf in the previous photo!) I still drove the Golf, until October or so when I decided I wanted something a little bit faster, but reasonable in insurance. I ended up with this..
(Booo!) Yes I know the cars have a bad rep, but I loved it! Go kart handling and my insurance was exactly the same, it was great fun. I sold the Golf for £350 or so to some 18 year old girl who scrapped it several months later, which saddened me. I loved that car, it had been my faithful steed through thick and thin. But times move on. The VTR had a loud exhaust on it, typically, so naturally I was dubbed a boy racer by everyone I knew, but I didn’t care. I loved chucking the thing around. In fact I loved chucking it around so much, the clutch starting slipping a few months later! D’oh. I ended up flogging it off cheaply to some bloke from some place the Welsh valleys. The guy crashed it into a shop 2 days later, whilst it was still in my name! Had an interesting call from the police with that one..
However, it was renewal time, and the quotes for the BMW had dropped down from £4,200 to a much more reasonable £1,800. I could now take my baby out on the roads. Took it for a few good runs around the welsh mountain roads in convoy with a couple of mates, very much enjoyed it.
Ended up spinning it on a slightly greasy bend at 25mph! It was clear I had much to learn about handling rear wheel drive machines.
I drove it for 3 months before naturally, deciding I wanted something faster and lively. But I was smitten with BMWs at the time, so decided the next car should be one also. Ended up buying this, a BMW E36 318IS (1.9 16v)
I loved it! It was in a whole different world compared to the E30, at the time it felt like a rocket. It was so much more refined and better to drive, and I still maintain that the M44 engined BMWs are great little cars, lovely revvy engine. I kept this for 9 months mainly without any issues aside from a wheel bearing problem, and smashing into a badger at 70mph on the A49 one day! However, in my quest for yet more power and my insurance renewal coming up soon, I went hunting for something faster.
A BMW E36 328i Sport. What a beast! My first “proper fast” car. Loved the howl of the 6cyl engine. I enjoyed taking this on many runs, it was a pleasure to drive, and a great place to be with its full leather interior. Until one day, when the engine overheated outside a bus station (of all the places!!). Turned out the head gasket had gone, and the block was totally cooked. My heart sank. I decided it was a nice enough car
to persist with though, and put a new engine block in it (at a cost of £850 though, ouch!). Sadly after the new engine was put in, the car continued to play up. One day I was staring at the car, and then looked at my little model Subaru I bought when I was a little nipper. I decided I didn’t want to bother with the 328 anymore, and that it was finally time to start saving for the car I’ve always wanted since I was a kid, a nice classic shape Scooby. (turbo, naturally)
I flogged the 328 on eBay, and off it went to Poland in the back of an artic lorry!
I needed something cheap to get around in while I built up my Scooby fund. So I’ve done a complete loop, and ended up back in a 1.6 Golf!
And that brings to me to where I am today, riding around in this dark green beast while I wait for a nice Impreza. I’ve been looking different ones coming and going on eBay for months now, decided I either want a lightly fettled late Turbo 2000, or a WRX model which has been well looked after. I doubt a WRXSTi will be realistic, I’m coming up to 23. The first thing I will probably to do the car when I get it is giving it a remap if it hasn’t had one already. Seen a couple of nice Terzos, but from what I’ve read on here they aren’t remappable, pain in the ****!
It is slightly gutting looking at these lovely Imprezas going while I haven’t got the funds yet, but I’ve also learned that the Impreza market is full of complete dogs also! It won’t be long until I can afford one though, and I’m more than willing to be patient for the right one to come along.
Thanks for reading, sorry for the long post and I hope I haven’t bored you all.
Hello everyone, my name is Liam. Been on this site for ages as I’ve always loved Subarus, but I’ve been a lurker so far, mainly been on pistonheads, thought I’d introduce myself and tell you about the story previous cars I’ve owned. Apologies but this is a very long post. Expecting a few tl;dr comments.
Last time I looked I couldn't find a newbie section, so figured this was the best place.. feel free to move the thread if I'm wrong!But anyway, I’ve been into cars as far as I can remember, I blame it on watching the 90s BTCC, rallying and Gran Turismo 2!!
