Looking good :ok:

Looks lovely that. Great write up;-)

Is the intercooler on your car more prone to damage then earlier STi's, thus the fitting of a guard? Reversing lights do look bright.Looks like your making all the changes I'll want to do.

Does 3 dings in the cooler in three weeks count as more prone? Can't be 100% they weren't there when I picked the car up, but it only had 9km on the clock so I doubt it. I don't remember what my old WRX was like after 13yrs.

Yup, slowly getting there with the LED upgrades, hopefully the replacement LED flasher unit arrives this week so I can do the indicators, then it just leaves the front fogs/DRLs. After that I doubt I will do much more, maybe mudflaps and then later this year decide on whether to get winter tyres + new rims, or just the tyres.

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That's interesting,don't remember many dings in my old WRX intercooler. Where did you get the guard?

From eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162054224226 took about two weeks to arrive.

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Nearly fully LED'd, just the front fog/DRLs which I'm struggling to get LEDs that fit the holes - I have the "correct" fittings, but the aperture into light housing is too small. The only ones I have seen that are supposedly guaranteed to fit are from a site in Australia which makes the postage a little much.

Once I got the new flasher unit installed the LED indicators slowed down to normal, but unfortunately I now suffer the reported long first flash which in itself I can deal with as I had it with my old WRX, but it means the built-in "3 flash lane change mode", now does "long", "normal", "very short", so it's simply a timing thing. I think I can live with it for now until I can find an alternative that doesn't involve any modification other than a correctly functioning flasher unit. Maybe one of the adjustable ones.

I will see about getting some video of all the lights in action, so hopefully if the rain ever stops I can get that done.

On the subject of rain, more of the "magic" shows up when I left my wipers on "intermittent" today on parking up. I went out after lunch and it wasn't raining, the wipers were not wiping, and then just as it did start to come down and I was about to switch them on myself, the car did it for me. It then proceeded to time the wipes flawlessly during my trip on the motorway, adjusting to my speed and the amount of rain coming down, even slowing/stopping going through a tunnel and when stopped at lights. Even the RainX didn't seem to phase it. My only fear is if/when all these gadgets start to go wrong, but I think Subaru have only included much that has been around a few years so I would hope some of the reliability kinks will have been ironed out.

I added a few new pictures to album, see first thread for link, after I went for a blast around the countryside yesterday. It was Luxembourg's national day so off work, and as it was such a nice day (sunny and 30+), I thought I would go out and find a spot to take a few pictures. I also needed something new to replace the picture of my old WRX I have on my bank debit card. Unfortunately it had rained on Monday so the car wasn't as clean as I'd like but it didn't deter me. I found somewhere with a nice view and took some shots.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/z_...=w1063-h790-no

As for the car itself, some more insights:

• Gearbox+Clutch - I'm finding it frustrating as I can't seem to drive it smoothly especially at slow speeds and even more on uneven roads. I don't find it easy to keep on the power smoothly with the car jarring me around. I don't recall this problem when I drove the test 2015 STI. Maybe it's because it's still new, but I had the same problems with the old WRX just nowhere near as bad, so maybe it's me and I'm basically "crap". My worst times is when I get home as I park under my apartment block, and the ramp I have to drive up to get to my parking area is quite steep with a sharp turn - if I go too slowly the car almost stalls and if I go too quickly it can bottom out on the top lip of the ramp. I never had this with the WRX.
  https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1f...R=w586-h789-nohttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pS...x=w586-h789-no
  It's steeper than it looks!
• Parking and general size of car - that at least is good news as I think I'm pretty much accustomed to the different size of the car, but that's not to say I'm still not being overly cautious everywhere I go. I really do go out of my way to find a parking space that is a) easy, b) away from everyone else - the excercise is good for me ;-) I'm also managing to park up nice on my ramp at home.
  https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/aL...A=w586-h789-no
  Sometimes I get closer :oldman:
• Mobile phone holder - seeing as the satnav is next to useless (I'm still waiting on the dealer for this), I've been trying out various different phone holders and after many different types I have settled on one that uses one of the air vents (the right-hand centre one to be precise). This wasn't my first choice but nothing else has worked well. I have a Nexus 6 phone which is quite large and heavy so that is a factor. I tried windscreen mounts, but no matter where I placed it the phone just wobbled too much making it difficult to see and to use. I tried the same suction mount but on a plastic disk I stuck to the dash - that lasted all of two days before it came unstuck. I then tried a CD mount as it was something I would never need to use and placement was pretty good. Unfortunately I became a bit nervous as the audio unit is a single piece of glass and I was worried it would put too much pressure on the slot (the mechanism you insert expands to provide the grip) and potentially cause it to crack down the line. That would not be cheap to fix. So a vent one was my only success but not your simple push in type as I tried one of those and my phone would not fix in its grips. I had one from a long time back that has an extendable hook and a small padded part that it rests against (can't describe every well) - this is very sturdy and I think is putting less pressure on the vent.

