Recently, the Mrs decided that we needed to "get away" more, for weekends and the occasional longer trips away, when work allows.
Ultimately, we want to retire and hit the road in a motorhome (converted bus), but at this stage that isn't practical, so a decent touring rig, with a modicum of performance thrown in for good measure, was on the agenda...But what to get?
It had to:
1) Be practical (so a wagon was high on the list)
2) Have decent performance out of the box
3) Be reliable
4) The idea of AWD appealed (having never owned an AWD car...some 30 years after having my first car.
5) Strong preference for a manual (which ultimately didn't happen).
6) Had to be relatively cheap, both to acquire, and to run. That ruled out some of the AWD vehicles like the Audis and so on.
So, we (me) looked around at what was available. The Subarus ticked a lot of the boxes. But the new ones left me cold, both on the styling side, and the performance inclusions side.
So I started looking at what - IMHO - was the "Sweet spot" in the lineage...the 4Gen GT Spec.Bs (and the TBSTI versions).
There are a few spec.b cars on Carsales etc. so the process of distilling the best value/best condition car started. I had my eye on a pearl white spec.b in the manual (I was only interested in the face lift, 6-speed versions if I could get one). Only two issues gave me pause for thought, and they were trying to ascertain the condition of a manual car, knowing that hard launches could have knock-on effects throughout the drive train. The second was overall kms on the clock. The car I was looking at had 155K on it, and the bloke wanted way too much (even accounting for the premium you pay for good examples of these). Then I found a TBSTI Wagon, in the same colour, with 20000-odd less kms, but in auto, and cheaper.
I happened to be in the area the TBSTI car was for work, so took the opportunity to catch up with the bloke, have a drive etc. Ended up striking a deal for another $1500 off, and the wife and I flew to Melbourne the following week to collect and drive home. Not happy about the auto, but what can you do...?
I have to say that, IMHO, the 2008 model TBSTI wagon was something of a high point in the Subaru lineage. They have lines that will age a hell of a lot better than other cars around. Plus, they came with a pretty reasonable suspension, brake and wheel package. Unlike some of the other desirable wagons around (AMG Mercs. AUDI R/S3/4 etc.) they will also last (if cared for), and the $ were OK.
The biggest conundrum with one of these is whether to enhance it, or leave it un-molested (meaning it will most likely sell better if we ever do sell it).
Bearing in mind that we're a little older than a few on here, so getting massive power/torque out of the thing isn't a huge priority for us. If we can safely enhance it a little, and be able to completely reverse anything we do, then we'll be more than happy. Good news is that they come with all the good suspension and brakes out of the box...
I think in the short term, I'll get it assessed (by the people at Pulse Racing), and discuss what can be done in the "totally reversible" stakes...then we'll see about enhancing the thing...