general problems of the 2008 Subaru Impreza Sti

The clutch bracket on the firewall has only 4 small tack welds from the factory. This bracket takes all the force of your leg pushing in the clutch every time you change a gear. It appears to be very common on the Subaru wrx sti for these small tacks to break away from the firewall and cause accelerated clutch wear and eventually clutch failure. My clutch failed and the dealer is now telling me that there is no knowledge of the problem and the repair for this manufacturing defect will not be covered by Subaru. Talking to other people and checking the sti forums this is a common problem that Subaru has paid for for some people. They are refusing to cover this for me.

I was driving down the road and the engine stopped producing power. After pulling it over it wouldn't start. Dealership says the engine is toast and it will cost 10k. I have done all the regular maintenance and oil changes. An engine should not need to be replaced at 77k miles. My toyotas have lasted forever.

Vehicle began smoking on cold start up. Compression test was performed and cyl 4 resulted in ~50-70 psi, which is less than half the Subaru specification. Shortbock had to be replaced under warranty at approx 20,000 miles. No root cause for the failure was determined.

Engine started knocking. Set up an appointment with the dealer for the next day. On the way to the dealer the knocking got worse and the engine started squealing and losing power. Engine seized up and would not start again. The engine had to be replaced with a new one.

The car was smoking on cold starts only. Piston # 4 ringland cracked at 33,000 miles on the car. Shortblock had to be replaced.

Driving the car on a windy road, accelerated out of a corner in 3rd gear. Car started shaking, clicking, and running poorly. Failure of connecting rod bearings on the crank shaft. Engine long block needs to be replaced.

Piston #4 had ringland failure of both ringlands on said piston in my 2008 Subaru wrx sti.