2011 Subaru WRX hatch

[Dave]

So, I'm putting this in the projects section, but it is by no means a "project".

On Friday I got the call that the 2011 WRX that I pre-ordered had finally arrived.











First and foremost, this is meant to be a fun, reliable daily driver for a long period of time that may someday have potential for mods and more fun. I will consider a fuel program/chip/cobb thingamajig, but even that is not in the immediate future b/c I simply don't "drive it like I stole it"; 90% of the miles on this are going to cruising at 70 mph, not WOT jackassery. I highly doubt that I'm in any realm of concern of blowing my engine up right now...

It's only been 100 miles so far, but I freakin love it. Considering the performance, appearance, utility, price point, and overall package, I don't think I've seen anything else on the market that can match it. Personally, I can't see much benefit to the STi over the WRX either, but that's just my opinion. Anyways, here's my impressions so far:
-The exhaust is nice and burbly like a boxer-4 should be, but not loud by any means; exactly what I wanted.
-Visibility is great - it's like driving a greenhouse
-I opted for the STi shifter bushing, which has offered nice crisp shifting compared to the sloppiness that IÔÇÖve heard about for stock WRXs. The Subaru mechanic said there was a noticeable different in the pliability of the material; sounds like I made the right call.
-The seats are comfortable, yet supportive, and seems like seating 5 is no biggie, although anybody sitting behind me will have a slightly harder time getting in/out (though I can comfortably sit there once I'm in)
-Engine bay is not cluttered with stupid plastic pieces and looks easy to work on (although the intercooler looks a little small...)
-Power appears to come on nice and strong, although I havenÔÇÖt really pushed it at all yet. I dare say I haven't even made it to 100% throttle yet.
-Seems to have a lot of grip, but I am admittedly not used to AWD. My old Talon was not very refined and the AWD was kinda invasive in terms of transmitting feedback, but with this car I can barely tell it has AWD - it just GOES.
-Aggressive styling notes all around the car, yet they are still subtle. It is a little bulgy and to be honest if you look at it from a few angles it is a little funny looking. I like it though...
-In terms of external dimensions, it is a good bit smaller than the TL (as noticed when parking in garage), yet feels almost as spacious inside, if not bigger.

The only con: f'n TPMS...

[Jake]

Looks great, congrats!! I love the blue and gunmetal combo. Hatches/wagons are massively practical and +1 for buying a fun one :thumbup:

Is there a break-in procedure to follow before really womping on it?

[ScottyB]

sweeeet. lookin good my friend, welcome to the world of fuji heavy industries oddballness.

they are fun cars. the 2011's are fast and a great bargain IMO. you aren't really missing out on anything aside from the brakes and tranny by foregoing the STi. wait until it rains or snows, the fun goes up.

consider a tune down the line from a quality provider (maybe after warranty since this will be your main car). it should take up your highway MPGs aside from boosting all around performance. may i also recommend a set of bigass damn-serious mud flaps, since its a rally car after all , but seriously it will help keep chips off of the rear flared fenders - search NASIOC and you can see examples of peppered fenders. that blue is too pretty to shotgun-blast just yet.

[Ryan T]

Looks pretty sweet Dave. Glad Scott was able to help you out!

[kcook]

Great choice and congrats dave! We need more scoobys in MM

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice pick up Glad we've finally got some people breaking the BMW and Miata molds in MM

Unless something has changed since the older EJ engines...it is definitely NOT easy to work on. Injectors are a B.

If I was to do a Subaru all over again, especially one of the newer ones....the only power mods I would consider in the future would be full exhaust, fuel pump / injectors and meth / water injection. That is more than enough reliable power that you would ever need on the street. If you do get a tune, make sure you get it custom tuned by someone reputable. Don't bother with an off the shelf tune.

[CaptainHenreh]

:thumbup:


eta: SEE, MAENG? THIS IS HOW IT IS DONE. :finger:

[Goodspeed]

Awesome Dave! Everyone needs more boxer rumble in their life

[D_Eclipse9916]

Nice pickup, I dont understand how they upped the power in the WRX, but then kept the STi the same. WRX is like a huge bargain now, and +1 on the color, good job.

