Probably £600 quid.

And yes, you will have to pay the the Ecutek license even though its got the Prodrive remapped ECU

 

Still cant decide. Not much in it pricewise between 2005 blobs and 2006 hawks. Guess I'll need to try a blob in person.

Prefer look, dials and xenons of the hawk. Prefer cheaper tax, purchasing price and potentially more fun acceleration burst of the blob.

 

when i bought mine , ( 2005 sti PPP)

I really didnt like the hawk eye look , looked a bit squinty to me .

I like the look of the blob eyes ! and even a bigger bonus it being cheaper on TAX ! , the price isnt much different so really down to your own taste !

 

If you really want your loins to be tickled when you boot it, have you not thought about going far back to a classic shape? Something like a very late Type-R would make for a really exciting and wild ride of a car.

DO love the look and feel of the Hawk-Eyes / Blob-Eyes , found the bugs to have the B pillar right in my shoulder all the time and they ain't pretty , even by Scooby standards!

 

I adore the look and sound of the P1, but honestly am not mechanically minded enough to know a bad from the good. I need something reliable with it being a daily driver.

 

A few weeks back I was in the same boat. Sold my Hawk 2 year ago and regretted it.
Decided last month that I wanted to come back into Impreza ownership.
Was hard making up my mind what to go for. As much as I liked the Hawk with quick spooling, lovely torque and good looks (imo), I hated it being in the top tax bracket, and the fact that quite a few 2.5 owners had engine problems.

I came across a nice 2005 Blob STi, 47k miles and going really cheap so bought it. Im liking the car so far, will look forward to how it performs once I've changed the exhaust system and remap.

 

Thanks Herbie. So first impressions then - still regret selling the Hawk or are you wishing you had the Blob to begin with?

 

Pro's and con's with both mate. I prefer the front end of the Hawk and the 2.5 did perform well. But I got my Blob at least 3k cheaper than the price of a decent Hawk and I dont have the high road tax to worry about. I was also worried that if I bought another 2.5 I would be hit with the common engine problems, HG's and rings. My Hawk was 100% reliable but had only 22k on the clock when I sold it.
Buying the cheaper Blob has left me extra cash to get my car the way I want it so I'm happy with my choice. Just happy to be back in an Impreza ;-)