Twins vs others DIY.

[accel]

I've done some work on cars in the garage myself like swapping shocks and coilovers, replacing the exhaust, timing belt, waterpump/thermostat, taking engine head off, break pads/rotors/fluids and oil changes. I do not mind paying deslership for repairs/maintenance if the cost is reasanoble and actually preffer to do it this way, but I'd like to have potential available for DIY work. There are cars that are easy and even fun to work on, and there are cars that are real PITA to do this... in my books those cars typically also have excessive electronics and computer footprints.

From your personal experience - how easy / difficult twins are in DIYs versus others?

One thing that made me worried about twins was spark plugs replacement procedure...

P.S. I hope this is not offtopic here since I was curious on how bad/good this is versus orher car members own(ed), and no street racing involved.

[bcj]

The plugs are only scheduled for 60K mile intervals.
I've had mine for 5 years. Have not had to change them yet.
Soon though.

Simples really. Unbolt motor mounts and lift a couple inches.
Or find a contortionist with small hands and do it in place.
There are options.

Oil changes are a breeze. Cleanest filter change around.
No covers to get in the way.
Pretty practical for the most part.

[gramicci101]

Subarus in general are very easy to work on. Anything involving the heads becomes more complex because they're on the sides. For routine maintenance, only spark plugs are difficult, and if you have enough universal joints and extensions it isn't terrible.

[brzaapi]

I would say for 90% of task you would perform, this car is just about the easiest one to work on. Not mention its one of the funnest to work on, yes I know that's no a word.

Oil changes are simplest I have ever seen. You can pull the interior apart in no time. macpherson struts make most suspension upgrades very easy. Community is supportive. Parts market is a buffet. I keep coming back to the BRZ because it is such a fun car to work on. I have worked on WRXs, vettes, Camaros, Miatas, and to a lesser extent some Caymans, and some work on my S2000. The BRZ is the easiest out of all them, or I guess I feel the most confident when working on it, Porsche I feel the least confident. Buts because I am not setup for most of the work.

Not mention, Subaru service has never struck me as expensive (if you decide to go that route), of course that could be service advisor specific.

[accel]

Originally Posted by brzaapi

I would say for 90% of task you would perform, this car is just about the easiest one to work on. Not mention its one of the funnest to work on, yes I know that's no a word.

Oil changes are simplest I have ever seen. You can pull the interior apart in no time. macpherson struts make most suspension upgrades very easy. Community is supportive. Parts market is a buffet. I keep coming back to the BRZ because it is such a fun car to work on. I have worked on WRXs, vettes, Camaros, Miatas, and to a lesser extent some Caymans, and some work on my S2000. The BRZ is the easiest out of all them, or I guess I feel the most confident when working on it, Porsche I feel the least confident. Buts because I am not setup for most of the work.

Not mention, Subaru service has never struck me as expensive (if you decide to go that route), of course that could be service advisor specific.

Interesting. Do you know anything about mustangs? I googled a little and couldn't find any decent community for the car with DIYs and deep reliability knowledge... just weird. Miata, Honda, BMW, Mini Cooper forums just thrive. This forum is also very knowledgeable.

[dhuang]

This car is stupid simple to DIY. With my Fumoto valve installed, I got oil changes down to 20 minutes.

I had a tech change my plugs @ 64k and they were in pretty good condition. He managed to do it without lifting the engine, but the job took 3 hours.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by accel

Interesting. Do you know anything about mustangs? I googled a little and couldn't find any decent community for the car with DIYs and deep reliability knowledge... just weird. Miata, Honda, BMW, Mini Cooper forums just thrive. This forum is also very knowledgeable.

Despite the high sales figures, most Mustangs are not owned by enthusiasts.

Which community do you use for Mini? I've checked NAM and there's an F56 specific forum but I feel like for the 3rd gen it hasn't really picked up much steam.

[Viking42]

Originally Posted by accel

Interesting. Do you know anything about mustangs? I googled a little and couldn't find any decent community for the car with DIYs and deep reliability knowledge... just weird. Miata, Honda, BMW, Mini Cooper forums just thrive. This forum is also very knowledgeable.

corral.net is the forum you are looking for when it comes to Mustangs. With approximately 1.28 billion Mustang forums, I know it can be hard to find one with people that actually know what they are talking about. I've owned two fox bodies, a S197, and my current New Edge Cobra. If you have questions about any of those generations (or the SN-95) I can help you. I'm not as familiar with the current generation though.

[accel]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Despite the high sales figures, most Mustangs are not owned by enthusiasts.

Which community do you use for Mini? I've checked NAM and there's an F56 specific forum but I feel like for the 3rd gen it hasn't really picked up much steam.

I was at NAM. 3rd gen is very overweight looking, probably lost a lot of enthusiasts.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by accel

I was at NAM. 3rd gen is very overweight looking, probably lost a lot of enthusiasts.

Maybe, but it's within fifty lbs of the 86 and nearly double the torque to the wheels after a piggyback box. They'll start pushing 300 ft-lbs out of them over the next few years if the drivetrain can handle it. I think 240 at the wheels it's what they're around right now with a box and exhaust.

Rotates decently well with some tweaks, it's a fun car.

[brzaapi]

Originally Posted by accel

Interesting. Do you know anything about mustangs? I googled a little and couldn't find any decent community for the car with DIYs and deep reliability knowledge... just weird. Miata, Honda, BMW, Mini Cooper forums just thrive. This forum is also very knowledgeable.

I don't, with the exception of riding/driving a few on track. I have never wrenched on one. The only fords I have experience with are F150s and my old 86 Thunderbird I drove in High School till I wrecked it.

Sorry for the delay, we just had our second kiddo and I have been out of sorts lately with no sleep.

[LudwigMiles]

Originally Posted by accel

Interesting. Do you know anything about mustangs? I googled a little and couldn't find any decent community for the car with DIYs and deep reliability knowledge... just weird. Miata, Honda, BMW, Mini Cooper forums just thrive. This forum is also very knowledgeable.

I find this impossible to believe.
This forum has 3800 users online right now
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/

The Fox 5.0 forum has over 500 users online right now
The 2005+ forum has over 1200 users online right now

[guybo]

It's not bad to work on, I used to have a genesis Coupe and that was even easier- mostly because an inline 4 is a lot easier (and roomier) to work on.

[SuperTom]

Its very easy to work on. My vette in general is easy to work on too. Changing headers though the 86 is a breeze. The Vette entire car needs to be 2ft off the ground just to snake the headers in. I haven't looked into the sparkplug thing yet but at least there good for 60k