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I don't know anything about Subies but I eventually will get to. Now for the ECM reflash, does it need to tuned by a shop or is it an easy plug and play thing?
I would go to a shop that can throw it on a dyno to tune it. also if you plan on mod's like a performance high-flow exhaust and K&N short ram cold air intake etc. do it before they do the tune so they can set it up to get the most power out of the bolt-ons.
I disagree a person who leases a fast sports car tends beat the snot out of it then clean it up right before turn in. while a person who is buying the car generally will keep it looking and maintained better plus when it come to maintenance the person buying will tend to use the better quality oil and fluids and better aftermarket parts while the person leasing will go the cheapest route.
I've seen tons of returned lease cars. They can and will punish you for abusing it. So people don't do it.
I've seen tons of returned lease cars. They can and will punish you for abusing it. So people don't do it.
95% of returned lease cars are great deals.
we are talking leased perfomance cars here a diffrent league than leased minivans and suvs. people in their 20's and 30's don't lease a 300HP AWD Rally based sports car to drive like a 80 year old they do 5000RPM launches and gun it every where they go pretty much.
we are talking leased perfomance cars here a diffrent league than leased minivans and suvs. people in their 20's and 30's don't lease a 300HP AWD Rally based sports car to drive like a 80 year old they do 5000RPM launches and gun it every where they go pretty much.
I've seen tons of returned lease cars, everything from Vettes and STi's to Tahoes and sedans.
Maybe 1 out of every 100 or so shows deliberate abuse.
You're free to have your opinion, but nothing backs it up.
When you return a lease car, they do a comprehensive inspection to see if there is anything they can charge you for. And they charge full retail. People take pretty good care of them.
A general rule of thumb amongst Scooby owners (who modify) is to start off with an STi if you can, though that one sounds shot, I'd wait around for a good price on another STi instead of buying the WRX.
If you DO end up buying the WRX, be aware that pretty much everything mechanical in the STi is uprated, and getting it to that level requires money. The transmission being the number one cost. The other ones add up son though, and that transmission will blow if you're looking to increase the HP.
As Viking said and I said in my earlier post, if you are after performance and plan on modding, stick with the STI, maybe not this one, but you will find one. Just remember that STI's do hold their value insanely well.
The WRX is a great choice if ultimate performance is not your goal and you just want a decent daily driver with a little pep. An intake, exhaust and flash won't cost you much, but the mod bug is hard to break.
As far as tuning goes, you have two options. You can get it dyno tuned, which will get you better results or you can go with a hand held programmer. Since modding is so common and popular in the Scooby community there are a few hand held devices that provide pre-canned tunes based on your mods and do a great job. The choice would ultimately come down to your proximity to a good tuner. One advantage for hand helds is that most folks start with the basic tune first and then mod from there with some hard parts. Owning the hand held let's you go out to the website for the tuner and download the updated tune based on your parts which otherwise might require trips to the dyno each time you upgrade something.
For what it's worth, there was a guy I used to race with who had a WRX. He quickly went down the mod path and did all the bolt-ons. Decided it wasn't enough and went for a turbo swap and custom tune. Fried the engine, had it rebuilt and the car was a monster. Throughout all those stages he went through 3 transmissions before finally upgrading to the STI unit when he rebuilt the motor. All told he spent the equivalent of 2 WRX's on that car. Had he just gone with the STI to start with he could have gotten the same performance and saved a butt load. So, again, if you are all about performance, find an STI.
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