Legacy S401 STI

I don’t always make silly decisions, but when I do it’s usually because of Trademe.

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After once again, not managing to buy a Rover, despite my best attempts, I decided to buy another car sight unseen…. from the other end of the country.

It is a Subaru Legacy S401 STI.

Basically, Subaru decided “Hey, this is the last of the twin turbo Legacies, lets get STI to throw the lot at it and make the ultimate Twin Turbo Legacy”.

What did it get? Well, 6 Speed manual gearbox, front LSD, retuned ECU, hand-built engine, STI exhaust, Intercooler pipes, full STI suspension, big ass Brembo brakes, some lush BBS 18″ wheels, exclusive front bumper, side skirts and intercooler scoop. It also gets a stunning half leather/Alcantara interior, red stitching, and an STI full dash cluster. There’s a few other bits here and there, but that’s the main parts. This Japanese website lists everything in detail, it’s an amazing site.

It’s a really nice place to be, the seats are very comfortable and the interior is simple and easy to use. The 6 speed gearbox, mostly shared with various other STI and later model Legacies, is lovely to use, direct with short ratios.

The STI suspension is nothing short of amazing. Cruising down the motorway it’s firm, and flat, but sucks up all the bumps like they are nothing. Hit some corners, and it’s flat and just grips and grips.

The S401 was a limited edition, and they were apparently going to make 400 of them, hence the number is ***/400 on the badging. In reality, they never made that target, and there were only approx 290 cars made.

Mine is 143/400.

It was looked after by an owner in its past, likely the one before the guy I got it from. Sadly it’s suffered some neglect, so there’s a lot of work to do, including fixing some issues, and giving it a thorough top to toe clean, which should be fun. I hope to do this car the justice it deserves.

How it was when I got it.