Fiero Kept, New Car Acquired (Page 4/4)
RayOtton DEC 20, 09:57 AM

quote
Originally posted by Wichita:

I haven't seen a Subaru SVX or an XT in a very long time.

Not for sure if they are collectible or junk piles, but I always thought they were cool back in the day.




I'm going to see this guy's collection during the holidays. The agreement is, I spend 2 days with her barely tolerable Liberal friends in Northern Virginia and she walks through this dealership / museum with me. it's a win / win or a lose / lose depending on how you look at it.

Anyhow, here's a couple of pretty nice SVX's -
http://www.duncanimports.co...facet-anchor-make-37
RWDPLZ DEC 20, 06:29 PM
I used to see an SVX every day when I would walk to class in Houghton in college. Their weak point is the automatic transmission can't handle the power from the H6 engine.

The low miles are from living two miles from work, working from home occasionally, and a lot of travel (flying). The San Jose > Fremont commute wasn't bad, but the San Jose > Palo Alto commute was ridiculous, and one of the reasons I came back to Michigan.
86fierose DEC 20, 07:03 PM
28k miles in 4 years!!! Car looks great.

------------------
1988 Fiero Formula

RWDPLZ OCT 31, 07:54 AM
Perfect day for a scary story: The was perfectly reliable, but it finally had its first problem, and it was the big one:

Catastrophic Engine Failure

I was on the freeway (actually on my way to get an oil change before winter, since the car was about due) in I mode doing about 70 in 6th gear, and suddenly felt a slight loss in power that came and went, like an intermittent misfire. I got off the freeway on my exit, and suddenly the car felt like it was WAY down on power. I was in a 55 zone now, and tried shifting down into 4th, shortly after the engine started making some very bad noises. I put the car in neutral just as the engine died, and was barely able to coast to the shoulder. No warning lights or anything came on (just like when the Fiero engine died). Car would not restart, as if it had a low battery. Called AAA and had it towed the remaining mile to the dealer. They called me with the bad news a couple days later.

3 weeks later, got the car back, and am now re-doing the painful engine break-in procedure, do not exceed 4000 RPM's for 1000 miles.

When I bought the car, I got the 5 year 60,000 mile extended warranty, because I wanted it to be covered for the length of the loan (that I paid off back in March) and I knew I wouldn't put that many miles on it in that time. That $1000 likely saved me close to $10,000, as they had to replace the short block, turbo, etc. all under warranty.

Cause was listed as "Oil Pump Failure, Seized" but I suspect it was actually a rod bearing, as Subaru has been having a problem with the EJ255 and EJ257 from 2012-2016 that was only recently brought to light.

https://www.torquenews.com/...ing-months-discovery

As part of the yet-to-be-finalized settlement, they're going to increase the engine warranty to 8 years or 100,000 miles.

So now I'm wondering if I should keep the car, with a new 2019 engine, or dump it while it still runs and the car has a Bluebook value of $26,000 for a used Tesla Model S.
RWDPLZ JAN 04, 11:13 AM
6 Year update: Car is up to 33,000 miles, no additional issues. Ended up buying another extended warranty that will cover the car until the end of 2020. I'm saving up a down payment for a house hopefully this summer, after that I'm going to trade it in for a used Tesla Model S. Overall though this has been by far the best car I've ever seen in terms of reliability.
TheDigitalAlchemist JAN 06, 04:14 AM
Glad to hear that its been a good car (other than the "minor engine issue"


GOOD CAR!

*pets car lovingly*

[This message has been edited by TheDigitalAlchemist (edited 01-06-2020).]

trivet JAN 06, 03:21 PM
Gorgeous car! And I love the updates, keep them coming! I am a fellow WRX and Fiero owner in Michigan

I only lurk in OT, but had to jump in as I just picked up a 6-speed 2015 in red. Just an awesome car all around - a GREAT daily driver for Michigan.

Checks all the right boxes:

* Fast
* Tight handling
* Manual transmission
* Good mileage
* Strong aftermarket support
* Reliability
* Red (this was not a requirement, but DAMN it looks good)
* Year round daily - AWD makes this fun in the winter
* Wife said I could buy it (the most important factor)



[This message has been edited by trivet (edited 01-06-2020).]

RWDPLZ DEC 31, 06:13 PM
As they say, "All good things must come to an end." Today I traded in the STI on a used Tesla Model S P85+. Overall the Subaru was a great car, engine issue aside. Ended up getting $24,000 for it, $6000 more than other offers I'd seen, and not bad considering I'd paid just over $40,000 for it, I'm probably less than $20,000 into it over a 7 year period. If the car had only been worth $5k I would have kept it, but it makes no sense to let it sit and all that value to just disappear with age.

Can't wait to see what they sell it for, and hope some teenager doesn't wrap it around a tree. It's probably the nicest, lowest mileage (34,350 miles) 3rd gen STI in the country.

December 20th 2013 - December 31st 2020
Patrick DEC 31, 06:52 PM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

I like Subaru cars. There are a few real quick ones that autocross locally.



Seeing this thread again is like time-travelling backwards. Two and a half years after originally posting the quote above, I bought my own Subaru Impreza STi... a '98 JDM wagon. That was four years ago. I won't be selling mine (pictured below) for awhile.