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Tag: Turbo

Legacy S401 STI

I don’t always make silly decisions, but when I do it’s usually because of Trademe.

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After once again, not managing to buy a Rover, despite my best attempts, I decided to buy another car sight unseen…. from the other end of the country.

It is a Subaru Legacy S401 STI.

Basically, Subaru decided “Hey, this is the last of the twin turbo Legacies, lets get STI to throw the lot at it and make the ultimate Twin Turbo Legacy”.

What did it get? Well, 6 Speed manual gearbox, front LSD, retuned ECU, hand-built engine, STI exhaust, Intercooler pipes, full STI suspension, big ass Brembo brakes, some lush BBS 18″ wheels, exclusive front bumper, side skirts and intercooler scoop. It also gets a stunning half leather/Alcantara interior, red stitching, and an STI full dash cluster. There’s a few other bits here and there, but that’s the main parts. This Japanese website lists everything in detail, it’s an amazing site.

It’s a really nice place to be, the seats are very comfortable and the interior is simple and easy to use. The 6 speed gearbox, mostly shared with various other STI and later model Legacies, is lovely to use, direct with short ratios.

The STI suspension is nothing short of amazing. Cruising down the motorway it’s firm, and flat, but sucks up all the bumps like they are nothing. Hit some corners, and it’s flat and just grips and grips.

The S401 was a limited edition, and they were apparently going to make 400 of them, hence the number is ***/400 on the badging. In reality, they never made that target, and there were only approx 290 cars made.

Mine is 143/400.

It was looked after by an owner in its past, likely the one before the guy I got it from. Sadly it’s suffered some neglect, so there’s a lot of work to do, including fixing some issues, and giving it a thorough top to toe clean, which should be fun. I hope to do this car the justice it deserves.

How it was when I got it.

And during my ownership




Golf GTI

So after that damn fiasco with the Integra I decided to be more sensible and get another German car, because I’m really a fanboy for German cars.

Had a look around, test drove some more cars, just the usual, and then stumbled on this MK5 Golf GTI. Took it for a drive, and wow, much like the R32 Golf it instantly left an impression on me. Not quite as good as the R32, but the combo of the turbo power and the DSG trans is a lot of fun to drive.

It was a Japanese import, had service history and was pretty well specced with heated leather, HID headlights, cruise control, heated mirrors and puddle lights. It was a really nice place to be and drove so well.

Along with the good spec from the factory it had a few good modifications on it from Japan. VW Racing adjustable suspension, carbon fibre front splitters and rear diffuser, Forge diverter valve, Okada Project coils, some 16v ignition booster system (more on that later) and carbon look cluster trim.

It’s also the little things.

New key badges

The old key badges were worn and ugly. New one cleaned it up for little cost.

And finally got a bottle opener (which also doubles as the divider in the cup holder)

Before it sold though I managed to fit some extended DSG paddles. Man, what a difference, every car with paddles should have ones this long. Much easier to find when driving hard.

But yes the car did eventually sell, and I do miss it. It was a bloody good example. If I get another golf in the future, it’ll be an R32 though.


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