New membr in NorCal / Bay Area here and 1st time boxer engine owner...

[wot_spaz]

Disclaimer: sorry for long post, figured I'd save my thoughts so I can look back and read this. Lol.

SOOO... I made the leap. Finally ended up in an STI after so many times of them being the runner up in my decision to go with another car. But, this time around, the timing was just right, and my mind was just more open to it as I guess I was just ready to give the AWD 4 cylinder Turbo thing A go for a while. I actually wasn't even going to get the STI at first, I wanted the better gas mileage and wanted to stick with 2019+ so a WRX was more aligned with my price range... So I checked out a few and they were really pretty nice actually, A lot of car for the money no doubt.

But then I came accross this beautiful WR Blue 2013 STI with super low mileage And instantly it sang to me there was just something special about this specific car and it was the same thing I felt when I picked up my FL5 Type R or my WK2 SRT, they were already mine, they just didn't know it yet. I knew this particular dealership must have just gotten the car cuz they only had one picture and it was against back wall in their back lot and was covered in dust . Didn't stop me, I basically called them and told them not to take any other calls on that car (for someone who used to sell cars, you think I'd have a little more tact going in, usually I do, but I didn't care this time, lol). Turns out I got lucky cuz some guy from LA had apparently already flown in and was trying to come into the dealership to buy the car as well, however, he called to reschedule his appointment to the next morning, giving me time to get there that afternoon and pick up the car.

So there it is, I'm now the proud owner of a WR Blue 2013 Subaru Impreza WRX STI with just over 40K miles on the clock (39,915 miles on the day I picked it up), the car looks like it was well taken care of. I am, however, going through some major maintenance items because the service writer in me is like... Less than 40,000 miles? Probably never touched anything except engine oil. But everything is now 10 years old, ok gotta flush and replace all the fluids, gotta replace the timing belt and water pump, gotta lube the brake calipers and flush brake system, etc. Etc.. so first 500 miles I've mainly just been working on the car a lot. Still getting to know her but I can tell already she is going to be a hell of a lot of fun.

Previous owner did put on a few mods but nothing crazy, part of my criteria was to find one as close to stock as possible but then it turned out that when I looked under the hood of this one, she had all the stage 1 upgrades and so I was like well that's acceptable, pretty tasteful, and saves me some bucks since that's the first thing I'ma want to do anyways ! So far as I can see and or tell its got the Cobb Intake + Airbox, Stage 1 Cobb MAP (no way to verify this so just assuming, but it runs very healthily through entire power band and all three settings have noticeable differences in boost and therefore in power), mid pipe back exhaust (lots of rumble, sounds mean), Cobb turbo heat shield, strut tower brace and Eibach front and rear sway bars.

So far (in first 500 miles), I have; swapped ALL bulbs w/ LEDs, cleaned calipers inside and out, lubed caliper pins and brake hardware front and rear, flushed brake system, replaced brake fluid with Motul DoT 4, installed new Hawk HPS front pads, Stoptech slotted rotors, and all new hardware (new rear pads, rotors, hrdwr coming soon), replaced timing belt and water pump, replaced stretch belts, and planning to replace trans., diff., p/s, and clutch fluids the weekend after next. Probably do the rear brakes then too.

So many things I want to get done to this car already. But it's almost too much, it's a little overwhelming how much stuff there is out there that you can get for these cars. That's why I'm grateful you guys are here to help guide newbies like me who don't know much about these cars.

And to anyone who made it this far, thank you for reading you're awesome, and keep an eye out for my posts cuz I got questions on questions! These cars are kind of overwhelming, ain't gonna lie!

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[Brentpierce]

You got a nice project there, Spaz! Welcome aboard

[Newbie2subie99]

Nice! Super happy for you!

[rtv900]

NorCal aye?
it's been a month and a half since your post.
Has it been broken into yet?

[Jack]

Sounds like you're doing the required maintenance on a decade old car that most people ignore. Good job! I would assume you did a compression test already. How are the pressures matched? Have fun with the car.