So, updates! Cross-posted from other forums so the timing/wording etc might be a bit wonky but the gist is there:
So, in the interest of getting a reliable daily driver, I had a few options. Was looking at the local auctions for something nice to go through and there were some deals I missed but there's always the chance of hidden damage and unexpected costs so I'm not too bummed about it.
Started thinking of financing something newer than 2010 so I looked at a few used dealers but didn't find anything too great for the prices. Mazda 3's seemed to be the go-to as I was checking out 2 2010 ones but after financing they were north of $16k. That's within spitting distance of some cheaper new cars, and you get a warranty with anything new, so me and my fiance started looking at new. We settled on the Veloster as the compromise between sporty, practical, quirky, and affordable. Plus it'll be a fun car without being too tempting to play around with and mod, I already have one project and I wasn't looking for another. After getting jerked around at one dealer where we were looking at a grey automatic base, we went to a competing dealer and ended up with a blue 6mt fully loaded turbo financed @ 0% for a less that $4k more than the grey auto would have come out to after financing at the other dealer.
So far we're loving it, lets hope it treats us right.
In other news, here's a quick video showing off how awesome the Altima's clutch is, It's been like this for about a year or two now, kinda acts like a torque converter if you ever accidentally dump the clutch at a light. I really want to take it apart once it gets retired from duty, the clutch/pp and flywheel are probably a work of art by now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeNYh3qnq5A
Kinda shaky but I tried youtube's stabilization and it just made it look like complete ass so enjoy the shakes!
I do want STI brembo's, the only issue is that I've got the 5x100 hubs on there now, and I just threw on a set of brand new wheel bearings on all 4 corners, would be a bit of a waste to replace them again that quickly.
If I get my way with buying a salvage STI that's 08+ then I should have plenty of parts to work with, not going to delude myself in saying I'll make up the difference selling parts, it's been a huge hassle dealing with NASIOC and (non)buyers in general and I still have a pile of parts that aren't sold. Best bang for buck seems to be going the salvage route, unless I get a really good deal on most of the pieces I need, I just don't want to be nickle and dimmed buying all the little extra's that I'll need.
As you can see, the oem brakes on the Baja are no slouch, my current setup is vented brembo disks w/ Hawk HPS pads all round. Although with the extra weight of the turbo motor... More braking power never hurts, and the brembo's just look cool too.
Then again, fitting STI hubs all round (assuming they are a direct swap, or easy enough to swap anyway) should save me the trouble of having custom axles fabbed up. A guy locally had them made up by some company in Indiana I believe and he's saying his ran him around $400 a pair, so $800 for the set. Only thing is I would have to go wheel shopping again.
With how the rear suspension is setup, I don't know if it's possible to swap on STI hubs in the back anyway, I think I heard they're physically larger than other subaru hubs but that's not confirmed and I might have just confused something or dreamt it up.
The Baja's rear suspension design, disregard the X-ed out parts, I used this photo to show what I wanted from that salvage Baja I was mentioning before.
So, my reliable daily driver isn't really reliable. Cold temps have caused a no start condition with the Veloster, it was at the dealer yesterday and the day before and they couldn't reproduce it, but looking from the video I took of it not starting they're thinking it's the ignition relay. Today it refused to start again, called the dealer and now I'm just waiting for a tow truck to take it to the dealer so they can do a proper diagnosis on it.
Video of it having trouble starting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsesHFSsckc
This was already after a few attempts, this time I decided to actually record it
The altima started this morning without a hitch, and it wasn't plugged in (the plug actually fell off because of the cold a few weeks ago :p), the Veloster is sitting pretty in the driveway.
We bought a new car to avoid this type of problem.
On the advice from another forum, the rear brakes are fine left alone while I play with putting something bigger up front, been looking at a stop-tech big brake kit that looks pretty sweet. If I do end up with an STI wreck then I can always sell off the brakes as a kit (they seem to go fast on NASIOC so I don't think I'll have too much trouble moving them) to fund a StopTech BBK or go the Nissan Z32 Calipers + LGT rotors route.
The DBA rotors (specially made to fit STI Brembos with the WRX size rear parking drum) with the STI brembo's in the back would look really neat, but all that extra expense for something that doesn't have any real benefit, and might actually be slightly worst, doesn't seem worth it. The stock brakes are surprising capable with proper pads, but it would be nice to be able to really push it without worrying about brake fade and any of the different brake upgrades I'm considering look cool too.
So far the list of shit that needs to get done in order of descending priority are:
Fix 5 Speed to get it driving
Source and swap an STI 6 speed, either full running gear from someone or buy a wreck and take it apart myself
Put on a set of Racecomp coilovers to replace the whiteline lowering springs and tokico hts struts, I want it to sit about 1/4"-1/2" higher to give me more clearance (ruined a set of tires because of a lack of clearance on the BC trip)
Figure out which route to take with the brake upgrade and do that
The huge pile of bushings is going to be put in once I get that rear subframe and assorted rear suspension pieces in the spring.
So this was my Saturday,
This just sucks, we've had the car for exactly a week, it had trouble starting 6 times already (first couple times I thought maybe my fiance didn't push the clutch in all the way or something), it spent 3 of the past 7 days at the dealership (dropped it off Wednesday evening, picked it up on Friday, and had it towed there again this morning) This was supposed to be the reliable daily driver, the whole point of taking the initial depreciation hit on a brand new car was to take advantage of the low financing and have a trouble free car. I hope it doesn't give us any more trouble after this is fixed.
I don't know where these internet tough guys get these ideas and attitudes. 
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