Cheap, high mileage S-Type R, should I ?

[The Voices]

You might be suprised by an insurance quote, some companies will regard cars over 10 years old as 'classic cars' for the purpose of insurance.

Agreeing a limited mileage policy often helps as well ?

It would be really tough to choose between the Subaru and the STR, at the moment, I would choose the Jag due to it's versatility but I do need to do some A and B road driving to see what I make of the cornering abilities (probably wait for the new rear tyres)

I have a vague idea of selling the Impreza and buying one of the earlier 'classic' shape models and bank the difference.

The earlier model is lighter and even less refined but a bit more 'raw', which would probably be just the thing given the very limited mileage I cover in the Subaru (less than 3k pa)

 

[Russ68]

Hey guys, 

Thanks for the write up Jon, very informative and somewhat as I expected. So I guess if it came to a shoot out the Scooby would have the advantage over the STR on a windy B road, but on an autobahn or round the Nurburgring, the STR would have it? On the right tyres of course...

Speaking of which, the set of Winrun R330's I had fitted are nothing less than exceptional for the price IMO, £216 fitted the set of 4 in 245/40/18 on the same Vulcan alloys you have on the STR. They work great on my Sport and are W rated, hence 167mph, so providing you don't take the speed limiter off, you should be OK!

Definitely try A-Plan in Bletchley for insurance, particularly if modifying cars, which they are relaxed about mods and seem to be happy to consider your no claims on other vehicles. I had my NCD on my modified MGF and they still insured the Jag at under £300 inc 3 other named drivers. 

Cheers, Russ

[Claws]

Under £300 WOW! I have 8 years NCB limited mileage to 4K valued car at 2K and I think 300 voluntary excess and mine was just over £600

Definitely will remember that company

[Mr Lawrence]

I'm with A-plan, 48yr old LL17 postcode, 2.7d on 06, not garaged, 9yrs ncb and 3 points (sp30) no voluntary XS, £250 XS and 10k annual mileage. 

 

£295.  Comp

 

really good company to deal with too. 

[Claws]

not wanting to keep this of topic

glad for you guys, but gutted!

'Parked on the road away from home' could that explain it? will be looking at these guys next year that's for sure, I might test the water for an STR as it happens

[Russ68]

Yup, I was with the AA and when I started modifying my MGF, the premiums they wanted went nuts, whereas A-Plan Bletchley, who specialised in the MGF were happy with me to do anything with the exception of forced induction and nitrous and the premium was even a bit less. Real people on the end of the phone and nice to deal with, as Andy says.

I had a 5K policy, but loved driving her too much and went over, they didn't mind me bumping this to 6K on renewal. Last years was £289, but I protected my no claims this year, increased the car value, added another named driver and only have a £250 excess, so the renewal was £338, still pretty good I thought 

[The Voices]

My Impreza is insured with A Plan, not cheap but cheap compared to other quotes !

[Steve]

300 is good for insurance.. mine was 500 and have full no claims etc. S-type was just expensive to insure for me

[The Voices]

I have been busy again today, swapped the Parrot kit over from the 2.5 to the 'R'.

It already has factory bluetooth but can't stream audio and doesn't have USB connection so the swap over made sense.

Need to polish the headlamp lenses next, hope we get a bit of good weather tomorrow.

 

[Claws]

what are you using on the lenses Jon

[The Voices]

I have the Autoglym kit, comes with various grades of sandpaper and backing disc and the foam polishing disc to use with their polishing compound.

Used it on the 2.5 with good results but not had chance to do the 'R' today.

Remembered we had to go to a funeral this afternoon and needed to clean the 2.5 and take the photos for Autotrader as a priority (Sue is fed up of 4 cars around the place)

[Claws]

Thanks Jon

Condolences to the family of course

Regards

Steve

[The Voices]

Thanks Steve, the funeral was for one of our neighbours who passed away suddenly last week.

He was a Jehovahs witness so I found the 'service' quite strange compared to other funerals I have been to.

[Claws]

Jon

Just by chance, will you be doing before and after photos On the lenses ?

oh and just as an aside, I did the 'compare the market' thing for an 'R' cheapest £805 dearest 3.5k! A-plan wouldn't quote to early, and I haven't actually identified a particular car yet, it must be the London postcode that's bumping up the cost so much 

[The Voices]

The London postcode won't help, you need to move to the Outer Hebrides !

I will try to remember to do some before and after pictures but raining here at the moment so no progress so far.

Now I have another problem to worry about, replacing the bank 1 upstream oxygen sensor got rid of that fault code and reset the engine management light but yesterday I got EML again plus  P0171 and P0174 codes.