[fiveoh2go]

Sweet!

[Maengelito]

eta: SEE, MAENG? THIS IS HOW IT IS DONE. :finger:

So, I'm putting this in the projects section, but it is by no means a "project".

:dunno:

my posts would be like "I filled it up with gas today. Premium, bitches!"

[Evan]

my posts would be like "my wife got hit on by a lesbian three times today. threesome, bitches!"

ftfy

btw, love it Dave!

[PDenbigh]

Nice Dave!!!

[Chris]

sweet! I like

[JPolen01]

Not sure where you are located, but if you are looking for quality parts and customer service the people at IAG in Westminster, MD can't be beat. They also fly in the renowned Jorge from P&L Motorsports monthly for tuning. Definitely worth the drive!

[Dave]

6 months later, one oil change down, approx 7900 miles right now.

-TPMS finally stopped going off a couple months ago. That was getting really annoying...
-Damn, I'm not used to these long service intervals. Can definitely get used to that.
-Freaking perfect car in nearly every way.
-MPG still lower than I'd like. I'm hitting 25-26 pretty consistently and >75% of my driving is highway. I'll eventually get a programmer, so hopefully that will yield me a little more.
-Wish I had gone ahead and gotten the Homelink auto-dimming rear-view mirror, instead of the plain auto-dimming one. Annoys me that I didn't have the foresight to spend the extra few bucks and the one is Lindsey's Legacy is nice and works great, so I'd recommend it to others if they are considering it...
-oil change wasn't too bad, even after dealing with the splash guard. Factory puts the oil filter and drain bolt on SUPER tight.

[Dave]

1 year, two oil changes, approx 17,000 miles.

I still haven't found really anything that I truly dislike about the car. It's very civilized and sensible most of the time, and disturbingly fast when I want/need it to be. Seeing it still brings a smile to my face, and I really enjoy driving it since I'm doing a lot of my commuting in the accord these days.

I promised myself that I could start doing small mods once it was paid off, the first of which I did on Friday. I took it out to X Rayz Tinting and had him do a legal (50/35) tint job on it, and it really looks great. Having a dark interior made the tint look even darker than it really is, and I can already tell a difference in the interior temps vs. stock. I also think it improved the aesthetics of the car as well.
Anyways, here's a quick pic (you can scroll to the middle of the first post for a good comparison).

[ScottyB]

that looks perfect. i'm not sure if i'll bother with the RS but on my next car i think i might have to break down and get a tint.

[Beej]

I'm seriously in love with the flared versions of these wagons.

I'm not crazy about how tint looks, even on my car (digging yours though), but the benefits of the cooling and less sun damage, theoretically I guess, on the interior make it worth it.

[Dave]

Another quick update that I took care of over the weekend: mudflaps. Rex pioneered the cheaper Flapatax version and I've quickly followed suit. I think they look awesome and like that it will help preserve the paint on my bulgy fenders, all for a low buy-in compared to the much more expensive Rally Armor ones.

I also think I lucked out and had much less trouble than it sounded like Rex had. Like his, the rears were a peice of cake and took seconds to install. I did not heed Rex's advice and decided to leave my front wheels on, which didn't seem to give me any problems once they were cocked completely to the side I was working on. My biggest issue was pulling out the plastic phillip's-head retaining pin for the side skirt, which I ended up completely obliterating both times (FYI - ~$3.25 each from Subaru). The rest went relatively smoothly, right up until I discovered that I was missing 2 U-nuts while installing the front passenger flap (my last). I just pulled off one of the rears and used those 2 U-nuts to complete the fronts. Flapatax is sending me two more so I can finish (sure, I could go to Lowe's but it's the principle of it).

I'd still recommend them. I'm also a huge fan of the fact that, once the initial install is done, you can have all four flaps off in about 2 minutes if you've got a 1/4-drive ratchet and the right socket (probably faster if you had the right ratcheting wrench).