Dead scooby – probably killed by thieves

Sad to discover this morning the family car (Subaru Legacy) has had it’s cats stolen.
I am now waiting for a crime number so I can talk to the insurance company. Given my friendly garage (Subaru specialist) is quoting £3600 for fixing it plus 8-16 week lead time for parts from Japan I have a suspicion the insurers will write it off :-(

Anyone got any suggestions for a replacement car, estate with difficult to steal catalytic converters preferred.
Timing is impeccable as I am currently between jobs! FFS

Worth contacting other specialist exhaust companies? Hayward and Scott were huge in the Impreza scene when I had my RB5 – had the backbox and decat downpipe. Still won’t be cheap though I guess.
https://www.haywardandscott.com/subaru/legacy.html

Mate of mine had a cat fail on a Corolla T-Sport. The Toyota replacement was eye wateringly expensive, but he got a third party replacement that worked fine for the remaining few years he had it, for about a quarter of the price.

Definitely shop around.

Even if the vehicle is an economic write off, you should be fine retaining the vehicle and using the money to repair it?

I think the combination of supply chain issues, and old model (Spec B 3.0R) mean there may not be an aftermarket option. If there is I’m fully up for them writing off the car, me keeping it and then getting it repaired.
Really don’t want to buy a new car this year, as despite having a new job lined up I want to be flexible if it doesn’t work out.
Will definitely search for aftermarket options…

There will be a raft of aftermarket options available for that. Significant tubing scene. If nothing else, a local exhaust fab place should be able to make you something up. If you’re in the West Midlands, or anywhere near, MIJ in Walsall will sort you out for a fraction of the price.

You should be able to source a set of aftermarket cats easily enough, and most exhaust places would be able to weld them in place to the existing exhaust as long as it’s in reasonable condition.

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s/exhausts/fia-approved-catalytic-converter

https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/catalytic-convertor-aftermarket-mk2-p-1825.html

etc

Find a friendly MOT station and run it without a cat?

Whatever you choose as your next car make sure it’s lowered, as far as you can go :)

Definitely worth finding your local exhaust fabricator and having a chat. I’d bet they could put something together for you that would likely be better than OEM (lots of stainless involved)

Mashr – running a Mondeo estate with a straight-through stainless exhaust

Which engine/model is it? I have a cat for a JDM twinscroll and also for a 3 litre UK car (04-whateveritis models). Presumably they’ve cut it out so you might need other pipework, getting on the uk legacy buy & sell could be worthwhile.

Or as above you could get some straight pipe welded in for not much, it’ll probably fail an MOT if it’s petrol, if it’s diesel then it might or might not but then a legacy diesel is a ticking bomb anyway. Or there are various cheaper-than-oe options.

(mine has a full turbo-back system with MOT-passing sport cat, all stainless, it cost me way less than is being quoted there, something just over a grand despite my pickiness)

Get the exhausts rerouted to come out the bonnet and shoot flames and stuff

There’s also a couple of 3.0 leggies and another few 3.0 Outbacks being broken on ebay..

I’d be getting the kids to investigate the caretaker at the funfair. He’s probably wearing a mask and is responsible for killing Scooby

I’d be getting the kids to investigate the caretaker at the funfair. He’s probably wearing a mask and is responsible for killing Scooby

:-)

Thanks for all the responses. Will be interesting to see what the insurance say once I get my crime number.
I’m sure my local specialist can do something creative, but it might be moot if the insurance want to write it off and won’t let me keep the car….

Northwind, it’s the 3L normally aspirated spec B. Assuming your cat would fit I may be in touch. Straight pipe would be a temporary option, but given the MOT is due in March probably not worth it.

Looks like I would probably be able to get an aftermarket cat like a few have suggested from Germany. A bit quicker than waiting for shipment from Japan!
ebay german seller

https://www.powerflowexhausts.co.uk/dealer

I had my local dealer make a cat and flexi pipe for my Fiat Coupe after Fiat stopped supplying the part.

Might be worth seeing how much a replacement exhaust costs before claiming and potentially writing off the car.

Absolute ****, what a bloody waste.

Is it my imagination or does this particularly afflict Subaru’s? If so, what’s the reason?

Seems crazy to write it off or pay that much… £3600? you should be able to buy 2 full custom performance exhaust sytems for that money and still have change.

Have a look at afermarket stainless systems.

Dunno how ‘good’ they are but for example:

https://www.tarmacsportz.co.uk/invidia-subaru-legacy-10-downpipe-with-high-flow-cat.html

or

https://www.tarmacsportz.co.uk/invidia-subaru-legacy-gt-automatic-downpipe-with-high-flow-cat.html

fettling
Free Member

Northwind, it’s the 3L normally aspirated spec B. Assuming your cat would fit I may be in touch. Straight pipe would be a temporary option, but given the MOT is due in March probably not worth it.

