Welcome. Hope you enjoy yourself in here.
PakHin_Heat wrote:Not going to be starting any mods until I'm confident I don't need to make any major repairs, but high on the list are a new set of sway bars. I'm still getting used to the new platform so I'm not sure how I want the car to drive yet.
I recommend driving the car for a while - 10-20,000km and getting a feel for its handling characteristics before deciding whether you really need sway bars. Mine doesn't have them and while I almost got a set a while back its front/rear grip balance is just about perfect for the road without them and I won't bother wasting something in the region of up to $600 for a front/rear set of Whitelines (one of the better value for money options available for us).
Many will recommend a rear bar first up to "cure the Subaru understeer". I believe this is a bit of a myth - mine only understeers when driven wrong and can be provoked into lift off oversteer if driven wrong as well. A stiffer rear bar will move the grip balance from a very slight understeer bias (which provides the stability of the car) to an overall mild oversteer bias.
I have found that as standard its balance can be altered depending on your driving style as follows:
- Charge into a corner hard on the brakes and engine braking while turning = neutral to slight oversteer bias
- Setup the corner early by getting all of the braking out of the way well before the apex and pick up a tiny bit of throttle = stable neutral bias
- Pick up the throttle too hard, too early on corner exit = understeer, varying by the throttle application
- Lift off hard/quickly once power-understeering on corner exit = 4 wheel drift
- Lift off hard/quickly while balanced on the outside tyres = anywhere between slight and serious oversteer bias
- Pick up throttle smoothly at or just after mid corner = neutral bias with the feel of the outside wheels pulling the car around the corner.
All of this assumes you are going to be smooth on the steering wheel. Sawing hard at the wheel is going to make the above traits worse.
Your car will love to sing along all day in the hills between 5000 and 7000rpm and the manual is geared nicely for that. A nice set of mufflers will bring out the lovely note of the car while it is singing along too