Codes are for 'lean' running on bank 1 and 2 !

Spent most of last night looking at various forums for inspiration, could be a vacuum leak as affecting both banks ?

I did notice a slight variation in revs on tickover, which might point to the same thing.

Now I need some fine weather to start messing about under the bonnet, check pipes to see if anything has popped off or split.

[Claws]

you lost me at P0171!

is that a big problem / job? after the oxygen sensor, lets hope this is the last of the dreaded EML for you

Steve

 

[The Voices]

The codes indicate a fuel/air issue.

Worst case scenario is that it damages the catalytic converters ?

The fact that it is throwing codes for both banks of cylinders indicate that it is a 'shared' component causing the issue.

 

Could be as simple as a vacuum hose that has come off or a split in a rubber pipe causing an air leak (finding which one is the pain in the neck though)

Wondering whether I moved / disturbed something when I fitted the missing engine top cover ?

Might also be that the mass airflow sensor (MAF) is faulty or dirty, I will clean it as a precaution.

Or..............................

None of the above !

 

[The Voices]

Cleaned the MAF sensor and played about with the hoses, nothing obvious in terms of splits or hose popped off.

Cleared the codes and went out for a 15 mile run, no engine management light but 'pending' P0171 and P0174 codes.

I have ordered one of the elm327 code readers with bluetooth and downloaded the 'Torque' app to my tablet.

This should let me monitor the 'fuel trim' to help with the ongoing diagnosis.

 

My 2011-12 navigation disc has arrived as well so put that in, took about three minutes to update (seemed like forever !) but seems to work fine.

[Claws]

I know you will not have had  to much time to get accustomed to the 'Feel' of her, but any noticeable effect on the drivability of the car? prior to cleaning the MAF e.g. lack lustre / less responsive etc

[The Voices]

Tickover when cold is a little uneven but driveability seems fine (even when the engine management light comes on)

Throttle response seems a bit 'on and off' but could just be me getting used to the car.

[Russ68]

For interest have you serviced her and when did she last have plugs and coil packs? My V6 ran poorly under load until I changed these out on the difficult to access left bank, now she's revvy and sweet and about to have her 2nd Oil service since I've had her. I'm going to add the sports exhausts I bought and I'm also considering a K&N panel filter this time around instead of the standard paper one .

There's not much else we can do modification wise to the V6, whereas there is a ton you can do to the supercharged V8, which is one of the reasons why I have to have one (eventually!) .

[Simjag]

17 minutes ago, Russ68 said:

For interest have you serviced her and when did she last have plugs and coil packs? My V6 ran poorly under load until I changed these out on the difficult to access left bank, now she's revvy and sweet and about to have her 2nd oil service since I've had her. I'm going to add the sports exhausts I bought and I'm also considering a K&N panel filter this time around instead of the standard paper one .

There's not much else we can do modification wise to the V6, whereas there is a ton you can do to the supercharged V8, which is one of the reasons why I have to have one (eventually!) .

I heard stories about the Oil in k+n filters damaging map sensors.

[The Voices]

Hopefully will be doing an Oil service later today, I am taking it in to my old place of work to let my friend take a look (two heads are better than one)

I have spoken to the company that looked after the car for the last four services.

It had the 'valley pipe' replaced at 100k.

New plugs at 112k (recommended at 100k or 10 years) gearbox Oil and filter done at the same time and radiator expansion tank replaced as well !

I would not have liked to be on the receiving end of that bill ?

Radiator was replaced at 128k, I thought it looked in good shape.

The K+N filter is an 'oiled' filter so I have occasionally heard of them 'fouling' the MAF sensor but there must be millions of them in use worldwide ?

I actually ordered one yesterday from Euro Carparts but not in  stock and had second thoughts !

 

[Russ68]

I wonder if the Green Cotton Filter is a better bet then? I used K&N and Pipercross on various cars before, and the Vader Induction Kit on my MGF made a world of difference. But I understand the induction routing on the Jag is quite good and can hardly be improved upon? So it's only replacement panel filters that are worth considering? If this is not the case I'd be happy to hear of it. Similarly, while I understand that remapping the STR can release a lot more power, remapping a normally aspirated AJ6 or AJ8 doesn't make much difference and hence isn't worth doing?

[The Voices]

My Impreza is running a Green filter.

Given the mileage on my 'R', I need to sort the current issues before any tuning but a re-map, 10% pulley upgrade, intake pipe and panel filter are all up for consideration.

Replacement exhaust prices are scary for decent performance systems, £500 just for back boxes !