Gary,
iirc the UK STi's do not have the quick rack, whereas the JDM's do.

99greenwagon,
Without going into the exacting detail, the biggest difference is the engine and turbo configuration. The JDM STI's are 2ltr twin scroll and the UK STI's (Hawkeye onwards) are 2.5ltr single scroll. Whilst the 2.5ltr drives better as a road car, the JDM 2ltr is stronger and has a much better proven reliability record.

If you manage to get a "good and proper" JDM Hawkeye for £10-12k, you best snap the sellers hand off!! Good luck.

 

id be lucky to see one jdm hawkeye for sale you mean lol???

 

That as well!

 

hmm,anyone got any good links for the hawkeye sti jdm? specs etc?

 

I hear your passion loud and clear! If you drove a jdm and then a UK sti, you wouldnt touch the UK car, I can assure you 110%. I am on my 7th newage Impreza, and my 2nd jdm. I will never ever buy a UK car again.

Why should I (or anyone) have any kind of loyalty to a car that is so hugely diluted from what it was intended to be, by design, in Japan? The UK car was a pathetic, unacceptable 265 bhp as standard, its rev limit was a sad 7200rpm, it had dreadful lag at low revs also, and is missing all the things someone else has mentioned earlier! The jdm sti is the 'real' sti, there is no other. You could ask 1000 questions on here, but nothing would bring you even close to driving a jdm and also a UK car.

I will be at the MSOC event next Sunday 18th July and will gladly take you for a spin in my jdm. Its an 05 with just a remap and exhaust, because that is all they really need.

Finally, if you bought an 03 to 05 jdm, you would pay £210 a year road tax, and less insurance through A-Plan, so what are you waiting for?

Greg

Here are 2 cars to get your appetite going:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1844862.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1827910.htm

 

now thats what i wanted to hear im ok with the blobeye,but i really prefer the hawkeye,do u know what they fetch? jdm here i come! are the jdm hawkeyes anywhere near 11-12k? or will i have to make do (lol) with a blob?

 

You won't get a hawkeye jdm for your budget, but there may be one that comes up from time to time. You will definitely get a blobeye though, an example is the 2 links I posted for you. Make sure it has full history and hasn't been crashed. Ideally, you need the Japanese auction certificate which tells you the grade of the car at the point of sale, mine was a grade 5, which is the highest, then the grading goes down to 4.5, 4, 3.5. There is another very common grading which many dealers here purchase cars with this grading, they are the one's who tell you there is no aution certificate, even thought they advertise their cars as ''fresh imports'', so where is the auction certificate? Well, they dont want you to see it because it says grade 'R', which the means the car has been crash repaired. It also means they paid very little for it, as crash repaired cars in Japan lose thousands off there value. All cars entered into Japan auctions are meticulously graded. The motor industry in Japan is based on honesty and transparency, unlike here in the UK, sadly.

 

ok greg,thanks for all your info mate,unfortunetely i wont be able to make it on the 18th,you have slmost convinced me,u know anything about the forester sti? in comparison?

 

anyone with any info on the jdm sti blobeye/hawkeye,would appriciate you posting here!

 

i got a my05 jdm sti for under10k so maybe you might find an early hawk. But it took me upwards of 6 months to find it so i would say wait for what you want and dont settle for less as you might regret it.

 

This looks pretty tidy...... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Subaru-Impreza...item335e53eca1

 

good point there.i will see what is about when the time comes but really like the jdm hawkeye sti.

 

yeah i seen that one,does look nice and i would probably go to view it if i already had funds sorted,but as stated i think i will hopefully get the same but a hawkeye.cant find any jdm hawkeyes anywhere at mo,just want to look at what they are going for but maybe when the time comes a hawkeye will jump out at me.

 

i want a white one lol.

 

Why make do with an inferior newage when you could have the best of the best,a P1.You,d get a top spec totally sorted car for that money and no regrets.

 

i would buy a supra single turbo conversion although the supra is dated so and evo 9

 

'99 this is my UK MY06 STi Spec D, I forget how quick it is as I only use it occasionally. The torque is the important part. As quick as my 320/300 555 wagon is, I am in no doubt that the Spec D would fly passed with a mere sportscat/decat/remap 335/375 @16% transmission loss.





