Longevity of WRXs...?

[CompUser]

I think the next set will be the third set of discs, yet. One set soon
after purchase and another since. This is a Rex, you know. Even
someone as gently on the brakes as I am is going to wear them out in
20 or 30 thou. These things are consumables.

Yah, I got a WRX too...56K on it, and I'll be
swapping in new front pads this morning---the
first brake work it's had, outside of a fluid
flush.

They don't have a rep for going thru pads or
rotors unusually quickly. Are you in a
mountainous area, or doing track days?

 

[Monique Y. Mudama]

I think the next set will be the third set of discs, yet. One set
soon after purchase and another since. This is a Rex, you know. Even
someone as gently on the brakes as I am is going to wear them out in
20 or 30 thou. These things are consumables.

Rex, huh? Don't much like the homophone implications.

Mine's named Roxie =)

 

[David Betts]

Yah, I got a WRX too...56K on it, and I'll be
swapping in new front pads this morning---the
first brake work it's had, outside of a fluid
flush.

They don't have a rep for going thru pads or
rotors unusually quickly. Are you in a
mountainous area, or doing track days?

Real roads, man... not freeways. Plus, these things are quick. That
means you sometimes have to stop hard.

 

[David Betts]

Rex, huh? Don't much like the homophone implications.

Fascinating. That's not the name of my car. WRX/Rex. It 's what they
are all called.That and Scoobies.

 

[Monique Y. Mudama]

Fascinating. That's not the name of my car. WRX/Rex. It 's what they
are all called.That and Scoobies.

And I still don't like the fact that it sounds like "Wrecks" =)

 

[Monique Y. Mudama]

Real roads, man... not freeways. Plus, these things are quick. That
means you sometimes have to stop hard.

That's how you're driving it, not an innate characteristic of the car.
If you can't drive it that quickly while also keeping an eye out for
what's going on around you, then you're driving too fast for your
abilities.

Speaking as someone who also rides a motorcycle, statements like
"these things are quick, so you have to stop hard" give me the
willies. An awful lot of motorcycles can out accelerate a WRX, and
yet, if you don't learn how to pay attention to your surroundings (ie,
recognize trouble in advance so that you don't have to brake hard all
the time), you're dead. You just don't know it yet.

 

[KLS]

That's how you're driving it, not an innate characteristic of the car.
If you can't drive it that quickly while also keeping an eye out for
what's going on around you, then you're driving too fast for your
abilities.

Speaking as someone who also rides a motorcycle, statements like
"these things are quick, so you have to stop hard" give me the
willies. An awful lot of motorcycles can out accelerate a WRX, and
yet, if you don't learn how to pay attention to your surroundings (ie,
recognize trouble in advance so that you don't have to brake hard all
the time), you're dead. You just don't know it yet.

What she said. And I also speak from the motorcyclist pov. You seem
truly not to understand or respect what's going on around you as a
motorist, based on your incredible brake consumption.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Fascinating. That's not the name of my car. WRX/Rex. It 's what they
are all called.That and Scoobies.

Actually, there is (perhaps was) a sube model called REX. FWD econobox IIRC.
here's some pics;
http://tinyurl.com/obn5t

Carl

 

[Jim Stewart]

Actually, there is (perhaps was) a sube model called REX. FWD econobox
IIRC.
here's some pics;
http://tinyurl.com/obn5t

Damn, that thing's uglier than a Baja....

 

[David Betts]

That's how you're driving it, not an innate characteristic of the car.
If you can't drive it that quickly while also keeping an eye out for
what's going on around you, then you're driving too fast for your
abilities.

Oh dear! It is precisely because one is aware of what other motorists
are doing that one sometimes has to pull quite a lot of speed off in a
hurry. You haven't been in this newsgroup for very long so I accept
that you don't know much about me. Quick summary - driving for 40
years, clean licence, no accidents, high-speed trained for the road by
a mix of police class one and former GP drivers, driven everythying
from Morris Minors to Ferraris, writing about motoring for years, etc.