Got all the LEDs except for the fog/DRLs done, and fitted a replacement flasher unit that was adjustable which fixes the long flashes. Lane change flasher now works correctly.

Something else about the STI that came to mind a few times now - I miss the pillar-less doors I don't know why but I always thought they were cool. Oh well.

Almost as exciting as waiting for the STI to be delivered, MY NEW DEBIT CARD HAS ARRIVED :doubleup:

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...6845e13087.jpg

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ArmorRally Mudflaps
 

Today I fitted some ArmorRally mudflaps I picked up on my trip back to the UK at the weekend. Were pretty easy to fit, the fronts were harder than the rears and could be done by just turning the wheels to one side, the rears were easier but really needed me to remove the wheels to be sure I could tighten up the one screw that's required. I took some pictures here but the lighting isn't very good and my camera phone didn't get great shots.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/up...=w1104-h828-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1J...=w1104-h828-no

Looking smart :ok:

Looking good, quite discreet too, good job!

Do like a decent set of Flaps!! :norty::10:

They do look nice and as said earlier,very discreet.When you have time could you email me a few more pics showing the whole car, thanks.

Looks good. Missing mine now :(

New Winter Boots On My STI
 

Just had these fitted today, ready for whatever the winter decides to throw at us this season. Will get better pictures and maybe some video (I just acquired a fancy new GoPro 5) once I have figured it out.

https://goo.gl/9Xmipr

https://goo.gl/LGHA1M

They look better in the daylight, plus I'll include some more details - as always in Luxembourg, it wasn't at all straightforward to get new wheels.

Looking good.Do other people switch to winter tyres? and if yes which make.

So it's finally 10,000km time - boy did that go quick, and probably the most distance I've done in one year for a very very long time. Well......it's an STI.

Last week I finally could revert back to the summer wheels and tyres - the winters were great for grip, performance, comfort but were extremely noisy. I'd rather have the slightly harder ride of the summer's than the noise.

I still love the car, that is when I get to drive it - it's not a daily driver as it makes no sense when the bus to work is far more economical, though I make sure to drive to work mid-week, then of course when I can at the weekends.

I'm not planning any further modifications, though as and when I see minor things I can improve I will do so, for example I have a replacement fuse-box over as the one below/to the side of the steering wheel isn't a coin-box. For some inexplicable reason Subaru didn't fit them and it's a costly part for something so small. So I'm getting a much cheaper Chinese knock-off which I hope will do the job. I'm also getting a tray that fits inside the arm-rest to make better use of the space and some seat space fillers as I keep dropping things down beside the seat/handbrake and it's getting on my nerves - they're quite narrow and not easy to reach down when driving.

Finally got myself a coin holder replacement for the fuse-panel, not sure why Subaru left this out as well:

https://goo.gl/AY2KoShttps://goo.gl/HKOgPl

It was a cheap one from China but surprisingly good quality, it even has Subaru stamped into it. The only thing missing is the fuse layout sticker, which I have taken a photo of and will fabricate a replacement sticker.

Also, as a way to get free delivery from AliExpress, I ordered a couple of other small bits:

https://goo.gl/otWaajhttps://goo.gl/26e0hz

Got fed up of losing things down the side of the seats and having to wait until I stopped to struggle to retrieve things - the seats much tighter against the centre-tunnel than my old WRX was which made it easier to fetch things back.

Lastly, something to cover up the door catches:

https://goo.gl/g0DKpahttps://goo.gl/9VpaVChttps://goo.gl/dlB6LK

Looking good. My coin holder had fuse schematics, but it was older revision than mine, though I bought it from Subispeed. And those plastic covers in the doors look much nicer than metal shiny ones :)
Between seat and center consoles I am planning to get a pocket for phone or something else.
Hm, your seats are different.

