Church

Worth also mentioning offset. Often if larger wheels were bought for looks, often they are also of lesser offset to make them more "flush", thus increasing scrub radius, thus heavier steering. My "butt dyno" also is rather dull, but immediately after remounting tires/switching over wheels i felt difference between OEM & similar sized but 2.9kg lighter per corner wheels. Mostly how they felt/worked over road defects. Acceleration also felt a bit briskier, but so little, that it might be due placebo or post-purchase rationalization effects. Car accelerated slowly in stock NA form before and so did after :).

Actually OEM lugnuts are just like most common aftermarket lugnuts, of conical seat, 60degree taper. So if not to spend a fortune .. you can use stock lugnuts. Unless they are not suitable for lacking Ray's logo

Subaru. Toyota's only bumpers, audio headunit, front lights and fuel injection system. Even by VIN code it's assembled in Subaru's factory. It's possible that even toyota badges are made by subaru :D. Many of those faults can be found in other subarus aswell. Window scratches on frameless windows? Check. Rattling interior & especially rattling foldable rear seat U latches? Check. BUT! I still love my car despite all flaws for all the driving fun it provides, and all the somewhat close alternatives are worse as overall package, especially if one leaves price among evaluated properties. Possibly only MX5 would have been as good of alternative .. if i'd fit in it

Keyless entry ones? IIRC these transmit signal all the time, thus battery can be drained by time in spare too. Advise to buy replacement batteries and keep one in glovebox & another .. out of spare key fob. When battery is low in fob, it should be signaled about with indicator on dash. Replacement battery was IIRC Panasonic CR1632 3V (keyword: of 1632 formfactor)

GravelRash: passable .. but then if one inquires it's 500-800eur cost for kit, then 120eur for map update .. to heck with it, i'd say :). Unless by some miracle someone can get it for 50eur or less (but probably even used may cost eg. 150gbp), i'd say, unwise purchase by factor of ten.

Imho too much toe-out front. And that uneven camber rear, by whole degree. And not even either. Pitty though, camber adjustment @rear is not that cheap/simple as camberbolts front, one will need rear LCAs for that. I wouldn't blame much that tire shop. It is not their speciality, and they may lack expertise above basic stock alignment, and obviously don't want any risks. So for alignment better to find better place/shop. Alignment is far from good, but w/o pushing much imho driveable. As in you may notice not that stable front or car magically leaning to one side in some situations/throttle positions a bit, but manageable. I'd probably gather info on what alignment you want, what are good tuning shops that can dial alignment you wish & have no problems with aftermarket parts, drive there and get it properly done.

You have Toyota Touch I unit. For "sat nav" button to do something, you have to buy optional & Go or & Go+ satnav module to it. It's very expensive, map updates are expensive too, clunky interface .. in short, advising not to get one. Map updates to it happens by purchasing online update, then installing them onto Go module (which you probably don't have) via usb key (well, more steps, but i advise not to get touch & go in general). Best satnav options - good smartphone mount & navigation apps on phone, both free & paid ones.

This looks like lowering. Suggest to not overdo with it, whichever option you do it with, keeping lowering within 1", so to not fsck up suspension geometry & not not need many extra parts to fix it, and to not compromise too much daily driving comfort & compliance.

Imho it's worth to get some mudflaps too for some protection, if one spaces out wheels/tires and goes for stickier tires, as then they will throw more dirt/rock on sides.

"Supposedly" for x8 wheel width by manufacturers (with more on safe side), min tire width 215, ideal 225 or 235, max 245. And reasonable not overdone slight stretch is not too bad or dangerous, as remove some slack from tire sidewalls, supposedly a bit sharpening handling. I wouldn't go lower then 205 on x8 though, as overstretching (there is such trend aswell among different out there, like stance lowering, hella camber and so on ..) one increases risk of tire separation from wheel. Hmm, though there is this bit too, not sure if legally applicable @UK.

Ouch. I hadn't even considered to check EU prices. They were so way cheaper in US shops with cost like $245 per wheel and such. Well, then looks like my suggestion too far out of stated budget. Then how about Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2?

Imho rather safe and popular choice are Enkei RPF1 17x8 +45. Light for cast wheel and of reasonable cost/strength.

"Best" is subjective thing. Define more specific what do you wish to gain. Lighter weight? Different diameter/width/offset? Specific looks? Of specific strength? For what intended use? What is available budget? With no input on those, if money is no object, i'd say to get TWS T66-F of wished size.

Worth always checking with specific seller. Been burned out often that "In Stock" is just on webshop, but in reality not, intentionally or due non-updated shop uptodate inventory numbers, with need to backorder and that time needs to be added in.

& first aid kit. Imho alcohol tester is good idea by itself, even if not mandatory/regulated. Simply lets save time to know more exact when one can drive instead of waiting extra hours to be sure or going too soon by subjective feel/guess which might be wrong. So even if i rarely need it, i keep one in glovebox.

I'd always think of cross-shopping with mx5 .. but unfortunately i'm sure that future miatas will have same flaw as all up to now. I won't fit in them BMWs .. probably one at least as good on track as twins are and of similar age, will cost more then i'd be willing to pay. Same for Cayman or Vette. Or upcoming Supra. Or that cheap jag. 370Z .. if they had changed design back to that of 350Z .. but they never will, so i'll never consider something, looks of which disgust me, no matter performance. From what is available now .. well actually only twins do fit my subjective bill. So same, but never? Unless some other manufacturer remakes another iconic car. Honda S2020, anyone?

