I was thinking to myself today (not alot of intelligence going on there ) why people would consider a scooby over a hot hatch. The new one's are nice, quick and quite cheap for the performance you get. Then when driving home tonight I realised why. It's been raining outside like it does in the uk. I pulled out of a junction like it was dry, no wheel spin. I don't have to drive the car any differently when it's wet to when it's dry.(within reason)

No hot hatch can match an impreza's wet weather easy driving. The weird thing is most of us take this forgranted without even realising it. I'd love to see an astra vxr's traction control light when the road were slighty damp.

 

too true mate

i got rid of a brand new focus st3 for my scoob and i cant stop driving it, i loves it!!! and its nearly bloody 10 yr older.

what i like most is that theres no spin wet or dry, it just pins u to your seat and ur off......with the focus and most other hothatches theres allways that littlke bit of spin before u get really going.

 

I couldnt agree more. I had a seat ibiza cupra before my scoob. It had a Revo remap on it and it really did make a hell of a difference. But you know what, 1st.. 2nd gear were both useless. Wheel spin all day and not move an inch. In the wet it was a joke. I really did like the car but lack of traction just spoilt the whole thing for me.

 

But that was most of the fun in my eyes. I recently got rid of my modded up 205. The handling in the dry was just fantastic 'when you got used to it'. In all honesty, they were and still are a bitch to drive properly on todays roads. Track days are their forte as you have the room for manouvre.

I've only recently moved to forced induction and 4wd and I have to say, there is no real comparison between the front wheel drive hot hatch and the subaru beastie. Scoobs are easy to drive, and that is a very good appeal. The oversteer in the 205's was what it was all about. If I had the cash, I'd have kept my old 205 aswell as my new toy. Both have merits, both have downfalls.

 

Weird how you see on alot of forums about front wheel drive cars having less transmission losses etc... but at the end of the day we live in the uk! It's wet 65% of the time and the majority of roads are bumpy. On a perfect race surface with unlimited space a fwd car woulds not have a problem, but in everyday use, as you said, it's a different matter.

 

I had a couple of hot hatches in my early driving career but it was more for my driving pleasure than being part of some cruising crowd.

Had a couple of Mk1 GTi's (my all time favourite hatches), a nice Mk2 GTi 16v until a Merc driver plowed into it, a crazy Maz 323 Turbo nutter thing and somewhere along the line an R5 GT.

The most fun I had I think was in one of the 99 reg Astra's. Got a 2.2 SRi company car, was surprisingly great to drive anywhere. I like it so much that I went out and got a 2.0 SRi a couple of years ago, found this more fun than the 2.2 and dare I say it, actually a great all round car.

I don't like hatches thought, I have always had a preference for rear wheel drive car's, my RA comes quite close to that feeling provided I have the diff set to free so for me the scooby is a great drivers car.

I have seen a couple of the new STi's in the flesh and sat in one now and I am starting to like them. They do look much better in the flesh, especially in the grey colour (brings out the body lines and is a nice sleeper paint job).

Why I won't buy one? I am waiting for a new breed of ex hatch owners to get one and fiberglass the hell out of it as it's aimed in that market even if it has to compete with some proven car's like the Golf etc.

 

agree they do look much better in the flesh. the grey sti looks very nice they have one at my local dealers they also had a white with black wheels which also looked good aswell

 

It occurs to me that you are using the AWD as a substitute for skill in modulating the throttle pedal.
It confers no advantage whatsoever in braking either. It's also possible to get hot hatches with 4 wheel drive systems.
These bits of information leave me wondering why anyone would choose a new model WRX over any decent hot hatch.

 

for the speed but its got to be for that bloody wicked sound that subarus make,you know when a subaru is going past,people just stop and stare

 

Why would anyone choose a new WRX anyhow?

In the "olden days" there was a clear price difference between the WRX and STI - now theres.. what? £5000?? I can understand people buying the WRX when it was £10,000 difference.. but the price difference has got to the "pah" point in my mind. I know £5000 is a lot to many people (its a lot to me) but when talking about the second largest purchase you make, its a few months more saving for the STI.

I thought Subaru UK were making a mistake not importing the WRX initially, I said that on here.. but now I have to admit I've changed my mind; I can see why they didn't want to bother now. (and its got nothing to do with that blasted Golf!).

I bought the Subaru because I liked the drive; simple as that really.

 

the scoob has a bigger boot as well than a hot hatch.......makes a diff to me with golf clubs trolley etc......its a gret big huge family car with gret big performance to match........everyones a winner....