They're the full leather ones that came as part of the "sport premium" model, an upgrade from the part leather part alcantara of the standard "sport".

I don't know about yours, but my leather parts are the least favorite thing in my car :( Alcantara so far looks very nice,while leather side supports are aging very badly and its been only half a year :/

Lovely looking bit of kit this! They are some seriously bright reverse LEDs! Where did you get them from?

Also, are you batman? Or do you just have a bat cave? :mrgreen:

Thanks. I get my bulbs either from eBay or AliExpress for a few of the more difficult ones. Yes, I was really pleased with the new reverse LEDs, really handy and helps the reversing camera see a whole lot better.

Batcave, hee hee. It's a bit like that, the car park of my apartment block is underground so the lighting isn't very good and makes things look brighter than the are outside.

First service completed, 10,600km. New oil, they put 0w30 (Total Evolution Full Synthetic) into it again so I'm assuming they know what they're doing, new filters (oil and cabin), inspection and test drive. And they cleaned the windows :-)

Total cost: €267 or £226 in your worthless currency ;-)

They went with big print in the manual with 0w30. There is a smaller print of different viscosity oil, which is kinda better if you chose premium brand, but dealers ignore that bit ;)
Regarding the price, I pay monthly fees of £35 to dealer to have headache less service ;) and I bring the oil myself ;)

My manual shows only 5w30 recommended, with 5w40 being temporary for short term if the 5w30 isn't available (and replaced as soon as), no mention of 0w30. My investigations into 0w30 when they used it last year at 1,500km did say it was definitely fine and would be better for low temp starts (it can get to -20 in the winter sometimes here, although that's rare and I park underground).

Sorry I mixed it up. 5w30 is recommended and 40 is mentioned as well. I have 5w40 as main oil, and many high performance Subaru owners use 5w40.
Mine was Castrol Titanium I think, though next time I will get Shell equivalent ;)
and yes 5w30 is better for cold weather starts while 5w40 is better for hot water running. So if you know that you start our car at reasonable temps you might as well consider 5w40. I'm not oil expert, but have no idea what's that 0w30 deal is all about ;) Dealers usually stick to manuals and recommendations of the manufacturers due to warranty claims.

I have my latest free Subaru magazine, french of course, and they have a full page stating why you should use Motul 5W-30.

This is what I wrote in a previous post last year:

"The various versions of the 2016 WRX/WRX STI manuals, which includes US/Canada, Australia, Japan (English), Benelux (French) all say the standard oil for the STI should be 5W30, with use of 5W40 only for a short time and flushed out as soon as possible.

Having said that, when I hunted around looking for 0W30 many sites say it an alternative for 5W30 for lower temperature climates, but I didn't see anyone saying it would be bad for the car. The "0W" being more fluid and hence better lubricating on cold starts. The extremely important figure is the "30" and how it behaves when the engine is at normal temperature.

My feeling is that I don't think it's a problem, but I will contact the garage on Monday and just confirm things with them."

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Hi Fernando, I will be very interested to hear what your garage says. Mine is now due for its first free inspection so I will ask my garage about oil type.

My free inspection was part of the service - saw them take it out for a spin and they drove it into their bay where they do the checks for the yearly control (checks on brakes, tyres, lights).

At the time they said it was fine and just as I suspected that the important figure was the "30" (and matched the Subaru recommendation) and that the "0" was for the lower temps we tend to get through the winter. Many of their customers go away at the winter skiing so having better cold protection was important, if a little bit more expensive. However if I was a regular track-day user, I'd be looking to get a "w40" but that'll never be me.

At the end of the day, I'm relying on the dealer who have been very good to me for the last decade and if they screw up it will be them that have to rectify the problem.

Spot the difference

https://goo.gl/Fn6kRo

Nice. PlastiDip? :)

Nope

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b22dc4268c.jpg

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It's been a while but another small mod for the STI, this time switching out the side emblems from silver/pink to black/blue:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pq...N=w831-h623-nohttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/w4...p=w831-h623-no

This is literally the sexiest thing I've ever seen. (Don't tell my wife...)