05 Legacy GT

Possibly getting a promotion soon, so i'm poking around newer cars around the $10k range..

I've currently got a 1998 Ford Escort ZX2. Dont let it fool you though, it has $17k of modications done to it, about 350-400whp, 12.5 Wilwood 4 piston brakes, fresh paint, coilovers, Volk TE37s, and so-on.

Reason I've stopped daily driving it is because it has become too nice of a car to drive around everyday without worrying about getting dinged.

So i've been looking into evos, sti's, mazdaspeeds, lexus is300s, etc.

Looking for a 4 door, AWD/RWD, decently powered, comfortable car.

an 05 legacy gt seems to be the answer... So i have a few questions that I couldn't find anywhere else..

1. How is the insurance costs on these (I realize it's much lower than my other options but it would still be more than the 15 year old car that I have now that my insurance company thinks is stock).

2. How much power can you put into the stock block without forged goodies?

3. It's the same engine as the wrx/sti's? so engine mods will be easy, what about suspension mods?

4. How's the cost of parts to repair? availability of parts?

5. are their any common weaknesses in the car? (ie. the ford escort zx2 had a weak transmission, went through 5 trans until i finally put in a 1000hp LSD).

Why just a 2005 model? The 05-09 is a really slick looking car in my mind, I really like them.

1. Insurance is cheaper than a WRX or STi, that is for sure. Unsure if the Outback XT or Forester XT are even lower than the Legacy, or? I would assume the OB XT is identical, maybe the Forester is different since it's technically an SUV/crossover

2. Do some searching, but you'll find that the piston ringland failure issue is somewhat common on high boost/power cars. This goes to your #5 question. Also, folks can spin bearings or toast them, burn exhaust valves, etc... I'd venture a guess at 350 whp is about it on the stock shortblock, and that may be pushing it as far as durability.

3. The LGT/OBXT had the EJ255 in the 05-06 models, same block as the EJ257 WRX/STi, just different piston volume and CR. All mods are pretty easy. Other Subie parts slap on there and there is no shortage of parts around, either motor or chassis.

4. See #3

5. See #2

hmm.. so they (the EJ255) doesn't really hold any more power than an sti? (Ej257)...

The only problem i see is the weight that i'll be adding with this legacy compared to what i have now. 350whp with 2478lbs is a lot different than 350whp with 3300lbs.. for the extra 800lbs, I'll need 112 more whp. would it be hard and expensive to get 462whp out of these without going too elaborate? I don't want to buy a fairly expensive car with intentions of ripping it apart..

hmm.. so they (the EJ255) doesn't really hold any more power than an sti? (Ej257)...

 

The only problem i see is the weight that i'll be adding with this legacy compared to what i have now. 350whp with 2478lbs is a lot different than 350whp with 3300lbs.. for the extra 800lbs, I'll need 112 more whp. would it be hard and expensive to get 462whp out of these without going too elaborate? I don't want to buy a fairly expensive car with intentions of ripping it apart..

for your original post, I dont have much to add to what jp233 said, all true, also regarding number 5 if its an 05 due some searching for banjo bolt and make sure you do or the car has had that taken care of.

*****EDIT: i think this vid is not of a 351 hp escort but an escort with a 351 in it, so ya know, its not exactly your situation, but the gist of what i said originally still rings true I think.*****

as far as I know for 17k into your escort your going to be faster off the line than any car you can buy in the legacy price range. with that kind of dough sunk in and 350whp you could be running 1/4 miles in the 9's so obviously the legacy will not be keeping up

That said having had a zx2 in the stable myself, unless you made major modifcations to door panels and engine bay, wheel wells and the like with a few hundred pounds of dynamat, the legacy will be a much more comfortable and less noisy ride than the escort. it will do better in most all weather conditions and has superior crash ratings for you and your passengers (unless your zx2 has a roll cage but that's not a daily driver anymore, like you said)

for under 1k you can get the legacy into a comfortable but still relatively reliable stage 2, after that , to get the kind of HP your talking about at the wheels your likely going to need to do exactly what you said, rip things apart and do a proper build.

but frankly most any car in the price range of an 05 lgt will not get your desired HP/Wt ratio unless you mod significantly, or its a bike.

haha in fact i have laid down quite a few rolls of dynamat down. got it down to 82dbs in the cabin at 65mph.

my zx2 isn't anything like that one. it's still the original block, not a v8 swap.. I haven't done a 1/4 mile but i'm expecting around 11 seconds... since it still has that limiting factor of fwd. was that link you posted a zx2 that you had? I'm the global mod over on that forum and i haven't seen you around there, at least not in the last 5 years or so..

however, i agree with you i think the legacy has a much nicer/smoother ride. and a nicer interior.. would you happen to have a price quote for an engine build to hold 400whp or so? (my zx2 ran around $5500 for the engine build, in hindsight it was kind of stupid to do so much to a 15 year old car but i love the thing to death and i will never sell it, can't explain it...)

in all honesty, i'd probably prefer getting an older (2000) impreza rs sedan. considering they only weigh 2800lbs, they're 4dr, and awd, and cheaper outright than a newer legacy. So i could just end up dropping $17k into that and making it really nice with 4dr, and 4wd.. except i can't find one for sale anywhere!

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/fs-ny-2005-legacy-gt-limited-some-mods-200703.html

Thers your answer almost 400whp new engine rebuild. Tuned very well. Works already done for you

reviving this old thread because I'm still looking into these. Yes, it's been 6 months and I'm still looking into them. I like to do my research

Think I'm going to go with the 07 spec B now for a few reasons, primary reason being the tune toggle switch (or whatever you call it). It's just a stupid switch but I want to use it for making an aggresive tune, a street tune, and a gas mileage tune. I believe how that switch works is that it runs three different tune maps. This way I can tune each one myself and make a gas mileage tune to run almost no boost. Should get me around 27 city and hopefully above the 30's on the highway since that is similar to the NA legacy's of this year.

I also want to make sure I get heated seats, and the navigation. On top of that I was looking into what it would cost to convert a LGT to the spec B bumpers and it's just not worth the cost to me. I am the kind of person who does modifications to their car to make it look clean, and factory, while still having that WOW factor to it.

I've attached some pictures of my current car to show examples of this, as mentions in the OP. I had $17,000 into it then, I now have $21,000 into it since I've repainted it and added a few more things here and there

http://teamzx2.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28076&d=1386853346

http://teamzx2.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28077&d=1386853348