deliberated for months cos i just love the looks of the RS

2 door, fwd, lack of grip, less for your money were some factors that led me to the STi again

Probably not a diff issue - more likely cold hard summer tyres (was on mine). Bought some winter tyres last year - once fitted the low speed manouvering noise went away! Same story last week when I changed over again, no more bunnyhops when on full lock.

iirc the compound on std / summer tyres is rock hard below 5 C & the hard rubber is the cause

+1, cold and full lock mine makes a noise like your running along a kerb, few meters and its gone.

thanks guys

Not sure I'd agree with this Mark!!!

As for the FWD in the snow, yes it's nowhere as good as my previous Subaru's ( actually found my old Hawk STi better than my 330S which surprised me).

Winter tyres does make a huge difference though, something I never even considered on my Impreza's because they just didn't need them IMHO.

As for Rob mentioning the interior being better in the Impreza

I was really disappointed with the interior in the FRS, yes it looked nice at first glance and the half leathers are very nice but it reminded me of a 25 year old Escort Series 1 RST, remember that grey hard plastic that scratches, being 2 door I could see me struggling to get a baby seat in and out every day and trashing the trim.

I had actually waited for the RS release before selling my old hawk, but when I got my eyes on one the STI was the better car (for me), the RS just did not tick enough boxes 18 months ago.

Reasons were:
2 door
2 wheel drive
4 seater
interior and exterior looked very plasticy, not impressed with the gloss black trim
bumpers on the white car i viewed were clearly a different shade to the body
price, in the spec i wanted I saved myself about 12k by getting a 12 month old STI and it had gone up twice from launch which pi$$ed me off so was another £1500 more.

Do keep looking at them though and every so often consider swapping but for me now they are just not practicle, if we had another sensible car then maybe but my other ride is a 79 MG midget so its not like I can fit teh family in that!!

Maybe the Mk3 will temp me!!

Re. driving setting for me diff set to A- and traction control off (amber) - works a treat most of the time (although with winter tyres I reckon it would be nigh-on unstoppable).

However, the heater leaves a lot to be desired, lots of heat on the move but once idling at standstill all I get is cool air coming through the vents (air temps below 0c) - anybody else noticed the same?? (and not something I had a problem with on either of my previous classics).

I did have problems until someone on the hatch forum gave me the solution
I guess you run it on manual?

I run mine in auto, seems fine. All switches to auto, press and hold a/c button until light flahses let go. Same for the recirc one.

Yes, I run on manual; so, what's the solution - run on Auto???

Yep - run it on auto.

Massive difference.

I found that on manual it was either all or nothing!

EDIT:
On auto it doesn't blow any air until it warms up anyway.
However once warm enough it really tries its hardest to get the car to the termperature you've selected - i.e. goes daft for a while!

Cool!!

Well you hope not


*gets coat*

Less of that chat you!

Both have their pros and cons.

From a standing starts there's absolutely to comparison, but once traction is out of the picture, it's a different story.

Mind you, my PPP STi was 326bhp and 1510kg (i think) and my Mountune RS is 345bhp (360lbft on a recent rolling road run) and 1460kg. Should be 360bhp+ in the next few weeks when my plenum arrives and gets fitted. Warranty retained too!

I'm too used to 4wd thats all mate, I wouldnt dared give yours beans on pdi

I found it has a tendancy to light the ns tyre up for no reason on heavy acceleration, well it did with our demo

weight is the sti's downside and the crap standard seats and on standard cars the ability to blow the choccy engine.

the FRS sounds quite nice to be honest and the styling is very aggressive, The seats are brilliant but cant help but think they could have come upbetter with the dash as it looks like its borrowed from a mondeo

cant wait to get my STI finished soon

+1 on the dash Rob!!

in january i had a anford focus rs500

the wife had a 1 series BMW

the problem was we could not get either off the drive with the snow

i now have an sti and the wife a scooby hatch diesel

have managed to drive around the north east with no problems in the current snow which is worse than january

also when i accelerate with the sti it does not want to stear into a hedge

with the ford the torque stearing was dangerous

so its the scoob that gets my vote every time much better car

Now this was the case in my WRX-S hold the button etc, and i have to admit the most ****ist clim control ive ever had, either blowing a gale or sat in my underpants sweatin me nads off.

Anyway got my new saloon and this ones perfect, crank them both to Auto no button pressing so it flases, just move it and its great as good as my old audi now, apart from not dual zone.

So what's the deal with holding the aircon button till it flashes????

Surely it's either in aircon mode or not when you're on Auto mode?!

Why can't anything be simple?...........!!

- auto on the fans, makes them speed up / slow down

- auto on the ducts, makes it change them as needed (not noticed much happening with this though tbh)

- auto (flashing light) on a/c switches a/c on and off as needed. Have noticed that it doesnt have the a/c on when very cold in the car, then it comes on when it all warms up

- auto (flashing light) on recirc causes it to enter recirc mode if very hot in car (not done it yet if very cold, but have seen it use recirc when it was 100'c in the car in the sun)

I have not had any issues with the climate control in the hatch tbh. Temp has been at 19'c give or take (hard to be accurate with a dial) for a while now, and it all seems to work nicely.

Forget the button presses!

I believe that it for with fully automatic climate control or semi-automatic and allowing settings to be independant of one another.

I don't do button presses on the 330S and its great on auto.

Here you go
http://subaruhatch.forumotion.com/in...ontrol-t45.htm

Just another for sale

Forgot about my Genuine Subaru Roof Rack



Stainless steel Aero bars with lockable feet & "Subaru" embossed on each foot.

Very stylish rack (as far as racks go that is)

The "T piece" rubbers have to be replaced...(I cut them to fit with my bike racks)...it depends if I can purchase a new Rack for the RRS...then I will transfer the new rubbers to the Subaru rack and keep the cut rubbers for myself.

Cost over £200 new

£120 + P&P

pm me for pictures/offers etc

Still got a spiffing H&S exhaust for sale you boys
I cannot believe no-one wants it?????????????
Must be someone out of warranty by now whose brave enough to use it
Not that it`ll make any difference on one that is in warranty lol
My old mota still going strong I see after its re-build and that was with the PPP stuff on LOL

Still going strong, gets a run upto Scotland on christmas eve, so will see how it handles the 400+ mile trip

are you mad!!!

have you seen the state of the roads and now the lack of petrol!!!!

woot.. got a call today I have been waiting for a while now for. Roll on the 17th. Westaways fitting PPP, prodrive springs and quick shift, all in one day. They managed to get an ecu so mine doesn't have to get sent off to get re-programmed. It can all be done in one day. Might ask them to do an oil change if they can as it is coming up on 3k miles now.

Cant wait

you're gunna luv it!!!

FYI - they dont send yours off to be re-prog'd, they just do it on a swap basis.

Interested to know you get on with the quickshift, that is something I looked at getting fitted.

No, not completely, will have to see how it goes with the weather, but father-in-law died earlier this year and his b'day was 25th Dec so my wife really wants to be in Edinburgh with all the family for xmas day.

I'll do everything I can to get us up there, plane/train not practical with a luggage & presents etc... I'm sure you understand how it goes