I meant my Bug STi, I thought that was the fastest car in the real world. I was 23 years old and had been out in a couple of old 911s and my father had a mk.1 E55. It just seemed to obliterate everything I came across.

The SL55 taught me that it really wasn't!

 

What does it do a 1/4 mile in? Shoves in the back are a bit subjective.

 

13.0 seconds at 110mph

0-60mph in 4.5s
0-100mph in 11.0s

 

It's a good trap speed but not mental.

 

For those blaming the £30k+ cost of the Impreza killing the brand, have a look at the price of a top spec Golf/Audi. A full spec'd Astra VXR can easily be £34k, and a decent Evo is considerably more than the similar spec Impreza.

And the second hand VXR and Evo X prices are as bad as Subaru's.

To think of it being an issue only associated with Impreza's is incorrect.

Then others knock the Impreza because it's not as quick as a £65k GTR

 

Those performance figures were unbelievable back in 2003. Especially for a Merc!

Nail on head matey, people mock me for picking my car up for less than many spend on a new Golf GTi. £28k before options for the 5dr!

As I said before, IM failed to market the Impreza well in this territory. An STi Impreza will obliterate most other cars in the same price bracket and category.

 

Yeah but the Golf is a much nicer place to be. Subaru otoh are plasticky and cheap.

 

Have you been inside a well-specced hatch? The inside of mine is considerably nicer than the neighbour's mkVI GTi and about as nice as my R32.

The interior of a Golf is not a particularly pleasant place to be unless well specced.

However any Golf is better than the inside of a Clio, the interior on my Clio 200 was shocking!

 

The Evo X prices are alot more than the sti prices second hand . Evo's have always held a higher second hand value than the scoobs.

Who knocks the impreza for not being as quick as a GTR ? Its always been clear that the GTR is in a different league to any subaru.

 

First owner on all 5 on my previous Impreza's aswell.
MY98 T2000, MY00 T2000, MY02 STI Prodrive style, MY05 STI, and a 330S

 

This place is getting more comical by the day... sorry, but the interior on Imprezas is generally shocking, yes the latest ones are better but the quality of the materials used is woefull for the money they are! That said that is not why you buy one so it doens't matter, but to say it is better than a Golf is just silly... you may not like the design/look of the Golf interior, but the quality is much higher!

 

Well for what its worth and probably not worth a lot, all this is subjective as I'm sure each and everyone of us "like" the car we drive surely thats why we drive the car's we do!!
I'm sure we all have "dream" cars that we'd love to own some might even be lucky enough to one day own them as for me I'm happy with the RB although my "bucket list" of cars in long!!

 

Yep and like I said, I hope he does, i've had quite a few new cars over the years but for me that feeling wears off after about a week, I don't need one now either, so for me a new car is just a waste of money and because I no longer feel the need to own one, but I am older and my priorities have changed considerably.

Diddums did I hit a nerve, unfortunately when I was young enough I never had the funds or the talent, now I have the ability and experience i'm too old and my money is all tied up for the for seeable future, who knows maybe one day my son will be the next Lewis Hamilton and I can live the dream through him.

 

They will be more... as they were a more expensive car to start with.
The depreciation % will be the very similar to the Impreza though, although the IX's are holding their money well.

Many on here were knocking the Cosworth Impreza for not being as quick as the GTR, saying they'd hav spent the extra £25k themselves.

I wonder how many of those would have had the £25k extra though, or have even driven a Cosworth or GTR?

My point is that Impreza's are still performance car bargains when comparing bang for buck.

 

There's no point in using a 2L engine if you want to compete with the new gen of performance cars, which in general have much bigger displacements AND turbos.

What was a compromise for WRC now doesn't make sense to me, you just end up with something laggy and with rubbish low end torque.

 

Ford have gone from a 2.5 in the old ST/RS down to a 2.0 now, so there must be something in it.

The Megane is the only hot hatch using a 2.5 i think.
Even the A45 AMG is a 2.0

 

Not entirely true, I seem to do OK on a relatively modest budget. Admittably I now have sponsors that helps, but it wasn't like that when I first started out

 

say what you want, the hatch killed the impreza brand as its not liked by a majority of impreza owners let alone new buyers

 

I don't think that is true.
The economic climate, and extortionate taxation by our wonderful government definitely didn't help.

What are you trying to say?

 

that may have had a part to play in the new owners choice,but existing owners like myself are already being raped by the fuel prices and taxes.

 

Yes, you are.

But if you wanted a new car, you'd get shafted on a new car tax for a start.

With regards to the new STI's, you can have a hatch or saloon.

Personally for me, my 330S would have ran rings round any previous model I'd owned.
That is until it would have blown up of course

 

This ^^^^ 100%! The only people that defend it are the 100 or so people in the UK who bought one

They keep saying it was down to the recession, fuel prices, tax , the yen, their Aunt Grace and her knitting needles etc. .... but the fact remains that Subaru's sales figures plummeted by way more than anyone else's afer the arrival of the hatch... way more!!!

 

exactly, fuel rises,tax,running costs dont really mean a lot to enthusiasts we still have them on the imprezas we run now.

granted no new car tax but i doubt thats the issue it didnt sell, more like because nobody wants one.

 

Now you are talking. The way a car looks makes a huge difference to enthusiasts. In my humble opinion the success of the Mk2 Focus RS was because it looks fantastic. I had more attention with mine than any of my mates with their proper performance cars.
Ford had to give up with the five pot because it no longer meets the new emission laws.

 

I'm looking fwd to the Mk3 Focus RS, but they do have a bit of an image problem. I normally expect some slightly podgy 30-something shaven headed weekend bodybuilder type to be behind the wheel.

 

Yep have to agree, you only need to look at what happened with the bug, but that was an easy fix, but the hatch was just ugly in standard form, the STI looks marginally better but not by enough to make me want one, which to be honest I probably would have bought one because it has the practicality, I think subaru really screwed up by not making a 5 door saloon a kin to a mondeo or a mazda 6 mps which would have had the looks and practicality, something which Ford have cottoned onto and exploited to great advantage, I'd also imagine it's cheaper than having two different sets of production equipment to produce the same car.

 

Interesting. I personally think that Ford have lost the plot with their new cars. The new focus is pig ugly to my eyes, and they've even f***ed up the interior. Oh and it's bloody huge.
Same thing with the Fiesta which I think is a cracking looking car, but they have managed to make the ST look horrible, and again the interior is dreadful.

They have lost Jost Capito who was the man behind the mk2 RS. Judging by their efforts without him, and the fact that VW have just won the WRC. Maybe they should be begging him to come back.

 

bring back group B!!!

 

 

Is that because they don't like stuff that is different in life?

Look what happened when Subaru brought out the newage - **** me, you'd have thought it was end end of the world