Took me about a week to do the swap between work and sparetime. I have a shop with multiple lifts tools and equipment. Cost? well I really don’t know. It would really be based on the cost of the donor car. My donor was perfect (except for the front end hit. It was extremely low mileage and every component from interior to drivetrain was perfect. Obviously this costed more than a donor that isnt quite as nice. Probably 10 to 15 grand range for a decent donor. Maybe. ? IDK.
Plus gaskets, fluids , all that stuff. AVO is an option, I actually ran an AVO turbo setup before I did the swap, it was ok. Lucky to see 200 hp on a good day. I felt like it was a waste.Depending on your transmiSsion , if you have a CVT I probably wouldn’t add much more hp than stock because you will cook it, ( trust me! even with a little hp change like 200hp. Depends on what you are looking for. My car feels like a solid STI. I love having all the STI features. It does not feel anything like a crosstrek. Good luck hope this was helpful.