MarkO

Funny really.

I've become embroiled in more discussions about grey vs 'official' cars, STI vs UK, P1 pricing and Evo vs Scoob than I care to remember. Most of these discussions have been light-hearted and informative, some have been a little more serious. But, it appears, it's all been a waste of time.

Why? Well, for those of you who don't know, I've been lucky enough to have been driving a relative of Mr. McRae's car for the last three weeks, and let me tell you - my 21 day disqualification was easier to cope with than this. In three-quarters of a month my world of car-driving has been put into perspective *big time*.

Just before Christmas I managed to create an STI/landrover interface - it was one of those embarassing "I thought he was going to pull out, so started to pull out myself, except he didn't" type situations. Damage? Well, landrovers very usefully have two large pieces of metal sticking out of their rear which, as far as I can see, are there for two reasons: firstly, to act as steps in order to assist the owner in climbing into the rear of the vehicle, and secondly in order to generate as much collateral damage as possible in the event of being 'rear-ended'. So very soon my car will be the proud owner of a new bumper, radiator and front headlight (amongst other things) courtesy of Park Lane and NIG Skandia insurance. I'll reports back to the list in due course with information all this, including parts availability, repair time and so on.

The side-effects of this little incident are two-fold: I won't have to clean and valet the car (which was *very* dirty), and I'm driving a rented Ford Focus 1.4 (I think) for the interim period. I thought I'd share some of my opinions on this car (relative to the scoob) with you all.

The first point that struck me about the Focus is the price. For something in the region of £500 per month, you can rent yourself a brand-new, delivery mileage McRae-alike, with silver paint, air-con, traction, 'leccy windows and some other toys. Bearing in mind this includes insurance, it's in the same ballpark as the cost of the STI per month (for me, anyway). Is it worth it?

Petrol consumption is, relative to what I'm used to, plain incredible. Having not driven any car other than an Impreza for more than 3 years, getting over 400 miles from a tank almost gave me a heart attack. For the first 120 miles the needle on the fuel guage *didn't even move*. So, first blood to the Focus, who basically managed to outstretch the Impreza's economy by around 30%.

Comfort: Beth (my girlie) really likes the Focus. It's not bumpy, the ride's totally smooth, and (according to her) the seats are better than the STI. The only thing we agree on is the awful 'Ford Transit' height seating position. From my point of view, the seats are awful; no lateral support, and a feeling of sitting 'on' them rather than 'in' them. As for the ride, well, it's smoother, but at what expense? With more body roll than a rowing boat in a force 9 gale I find myself queasy on long journeys.

But the clincher? Performance. Boy, have I forgotten what a 'real' car handles like. Having driven my old 96 Prodrive Scoob for 18 months and 40k, and the STI for the last 15 months and 11k, I think I may have been taking the old girl for granted. Only now do I realise how forgiving she was as I threw her *****-nilly into just about any corner, on any surface, at any speed, only to come out of the apex with a wide grin on my face - practically unassisted by driver input! Only after 3 weeks of Ford torture do I understand the meaning of 'feedback' from the car's suspension and steering. Only after stirring porridge for almost a month do I finally understand the meaning of 'quickshift'. Only after rolling around on suspension with more 'give' than a bouncy castle do I realise what 'handling' is all about. And only after 21 days of mind-numbing boredom do I realise that, relative to the scoob, the Focus should have a Playstation installed to keep you occupied during the period between pressing the 'go' pedal and reaching your desired speed....

Basically, to summarise, it goes like this. Buy a P1 - even if it costs £50k. Buy an STI, even if you have to hand-make the spares and provide your own servicing and warranty. Buy a UK car, even if it means waiting for 10 years to take delivery. Oh, and buy an Evo, even if Ralliart will charge you £50k, make you wait 10 years and force you to service the car yourself ;-).

