Rear legroom may be better but as I said that's not my main concern, maybe as a family vehicle it might make a difference but in either car there's little room behind me when I'm driving. I can understand to some space isn't an issue and fair enough but I object to people saying it's bigger when it just isn't!

 

Techincally they are right. It is longer by about 30cm.

 

I owned a 98 from new for 7 years. Spent a fortune getting it to a reliable 430BHP. It was great fun, a great drive, but noisy, uncivilised (no a/c, couldn't hear the stereo etc etc).
Shared wife's Focus for 3 years. Liked the shape, and judging by how many hatchbacks were sold (many different manufacturers) prior to the recession, so did MILLIONS of other people.
I can understand why the new scooby is a hatchback. I would guess there are more hatchbacks sold than booted cars.
I now have an 2008 STi. It is so smooth, civilised, great to drive, great looks. OK I needed to upgrade the suspension (who buys a scoob and leaves it standard - not many !) It performed well (even better now with stage 2 Litchfield upgrade).
For me it ticked all the boxes. It has the Legacy floor, which is stiffer than the old scooby and has better roadholding potential than the old Scoob. The engine is effortless, smooth delivery and good fuel economy (unless driven hard all the time).

I think it is a good base car for the performance market, or a good standard car for people who just want a "fast" off the shelf saloon car. (IMHO)
Stan

 

Handling is fine, and better than the Hawk STI, see the Litchfield video, (I've linked it many times before so I'm not bothering anymore).

 

Yes, yes, but none of this detracts from the fact that IMG's Subaru sales are woeful and unsustainable with a dealer network of 90 outlets.

I am not going to argue any longer as to why the figures are what they are as it really doesn't matter, the fact remains Subarus are unlikely to be on sale here for much longer in their current guise unless something gives.

 

Can you link one more time then as I've not seen it and owning a hawk (and having test driven a hatch back to back) I'd say it wasn't, but that just be subjective and what I'm used to.

To be fair to me and in my opinion (which is all it can ever be) it felt a bit squidgy in comparison.

Cheers

 

I found std hatch suspension less planted/positive than I hoped (but couldn't remember what a my 98 felt like when it was std as a comparison!). As I said - I thought it was OK as a std off the shelf fast car but not if you are an enthusiast. Quickly remedied with AST suspension and a few bushes etc

F1 - What will be will be - why worry ?

 

Nobody to blame but themselves-

Ugly new models, they never did learn from the Bugeye.

Truly awful dealers.

Warranty that's not worth the paper it's written on.

IM, arrogant bunch of tossers.

Failure to listen to feedback.

I feel sorry for the innocent people that may/will lose their jobs, but laugh at the ******* who made my purchases a miserable and expensive experience.

 

Must agree with "arrogant dealers" - a few managers' poor decisions screwing it up for the thousands under them ! Subaru would only discount £1500 off price in Oct/Nov. So bought Euro import from Iain Litchfield (330S spec body/extras) for £6k less than UK Sti !! Their loss - my gain. + 100% good dealer experience from Iain.
Do like the new shape tho !!

 

From what I know currently, the simple reason IM arnt selling subarus is they are not bringing them into the country due to the yen being so High so its not the fact the Hatchback is causing them issues far from it, My local dealer has 3 on order that subaru are failing to deliver due to the above comment i made in this post.

Its just an excuse for people to slagging off a perfectly good car without good cause. Some people dont like change and never will, I for one welcomed the change to a hatchback like it had been said before how many do you see kicking about I ask ??? Not many. My hatch still turns head's as a stunning car.

I for one like my car & I am not just saying this like its the first ever impreza i have had because that wouldnt be true I have had previous imprezas I just happen to think this is better.

Everyone has an opinion and at the moment its a free country lol so fire away but you wont here me slagging off a hatchback like its killed subaru

 

Looking at their website (Litchfields) which model would this be as I'm in the same boat at the moment?

 

It's called the Euro Premium spec Norman. (|Same as mine)

Recaro seats,
Push button start
18" BBS alloys (not 330s design)
Touch screen sat-nav/ dvd player.

Basically the 330s without the PPP or badge, and £4k cheaper (before haggling)

 

http://www.litchfieldimports.co.uk/my08sti.avi

or

Litchfield

at the bottom of the 2009 STI page in an embedded flash.

