Should I trade my Tacoma in for a new WRX

Decision-making level= Expert!

 

OP I used to have a WRX before my tacoma. It was honestly junk. The paint chipped horribly, the transmission blew up on me, electronic issues, fisher price designed interior, outrageous insurance costs (which is person to person but, it's my list of gripes), and if you want to do any mods, you're eventually going run into some pretty serious engine issues.

That being said I did love driving it, but if you're truly worried about women, every single one I ever met thought my car was "boyish and dorky" and hated riding in it. And I even had coveted hatchback! Haha

 

If you really want to be trendy, your thread title should have been “ Talk me out of buying a WRX”.

 

It's absolutely true. Some tire shops wouldn't even sell me tires unless I bought a whole set if they couldn't shave them.

 

I prefer FWD or RWD, east coast snow, and rain is why I like AWD.

 

That’s true, if these moms are dogs why would you want to impress them. What kind of car impresses the foxy moms?

 

This is my exact 2004 2.5RS ownership experience. My trans partially blew (3rd gear, most syncros etc) at 27k miles replaced under warranty, yours?

 

I guess a different size ratio tire could throw things off. Now I'm interested to see what happens with different size tires on AWD.

 

The Toyota dealership where I bought my truck had to figure it out after me lol so I have no idea.

 

I think my Legacy only has 1 gear, it's a CVT.

 

I have always heard it puts stress on diffs

 

I'm thinking minivan.

 

Probably since that one tires wheel speed isn't the same. Would an out of size tire trigger the TPMS warning light? I'm guessing the would be a large enough discrepancy between the four wheels.

 

I think your spending to much time here with all these negative threads.
Do what you want, not others want.
Your truck is under warranty, get it fixed.
The timing chain cover leak is not a ticking time bomb that is going to cause a engine or timing chain failure. Only few have experienced the problem, it’s a oil leak. A small one at that.
The other problems are a easy fix, have Toyota take care of them.

Subaru, if you think they are perfect or the dealers are any better with warranty work you are in for a surprise.
That boxer engine is really not “fuel efficient”
All that said, life is short. Do what you want/need to do.

 

I didn’t read all the responses.

I used to have a 2015 WRX. New engine model (FA20DIT) with a 6MT. The transmission was fantastic. Zero complains. Not as good as my German clutches, but very good.

That said, it was the worst car I’ve ever had. If rode like I expected (go kart), but the tech was hilariously awful and the engine knocked off the lot. I ran an AccessPort on the stock tune and an OTS tune. It knocked on everything.

Subies are trash unless you’re down to replace an engine anywhere from 40-250k miles. Roll the dice. Knocking and oil consumption are considered acceptable to their tech.

 

Your OP definitely threw me off a bit. Thought you might be a complete idiot with no balls or decision making skills.

However, with that list of issues, I’d be all over the dealer to get them ALL fixed. If you don’t have a need for a truck, and want “smiles per gallon”, then absolutely get a WRX or STi.

I had a 2013 hatch and loved it!! It was super fun to drive every single time I got behind the wheel. Only regrets are not doing a stage 2 tune right away (concerned about warranty) and not getting rid of those POS Dunlop tires immediately. I swapped to BFG Gforce II UHPAS and they were awesome.

 

Makes sense.

 

There's really not another vehicle like the WRX in it's price range, it's a crazy fun car when it works correctly and a huge bargain.

That said here's my experience with the current generation of them as I owned 2 & both were NEVER modded, well taken care of, used the highest octane I could get etc etc.

2015 WRX, sometimes wouldn't start until after 3-5 tries, it would just sit there and crank. Burned oil, tail pipe would be wet with it. Would pull timing and buck like crazy due to knock when accelerating onto a hwy or passing causing it to loose power. 91 fuel was the best available in my area but maybe the car wanted 93 or maybe higher. Sometimes wouldn't go into 1st gear, sometimes wouldn't go into reverse. Other stuff like the cheapest interior, worst radio and loudest road / wind noise ever was stuff I knew before hand and accepted.

2016 WRX. Figured I'd gotten a lemon because you know, 1st year. Traded for a 2016. Most of the 2015 issue did not appear except the 1st gear and reverse sometimes not working. However the 2016 had a new issue. Trying to accelerate with the AC on from a stop or from a low speed would cause random and sudden loss of power, like imagine the worst heat soak ever with the car pulling all power, with clutch out and gas to the floor your not accelerating. This was a regular issue causing me to almost get T-boned a few times with the last one being with my daughter in the car. That was it, done, no more Subaru.

Where was the dealership in all of this? 2 of them mind you, "can't replicate" "normal" "known issue wait for TSB" "did everything we could." Etc etc etc

The best thing about the WRX is it's resale value, you can break even after 8 payments if you wanna get rid of it.