As much as really want a saloon, like you say, everything on the wagon is done. And it does look mint. Has anyone on here actually viewed it?

 

Have to say Chris that wagon looks very very nice indeed and with a little 'un in your life the extra space may well become useful.

On another note... you b**tard, now I want a classic again

 

Agreed, a wagon would be handy. Just have to get head around looks. Going to have a think over it this week.

I took the wrx out this morning to pop to the shops and it drives spot on. So it is going a tough decision.

 

There's a classic Sti wagon on eBay at the moment, late one in sonic. Don't really like the advert much and pics are rubbish but if anyone's close..

 

I've just changed from a Hawkeye back to a classic sti tonight.
Loved the drive home it's all about power to weight ratio

 

Classic looks crap, I never seen pedestrian who look at it.
Its looking good on tow car heading to scrap yard
For what You need more than 300hp is beyond me as even some rally drivers have no ***** to push it to the limit.

 

I suggest you surrender your driving licence then as clearly your eyesight has failed. Classics get far more looks than any other Scoob. I have had some nice cars in my life, but the only car that comes close to the attention and compliments my mica red classic used to get is the AMG.

The classic IS THE iconic Impreza, everything else is just AN Impreza!

 

How old are you?

 

He's the same on every thread Chris, ignore him

 

Don't think your going to fit well on here
Haven't you got homework to do ?

 

I've never driven a newage but I'm smitten with my classic. For a 15 year old car she's brilliant to drive and it's only a standard turbo 2000. I'd really like to try an STI which is why once I'm more settled I'd like a V6 STI Type R .

 

Same here apart from the last sentence apart from I've got a V6... reg rather than a V6 STi !

Feels much more 'mechanical' (in a good way) than most modern cars

 

Have owned newage and classic,prefer the bugs over the blob + you dont see many bugs but at the mo im running a white classic wagon on a v plate,looks well and drives better than the new ages ive owned tbh

 

I've done the whole power thing in a classic by god its scary fun but this time I have started with the handling and working backwards as I enjoy short blasts much more than motorway drags now.

The car is now with Chevron for final tweaks and geo setup, it is only running around 330bhp but it is so much fun as you can use all the power more of the time, than I ever could with my previous car.

 

Exactly the same could be said about my pair as they're currently setup.

One (the Cosworth) is more capable than the other in most circumstances but the other (S202) is more fun to drive as you can push it harder without fear of ending up in a warp speed fireball if you get it wrong (or blink at the wrong moment).

As I said earlier in the thread I would recommend the OP looks at an early newage RA though I would not fancy my chances crashing a classic.

 

Back in the old days of SN when the classic was the only Scoob made (yes that long ago) there were some threads posted of people who had had major impacts and rolls in classics and despite not being as good as today's cars they stood up surprisingly well. I especially remember a green one that had rolled three times and both occupants walked away with minor cuts and bruises.

 

I remember that one as well when I had my previous one in 2002 - I think it was in Scotland somewhere. Saw a similar one on 'SCU serious crash unit' the other week where a classic WRX had left the road at high speed and somersaulted over a 6ft high fence. Driver fine but passenger (no belt?) wasn't. The basic structure of the car itself was 'fine'.

Maybe they fly well...

 

Just goes to show that sometimes less is more, I have always been able to have more fun in a less powerful car especially when they handle really well, Mazda MX5 is the perfect example, they go around corners with the **** hanging out and straighten back up without any drama. You should try your Type R with some slightly less sticky rubber and 16's at that power level makes for a really fun drive and quite predictable too.

 

Well they're quite light

Seriously though I wouldn't worry about driving one as a daily from a safety point of view, most of the recent advances made in the safety ratings are to do with pedestrian impact safety rather than occupant safety anyway.

 

Sold my classic a few years back - loved it when I had it. Miss it now - but my lad needed something he could drive and get insurance on (STi import didn't really fit the requirements ).

Just to get the juices going Gear Head, here's the web page I created when I sold her...

http://www.diggler.co.uk/subaru/

I think you can tell which side of the fence I am, when it comes to the Classic shape!

 

I'm not bashing classics - I think they're great cars and understand entirely why some people don't hold the newage and hatch cars in the same regard (or any at all) - but we all have a different (and biased!) viewpoint usually shaped by experience.

I know someone that's still with us because of the good design of the classic, but what was good 15 years ago is quite crude by the very latest standards. It's fair to say that pedestrian safety has seen the largest improvements in the last few years but there was a massive drive across the industry to improve standards and of course we're left now with overweight and lardy boxes. Look how the VW Golf has changed, for example.

The major weight gain between the classic and newage chassis was due to the rigidity of the body being improved. In fact I remember a thread on a forum back in 2004-odd about the side pillars and bodywork being so strongly reinforced that rescue equipment struggled to cut through it.

I'm not saying the newage is the safest car you can buy but in my opinion it's a massive improvement over a classic. I've recently seen a car accident involving a newage and a side collision with a van at motorway speeds, where the Impreza took a very high speed side impact. One of the occupants of the car was hospitalised but the driver whose door took the main impact walked away. I don't think a classic driver would have been so lucky.

 

Actually the classic has the same side bars in the doors as the newage so will probably be about the same with regards side impact, modern car design is more about crumple zones which is why they look so bad after a crash, they also have big *** A-pillars which I believe transmits the forces into the roof which is why you often see a warped roof on modern cars after an impact, older cars with thin A-pillars just kink the pillar.

 

Agreed, the body improvements to the newage was more to do with torsional stiffness for handling and to allow better front/rear crumple zones to be deployed.