Fact is, it's easy to become complacent and lose sight of exactly how good these cars are. I did, and now I've been firmly put back in my place. After 10 days without it, just driving the STI out of the garage in preparation for the RAC man to take it to Park Lane made me go all wistful. It's amazing how quickly you get used to a different car, and having grown accustomed to the Focus I marvelled at the short, notchy feel of the gearstick, the body-hugging seats, and the beautiful throb of the engine. It's given the car a new lease of life, and reminded me of how I felt all those years ago when I took delivery of my first Impreza. It's also reminded me that discussing the relative merits of different models is a complete waste of time - the cars are *so* far ahead of anything 'normal' on the road that to argue over minor differences is pointless.

I can't wait to get it back..... ;-)

Mark
[A changed man]

Ian Cook

Hmmm, try driving a Hyundai Lantra or AtoZ for a week, you will be even more converted.

ozzy

Can't agree more. I still have my old Golf GTi and it feels like driving an old tatty armchair. The steering feels horrible, the gear changes take an age and it skitters about the road on every corner.

Unless I suddenly decide on a major career change I'll be sticking with good performance cars.

Whether it's a P1, STi, Turbo or even ... dare I say it an EVO ... isn't the point. I simply love fast exciting cars.

You can keep all your Ford Focus's, KA's, Mondeo's, Vectra's (yuck) .. oh the list is endless.

Life's far too short, enjoy it while you can I say.

BTW Did anyone see the EVO Extreme on driven last night - mad or what I've been too scared to make an official post incase anyone has a go !

Stefan

jasontaylor

What about a week with a left hand drive Ford Galaxy in Spain. God I love my scoob!!

TFG

DavidG

Or the Vauxhall Coarser (sic) that I borrowed from the dealer while my real car was being serviced. Frightening. Getting back in the Scooby was like getting into a rocket.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Mark,

SPOT ON!

My 'other' car is supposedly a fast, good sports 'coupe' (BMW 323i) and it is rubbish compared to the Scoob - and has none of the advantages of the Focus. Goes back to it's maker soon...

...but what will I replace it with (company car) - another Scoob

David

ex-webby

Interested to see what the Ford Focus Cosworth will be like, saying that Ivr ordered a P1

KRS

I now commute in my girlfirends Cinqucento Sporting (high miles to new job).

Switching from 55BHP and FWD to 280BHP and 4WD on the weekends makes you realise why we all rave about our Impreza's.

They are awesome, whether UK or Import

Tim W

iTrader: (1)

And how long will Mark stay 'A Changed Man', and resist the temptation to join an argument I wonder...

Tim

MarkO

At least until I get the car back, that's for sure.

Having said that, I've been very good and haven't had an argument on the BBS for over 2 months.

Admittedly today's the first time I've logged onto it since about September, but that's not the point!

spence

My other car is a 1.8 LX Mondeo... an ordinary car in more than just name... I love my Scooby end of dit, don't car if it is not and STiP1 Version 86... love them all the same...

Steve Prockter

Strange........I hired a Focus and drove it from Frankfurt to Nuremburg and back in December.

There was an option to either return the car full of fuel, or you could bring it back empty and pay an inflated price for their fuel.

Clearly the last driver had opted to return the car full of fuel and must have filled it with the cheap stuff .You can buy 92 Ron at the pumps!

It said on the hire sheet that this was a 1.8 petrol engined car, but frankly the car would probably have felt more powerful if I'd wired the washer pump upto the front wheels.

It was impossible to overtake anything, and you were in White Van Man territory in terms of top end. Tailgating became a necessity to avoid loosing momentum, and you'd be fighting it out with the jugernaughts on any kind of incline.

Naturally I was keen to empty the tank as soon as possible but of course when is was time to do so it was virtually time to return the car. I was faced with option of filling up with 92, 95, or 98 Ron. Surely I shouldn't inflict the same thing by refuelling with 92 Ron for the next customer. Curiosity got the better of me and I filled it up with 98 Ron.

I rejoined the Autobahn and when the road was clear said to my wife "brace you neck", and floored it. To my total and utter disgust I could detect not the slightest improvement in performance, and was forced to inflict an extra helping of thrashing to vent my displeasure.

