Longevity of WRXs...?

>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!
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

On 9 Apr 2006 21:27:56 -0700, "BD" <bobby_dread RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hey, all...
>
>I'm coming up on the end of a 4 year lease on an '02 WRX Wagon, and am
>deciding whether to hang onto it at all. At this point it has about
>26000 miles on it.
>
>Can anyone out there comment on how long these cars tend to last before
>they really start to become expensive to maintain? So far, it's been no
>real trouble. But I know there will be the 'sweet spot' time when it's
>time to flip it.

Still running my early car. 10 years old now. Only 70,000 miles,
though. Still going strong. No real problems. Clutch replaced at 60
something, of course. Probably needs it's third or fourth set of front
discs soon and another set of those sticky black round things. Drove
it the other day for the first time in weeks - usually only use it
when I'm going somewhere. Even on a short local hop, I was reminded
what a joy this car is to drive. Never use it without getting well on
boost at least once. Love it.
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

>Is engine braking considered bad for a car? I didn't know that ...

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?
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

>Then again, a lot of those were fun, twisty curves driving to ski resorts and trailheads,

Oh, I've had my fun too - nothing like taking a sharp turn and hearing
the front left tire start to slip because it's almost off the ground.
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

On 2006-04-10, BD penned:
> Hey, all...
>
> I'm coming up on the end of a 4 year lease on an '02 WRX Wagon, and
> am deciding whether to hang onto it at all. At this point it has
> about 26000 miles on it.
>

*jealous*

My WRX is almost exactly 2 years old, and over 29K miles.

Then again, a lot of those were fun, twisty curves driving to ski
resorts and trailheads, so maybe I shouldn't complain *grin*

--
monique
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

On 2006-04-10, BD penned:
>
> 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.

I think stop-and-go city driving is considered hard usage, to some
extent. Not as hard as rallies, I'm sure ...

> 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.

Is engine braking considered bad for a car? I didn't know that ...

--
monique
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

In article <4439fd49.1465451375
@news.infoave.net>, dabetts.RemoveThis@ntlworld.com says...

> Still running my early car. 10 years old now. Only 70,000 miles,
> though. Still going strong. No real problems. Clutch replaced at 60
> something, of course. Probably needs it's third or fourth set of front
> discs soon

You've gone thru three sets of front rotors, in
70K miles??
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

>But I didn't realize it could end up costing me megabucks.

To be clear, I don't have any hard info on that - only opinions
expressed here - which, when I think about them, do make intuitive
sense.

I won't discourage you from doing as you're used to doing - but it may
warrant some research to be clear on what's up.
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

On 2006-04-10, BD penned:
>>Is engine braking considered bad for a car? I didn't know that ...
>
> 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?

Well, it's a different feel ... personally I like to use both. Down
shifting also feels like it gives more control (less chance of slip) in
rain and snow. But I didn't realize it could end up costing me
megabucks.

--
monique
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

On 2006-04-10, BD penned:
>>Then again, a lot of those were fun, twisty curves driving to ski
>>resorts and trailheads,
>
> Oh, I've had my fun too - nothing like taking a sharp turn and
> hearing the front left tire start to slip because it's almost off
> the ground.

Okay, maybe I haven't had as much fun as you have =P

--
monique
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

"Monique Y. Mudama" <spam.TakeThisOut@bounceswoosh.org> writes:

> On 2006-04-10, BD penned:
>>>Is engine braking considered bad for a car? I didn't know that ...
>>
>> 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?
>
> Well, it's a different feel ... personally I like to use both. Down
> shifting also feels like it gives more control (less chance of slip) in
> rain and snow. But I didn't realize it could end up costing me
> megabucks.

I suspect that it's not too bad if you rev-match reasonably as you
downshift and if you don't have the clutch pedal partly down for a spell
each time. You shouldn't be 'slipping' the clutch much trying to
downshift smoothly, and you should rev the engine as you downshift to
near where it's about to end up anyway - if you get those wrong you may
cause a fair bit of wear - but with practice you should be able to
downshift quickly and smoothly for engine braking. I don't go through
clutch units and transmissions all that quickly but, yes, brakes are
cheaper. (-:

I like being in an appropriate gear for most of the time so that I can
accelerate immediately even if I didn't expect to have to. I may place
more importance on that than is usual, though.

-- Mark
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

>Slowing just on brakes, well......

Oh yeah - definitely, if I need to stop fast, I'll use the brakes plus
the engine - but what that guy said in that one post does kind of stick
with me. Not so much that engine braking is bad for the motor, but that
it can end up using more oil than it should. Just kind of put a bug in
my ear, is all...
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...? 

BD wrote:
>>But I didn't realize it could end up costing me megabucks.
>
>
> To be clear, I don't have any hard info on that - only opinions
> expressed here - which, when I think about them, do make intuitive
> sense.
>
> I won't discourage you from doing as you're used to doing - but it may
> warrant some research to be clear on what's up.
>

It's the way I learnt to drive and I've always done it that way and
*never* had a transmission failure. In the days of rear wheel drive it
meant that your braking was being done by the rear wheels and you still
had the fronts for steering and braking should an emergency arise.

But that was in the days of drum brakes.

Slowing down using you gears means always you also have another braking
system available should you need it. Slowing just on brakes, well......
 >> Stay informed about: Longevity of WRXs...?