Being eager to get behind the wheel, I started taking driving lessons pretty much straight after my 17th birthday, and finally passed my test in late 2007.
Been through too many cars since then.. Started off driving my mums 2003 Ford Fiesta around.. Looking back at it now I should have stuck with it! But you can’t stop a young guy pissing money away on cars I suppose.. So after a year in the Fiesta, one night I rocked up home with this baby!!
Yes a Ford Escort 1.6 16v, in all of its chavvy glory. At the time a 1.6 felt like owning a Ferrari. That feeling quickly diminished when bits started dropping off it and I realised what a nail it was. I was too naïve to realise that the 12 month MOT it came with was a dodgy one, when various parts of the brakes started failing I got suspicious. I began unbolting the wheels and went to jack the car up to carry out an expert inspection. After a about 30 seconds and this horrible crunching noise I looked to see the jack was still going up - but the car wasn’t. The sill might as well have been made out of wotsits!
So 2 months later I decided it was upgrade time! For some reason or another, I wanted a Honda Accord. I can only blame this on the BTCC. I can’t think of any other reason to justify it.
So one Feburary evening I turned up in this!
From what I remember, it was a good car, this one housing an Aston Martin-beating 1.8! Sadly I was travelling down the M5 one day when I started hearing this weird vibrating noise, I turned to my friend in the car and “what the f*** is that?”. About half a second later I was spinning across all lanes of the motorway and ended up smashing into the central reservation!!
The tyre had decided to slip off the rim!
I was lucky that I hit the barrier with the back of the car and not the front. Me and my mate got out without a scratch, but to this day I still can’t work out why it happened, I checked all the tyres before I had set off as it was a long journey, I can only assume I picked up a bit of glass or something.
A bill arrived at my house one day asking for £1,900 or so for some destroyed motorway barriers! I had no option at the time but to let the insurance deal with it. They sorted the claim out fine, but my NCB was in tatters and I now had 1 crash on my record. Any dreams of being a 19 year old with some sort of fast car had been utterly ruined. I was truly gutted.
I still had the Escort outside my house, with some MOT left on it so I drove that around for a bit. I ended up letting it go for £200, I’m surprised I got that much for it. The bloke didn’t seem to care about the sills made from rot. I needed something else to roll around in. I ended up buying this for about £450 or so.
(It has a bonnet inside it in that pic!)
Got it cheap because the MOT was due to run out, but despite being a bit rough it still flew through it.
My insurance policy was coming to an end, and this car ended up parked up for 4 months, from December to March. A winter with no car, great! I was forced to do this as the only chance I had to pay something mildly less extortionate was to take out a new policy after I had turned 20 years old.
I found a company which gave me a reasonable quote, and I was on the road again! You don’t realise how great driving is until its taken away from you for 4 months! It was only the 1.6 so nothing too exciting, but it would do. I was stuck with this car for a year at least.. But oh well.. I learned to love it. It ended up with the affectionate nickname “The Purple Piledriver” because on the way to Aberwystwyth one night I accidently hit a pheasant and 1 hour later, 2 little rabbits! One of them did a couple of revolutions with the back wheel before being ejected towards the Mini behind!! That was messy. But back to the cars. After 14 months of driving this Golf around I came back home from a party one evening, steaming drunk, and let loose with eBay. For some reason in my tight financial circumstances I decided I fancied a project car. Oh dear.
Had I decided to buy something fast, reliable and modern?
Nope…
A BMW E30 318i! My mum wasn’t happy when I turned up with it, but I was grinning from ear to ear.
I had been utterly stupid and could only ever get temporary insurance on it, so it ended up parked up for 10 months, but I never forgot how tail happy it was, despite being a lowly 4 pot (and not even the 16v version).
The car became my pride and joy, always looking through my window at it despite not being to take it anywhere. Sadly it ended up getting paintstripper thrown over it one evening, all over the bonnet. Fortunately I found another one for £30 quid and fixed it. (Hence the bonnet inside the Golf in the previous photo!) I still drove the Golf, until October or so when I decided I wanted something a little bit faster, but reasonable in insurance. I ended up with this..
