Been around the car scene for almost 15 years and a WRX has been on the list for a while.

Have had in the past a number of pulsars, R32 Skyline, 180sx, VW Bora, and most recently a track-spec civic and 3.0RB liberty.
Decided to consolidate into a single car.

For dual-duty an n/a 4 wasnt going to cut it, and wanted 4 doors for family reasons in the future.
Something that already had stuff going for it to be able to handle track work, pretty much led me to the Evo vs WRX debate.

Looked at few MY99/00's in various levels of KM/mods, but couldnt find one in good nick with the 6spd.
Drove an evo6 and wasnt a fan of the interior, sound, or general feel of it - for sure if it was for mainly track work the EVO would have made a lot of sense.

Didnt want to invest the time/effort/money in putting good bits into a std WRX, so the next step was MY02-05 STI's.
You pay a big price difference for the 03/04's due to the looks, and the 05's are even more sought after due to the better hubs, DCCD diff etc - leaving me with the MY02 option.
Looks of it have grown on me over the years, and always loved BALISTC watching it get built in the 2000's.

Test drove a tidy example, but had engine vibration. S-technic took a look at diagnosed a cylinder with low compression - PASS!

Went to test drive a 2015 forester for the Mrs, and they had an 02 STI, saw the full service history and condition of it, deals were done on the liberty/forester/STI and waited a few weeks.
Picked it up on Friday.

It has 138,000km, only mods i can tell so far are the HD cluch, 3" TBE and a set of genuine DEFI Genome gauges.
Did a 450k road trip to Collie, loved it.
Firm suspension, brakes are solid, decent mid-range shove and nice traction and stability.
Interior is a nice place to be too, cruise control was nice to have.

Snapped a pic on the way back from Collie yesterday
My STI by Blake Parry, on Flickr

Future plans*:

• Maybe de-wing it
• Brakes: pads, lines, fluid
• Probably a sump baffle
• Second set of rims + R-comps
• Re-tune
• Some suspension goodies

*Note: list will likely extend as per past builds haha

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'02 STI

Local motorsport pics and other photos: https://www.facebook.com/photosbyblakeparry
http://www.zenfolio.com/photosbyblakeparry