I see this one on Pistonheads which looks good too.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1853157.htm

 

JDM STi's are pretty rare things to buy these days, with the £ collapsing against the Yen it doesn't make a lot of sense importing them, so if anything the cars are apreciating in value at the moment compared to the cost 18 months ago, when people were more nervous about the impending doom the economy was facing at the time.

I absolutely love my MY05 JDM STi, the widetrack blobeye 114.3mm PCD version, i'm really strugling to find something that could possibly replace it that makes any sense financially or performance wise. I'd love to buy an MY05 JDM STi Spec C Type RA Limited, the last of the blobeye Spec C's, but thats very rare indeed in the UK.

 

agreed,i do like the spec d dont get me wrong,but there is so much praise about the jdm twin scroll,its one of those things where if i were to purchase a uk car,would i be saying "i wish i had a jdm car?" its a **** load of money to spend and i want to get it right as i wont be replacing for a very long time! if anyone on here has had the pleasure of comparing the uk to the jdm,would like to know their thoughts.uk or jdm lol?

 

when i look at the standard power figures of the uk car it just scares me slightly,my wagon was 315/320 and i want a car that i dont have to keep modding,im thinking 330-400 bhp?

 

with lots of torque of course.

 

WTF?



'99 - as of 2001 the 'newage sti' impreza went through massive changes within engine , gearbox , diffs , suspension , chasis, brakes etc etc. The holy grail is a 2005 blobeye Spec C, but a 2003 or 2004 are just as excellent. The JDM Hawkeye did come with stronger gearbox synchros but also a lot more weight. not sure if it came with many more adjustments apart from the face lift.

read this to get some idea about the evolution of the JDM newage: http://www.j-garage.com/subaru/impreza/gdb/sti.htm

 

so now a spec c ?,not just a jdm sti? lol. maybe if i dont get a mean spec c i will regret lol?

 

i sense this is going to be a tricky one!

 

Drive both & it should make the choice easier. The UK 2.5 car is awesome on the road. I wouldn't have bought a UK car if it wasn't good

 

fair comment craig,do u not have any regrets not going for jdm twin scroll with the shorter ratios etc? i do love them in white btw.

 

'99 - you need to decide what you want the car for.

If you're not going to go on track, or drive to the cars pontential, then a Spec C might be a waste of money.

 

want an almighty family motor,very rare track day,not too low,not really hard suspension,preferably white that looks nice and goes like stink,i havent drove anything other than my 99uk turbo running 315/320 so when i think of a heavier newage car (sti) with 280 ish bhp,it tells me i might be disapointed spandind 10k?ideally want something i havent got to keep modding,modding,modding,cause as we all now,it aint a cheap hobby! as for the mrs she want to settle with this one,so it has to be the right choice.

 

Last one of these I saw John was up in Orkney with 8k on the clock, it had been in the sales room for about a year and a bit, in the end he was open to offers think it must have gone for about 12-13k as he had dropped it from 18-14k, would have loved that one myself
http://www.jdpeace.co.uk/cars/pop31.html (now sold )

Tony

 

TBH your assumptions are somewhat naive (not being nasty btw)

There's so much difference between scoobs that unless you actually get behind the driving seat you are writing off cars that might be perfect for you based on someone elses opinion based on a whole different set of priorities.

Not sure why you are selling yours however, it appears that you are contemplating getting an initially less powerful less practical car than your current motor. Why ?

Everyone knows JDM rock, however it's not quite as clear cut as that.

For a family man the 2.5 WRX Wagon makes a huge amount of sense. Easily tuned to mid 300's, practical and unsuspecting. The whole make up of the car is different to the classic experience from the comfort level to the torque available to the zero resistance as you lift off the throttle. Effortless power for little money. This is true of the STi more so although not in wagon form.

If you were set on the 2.0ltr the JDM wins more convincingly over UK 2.0ltrs, however the 2.5 is IMHO of equivalent desirability, just a different package which you may or may not prefer.

My advice to you would be to forget the preconceptions you have of WRX's/STI's/JDM's/UK motors based on driving a classic. If you haven't driven a new age I suggest you drive as many as you can and then reassess

Personally, if the classic is sound and you have money to invest, make it better because the newage can often be a mild disappointment to die hard classic drivers. The other consideration is that any newage you buy WILL need modifiying to make it comparable.