Steve

P.S I'd forgotten about wheel spin. Isn't it fun.

clivekay

Well Friday is the day... The Scooby Sti5 goes and the Evo 6 comes..Will be very interesting to see the difference... I will give my observations if anyone is interested,or I will just go quietly......

richards

Clivekay,

I hope you test drove the EVO6 before you got it. I got one in June and knew instinctively that there was 'something wrong' but couldn't put my finger on it. Then I swapped it three months later for the love of my life - STi5 Type R V-Ltd, ok the 2nd love of my life (as I'm being beaten over the head).

You'll miss the biggest thing about the Impreza - the sound of that BOXER lump! You'll miss that more than you thought! And also it's 'smooth' ride. And it's effortless speed. And, this is a very noticeable difference - on the motorway, when you flex your right foot, it blasts away like nothing else (not even like a brand new Porsche 996 on the M3 - ha!).

However, you'll get more accurate steering (not necessarily better feel though), superb brakes, you'll never get the back-end out unintentionally at low speeds, and it feels even more like it IS on rails round corners.

But the biggest thing I didn't like about the EVO was the lack of 'character' due to sounding like a typical high revving japanese engine and sitting high up in the less comfortable Recaros. But that's about it. They're both great cars really, just different.

I don't mean to slag the EVO off especially when my STi has currently been off the road for about 2 weeks so far due to one of the pistons blowing as I put 95 RON in it and ran it on the motorway for about 15 seconds! The EVO used to take 95 RON without a hitch.

Oh yes, I forgot, this thread was about driving crappy cars too. Can anyone top this for an 'Other-extreme-to-my-Impreza' car: VW Polo 1.0L! It's teaching me a few things about planning ahead I can tell you!

But it returns nearly 50 to the gallon. What a complete star!

And I can sleep really well at night...

But I don't care, I want my scooby back NOW NOW NOW!

tiggers

Interesting points being made here.

I'm lucky (or unlucky depending on your point of view) enough to drive a lot of normal repmobiles as my company hires cars for me when I visit our factories which are dotted all over the country.

So as a result I have driven Vectra's, 406's, Mondeos, Golfs, Boras, Rover 600's, Rover 400's, Passats, Lagunas etc.

Most of these are the 2 litre variants of the particular models and I can honestly say (even after removing my natural bias) that none of them get near the Impreza for handling, perfomance or just sheer drivability. The Impreza is seriously in a different league from any of these cars and considering we're only talking a a few thousand more on the price this is a bit worrying.

The interesting point came when I had an Impreza Sport as a hire car and although not as good as my Turbo it was much better than any of the above IMHO anyway.

I also have the misfortune to drive my wife's Rover Coupe 220 which while quite good when it is going has broken down rather a lot and rattles like 100 rattlesnakes in a rattling competition. I gave a friend a lift in the Rover the other day and he remarked how fast it was (he drives a Fiat Brava) - funny really as I think it's slow.

It's all a matter of where your benchmarks are really isn't it?

Just for the record out of all the hire cars I've had the top 3 are:-

1) Impreza Sport
2) VW Bora
3) VW Passat

the bottom 3 are:-

1) Laguna (by a long way - a motorised sofa)
2) Rover 600
3) Ford Mondeo

Regards,

Tiggers

NickF

The worst thing about your piece, MarkO, is that the Focus is one of the very best family saloons in terms of handling/ride compromise.

Honest! And for someone like my dad (who had an Escort diesel estate previously, the apogee of appalling cars)the Focus really is a revelation.

MorayMackenzie

Now and then I get a good excuse (scooby being serviced/worked on) to drive a mondeo zetec 2.0litre. I always find it fun to drive different cars, every car has it's good points, it's fun (and sometimes challenging) finding them.

I find that you can drive a reasonable modern front wheel drive car at a reasonable rate of progress and enjoy "throwing it around" a bit (massive roll in the suspension) that little bit more than a 300bhp+ 4wd rally weapon whose chassis limits are way beyond safe public road speeds. Basically, FrontWD is easy to drive, safe and, when you work at it, occasionally quite fun. I suspect this may account for the maxed nova/fiesta/rs turbo fraternity's propensity to handbrake turns and other pseudo rally driving capers!

