Hey Scotty, I became very interested in cars recently as I started growing up and started learning the ins and outs of them on Youtube videos such as yours. I bought myself a 2012 Honda Accord which is obviously bullet proof and started practicing the maintenance on it myself like the oil change I did last week. However, being a young guy and wanting to make impulsive decisions I've had my eye on getting a new WRX STI that I can mod out and make a real show stopper. I want to enjoy the car while I'm young so I'm rushing the saving aspect of it for that and for the fact that they may be ruining the body style in 2022 (although improving the engine). Any tips for a kid that's set his mind on getting a new Subaru WRX STI?
OK, here's the thing. STI's are easy to work on. Certainly easy to do your own maintenance. But regarding modifications, they are easy to modify badly and hard to modify well. In reality, Subaru has been making some version of the WRX/STI for about 25 years now and they've got it pretty well sorted. Even though they designed it knowing that owners will modify it, simply modding it won't make it better.
The key to a good STI build is to have a comprehensive plan. Don't just install a COBB when you get the $, then any old cold-air when you have the $ for that, then a cat-back when you have the $. Oh, wait, maybe you want headers... If you don't have a plan you won't like the performance and you certainly won't like the sound. And if in doubt, have a pro install.
You can do it stepwise as you have the $ and the time to do it, but plan the build based on a sensible concept of the finished product. The intake, the tune, and the exhaust need to work together. The suspension, wheels, and tires need to work together. And so on.
And the best thing to do to figure out what you want is to go see some STIs in person. Join a local club. Ask for a ride along. Ask people what worked and what didn't. (If you just trust Reddit you will regreddit).
FYI: my son has a '16 STI and I have a '20 WRX. Fun cars and I know you will love it.
Great choice of car! Though same as you I rushed in to buy a car and proceeded down the rabbit hole of modifications be it suspension, engine or body. I would say just take a little bit more care to the overall understanding and cost of your build. Brand new car, say it costs $40k, what mods? Wheels and tires? 2k, want a little boost (tune)? Another 2k, what about lowing the car perhaps? Suspension work, coilovers, rollbar maybe? upgrade the turbo? That's where the big bucks are. I'd say take just a little step back and assess the what you are looking for and what you want to do. That way at least then you will get an accurate assessment on how much you are gonna be spending. Time and money since you would like to get the ball rolling yourself yes? And have fun! I also couldn't wait to start wrenching on stuff on my e30.
Make sure you price out insurance for it first. Also, what kind of mods are we talking about? If you start modifying the engine for instance, you may impact its reliability - is that what you want?
Those are really strong cars - the transmission can take a lot of added power and torque. Do some research on Subaru forums about the limits of the platform and how much you should expect to pay. Insurance on any performance car is going to be high for a young driver so just be prepared for that. Those are super fun and capable cars!
@Dad2pwd that's some awesome advise, thank you! I've always known I'd have to have the exhaust and intake in place with a tune but that shows me that organizing my mods into stages would be the best bet. However, I need to actually get the thing first and decide if I want the 2021 or the 2022 as one will have its improvements and the other gives the nasty enthusiast feel that I'm striving for.