(Booo!) Yes I know the cars have a bad rep, but I loved it! Go kart handling and my insurance was exactly the same, it was great fun. I sold the Golf for £350 or so to some 18 year old girl who scrapped it several months later, which saddened me. I loved that car, it had been my faithful steed through thick and thin. But times move on. The VTR had a loud exhaust on it, typically, so naturally I was dubbed a boy racer by everyone I knew, but I didn’t care. I loved chucking the thing around. In fact I loved chucking it around so much, the clutch starting slipping a few months later! D’oh. I ended up flogging it off cheaply to some bloke from some place the Welsh valleys. The guy crashed it into a shop 2 days later, whilst it was still in my name! Had an interesting call from the police with that one..
However, it was renewal time, and the quotes for the BMW had dropped down from £4,200 to a much more reasonable £1,800. I could now take my baby out on the roads. Took it for a few good runs around the welsh mountain roads in convoy with a couple of mates, very much enjoyed it.
Ended up spinning it on a slightly greasy bend at 25mph! It was clear I had much to learn about handling rear wheel drive machines.
I drove it for 3 months before naturally, deciding I wanted something faster and lively. But I was smitten with BMWs at the time, so decided the next car should be one also. Ended up buying this, a BMW E36 318IS (1.9 16v)
I loved it! It was in a whole different world compared to the E30, at the time it felt like a rocket. It was so much more refined and better to drive, and I still maintain that the M44 engined BMWs are great little cars, lovely revvy engine. I kept this for 9 months mainly without any issues aside from a wheel bearing problem, and smashing into a badger at 70mph on the A49 one day! However, in my quest for yet more power and my insurance renewal coming up soon, I went hunting for something faster.
A BMW E36 328i Sport. What a beast! My first “proper fast” car. Loved the howl of the 6cyl engine. I enjoyed taking this on many runs, it was a pleasure to drive, and a great place to be with its full leather interior. Until one day, when the engine overheated outside a bus station (of all the places!!). Turned out the head gasket had gone, and the block was totally cooked. My heart sank. I decided it was a nice enough car
to persist with though, and put a new engine block in it (at a cost of £850 though, ouch!). Sadly after the new engine was put in, the car continued to play up. One day I was staring at the car, and then looked at my little model Subaru I bought when I was a little nipper. I decided I didn’t want to bother with the 328 anymore, and that it was finally time to start saving for the car I’ve always wanted since I was a kid, a nice classic shape Scooby. (turbo, naturally)
I flogged the 328 on eBay, and off it went to Poland in the back of an artic lorry!
I needed something cheap to get around in while I built up my Scooby fund. So I’ve done a complete loop, and ended up back in a 1.6 Golf!
And that brings to me to where I am today, riding around in this dark green beast while I wait for a nice Impreza. I’ve been looking different ones coming and going on eBay for months now, decided I either want a lightly fettled late Turbo 2000, or a WRX model which has been well looked after. I doubt a WRXSTi will be realistic, I’m coming up to 23. The first thing I will probably to do the car when I get it is giving it a remap if it hasn’t had one already. Seen a couple of nice Terzos, but from what I’ve read on here they aren’t remappable, pain in the ****!
It is slightly gutting looking at these lovely Imprezas going while I haven’t got the funds yet, but I’ve also learned that the Impreza market is full of complete dogs also! It won’t be long until I can afford one though, and I’m more than willing to be patient for the right one to come along.
Thanks for reading, sorry for the long post and I hope I haven’t bored you all.
20 October 2012 | 09:06 PM
#4
Welcome to SN and thank you for a really enjoyable read. I love stories like this...
One will come and that grin from ear to ear willl be perminant.
I too am saving and waiting for the right one before I dive back in to a scooby.
One will come and that grin from ear to ear willl be perminant.
I too am saving and waiting for the right one before I dive back in to a scooby.
21 October 2012 | 01:11 AM
#6
Thread Starter
Scooby Regular
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
From: Shropshire
Thanks for the welcome gents Nice to see I didn't bore you lot rigid!
The insurance isn't too bad for UK spec cars, about the same as what the 328 was. The WRX is a fair whack more, but I guess that's to be expected.
A loan would probably be a bad idea, all the money for payments would get spent on petrol instead
Nice to see I didn't bore you lot rigid!The insurance isn't too bad for UK spec cars, about the same as what the 328 was. The WRX is a fair whack more, but I guess that's to be expected.
