2016 WRX STi - 2.5 Reliability
Discussion
Hi All,
I'm after a bit of advice re the 2.5 found in the 2014+ WRX STI. My wife has been after a fast saloon to replace her Alfa 159 for some time, and the STi ticked all the boxes. One recently came up at a local performance car specialist, and after viewing we've just put a deposit down on a 2016 WRX STi. It's a one owner car in black with under 10k from new. Apart from some seat bolster wear, it appears practically mint.
You cannot move online for hearing horror stories of ringland failure and HG failure, is the engine really that bad? We only cover 4-5k per year, and the car will be serviced at a local specialist, so I'm really hoping we can get 5+ years stress free motoring out of it.
Is there anything else I should be aware of?
I currently own a GT86 so am fairly familiar with boxers, and am hopeful the STi should make for a good stablemate.
I'm after a bit of advice re the 2.5 found in the 2014+ WRX STI. My wife has been after a fast saloon to replace her Alfa 159 for some time, and the STi ticked all the boxes. One recently came up at a local performance car specialist, and after viewing we've just put a deposit down on a 2016 WRX STi. It's a one owner car in black with under 10k from new. Apart from some seat bolster wear, it appears practically mint.
You cannot move online for hearing horror stories of ringland failure and HG failure, is the engine really that bad? We only cover 4-5k per year, and the car will be serviced at a local specialist, so I'm really hoping we can get 5+ years stress free motoring out of it.
Is there anything else I should be aware of?
I currently own a GT86 so am fairly familiar with boxers, and am hopeful the STi should make for a good stablemate.
there have been a number of failures but there are more out there that have not failed , get a map done on it not for more power ,but due to the standard map was contributory to its failure not sure of the reason why , i think it was due to running lean ? regular servicing , warm it up first , the coolant temp comes up to normal temp , the oil will only be half warmed up so a proper warm up is twice the length the coolant took to warm up , cooling down in simple terms drive sensibly last few miles home , last enjoy the car , if it does go it’s a good reason to go forged but only jump that hurdle when you have too , in other words don’t keep worrying about it
I have owned an Sti from new since May 2017.
Nothing has gone wrong, not even a bulb blown.
The ring land failures affected the hatch models, but some failures of 2014 plus models have been reported, but they are rare.
Always run on shell v power and I check the oil and water usage. Both are very minimal.
It's a fantastic car. Goes, stops, corners and grips like no other car I have ever driven.
I would advise against remapping unless you install forged pistons, then you can take the engine to 400bhp easily, but to be honest it is plenty quick enough totally standard.
I hope you enjoy it.
Nothing has gone wrong, not even a bulb blown.
The ring land failures affected the hatch models, but some failures of 2014 plus models have been reported, but they are rare.
Always run on shell v power and I check the oil and water usage. Both are very minimal.
It's a fantastic car. Goes, stops, corners and grips like no other car I have ever driven.
I would advise against remapping unless you install forged pistons, then you can take the engine to 400bhp easily, but to be honest it is plenty quick enough totally standard.
I hope you enjoy it.
My car is a 2012 with the 2.5T and 260bhp as standard. Now had it for 3 years, it’s on 128000km and using no oil or water. It gets a hard urban life but is always run on VPower or Ultimate and service is never skimped. Just completed a 2700km, 9 day, family road trip in 30+C with lots of smoke around, with no problems.
My 2014 WRX/STI suffered total engine failure due to crank oil starvation and had to have a full engine rebuild.
However... this was running 400bhp and failed on the dyno at the hands of the previous owner, so at those levels I'm not totally surprised.
Generally speaking they fail from 1 of 3 reasons, head gasket failure (most common), ringland piston failure, or crank oil starvation. These are the 3 well documented failures in all 2.5 Subaru engines.
The later engines seem to be slightly better and if you keep the boost below 1.3 bar and keep it relatively standard and well maintained you should generally be ok.
They are fantastic cars and don't let a few failures stop you buying one. I use my fully forged STI daily and absolutely love it!
However... this was running 400bhp and failed on the dyno at the hands of the previous owner, so at those levels I'm not totally surprised.
Generally speaking they fail from 1 of 3 reasons, head gasket failure (most common), ringland piston failure, or crank oil starvation. These are the 3 well documented failures in all 2.5 Subaru engines.
The later engines seem to be slightly better and if you keep the boost below 1.3 bar and keep it relatively standard and well maintained you should generally be ok.
