Hi everyone, I wanted to introduce myself and ask a few questions. I will be picking up my new 06 WRX this afternoon and I am of course very excited.

The dealer said I can use 87 octain fuel and that is what will be in the car when I pick it up. Do you guys agree with this? Will the only difference be a performance loss? Can I put higher octain fuel in at a later time if I will be racing or showing off?

Is there a break in period with the new engine (i.e. no going over a certain speed or accelerating too hard)? I plan to ask the dealer this, but again, would like to hear your opinions.

Any other info you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated or if you can point me into the right direction for answeres if they have already been posted. If you think of anything that you wish you had known when you first got your car, please just let me know. Thanks.

 

Hell no 87 Octane is not OK. Tell them that they know damn well that Subaru says it needs at least 91 Octane. It probably wouldn't kill it doing it just once, but it's not worth the risk in my humble opinion. You don't ever have to use the same octane fuel everytime you fill up though. Sometimes I run 92 Octane premium, and sometimes I run 92 Octane with a bottle of SPT's Made from Jet Fuel Octane Booster. It's not like your motor oil where you have to change it all out before you can use a different weight or something. If they have already put 87 Octane in though, I would go straight to a parts store and get an octane booster, drive until you tank is pretty close to empty, then run 91+octane with a fuel system cleaner.

As far as breaking it in, I work at a Subaru dealer, and when I bought my 06 WRX, the service guys there all said the best thing to do is break it in the way it's going to be driven daily. You of course don't want to go crazy and redline it. But if you are going to drive conservetivly, shift around 4000 RPM and don't slam the gas pedal. If you are going to drive lilke me, shift closer to 5500 RPM or so, and give it the gas you are going to give it. Either way, you want to vary your speed a lot for the first 1000 miles or so, don't use cruise control, you want to let the engine feel as many different speeds as it can. There's just no sense in taking it easy on a car and then at 1K just rallying the hell out of it, your better off preparing it for that kind of driving.

Any other questions you have about the new car experience, I should be able to answer any questions you have since I answer them every day. Welcome to i-club and the Subaru family. Best of luck to you with your new WRX.

 

The Subaru is actually supposed to use 93 octane but since California sucks and overcharges for worse gas we can only get 91. As far as the break in, there are so many different ways to do it you will probably get mixed reviews. I shifted between 3 and 4K for the first 3000 miles and opened it up a little here and there, but nothing to bad.

Post some pics.

 

Hello there and welcome. I say use at least 91 or 92 octane whatever your premium is for the entire life of your car. I also have an 06 WRX and I did not really open up on the car until about 2500 miles but it was taken to a semi-high redline before hand. There are many different opinions on how to properly break-in the engine, but just drive it properly and dont initiate movement in second gear from a dead stop.

 

and i remember seeing somewhere that the 06 injector is different so really needs 91

 

Correction:Subaru recommends 91 Octane for WRX, and 93 for the WRX STi. At least that's what our information here in Oregon says.

Anyways, yes, I too have a TR and noticed that for the 4 hours I had the stereo in the car. On another stereo note, just so you know, some shops might try to tell you that your rear speakers are 6-1/2" or 5-1/4", but they are actually 4" speakers. A shop with MECP certified installers should be able to put 5-1/4" speakers in for you though.

 

wish i had the racing seats....my bro has the 03 wrx and we got the same seats! wtf!

 

Posts regarding stereo upgrading have been split off and moved to Stereo & Security sub-forum.

Octane requirement for the WRX engine is specified in the Owner's Manual. You can use 87 octane if nothing better is available but it is NOT recommended for long-term durability of the engine.

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