Apologies if my comment might have sounded a bit glib, but I do know
what I am talking about.

High performance cars like the Rex, when driven to their potential
(however well and safely) will get through brake pads pretty quickly.
If you are using up pads, you are also using up the discs. This is
true of all modern cars, where the discs are regarded as sacrificial.
It is not unusual to have to change the front discs on a high
performance car every 20 or 30 thousand miles.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Damn, that thing's uglier than a Baja....

hah! There is also a video floating around the web of a couple Japanese
guys e-brake drifting around a track in Rexes - in TANDEM. pretty funny
actually - wait, I'll look......

found someone hosting it;
http://www.t-wrx.net/wrx/Videos/othervids/drift11.asf

carl

 

[Monique Y. Mudama]

High performance cars like the Rex, when driven to their potential
(however well and safely) will get through brake pads pretty
quickly. If you are using up pads, you are also using up the discs.

I question the idea that high performance cars can be driven to their
potential on public roads and still be considered safely driven,
especially as we're talking about situations which might require
braking. Part of safety is realizing the average abilities of the
other people on the road.

 

[Ron N.]

I question the idea that high performance cars can be driven to their
potential on public roads and still be considered safely driven,
especially as we're talking about situations which might require
braking. Part of safety is realizing the average abilities of the
other people on the road.

Part of safety is staying as far away as possible from drivers
of average and below average abilities, which good amounts
of acceleration and deacceleration will allow one to do, even
well within the speed limits and traction limits present.

Back on topic: I got over 320k miles out of the original
engine on my '83 Toyota (that's not anywhere near the top
mileage on some of the Toyota engines which my mechanic
has seen), and just bought a 2006 Subaru Legacy. Are Subaru
boxer engines often good for that kind of mileage? If so,
how do I take care of my new Subaru to get the best lifespan,
in terms of miles, out of the vehicle? What RPM range is
a non-turbo boxer engine happiest with?


Thanks.
IMHO. YMMV.

 

[David Betts]

Part of safety is staying as far away as possible from drivers
of average and below average abilities, which good amounts
of acceleration and deacceleration will allow one to do, even
well within the speed limits and traction limits present.

Thank you Ron. Some common sense at last. Shan't be bothering with
this discussion any more. Very hard to make a worthwhile contribution
to this newsgroup these days. So many of the people who are buying
Rexs seem to be complete tossers.

 

[Tony Burns (permanent dismisser of Andy, AJS and ]]

So true!

Thank you Ron. Some common sense at last. Shan't be bothering with
this discussion any more. Very hard to make a worthwhile contribution
to this newsgroup these days. So many of the people who are buying
Rexs seem to be complete tossers.

 

[Michael Pardee]

Part of safety is staying as far away as possible from drivers
of average and below average abilities, which good amounts
of acceleration and deacceleration will allow one to do, even
well within the speed limits and traction limits present.

Most drivers believe they are above average - an impossible situation. I
think the average driver is really pretty good, but our attention is drawn
to the bad ones. It's a numbers game: if we encounter 200 drivers on the
road, on average one of them will be the worst driver in 200. We will also
encounter the best in 200 drivers, but won't notice him/her.

My preference is to let the hotshots get far enough ahead of me that I won't
be hit by the shrapnel if they crash. As a former Lotus owner I don't have
any fascination with speed or acceleration. After all, every experienced
driver has had moments when they wished with all their hearts they were
going slower or that their brakes magically worked better.