There were even ones for whom (or for whose significant others) stock seats were not comfy enough for daily driving/long cruising. Saw mentions of misc. gel pillows, or bending side supports for some big bodied overweight owners and such .. i guess it's subjective thing with each having own preferences/likings. Personally i like stock seats a lot as a compromise (then again i like for same reasons stock suspension too. Not unbearable, yet more capable then average generic stock suspensions on other cars i've driven). They seem comfy to me enough yet much more side supportive then generic stock seats. If one ever goes on track with "normal seats" and gets thrown around on each turn, one knows what i'm speaking about :). Unfortunately that "better then average stock" still not "right/good enough" for track. Bruises on knees are regular thing for me :). Reminds of Initial D, where installing new race engine made Bunta to decide on bucket seats aswell

Good bits for bucket seats - they have better side supports & usually weight less. Cons - most of them are expensive, lack extras (such as heating or seating sensors for airbags), lack adjustment (and ease of adjustment if there is limited adjustment), limit visibility (especially with extra head protectors), limit ease of getting in rear for 2 door cars, way less comfortable to get in-out, may hamper proper working of stock safety belt and airbags (especially side ones). Also in some countries they might be non legal mod for car driven on public roads (mostly because not working well with stock safety mechanisms like airbags/belts and due lack of adjustment, which is also needed for safety mechanisms to work right). Thus one has to choose according one's priorities. For example, if you track often and don't want to get bruises on knees anymore from pressing legs onto door/mid console while cornering hard, bucket seats are nice thing to have. Limited visibility might be worked around with not getting one with those head side supports. Lack of adjustment might matter less if you get seat that fits just right for you and you are the only one driving. Airbags can be switched off. Multipoint belts can be installed further better securing one in seat (but also more difficult to buckle/unbuckle for generic dailydriving). But if you only daily drive .. or at most go to 2-5 track days per year at most and at easy pace on not too grippy tires .. imho best to stick with stock seats and enjoy their ease of generic use, and suffer through slight inconvenience at those rare track occasions There is no seat option to get best of both without sacrificing something and compromising nothing. And imho not worth finding some half-assed interim compromise of jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none type.

I rarely use search of any forum. In most cases searching via google (with adding "site:forumsite.domain" to search terms) produce better results.

There is no extra clutch itself wear from there being or not extra spring in pedal assembly. If TOB is at same distance to not cause clutch drag, (and it should be, as there is extra dead travel both prior bite point, and after complete engage, while pedal still goes up), there is no impact on clutch wear. Some, that overdid clutch pedal travel adjustment and removed too much dead travel till bite point, sometimes get extra clutch drag even during supposedly completely disengaged clutch, adding extra wear, and making some gears harder to engage. But clutch pedal spring shouldn't cause/change that. I guess spring in question was added by toyobaru to make clutch operating easier with less force required, as that spring both adds extra pressing in force when one presses pedal in, and pressing up force, when it goes past mid up. Unfortunately it also robs from ease of feeling clutch bite point, which people doing this mod try to fix, requiring more to muscle memory position of bite point instead of feeling it. Removing pedal spring or replacing it with less firm one makes pedal a bit harder to press, but also makes easier to feel "difference" at bite point pre-post. Imho mtec spring is "safe" enough for those that still "fear" that it may affect somewhat clutch operation or still want some mild assist in press force required, but that's subjective thing. Some prefer removing pedal spring alltogether as they want even less assist/even more feel and removing is cheaper then buying different replacement. That said it's about stock clutch in most cases. I've seen cases where some owners installed spring back if used on much heavier aftermarket clutch, as w/o that spring assist it was too tiring/uncomfortable to operate on daily basis very heavy clutch itself.

From rear parcel shelf direction most common noises are rattle from rear seat U latches and rear brake light rattling against window IIRC. Popping noise is more from early (hmm, wasn't it fixed in 2015?) boot hoods where metallic sheets making it up at some connection points produced that noise one against other at some situations (due temperature? due car shake up?) Uneven squeeling of brakes .. most probably there is uneven deposit of brake pad material on disk rotors. (sometimes mistakenly thought of as of "warped disks", which almost never they are). I'd try some proper rebedding of brake pads so that bedded layer gets more even. Google on how to bed brakes. In most cases several heavy braking. In some cases seen "fix" shaving/machining off from rotor surface, but that seems wrong to me and overkill, and also reduces how long rotors will last.

I'd prefer having same tires (including wear) all around to not change balance. Luckily our cars have non-staggered wheel/tire setup stock, so tires can be rotated to get more out of them/to even out wear/to simplify replacement.

PS4 WILL have more grip. Immensely more if wet. But .. funnily imho stock grip-less primacies are a bit more "fun". All those slight tire chirps when start going, or at some sharper turns even while at legal speeds .. i enjoyed those. Now, for better track performance i'm on PS4 (thought about AD08R too) .. but if it had been daily driven only, i'd probably would like something less grippy

Congrats! I wish for you to enjoy her as much as we enjoy ours

Brand new & by official dealership prices .. of course, hardly considerable choice. I was cited for new gearbox IIRC some 5.5K eur. Compare that price to used gearbox price of 600-1000eur :). I wish for you to find where/how to fix for reasonable sum and hope that you won't get too discouraged with this car in general due lemon you got. Unfortunately it's not that uncommon for performance/sporty cars to see high share of abuse, or they might be heavily modded (eg. forced induction with alongside higher load/wear) and returned to stock just prior selling off. Same for buying used STIs, EVOs, Type-Rs. They hardly get bought for steady cruising to church once a week :). I understand that shop reselling this car to you didn't want to stomach such costs out of goodwill, if they probably weren't ones that subjected that car to abuse that may start causing failures and warrantying at bare minimum they could. But then again you didn't deserve such bad luck either and could have expected for them to be more thorough on car inspection when they took it in. Again, I can only wish for you to get this issue fixed for reasonable cost and to not start hating car itself