...And it's always more rewarding to make better (and safer) progress than average when utilising an extremely average car, I find this can confirm that it's not just the scooby doing all the work!

Just remember, if it wasn't for the vast numbers of "average" cars on our roads today, you wouldn't feel the scooby is so special.

Moray

Neil F

MarkO.

I thought "stirring the porridge" was something to do with drawing the short straw at a gang bang??????

I test drove my Scooby and instantly missed it's handling on the way back home in my Honda Accord with factory suspension upgrade.
Having been more than happy with the car until that moment I just couldn't wait to get shot of it and pick up an Impreza.

I hope I never get bored of it, it has renewed an old passion for motorsport that I thought I'd grown out of!

The thought of downgrading to something like a Pug 205GTi in my old age sends a shiver down my spine.

pat

It's funny just how easily you take a car for granted. But then occasionally, you end up surprised, like the time I got a Seat Ibiza as a courtessy car. Nowhere near as much power as the scoob by any wild stretch of the imagination, but fun, great fun. I'de forgotten what it was like to drive a normally aspirated front wheel drive car!

Sure, the thing ran on tyres marginally wider than I have on my push-bike, the seats reminded me of a Bedford van I used to drive (another story... shove a diesel engine twice as big as it needs to be into a van, make sure you're not carrying 6 tonnes of gravel, and you can wheelspin the thing in third!), the suspension was probably made out of Office World rubber bands but the darn thing had character and, being normally aspirated, was very driveable round town.

Of course if we're talking about flying down roads that aren't even named on a map (never mind get a B-number) at indecent speeds then I'de far rather have the scoob :-) Well, I'de far rather have it for any purpose, but there are other cars out there that are fun to drive and they don't all necessarily involve huge amounts of power or money.

Cheers,

Pat.

MarkO

Well, my car is now ready - apart from the air-con unit, which is recharging as we speak - and I'll be collecting it tomorrow. Thank god for that - 2 months in a Focus is more than I could bear!

Anyway, as far as the repair went, it's been fairly smooth. The insurers (NIG Skandia, through Adrian Flux) authorised the repair pretty quickly, although I did have to chase them a couple of times to get written confirmation of this through to the Park Lane bodyshop. PL themselves (and Ian at their body shop) were excellent - Phil Suckling optimistically pre-ordered the parts to ensure there was the minimum of delay. Ian also went ahead with the repairs with just a verbal confirmation of the authorisation, again to help speed things along.

The whole thing will have taken just under two months to resolve, but the breakdown's as follows:

3 weeks - Christmas, so couldn't do much until 4th/5th Jan
2 weeks - organising paperwork for insurance, getting car to Park Lane
1 week - get estimate and have insurance assessor inspect the car
1 week - waiting for parts to arrive from Japan (and clear customs)
1 week - time to straighten/paint car, bolt new bits on

So not bad really. The parts took an overall 3 weeks or so to come from Japan, but thanks to Phil pre-ordering the parts it didn't add much to the overall delay. In fact, had Customs taken less than the 3-4 days to clear the parts, I'd have had the car back already.

Seems to me that the delays aren't really that different from what I'd expect from a UK dealer, so yet again I think this just proves that having an import isn't really any more trouble than an official car. The only downside was that NIG's policy usually only provides a courtesy car via their authorised repairers, and obviously in this case I chose the garage (Park Lane) so it was down to their discretion. If I hadn't done it in December, PL may have had a car, but in the end I've had to rent the Focus for the duration.

Having said that, if I'd concentrated in the first place, I wouldn't have had this problem anyway (and if it'd been somebody else's fault their insurance would have paid the rental).

All in all, it's been pretty easy. My best advice to anyone weighing up the grey/official decision would be "go grey, but don't drive it into the back of a landrover". ;-)

Mark

PS: I haven't included the cost/time for the plastic surgery I'll need after tomorrow in order to get the grin removed from my face....