That’s exactly what mine is, an 06 spec b. Car’s dead, the back of the exhaust is rotted off but the rest should be OK. Not sure what they’re worth but we can suss that out if we come to it!

 but it might be moot if the insurance want to write it off and won’t let me keep the car….

They don’t have that right. Google ‘cash in lieu of repair’.

“s it my imagination or does this particularly afflict Subaru’s? If so, what’s the reason?”
Outbacks have enough ground clearance to work under comfortably. Leggies probably not so good…
OP, I’ve texted me sis to see who she sold my old outback 3.0 to. They are a scrappie who may still have the exhaust, cats, H&S SS mid pipe and roughly 4 yr old twin silencers (sounds glorious!) . Message me if you’re interested…

Mx5’s are apparently targeted. Someone in my road had one done overnight a few months back, hadn’t even considered it with my outback. (Diesel, so not really a true Subaru…)

There’s no reason for the insurance company to refuse to let you buy the car back, I bought my elderly Octavia back after the front wing got flattened, I accepted a payout minus 23% and kept the car, the only proviso was the car had to go through an MO just to prove it was legally roadworthy.

Older Japanese cars apparently have higher quality cats with more ‘stuff’ in them which means their scrap value is higher.

“s it my imagination or does this particularly afflict Subaru’s? If so, what’s the reason?”
Outbacks have enough ground clearance to work under comfortably. Leggies probably not so good…

Apparently the other legacy models have the CAT fitted vertically close to the engine. The 3L is easy to get at. So someone will have properly scoped underneath to work out what could be nicked. Barstewards >:-/

For the MOT I know for some toyotas you can get a little thing that tells the ECU the cat is there and working, then our local stainless exhaust place make cat “bombs” for all the boy racers, ie a straightthrough pipe with a psuedo cat on the outside to make it look like a cat is installed.

EDIT – it is an O2 sensor simulator, and ebay has them for Scoobies. You can also get a spacer which moves the sensor further away and this helps correct it for cat deletion.

At some point over the Christmas holidays, we had the cat cut from the wife’s car. A Mitsubishi Colt. After a bit of shopping around we still ended up paying £500 to get it sorted within 24 hours. Not a great start to her working day at a hospital at 6am on New Year’s Eve.

If you’re anywhere near Sheffield, go and see these guys. They did a full stainless system for me at way way way less than Subaru quoted.

https://cobrasport.com/

Buy a donor car for less than the price of a cat, take the cat off the donor, re-sell the donor car as parts and probably make some money?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202112020156286?radius=1500&price-to=6000&sort=relevance&include-delivery-option=on&postcode=g745qj&advertising-location=at_cars&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&make=Subaru&minimum-badge-engine-size=3.0&model=Legacy&page=1

My Forester 2.5T got done just over a year ago.

They came on Sunday night about 11am and I heard a strange noise outside the house. As I looked out of the window I saw someone crawling around under the car. Chased them off and thought that was it.

A car with about 3-4 of them came back the following Thursday just after 6am. I chased them off again, they came back. A Police van chased them off and took a statement from me, they came back.

By now I’m watching them out of the window, the Police are watching them through CCTV while talking to me on the phone. It’s just after 7am with people walking and driving past going to work!

They took the entire middle section from the turbo to the back box. I had to go through the insurance to get a replacement as I couldn’t even find one. Sold it on as soon as I got it back.

Tried a few garages before the insurance route but only Subaru could supply the cat and they couldn’t quote a price or lead time…

Was just about to suggest a stainless replacement, but that explains why they are currently being nicked as there is a shortage of the CATs

Our work suffered from this a few months back, but it was anyone who had a Land Rover

Dont forget that making an insurance claim, will effect future insurance premiums for you.

Might be cheaper to bite the bullet, pay the costs to sort out whichever way and not involve the ins co.

Had a quick look online. Unsure of what year your car is but looking here, it suggests the engine/ cat is shared with some other cars

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/vegaz/13645137

Might be worth looking for the part under the other car makes?

Toyota Hybrids are a big target as the cat’s are generally in better condition and are easy to get to. SIL had her prius hit in a busy TESCO car park. Insurance insisted a cat guard was fitted, but they wouldn’t pay for another cat theft if it happened again.

fettling
Free Member

Apparently the other legacy models have the CAT fitted vertically close to the engine. The 3L is easy to get at. So someone will have properly scoped underneath to work out what could be nicked. Barstewards >:-/

They’re pretty valuable cats- and yep, on the H6 they hang right off the bottom. On turbo subarus it’s tucked up behind the engine under the turbo, pretty much theftproof but sometimes there’s a secondary in the exhaust which is even easier to get at than the 3 litre.