Some highlights;
“Several years ago, I bought a 2007 STi in hopes I could continue my lifestyle of turbos. I lived in Japan for 8 yrs and have owned nothing but turbos, unfortunately, the sales have died, and one of the only few japanese turbos left in u.s.a. is the STi. If youre not familiar with the STi, its a unique car that stands out and is not just another everyday sportscar you see on the road;
- 4cylinder boxer engine (horizontally opposed) (STOCK)
- Turbo (STOCK)
- 6speed transmission (STOCK)
- full time all wheel drive (included torque splitter) (STOCK)
- Brembo brakes - the best you can buy (STOCK)”
“There is nothing spectacular about the interior other than its two-tone gray and blue. It has your basic radio and 6disc cd player if you ever want to listen to it, you dont need it; you dont even have to roll the windows down to listen to your cars music. What you sit on are bucket seats, only the drivers side has power controls, and in the rear are also seats that are actually usable, and the doors to go with them.”
“The exterior doesnt scream anything, its just a black sedan… though the oversized but functional gold brakes might throw the spectator off a little, they provide your stopping power (www.brembo.com). You’ll see to the rear is also a functional spoiler resembling its heritage, the car doesnt slip, the spoiler ensures the rear hugs the road. The front hood has a small functional hoodscoop to provide more airflow to the engine room.”
"What you get is a car that you wouldve paid for the same with another STi, but it has the parts and labor included, your worries of your mods being done right are not an issue. The stock small inefficient top-mount intercooler that gets cooked sitting on top of the engine has been removed and replaced with a much larger front mount intercooler (www.turboxs.com) along with its piping kit, like all of japans other turbos. while the cars heritage is Rally, I didnt pay $35k to get this full of mud, it stays clean. "
“The front mount intercooler provides far more effiency as far as air to air cooling goes to the car as it has been relocated to the front of the car, which ups the safety margin of the car as it will be less prone to detonation now that the air temperatures have dropped (you can actually touch the intercooler without getting hot (as in the previous case, the front mount intercooloer is cool to the touch). The intercooler also came with a built in blow-off valve, but its not obnoxious and hardly louder than the already quite stock blow off valve. Fitment of the intercooler and piping on the stock bumper was not compatible, so the stock bumper was replaced with an updated style that got rid of the “grandma” grill on the stock STi (www.chargespeed.com) ($900 for parts, $700 labor). The front bumper allowed for better fitmet of front mount intercoolers, a lower stance without having to cut springs, it also ups the stance of the STi as theyre not known to be attractive. To the rear, I have replaced the entire stock/restrictive exhaust system with TurboXS turbo-back titanium tip (blue) with 4” muffler ($800 for parts alone), which provides for non restrictive air flow as the STi pushes out serious air under throttle and enough backflow pressure for daily driving. The “boxer rumble” sound is easily heard, (please see photobucket site below for sample of this, turn speakers UP) even with the windows closed. I have also installed RallyArmor mudflaps with blue lettering to bring back Subarus rally heritage, not to mention it protects the car from small rocks (theyre not the cheap, dull looking, or faded out mudflaps, these cost $120). Also, the restrictive stock intake has been replaced with a TurboXS (K&N) intake system ($140). An important note, the car was equipped with engine management called the AccessPort ($700) (www.cobbtuning.com) about the 10,000mile mark due to research, the car has several maps (and many other features) that are changable on the fly, though they take some time (~20minutes to reprogram). The car also includes a Stage III map, tuned by AgileAuto (www.agileauto.com), and I had some Tein hood dampers installed while i was there ($120), tuning is $500. The car also has semi new tires on them, about 10000miles on them, and theyre rated for 40,000miles. The car has been babied, I detail it quite often. It used to get washed every week, but I keep it in the garage now as I carpool."
:uhh:
