To begin with, let's wind the clocks back to a simpler time - being a child. I used to be a serious gamer in my youth, developing a somewhat unhealthy addiction to the big white box and screen in our living room. The computer was pretty much my only escape, as I had a strong dislike for school, and any sports that school offered/forced upon me. All my friends were also gamers, and many late evenings were spent playing whatever games we could manage to get our hands on - but good old Counter Strike 1.6 always ended up being the fallback.

Sometime in the early 2000's, a friend handed me a copy of Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed. Up until then, I'd never had much of an interest in cars, but I would often watch Formula 1 races on TV with my dad. Need For Speed changed everything - I spent hours racing around the virtual world, in control of my very own car. How cool was this? It was thanks to NFS that a new petrolhead was born - I only wanted to play racing games from then on, and dreamt of one day piloting my own car around some of these racetracks.

The First Sighting

Now a year or two later in 2004, I arrived at my grandparents house and saw their neighbour had this strange blue car parked on the verge. Subaru had only being introduced in the country a few years before, and there were very, very few actually on the roads. But this car...this was something different. The gold wheels. The huge bonnet scoop. The striking blue paintwork. I took a photo of it on an old point-and-shoot camera, admired it for a bit, and then walked away.

The original file info - check the date of 2004

A little while later, I heard a sound that I'd never heard before - the sound of a flat-four rumble. I quickly ran to the fence just in time to see this strange blue car pulling away down the road. Having no idea what I'd witnessed, I went back ask my dad what car that was. He just shrugged and said "looks like a Subaru". I made a mental note - Subaru. Must research.

Only two months after taking this photo, Need For Speed Underground 2 was unleashed on the world. Naturally, I picked up a copy, and started my new adventure in the underground racing world provided by EA. Imagine my excitement when I was scrolling through the cars on offer, and came across the same blue car I'd spotted a few months prior. This was it. The Subaru. I had to have one.

2006 Subaru Impreza WRX

Over the next ten years, I slogged through school and university without much interest. My parents had refused to buy me a car, claiming that if I wanted one, I'd have to work for it. Luckily, my sister had moved countries and left her old crappy car for me to use. But I knew that the first car I would buy myself would be a Subaru. I worked through my university holidays (and on all days off from my studies) in order to keep the money rolling in.

Come early 2013, and I’d finished studying and had a full-time job for a few months - it was time to start the proper search. Over the last decade, I'd attended many car shows and done hours of research online about the different models, so I felt a bit more educated venturing into this world of JDM car ownership. My favourite shape came in the form of the 06-07 "hawkeye" shape, as this is the best looking model (in my opinion - I know everyone has a favourite).

On one of my morning Gumtree pursuits, I found a silver 06 WRX for sale about 30 miles from my office. It had just under 90,000km, a huge straight pipe exhaust, STi wing, Turbosmart BOV, lowered suspension, and a few extra cosmetic changes on the front - selling for R145,000, roughly about USD $13,000 in todays money. Could this be it?

I still have the original advert screenshot. Here it is

Immediately, I messaged the owner, who responded a few minutes later saying that the car was still for sale, but two other people were interested in it. However, they were looking to finance the car, whereas I had enough cash to buy it outright. That evening, I went to view the car in a dingy petrol station in a less than pleasant area of town. I didn’t even drive it - one simple touch of the throttle was enough to convince me. 36 hours later, I had my very own WRX parked in my driveway.

Owning this car did come with a few unintentional costs - some monetary, some social. For example, I emptied out my bank account to such an extreme level buying the car, that I couldn’t afford to put petrol in the car for the first week - it just sat in the driveway, waiting for me to get paid. And when I did manage to finally drive it, I drove it very hard - the petrol gauge would drop rather fast, and make me poor again. Vicious cycle.

And as for social costs…well, I eventually took it to my (ex) girlfriends house to show off my hard work reward. Full of pride, I proudly parked it outside while her dad came to have a look. He had one glance and muttered something about it being a “boys car”, and he wished his daughter would “find a real man” instead. Asshole. Needless to say, the car outlasted that relationship.

Bad things aside, the WRX treated me well. I used it daily for 3 years, racking up close to 60,000km extra on the odometer. It looked incredibly intimidating, made one hell of a noise, and turned heads wherever I went. But most importantly, every time I started it up, I heard that same flat four rumble that I'd fallen in love with a decade before.

In terms of mods, I did a full Prodrive conversion on the car, which involved a few additional engine pieces, as well as some cosmetic changes. I found a donor car in a scrapyard and set to work swapping everything over - far easier said than done.

The "donor" car. One mans trash is another mans treasure I guess?

The biggest score was the set of original Prodrive wheels and tyres.

After the conversion was finished (and the rims restored). What a difference

I eventually put it back to stock and sold it to a friend of a friend for only R10,000 less than I paid for it, which was a surprise in itself. Sadly, the new owner clearly didn’t cherish the car as much as I did, and it was written off in an accident not even a month after I sold it. Had I known it’s fate would have been for the junkyard, I would have kept that car.

2012 Subaru WRX STi

Feeling a bit despondent about my old cars fate and now not having a “fast” car anymore, I set out to find a replacement. A friend of mine offered to sell me his gloss black hawkeye STi that was pumping out enormous power (+350KW at the wheels with some other incredible modifications), and the deal very nearly took place until his engine exploded. Just Subaru things I guess? Understandably, I didn’t feel like buying a broken car, so I widened my search to include newer model STi’s, and came up empty for a few months.

Then, one morning on Gumtree (again), I came across a pearl white 2012 STi for sale only a few miles away at a dealership. However, the main thing that jumped out to me was the fact that the odometer reading was only 7,400km - how could a 2012 car have such low mileage in the year 2016?

After the test drive

The car still had the plastic on the doors and doorsills from the factory - it was essentially showroom fresh. I took it for one drive around the block, and then immediately phoned my banker to transfer the money. I paid R380,000 in cold hard cash (around USD $33,000), and two days later, I had the ownership papers and the keys - and a white STi in the driveway.

Collection day. I made sure to wear my Subaru shirt for the occasion

But why the low mileage? Well, it later emerged that the previous owner had put an aftermarket ECU in the engine that caused a catastrophic engine failure, and was engaged in a warranty dispute with Subaru for three years. The previous owner was a car collector who bought the STi because he’d always wanted a Subaru, and this model STi was the most expensive one on offer. He also fitted every optional extra that the dealership offered, and I’ve still never come across a 2012 STi with all the options this one has. It’s apparently the only STi in the country to come with gold wheels as standard.

Back to the engine failure - the old owner eventually paid for an entire new engine (from the radiator all the way back to the turbo), and flogged the car after this. I’d unwittingly bought a top spec car with only 7,400km on the chassis, and not even 100km on a brand new engine - for the half the price it was brand new. While this is a great surprise bonus, I just wish I’d known this during the first week of owning the car, as I may have taken it to some slightly fast speeds during a few late night runs on a brand new engine - not ideal. And when I say slightly fast…let’s just say there were no numbers left to pass on the speedometer.

It’s now been nearly two years to the day of owning my 2012 STi, and I’ve just passed 27,000km on the odometer without a single problem. I should mention that unlike my WRX, this car isn’t my daily, as I came to my senses and bought a cheap little hatchback for day to day duty. The STi has taken me to various tracks around the country, on a few mountain pass excursions (including a snow trip you can read about here), as well as just providing some good weekend fun.

But, as it is with life, all good things must come to an end, and soon it’ll be time to wave goodbye to this car. It’s a great drive, but I’m craving something faster, and while the STi is a fast car by normal person standards, it’s not fast by my standards anymore.

Taken just two days ago - mine on the left, and a friends brand new 2018 STi on the right

So, the Subaru dream is sadly about to end it’s chapter - but not the end of the book. I know one day when I’m rich and famous (lol), I’ll get a world-rally blue hawkeye STi in my driveway, and keep it for the rest of eternity. But until then, it’s time to expand my horizons.

Subaru, this isn’t a “final farewell”, it’s just a “see you later”.