Date: March 2009
Current Mileage/Months in Fleet: 31,976 miles/11 months
Average Fuel Economy/Range: 20 mpg/338 miles
Service: $397
Normal Wear: $0
Repair: $0
It’s been a mere 5500 miles since our last update on the STI, and unfortunately nearly all of those miles have been plagued by engine issues. Our poor little hatch has been to the dealer some eight times with nary a solution yet to be found. In the last update we mentioned the car had begun to surge and hesitate under acceleration. That issue has only worsened, keeping staff members from signing out the STI for any lengthy road trip. As this is written, our STI currently sits at the dealer awaiting its latest and hopefully last diagnosis.
In a previous update, we also mentioned we were going to have the grinding front brakes examined again. We opted to visit a different dealer for the inspection, and figured we’d give the new place a chance to sort out the surging issue. It turned out to be a disaster. Of course, we figured as much as soon the service representative greeted us and said, “Oh, that thing has a V-6, huh?” Their diagnostic abilities were on par with their Subaru product knowledge, and they couldn’t tell the surging issue from bumps in the road. We were also told the brake pads were “made of metal,” and that this was the reason for the grinding. Semi-metallic brake pads aren’t made of just metal—hence the ‘semi’ part—and we can only imagine what full metal pads would actually sound like; grinding would be the least of our aural worries. Nails down a chalk board, anyone?
Keep Reading: 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI - Long-Term Road Test Update
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