 

I just bought an sti, still have my astra coupe turbo but like peole have been saying it is fecking usless when its damp it just wheels spins sick of buying tyres for it to.

The other reason i bought it was that been a squaddie in germany every man and his dog has either got a Focus st, astra or corsa vxr and the new chav car is the megane 230 f1 thingy. However not many people have impreza, evo or skylines so that sort of helped influence me plus my 7 year astra coupe turbo keeps up with all them mentioned above and none of them take corners all that well, so i wanted somthing better in the handling department i supppose too.
Dan

 

I agree I'm using awd as a substitute for skill. It's a no brainer. You get in the car and drive it. Like the guy who used to have the focus st said it's easy! Forgot to meantion the fantastic noise too.

 

yes i think many would agree driving a 20mpg, arguably crap build quality/image car just so you can pull away in the wet without any wheel spin because you cannot control the throttle peddle really demonstrates a lack of something between the ears.

 

tiny genitalia?

 

would love to see you control the throttle in the new astra vxr mate. wet or dry

 

Standard ones dont spin the weels in the wet. When you start putting 300 + lb/ft of torque down, things can get a bit hairy

You can end up going as much sideways as forwards out of roundabouts with a heavy right foot

 

Well, I bought mine because everytime I get in and start it up I get a stupid smile across my face and just love to drive it!!!

Hope that don't sound to sad but I love it

 

Seems like the best reason anyone's come up with on this thread to me. Hope you continue to enjoy it.

 

so what do you drive and why?

 

Probably drives a vw or audi. Funny how you say Suburu have crap build quality. Ever sat in a vauxhall, fiat, ford? They are crap

 

with the scoobs, you have the safety of 4wd plus you can have similar fun to a rwd in the wet (once you have tuned them a bit) its real easy to get the tail out if you want to in the wet esp with the DCCD

plus the subaru sounds way better than any hot hatch

Graeme

 

I changed from an Astra VXR which had a remap by VXRPC to 285 bhp/330lb ft, lowered suspension and full Magnex exhaust, great fun in the dry but down right dangerous in the wet, it was impossible to drive quickly in the wet/damp, torque steer was ridiculous, did a track day at Croft Circuit in the dry and had great fun, 4 weeks later did a track day in damp conditions and struggled all day to make decent lap times.

I now have a Scoob with 377bhp/380lb ft and it is a good bit faster round croft in the wet or dry. Happiness

 

it baffles me why people own scoobs, but recommend anything and everything other than a scoob, also the anti-scoobs have at least 3000 posts, continue to post, continue to drive scoobs, but seemingly don't like the car. strike me as the type of people who are always unhappy no-matter they do.....

 

I've had lots of cars, all special in their little way. I just bought a WRX MY04 by selling my 57 plate Lotus Elise. I wanted something a little more practical and great in the wet. (travel up and down the motor way on a regular basis).
I thought I would miss the Lotus but I was wrong. Every time I get in the car and the Turbo kicks in, it feels good and feels a lot faster than the Lotus.

I also love the fact that all other Subaru owners are really friendly and although i've only had the car 1 week, at least 3 scooby owners have flashed or horned to say hello.

Also having a car with exceptional Rally heritage(and many wins) also really helps.

 

Maybe the so called 'anti-scoobs' just don't have blinkers on and have been around long enough to know a thing or two?

 

Try a traffic light Grand Prix against any FWD Hot-Hatch in the wet
Or a bend...

Don't get me wrong, the likes of the new Golf will keep up with a standard WRX, but you can take a WRX up to 330BHP, Could you really put power like that through a FWD hot hatch?

 

Mine isn't that quick, but it does have a certain something that I haven't felt in a car since I owned my Integrale.
Can't put my finger on it but I just love driving it.

 

You mean like the damp track on 5th gear? Seemed to be plenty of wet/damp bends there.

Also I'm willing to bet that a DSG equipped Golf would kick the *** of many Subaru drivers in the traffic light GP, simply because many people are cr@p drivers.

There are also plenty of FWD hot hatches you can tune to around 330bhp with similar modifications. I'd imagine though you'd be better doing map/induction and upgrading braking if you wanted to embarrass Impreza drivers properly.

 

That was the NEW WRX. The one that we all know should not be wearing the badge. I'd like to have seen the same test against the older one.

If the Scooby driver was HALF decent, I think he'd still have the edge on a wet/damp road.

Let's face it, you can tune/mod any car to anything with a big enough wallet, but isn't it the case that proper performance cars are all RWD/AWD?