The car I really (really) wanted

It was no secret that when I bought the 535i from my friend Ray, it was because it was a really nice car and a really good deal. It was my first automatic car ever, and the biggest car I had ever owned. There were definite advantages to driving this car: it was very comfortable, quiet and luxurious. It was an amazing long-distance cruiser. The straight-line performance was also exceptional... it was so easy to pass cars on a single-lane highway. The winter driving performance was also better than I had expected. What were the negative aspects? I didn't love driving around in such a large car in the city. I found it quite boring to drive an automatic car, even one with paddle shifters. What I hated the most was the cost of repairing things that broke (1400$ for a rebuilt front axle!) and the frequency with which they broke. Compared to my M3, the quality and durability was unacceptable. 

A good-looking and comfortable car, but not my first choice for a winter car

Did I regret selling the Saabaru? No, because that car was rusting, badly. I did however miss driving that car. It was a small manual car with room for all our stuff in it, and it had enough power. It sounded cool too. After getting that car, the "car I really wanted" was a newer WRX, either a 2008-2014 version, which had the hatchback option, or the more modern 2015-2021 version. For Alex, I knew she would rather we have another BMW than another Subaru, because, as a passenger (which she often is), there is absolutely no reason to want to be a passenger in a Subaru if you have the option of being in a BMW. As for driving, she simply does not like driving that much, so driving a large automatic luxury sedan was not less appealing than driving a smaller manual sport sedan. The qualities of a Subaru could not outweigh the prestige and comfort of a BMW. Had it been solely my decision, however, after selling the Saab 92x, we would have bought a newer, rust-free Subaru.

A great little car, but sadly a very rusty one

After the strange ending to our 535i ownership experience (engine failure, replacement cost covered by insurance), Alex gave me the green light to get another Subaru, in other words, "the car I really wanted". I was happy about this, and set out my criteria: I wanted a 2015 to 2021 WRX with low mileage, say under 100 000 km. There were WRX's under 15 000 $, but they generally had high mileage... it was understandable, who would not drive a WRX all year round, accumulating mileage? The cars with low mileage were much more expensive, which brought the price closer to that of a WRX STi, or even a 2022 (current generation) WRX. Before having done any research, I thought that there were not many good reasons to spend an extra 5k or more for the STi version of the car... after all, the regular WRX had 268 hp, only 37 less than the STi, and it also had a 6-speed manual, like the STi. Was I going to pay that much extra for a big wing and nicer seats? I knew there were also bigger brakes and an adjustable center differential, but I didn't think Alex would care for any of those things. I was sort of wrong... whenever I pointed out a regular WRX on the road, saying to Alex "that could be our next car", she was unenthusiastic. In a way, I get it... the regular WRX, particularly with the OEM wheels, is not really "special' looking, particularly in black or grey. I pointed out a couple of STi's and she would say "Ooooh, I like that one! Can we get one of those?". I was somewhat surprised, because visually, the only difference was the big wing and the wheels, although this seemed to be enough for her. If she could not have a prestigious car (basically any BMW would meet this criterion), she at least wanted something that was not boring-looking. This was great news, in theory, because now I could extend the search to STi versions of the WRX. Yay! 

It turns out it was not going to be that easy, mainly because it wasn't actually that easy to find a low-mileage STi for less than 30 000 $. In fact, many of them were selling for over 40 000 $, which is a bit crazy considering you could get one new for 47 000 $ at the time. There were two main reasons for this: 1) newer used cars have become crazy expensive since the pandemic. Even a used 2017 Civic Si was 28 000 $. 2) there is no more STi version of the WRX. The model was eliminated from the lineup in 2022 when the new generation appeared, so this might be the last STi. 

I decided to do some more research and watch some online reviews of the STi to see if that model was worth the premium. I already knew it had better brakes, differential and interior. I learned that it also had a different transmission, and, surprisingly, the STi still had hydraulic steering, one of the only cars on the market at the time to not use electric steering  (the regular WRX has electric steering). It also continued to use the EJ-generation engine that Subaru had been using for decades, while the regular WRX had the new-generation FB20C. I know the newer engine works well, but it doesn't sound as good and, if it fails, it is costly to replace. It seems to cost as much as an STi engine from Japan, in fact. I was beginning to regret having done all this research, because in all likelihood, with the budget we had set, I was probably going to end up with a "regular" WRX. This is dumb, because if you had asked me a year ago what I would have chosen to replace the 535i as a winter car, I would have said "any WRX". 

