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Purchase used Sti or WRX?
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Demo24
Diamond Member
:disgust: Right cause any younger person must drive a piece of crap until their 30. I bought my WRX at 17 and 3 years later I still don't regret buying it. I do most of the work myself and I take care of it because I know if I do it will last me many more years, unlike some beater where I would worry about it making all the trips I do.
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
How is a Vette more practical than a 4 door sedan? 😕
Arkaign
Lifer
It's weaker, but it only has to process a fraction of the power. At 5,000rpm, a Corolla will be pushing what, 90hp through the drivetrain? At 5,000rpm, even a pretty mildly modded WRX, Evo or STI will be pushing 250-400hp.
Trust me, a dummy / inexperienced driver driving like a retard in a Corolla probably won't break anything severe, so long as he doesn't wreck it. Driving like a retard in a boosted-up AWD setup, you can break some expensive stuff pretty quickly. The C&D '08 STI needed a new transmission at only 16,745miles, which would have been $7k+ out of warranty.
With a high-boosted AWD setup, you have to worry about a *lot* of components that you don't even have in a normal low-hp FF setup. You also have to know the dos and donts, and generally live by them. You may be able to shave a couple tenths by hot launching at 4500 with wider wheels and slicks, but guess what .. those half-shafts may snap, your differential may take a crap all over the pavement, you may get damage from severe wheel hop, there's a ton of bad things that can happen in an instant.
I was one of those dummies, so to speak. I had a 3000GT VR-4 back in the 90s, and it cost me a ton of money to keep going. I drove it hard frequently, and it broke frequently. The parts that broke, were a lot more expensive than on most cars, and the labor was also high.
http://www.caranddriver.com/re...update/update_2_page_5
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
As long as you aren't doing clutch dumps off the line at 5,000 rpms you aren't going to break the transmission in those cars. If you are doing that, you're an idiot and you will ruin the transmission.
Arkaign
Lifer
The Vette has GOBS of room in the hatch area, is very comfortable in the front even for large folks, and is a very simple/reliable recipe for performance. A big N/A V8, RWD only, and generally well-built, cheap to replace should the need arise, parts all over the place. You can beat on a Vette pretty hard, and you don't have a whole lot to worry over other than the interior being a bit flimsy. Beating on a hopped-up AWD turbo econobox produces poor results.
Secondly, Vettes should maintain value better than a turbo econobox will. The value of a turbo econobox will continue to descend into eventually pretty much nothing, and the Vette will bottom out for a while, then start to rise. No car is a wise 'investment', but it's nice to have something that's not going to be almost worthless in under a decade (buying a 5-year-old vehicle to start with).
Now, the OP has already said that he lives in an area where AWD is going to make sense, so for him, yes the Turbo AWD setup will be more practical, provided he doesn't beat the ever living shit out of it.
Arkaign
Lifer
It also helps to rev-match when downshifting if you're pushing it 9/10ths.
There are HEAPS of stories of broken trannies in WRX's and Evos, and a bit less from the STI (the C&D story is the exception that proves the rule so to speak), which proves what exactly?
That people drive high-performance cars pretty hard. Who drives high-performance cars the hardest? Usually the younger set. I was no exception, I drove every car I had close to the limit at least once in a while.
If you're not going to drive the thing hard, why bother with such a high-strung beast to begin with?
Arkaign
Lifer
Heh, keeping any performance car in tires if you drive them hard = $$$. Pretty much all Evo/STI are 17" and higher, right? I think the new ones are 18".
I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea, I think the Subarus in particular are brilliant cars, and also have a healthy respect for the Evo (even if I am not a DSM fan after a lot of direct experience keeping them running). I am just not sure it's a good match for a young person trying to stretch a budget.
Demo24
Diamond Member
Whats gonna hurt more noticeably than just insurance and the maintenance to keep them running will be the mpgs you'd get with an STI. Most get under 25mpg and closer to 20. With city driving expect under 20 almost all the time. I routinely average 25mpgs on the drives I have to make and sometimes can squeeze around 30 out. Having premium being so much more than regular as of late doesn't help things. While I enjoy my car most of the time there's plenty of times I wish I could get better mileage. If I had to buy a new car right now I would definitely be getting myself a VW diesel for long distance comfort and the mileage.