They are fantastic cars and don't let a few failures stop you buying one. I use my fully forged STI daily and absolutely love it!
Thanks for the advice everyone! We decided to go for the car and picked it up two weeks ago.
Really enjoying it so far, the grip is unlike anything I've experienced before and I love the old school power delivery. It's such a fun car to drive.
The interior is also quite a nice place to sit, while I get it's behind it's German rivals, I don't get the criticism, it seems well put together. The only negative is the seat bolster wear, it's far worse that I'd expect at only 10k. My GT86 has suffered the same so can only assume Subaru use poor quality leather.
The only thing I'm unsure of is the service interval, the owners manual states annual or 10k, which ever comes first. But looking on the owners forums, the US ones in particular, people seem to suggest as little as 3 months or 3k? While I certainly wont be scrimping on servicing, 3 months may become a bit burden.
Really enjoying it so far, the grip is unlike anything I've experienced before and I love the old school power delivery. It's such a fun car to drive.
The interior is also quite a nice place to sit, while I get it's behind it's German rivals, I don't get the criticism, it seems well put together. The only negative is the seat bolster wear, it's far worse that I'd expect at only 10k. My GT86 has suffered the same so can only assume Subaru use poor quality leather.
The only thing I'm unsure of is the service interval, the owners manual states annual or 10k, which ever comes first. But looking on the owners forums, the US ones in particular, people seem to suggest as little as 3 months or 3k? While I certainly wont be scrimping on servicing, 3 months may become a bit burden.
Subaru say if you keep it standard and dont mess with it, then its reliable... apparently.
The problem I had with mine was tyres. They are critical to be the same. Mine had original Dunlop RT tyres on, but garage changed 2 for the MOT. The RT wasn't available so they fitted RT2, which replaced them.
After a few hundred miles I had issues with the 4wd tuning off above 30mph. I could tweek the pressures down in the new tyres to stop it, but it turned out they are a completely different tyre. Different tread and critically a difference circumference.
These cars are set up so precisely it makes a huge difference. It happened on the Pistonheads press car too. There is a review on here.
Even Subaru said it can happen. They have had to change all 4 at the same time, because of a puncture and changing that tyre made the car throw a wobbly.
Not good.
The problem I had with mine was tyres. They are critical to be the same. Mine had original Dunlop RT tyres on, but garage changed 2 for the MOT. The RT wasn't available so they fitted RT2, which replaced them.
After a few hundred miles I had issues with the 4wd tuning off above 30mph. I could tweek the pressures down in the new tyres to stop it, but it turned out they are a completely different tyre. Different tread and critically a difference circumference.
These cars are set up so precisely it makes a huge difference. It happened on the Pistonheads press car too. There is a review on here.
Even Subaru said it can happen. They have had to change all 4 at the same time, because of a puncture and changing that tyre made the car throw a wobbly.
Not good.
philwhite said:
Thanks for the advice everyone! We decided to go for the car and picked it up two weeks ago.
Really enjoying it so far, the grip is unlike anything I've experienced before and I love the old school power delivery. It's such a fun car to drive.
The interior is also quite a nice place to sit, while I get it's behind it's German rivals, I don't get the criticism, it seems well put together. The only negative is the seat bolster wear, it's far worse that I'd expect at only 10k. My GT86 has suffered the same so can only assume Subaru use poor quality leather.
The only thing I'm unsure of is the service interval, the owners manual states annual or 10k, which ever comes first. But looking on the owners forums, the US ones in particular, people seem to suggest as little as 3 months or 3k? While I certainly wont be scrimping on servicing, 3 months may become a bit burden.
Americans seem obsessed with changing oil at 3000 / 3 months. I don’t think they have heard of synthetic oil.Really enjoying it so far, the grip is unlike anything I've experienced before and I love the old school power delivery. It's such a fun car to drive.
The interior is also quite a nice place to sit, while I get it's behind it's German rivals, I don't get the criticism, it seems well put together. The only negative is the seat bolster wear, it's far worse that I'd expect at only 10k. My GT86 has suffered the same so can only assume Subaru use poor quality leather.
The only thing I'm unsure of is the service interval, the owners manual states annual or 10k, which ever comes first. But looking on the owners forums, the US ones in particular, people seem to suggest as little as 3 months or 3k? While I certainly wont be scrimping on servicing, 3 months may become a bit burden.
I’d rather use the stuff God gave us.
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