 

Hi Norm,
As Scooby L said !
Mine is a Euro spec Import - from Malta, then imported to UK. Called a parallel import.
Trouble is Iain was not importing any more as the yen/£ rate made it unviable. Think mine was the last of that batch. Don't know if rate has improved enough for him to get some more.
Very pleased with it. Only difficulty was the Alcon brake upgrades don't fit under the BBS rims, so had to fit Speedlines
Stan

 

The problem is that they got lucky with the classic IMO

they surfed the wave of popularity cheap and fast saloons, and then started to meddle to much

the bug was a disaster, the blob and hawk imo dont look to bad, but the public at this point was starting to get fed up, the bar was constantly getting raised from the other manufacturers and it was inevitable that sales would drop unless they did something radical, the radical came with the hatch, but IMO it has came to late.

when the man on the street can buy something like a VXR/RS with the same rough performance, but it costs them less, they will always chose the cheaper option, this is why so many people bought imprezas in the first place instead of the other performance machines at the time like the porsche etc etc!

yes AWD is much better in crap conditions, but the gap during good conditions is now getting quite close IMO

i have no doubts that i will miss my classic when it snows, but we don't really get that much snow over here, so its not a problem, and i suspect the same for most other buyers.

Subaru build quality is poor, its a fact, we are constantly hearing tales of engines blowing, now with the new 2.5sti`s cracking ring lands, back then with "chocolate pistons" the stigmata that hangs around with tales of engines blowing, hangs for a very long time...


would i have a new STI hatch? i dont think so, i think i would rather pick a cheaper FWD performance hatch instead

 

Not wanting to pick a fight but to be honest I don't know how you can say the video shows handling (I've seen this one before, thought there might have been a different one). Firstly all of the cars provide very close racing, secondly they're racing, thirdly they are all different drivers and fourthly I don't speak japanese.

Are the tyres / brakes / pads the same? Assuming everything is equal the racing is so close there would be a bigger difference in driver ability imho of course!

 

Hi Sticky Mickey,
Apparently, the mapping was faulty on some of the 2.5 Hatches and caused engine problems. Not too encouraging !
The engines (as with all Scooby engines) can take a lot of power if the mapping is OK.
Many 2.5's are pushing out well over 400BHP reliably (although Litchfoield won't warranty them over 360 ish - mainly because they have to allow for owners who haven't any idea what mechanical sympathy means !)
I had the same comments in 1999 when I was running 21psi boost on a UK 98 (with ppp ecu) at 280BHP - chocolate pistons, must be mad etc etc, but after 2 years track days etc when I upgraded the engine, the pistons were perfect. Its mainly down to correct mapping, I believe.
Stan

 

That's OK mate... I'm quite happy with what I saw in that video..

You asked to see the vid, If you chose to factor in a whole new set of "what if's" then that's your prerogative..
I'd argue
a: The New STI started from the back of the grid, and finished quite a few car lengths ahead... straight line speed seamed almost identical, so that extra speed came from?
b: A track is the best way to sort a better handling car from the rest, since they all have similar power & 0-60 times.
c: It is remember, the only Subaru to ever beat it's equivilent Evo counterpart on the track (sometinhg TG tried to play down).
d: I cannot speak Jap either, but knowing the Jap's all the drivers would be Asian GP/well known for their abbilities, and would lap within half a second of each other in the same car.
So I stand by my argument, the Hatch is as better handling if not better than the STI (based on that video... if the drivers all had the same breakfast that morning and one did not see 2 magpies on the way to the track).

 

The guy in the Evo X SST is Yuji Ide, ex Super Aguri driver, probably the #1 driver in the group and not in the hatchback STI!

 

I asked to see the vid because you said you'd posted one up that shows it handles better ... I still don't think that's clear, with regards straight line speed that's where he seems to catch the older model.

But you have a hatch and I have a hawk so am happy to agree to differ, there is no doubting in standard guise and in Jap spec the new hatch is better round a track assuming drivers are roughly equal.

 

you can run 400 on them i agree, but you have to do it with a larger turbo and less boost.

i fitted a 2.5 sti short block to my classic last year and killed the ringlands with 1.65bar midrange boost on a tdo5-16g turbo

the ringlands on the stock EJ257 engine are rubbish, it seams like a lot of the american cars have had problems as well ?

 

Andy forrest mapped my 2ltr and td05 to 1.7bar no problem

 

2.5 block cant take more than 1.5 bar boost from what i know otherwise it will crack things

 

Good luck with your purchase next year, I'm sure you'll be happy with it boy