I have a 02 WRX in Blaze Yellow (1 of 450 built with this color) with a custom spoiler (modified a 99 RS spoiler to fit, looks great). Also have stone-guard all the way around, and only 21K miles on it. I love it to death but I'm lusting over the STi guts. I only use it on road, no racing and with the price of gas I don’t want to decrease my gas mileage ( 20 to 25mpg). What kind of mileage does a stock STi get when driven sanely? (there must still be a few out there that are stock)

I'm trying to decide whether to sell it and buy a used STi and then save my lunch money until I can afford to repaint it. Or find a wrecked STi and swap out everything, or buy aftermarket brakes and suspension to bring those systems up to STi levels, then modify the engine to at least increase the power at lower rpms. Then I still do not have a 6 speed transmission. Anyway to get to a good six speed short of spending 6k?

Assuming I bought a wrecked STi any ideas of what the labor might run to gut it and put the STi parts in my WRX? Another advantage of keeping my WRX and either modding it or swapping in STi guts is my insurance rates won’t go up, unless I start getting tickets cause I won’t be able to resist driving crazier.

Of course my wife thinks I'm crazy already, cause I already have a great car so why mess with it.
So what do you guys think?

 

Trying to turn a WRX into a FrankenSTi is going to cost you a lot more than the difference in cost between a new WRX and a new STi, unless you get the salvage vehicle really cheap and do the work yourself. But, if you have a huge amount of time on your hands and a well-equiped shop in your garage, you might have a lot of fun doing it and not mind all of the extra $$$ you'll have to spend.

 

as far as time and money for the swap, I agree ^. Waaay more expensive to do the swap than just buying an STI, not to mention it'd be a new car with a warranty, rather than FrankenSTI. Paint, however, is also incredibly expensive. A good paint job is a couple thousand dollars, and a cheap paint job is a HORRIBLE idea because it will look terrible in 6 months.

As far as gas mileage, a modded 300 HP WRX will get about the same mileage as an STI, which is an average in the high teens when driven sanely, low 20's if driven saintly.

 

if you are seriously concerned about gas mileage- stay away from anything STi related- not sure of what type of driving you do... but i average about 16-17mpg(mild mods) with a very aggressive driving pattern. there is no SUCH thing as driving a STi conservatively- you will get on the throttle at least once or twice-daily.

my wife gets about 22-24mpg in her wrx- which really isn't that great, but very respectable(considering)- if you are lusting after the STi - go for it. don't fool around with a swap uunless you are the type that enjoy's the pride and joy(and sweat,tears and blood) involved in a project like this.

keep in mind that bug eyes are very soft on the market. even with a limited production like yours...in order for it to have max value it basically has to be garaged..(there is one in the dupont registry for 20g's)

so maybe..and just maybe... find a wrecked STi- grab the parts and make youself a beast....

confused enough? hope so




aloha from the summit of *-^-Mauna Kea-^-*