A loan would probably be a bad idea, all the money for payments would get spent on petrol instead
Trending Topics
20 November 2014 | 10:59 PM
#10
Thread Starter
Scooby Regular
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
From: Shropshire
Sort of.. 
My insurance company backed out of giving me a quote for one, and couldn't find a decent price elsewhere, so ended up owning a string of other cars in the meantime.
After the Golf, I had this utterly bargetastic manual 528i, 258k on the clock, sweet as a nut!
Decided it was a bit too 'mature' for me, so chopped it in for another E36 328i sport, in velvet blue.
I loved that car, sadly it had gathered some hidden rot to the chassis rail, ended up flogging it to the same polskis who took my old one away!
Then without a car, things got a little bit desperate...
...yeah.
So that was soon replaced with this little peach:
Great fun!
Sadly I couldn't keep it, some problems started happening with it around the same time the police arrived at my door one day and told me my dad had passed away, and amongst all the turmoil that creates, I couldn't be bothered tinkering with an old car in the cold and wet.
All I wanted was something reliable as a daily driver. Enter this:
1.7 Isuzu Diesel engined goodness. It's bloody dull, but I bought it for a job during a bad time and it's done everything I've asked of it.
But my hunger to be in some interesting metal came back. It was then I decided it was time to just bite the bullet and get the car I've always wanted! Enter the Subaru...
The insurance is bloody ridiculous, but I guess I've received the harsh lesson in "you only live once" rather early on, and would rather spend my time having fun. I'm certainly hoping to keep hold of this one.
My insurance company backed out of giving me a quote for one, and couldn't find a decent price elsewhere, so ended up owning a string of other cars in the meantime.
After the Golf, I had this utterly bargetastic manual 528i, 258k on the clock, sweet as a nut!
Decided it was a bit too 'mature' for me, so chopped it in for another E36 328i sport, in velvet blue.
I loved that car, sadly it had gathered some hidden rot to the chassis rail, ended up flogging it to the same polskis who took my old one away!
Then without a car, things got a little bit desperate...
...yeah.
So that was soon replaced with this little peach:
Great fun!
Sadly I couldn't keep it, some problems started happening with it around the same time the police arrived at my door one day and told me my dad had passed away, and amongst all the turmoil that creates, I couldn't be bothered tinkering with an old car in the cold and wet.
All I wanted was something reliable as a daily driver. Enter this:
1.7 Isuzu Diesel engined goodness. It's bloody dull, but I bought it for a job during a bad time and it's done everything I've asked of it.
But my hunger to be in some interesting metal came back. It was then I decided it was time to just bite the bullet and get the car I've always wanted! Enter the Subaru...
The insurance is bloody ridiculous, but I guess I've received the harsh lesson in "you only live once" rather early on, and would rather spend my time having fun. I'm certainly hoping to keep hold of this one.
20 November 2014 | 11:02 PM
#11
Thread Starter
Scooby Regular
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
From: Shropshire
PPP
VF34 Turbo
STI top mount intercooler
3 port boost solenoid
K Sport 8 pot front calipers with 330mm discs
New age WRX rear calipers with larger discs
EBC Bluestuff NDX pads
Samco intercooler pipe & hoses
Walbro 255lph fuel pump
Eibach springs & Camskill shocks all round
Short shift gearchange
Oil temp & boost gauges
Whiteline droplinks
Whiteline 24mm adjustable rear ARB
Afterburner Raptor exhaust, 5"!!
The end result is 326hp and 293lb/ft, lots of fun!!
Bodywork is in great shape, it's clearly had loads of work done to it to get it where it is now, it's been really well maintained with all the paperwork to show for it. Hence why I snapped it up so quickly!
The car is pretty much how I want it to be, I might make the addition of an STI-6 spoiler at some point, and maybe get the front lip sprayed, but nothing major.
Just going to enjoy the process of my wallet being ruined, did I mention this will be my daily driver? :P
Edit: I'll get a proper thread made up for it soon
Edit X2!!!:
Here is the thread.
https://www.scoobynet.com/members-ga...l#post11565096
Last edited by Liam554; 20 November 2014 at 11:25 PM.
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