Thanks for the welcomes! Before this, I had a 2007 Scion tC and this is a huge upgrade to say the least lol. I have always been into cars but never had the money to own a good one. Back in April of 2010, my father who I was very close to passed away. He left me a good size inheritance and I decided that I would apply some of it to purchase my STi. He was the one who got me interested in cars and I felt that it would be a good way to remember him. I do not plan of ever getting rid of it and will pass it along to my kids one day when the time is right. It will be a nice heirloom to pass along.
Since getting the Subie, I have never looked back even though I went through some rough times with her. The day I took it home, I tinted the tails as I hated the altezza look. I had also done some research on a reputable shop to have an alarm system put in. Once the system was installed, the car would not start. They spent hours trying to figure it out to no avail. I had the car towed to the dealer who determined that the BCM was fried. Of course this was not covered under warranty but the shop paid for the repair.
About 2 months later, I moved from TX back to RI and on the way up, my high beams would not shut off and I had to remove the fuse temporarily. As soon as I arrived in RI, I took it to the dealer who determined that I had a rodent infestation in my dash. They had to completely rewire which of course was not covered under warranty and cost me over $1,000 to have fixed.
A few months later when the car had bout 10,000 miles, my clutch started slipping really bad. I knew this was not due to my driving as I have driven a manual for 15 years. I took it to the dealer who determined that the flywheel was not mounted correctly from the factory and they warrantied a new clutch...whew!
A couple months after this around 15,000 miles, I got the dreaded ringland failure. At this point I was still completely stock with the exception of a cat back exhaust. The dealer said that they would warranty the work but only if I put the factory exhaust back on. I started reading up on the issue and came to the conclusion that I did not want the same OEM junk going back in. At that point I contacted Matt Miner from Wicked Innovations and decided to put CP drop in pistons, EWG, EBCS, air injection delete, Killer B Oil pick up and baffle, ARP headstuds, downpipe, and tune. I saved myself a little money by pulling the engine and breaking it down and reinstalling myself. Since, I have had no issues with over 60,000 miles (knocks on wood).
I eventually plan on upgrading the suspension and wheels, along with a Blouch Dominator 2.5 XT-R and supporting mods. I am in no rush but hope to be able to start soon. I have a family of four that I provide for and extra cash is hard to come by lol.
Anyway that is my story (long winded I know) and I look forward to being apart of this community!