As I combed through the ads, no car really stood out. I eventually found a 2016 STi that did not look great in photos, but had low mileage and a clean Carfax history report. In the photos, you could see that the previous owner had changed several badges for orange ones, had added orange stickers to the side panels of the rear wing, and that there was an aftermarket exhaust with giant, shiny tips. In other words, it was modified in a slightly tacky way. Also, even in the photos, you could see that the factory wheels were badly scratched. It was being sold by a huge GM dealer and the price was lower than any other STi I had seen with similar mileage, and when I showed the photos to Alex, she was interested in going to see it. I made an appointment, not knowing what to expect, condition-wise. When we arrived at the dealership, we saw that the car was in the indoor showroom (with maybe 5 of the 130 cars they had for sale). I was a bit surprised, considering the number of fancier cars parked outside. Yes, it had the tacky badges and scratched wheels, but the condition of the body and interior was near perfect. I walked around the car and popped the hood. It was almost as clean as a new car under there. The exhaust was an Invidia unit, a known brand for Subarus, and it had a GFB blow-off valve and a Grimmspeed intake. These were also "known" brands it seems. I was excited about the fact that this was a base model, which meant it had manually adjustable seats and no sunroof, which surely made it the lightest version of the car. 

A very shiny and clean STi in the dealership... not too sure about the orange accents

I wanted to go for a test drive, and it was a bit complicated, because they wanted me to agree to buy the car first. I have never bought a car from a dealer and I thought it was a bit weird, but I told them I would only buy the car if the test drive went well and if I were allowed to have it inspected at a Subaru dealer, which they accepted. The price was non-negotiable (they had supposedly just dropped it by 5000$) and I was willing to pay it, so the deal was done. We went out for a test drive, with the salesperson and Alex and the kids. All seemed good. The car felt "tight", although less powerful than I thought it would. It was loud, and the ride was a bit rough on the bumpy portions of the road. I hoped that this was because the car was on aftermarket suspension, because I wanted my winter car to take on bumpy roads in relative comfort. Still, it didn't feel like the car could not take the abuse, but rather like the passengers would have to get used to the abuse. After the test drive, we agreed that I would call the next day (a Friday) to tell them when I would be coming to take the car to the inspection. I got an appointment for the following Tuesday, after Thanksgiving weekend, and picked up the car to drive it to Subaru. The Subaru dealer found literally not a single thing wrong with the car, so I happily brought it back to the selling dealer and told them all was good, I would be back the next day (I needed a ride there) to finalize the deal and leave with the car. On the Wednesday, I headed back with my mom and, after buying a 5-year extended warranty, I drove home with the car. I cleared out the garage spot and pulled in with the STi. It scraped on the ground pretty badly when entering the garage, and I hoped that by getting rid of the lowering springs (the Subaru dealer told me the car had these) the car would not rub on the ground. Other than that, I played around with the various devices and the stereo, and we decided that there was no reason not to use the car for our weekend family trip to Ogunquit (there was one reason, we had no real license plate, but I put the paper one in a license plate frame and it was not a problem when driving in the USA). After driving the car 500 km each way, I was still very happy with the over-all experience. I think that the car is "tuned" and I think I would like a different tune in the future, which focuses more on flexibility at all rpm's and less on peak boost and power. Other than that, I knew I could improve the ride quality with stock springs. Upon our return, I quickly found a set of stock springs from a 2018 STi (I don't know if they're different from the 2016 ones). I wanted winter tires as well. I looked in my basement and I actually had 4 tires in the correct size from when we used to drive the M3 in winter. However, they were of two different models. I decided to try to find one of those models, and I ended up buying 4 Gislaved Nordfrost 200's, so that I now have 2 "spares". This past week, I brought the car to Auto B.G. to mount the tires and the springs. The owner there said we would have to re-align the car because we were changing the springs, and that was fine with me, given that he only charges 85$ for a laser alignment. He told me the car had inverted Bilstein shocks, which I thought was pretty cool. My research shows that these are not the OEM shocks and so they must have been installed by the previous owner (if they are the B8 model, they are designed for use with lowering springs, but they will have to work with stock springs now). I have literally only driven the car for 15 minutes on the stock springs and winter tires as of this writing (the drive home from B.G) , but I can confirm that the ride over bumps, especially speed bumps, is much better, and, happily, the car barely rubs at all when entering the garage. That is the whole story: we have an STi in the garage, and it's ready for winter (or it will be after I have it rust-proofed). 

The car on Tein lowering springs

In front of our motel, paper license plate in a plastic sheet

We now have the best 3-car stable that I could hope for: an almost-classic BMW sports car in great mechanical condition, a reliable, rust-free K-swapped Civic track car in excellent mechanical condition, and now one of the best winter sports cars you can get, no matter your budget. If the car I really wanted was a regular WRX, I can say that the car I wanted even more was the better version of the WRX... it's the car I wanted even more than "the car I really wanted". As one can tell about how long this post has been, I'm pretty excited! 

Now at the stock ride height, with winter tires installed