i am on my second scooby both uk wrx wagons one a 97 and now an 01, the 97 car had 208,000 miles on it when i sold it and never been touched .the 01 i have now has 174,000 miles on it both cars drivin hard and loads of track days trips to the ring etc so i would not be one to say they are soft. but i am religious with my oil changes every 3,000 miles it gets an oil and filter every 10,000 diff and gearbox oils ,both cars are modified the same with exhaust ,map ,fuel pump ,induction kit,pfr7b plugs ,also i dont believe in spending a fortune on engine oil mine gets 5w30 semi synthetic castrol and thats it ,i think in most cases failures are down to poor maintanence and may not even be the current owner can be an issue from previous use