For sure, but a new set of rubber for the WRX only runs me ~$750, gonna be tough matching that on a Vette with those mega-meats.
Kind of kills me, because as someone else brought to my attention the other day, 06/07 Z06's are going for cheap, :evil:
But general maintenance on the Subaru will be more than a Vette or a GTO for sure, you also have to replace all 4 tires otherwise you'll burn up the center diff, don't play games with your fluid intervals, etc.
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
Vette = 2 passenger car which != practical
Gobs of room in the hatch? More than the trunk of an Impreza?
On the topic of tires, there are only 1 or 2 other cars with the same size tires as a C6 (C5 too I beleive), so you are paying a severe premium because they know you have either a Corvette or a high end Porsche, and relatively low volume so no economy of scale there. The STI uses a rather common tire size, and tires can be has as expensively or inexpensively as you dare. New tires on the Vette for a half decent set are up around $2000, a good setup for STi's are $800, or $600 if you happen to catch them on sale.
- Also, my STi tires are at 12,000 miles with probably 60% useful life remaining, and probably half the km at 400hp, and then 1/4 at 600
- Our Vette is at 12,000 miles and the tires are absolutely dead
- The Vette most definitely has more cargo room, and gets way way better fuel mileage.
- The STi is so much more refined that it isnt even a valid comparison. The C6 rattles and sounds like crap, the seat belts whip around in the wind and make a loud noise when the windows are open, the seats rock back and forth abut 1/4" and the dealer says all this is normal... My STi has much more power than factory, see's some aggressive driving, and not so much as a vibration.
- Also, you blow up your 6spd and a replacement is $4500, not 7000 as quoted above. You can rebuild them with PPG straight cut gears for about $8000 and never worry about your transmission again until you have over 1500hp.
- Also, my STi tires are at 12,000 miles with probably 60% useful life remaining, and probably half the km at 400hp, and then 1/4 at 600
- Our Vette is at 12,000 miles and the tires are absolutely dead
- The Vette most definitely has more cargo room, and gets way way better fuel mileage.
- The STi is so much more refined that it isnt even a valid comparison. The C6 rattles and sounds like crap, the seat belts whip around in the wind and make a loud noise when the windows are open, the seats rock back and forth abut 1/4" and the dealer says all this is normal... My STi has much more power than factory, see's some aggressive driving, and not so much as a vibration.
- Also, you blow up your 6spd and a replacement is $4500, not 7000 as quoted above. You can rebuild them with PPG straight cut gears for about $8000 and never worry about your transmission again until you have over 1500hp.
Arkaign
Lifer
2 Door is practical provided it has enough space for what you want to do, and you don't have a baby or anything like that. The hatch area is shockingly large in the Vette.
Excellent info! I gathered the ~$7000 quote from the C&D Article, and assume that that price includes a bunch of labor, but no significant details were provided. It's possible that C&D got it wrong, but that was the figure given in the article I linked to. Given that most people aren't comfortable swapping a tranny (let alone an AWD setup) themselves, it may actually be an accurate figure. To those capable and willing to swap their own motors and transmissions, I say :thumbsup:
Sad to hear your C6 is so rattly. I've seen a lot of hit-or-miss quality in Vettes. I have a dentist friend who has a C5 Z06, and it's very solid and not squeaky at all. And I have another acquaintance with a C6 convertible (autotragic), and it's a bit wobbly in comparison. I would have thought the C6 to be a piece of crap, but I also tested a used C6 Z06 that was tremendously good, and every bit as solid as the other one I tested (and on par with a Boxster S that I messed with at RUF).
On 2nd thought, I think I'd recommend a (for a 22 year old?) Legacy GT for someone wanting a reasonably peppy but practical car for the northern climes. I think tossing a kid (I'm getting old I guess, anyone under 25 seems like a baby to me) into a 300, 400, or 500hp car is just asking for trouble. Trouble with insurance, trouble with tickets, trouble with maintenance, and above all, a risk to themselves and others if they choose to really unleash that power anywhere but the track.
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