Mike

 

[Stacey L. Brower]

BD,

I've not looked at a single newsgroup for ages (and don't plan on reading
all of the ones I've missed). Therefore, I don't know if anyone has
discussed proper oil levels with you or not. So here's my story about "low
oil":

In 2002 I bought a new Outback Sport (a little wagon, somewhat similar to
the
WRX) and recently I purchased a 2006 Outback Sport Special Edition. With the
'02, everytime I took it for an oil change other than the dealer (they
charge more than
twice of most shops), they would tell me that when I brought the car in,
that the oil was low. Then I'd ask how much they put in....5 quarts they'd
say. Then I'd tell them that the owner's manual states the car only requires
4.2 quarts of oil and could they please go correct their error. Now I tell
anyone
doing the oil change that the car only needs 4.2 quarts BEFORE they repeat
the mistake others had done in the past.I don't know if this might be what
is
happening with your car or not, but you might wish to look up the proper oil
amount for your car, then check the records from oil changes in the past
and see if there is a discrepancy between the two.

Stacey.

: >Assuming you've treated your WRX nice, it should go at least another 150k
:
: I _think_ I have. I am a little concerned about oil consumption; the
: level was rather low last service (just last week), and I haven't
: gotten an answer why yet.
:
: It's mostly used for city driving. No aggressive rallies lately ;-),
: certainly no 'honk on the turbo and then stop the motor cold' kind of
: stuff.
:
: The only thing I do which might be considered 'iffy' behavior is engine
: braking. I'm trying to break the habit, for the sake of the clutch and
: the synchros, but oh well. I don't do it all the time, but probably
: more than I should.
:
: I'm also not clear if that could be a possible factor in oil
: consumption. The research on that point continues...
:
: Thanks!
:

 

[Stacey L. Brower]

BD,

As I have not looked at a single newsgroup for ages, I don't know if anyone
has brought this to your attention or not yet. In 2002 I bought a new
Outback Sport (a little wagon, somewhat similar to the WRX) and recently I
purchased a 2006 Outback Sport Special Edition. With the '02, everytime I
took it for an oil change other than the dealer (they charge more than
double of many shops), they would tell me that when I brought the car in,
that the oil was low. Then I'd ask how much they put in....5 quarts they'd
say. Then I'd tell them that the owner's manual states the car only requires
4.2 quarts of oil and could they please go correct their error. I don't know
if this might be what is happening with your car or not, but you might wish
to find the proper oil amount for your car, then check the records from oil
changes in the past and see if there is a discrepancy between the too.

Stacey.

"BD" <> wrote in message
: >Assuming you've treated your WRX nice, it should go at least another 150k
:
: I _think_ I have. I am a little concerned about oil consumption; the
: level was rather low last service (just last week), and I haven't
: gotten an answer why yet.
:
: It's mostly used for city driving. No aggressive rallies lately ;-),
: certainly no 'honk on the turbo and then stop the motor cold' kind of
: stuff.
:
: The only thing I do which might be considered 'iffy' behavior is engine
: braking. I'm trying to break the habit, for the sake of the clutch and
: the synchros, but oh well. I don't do it all the time, but probably
: more than I should.
:
: I'm also not clear if that could be a possible factor in oil
: consumption. The research on that point continues...
:
: Thanks!
:

 

[k. ote]

Well, I don't expect it's a _horrible_ practice, but it does work the
motor and the synchros; one guy basically said to me that if you're
gonna use _anything_ to slow down, why not just use the 'cheap' brakes
alone, instead of adding wear on the more expensive clutch and the very
expensive synchros?

The N.A.-Spec STi does NOT have "cheap" brakes, and neither does the WRX.
Additionally, rev-matching and/or double-clutching virtually eliminates
wear on clutches and synchros, so unless there's some other reason, using
engine compression to slow the vehicle isn't a bad idea so long as you do
it cleanly. I.e. don't slip the clutch to slow down.. that's just using the
clutch as a brake, and in that case, it's true: replacing
clutches-as-brakes is much more expensive than replacing brakes-as-brakes.

Learn to rev-match!

 

[Edward Hayes]

It is not the clutch & brake wear but the extra reverse loading on
engine bearings and of course valve train wear due to higher than
necessary rpms. Unless one is trying to apply additional braking when
racing I think it's not a good thing.