When I was out in the US I happened to stumble upon an Impreza club meet. Most of the cars there were Turbo lookalikes but with the 2.5 motor from the Legacy which develops about 150-160bhp.

Has anyone driven one of these things and are they sold exclusively in the States?

 

Ask Richard Squire - he has one - I think his may be a turbo...

 

Hi Wilf..

Yes I have a USA Impreza RS 2.5 (Confuses the hell out of the UK Cossie guys when I talk about my RS LOL)

Mine has been *cough*( slightly upgraded from standard) It has

A Garrett T3/4E turbo with a huge top mount Spearco intercooler, much bigger than the STI one. I've also fitted STIv5 suspension and aluminium lower control arms, STI 4 pot brakes, wrx gear shifter, STI rear anti-roll bar and STI seats.

A similar one has been dynod at around 250/260bhp or so.

I believe that the USA, Puerto Rico and Canada were the only countries to have this model.

Quite a number of people here in the States have fitted this Turbo kit and also more and more are doing complete STI engine transplants.

One company here is also producing a closed deck version of this block which should be capable of producing some big HP numbers. I do believe that someone in the UK is having one of these blocks made up for fitting to their WRX.

Richard

[This message has been edited by rsquire (edited 01 May 2001).]

 

I have the standard 2.5 NA 2001 RS...

I rally mine.. as well as use it for my daily driver...



i believe we get em here in all of North America - which includes Puerto Rico as Squire stated...

It's an enjoyable ride, albeit a bit slower than what you're used to... hehehe

j.

 

Hi Wilf, thats me in the hot seat with Jamie.

Below is me driving Subie Gals 2.5RS on a frozen lake in Canada during the TBird Rally in February. My first experience of driving a 2.5RS was on the start line for the ice racing course. LOL

Thanks again Jamie, that was fun! Richard is in the hot seat with me as Jamie couldnt watch me slide her baby about i think



Jamies car has the standard engine spec plus an intake swap and exhaust, sounded really great, those N/A engines always do when allowed to breath. I also had a run in Richards car although i didnt drive it. Obviously there is more grunt in the turbo spec, which was nice and torquey.

I had a chance to drive Jamies 2.5RS later on a long run back from canada and i thought it was great. She has rally spec DMS 50mm strut suspension so the ride was much firmer than Richards but still livable on the road.

I thought the N/A 2.5 was a nice strong engine, gave good smooth power, sounded fantastic above 6000rpm in particular.

I could live with a 2.5RS quite happily as a daily driver, its main downfall over the turbo we used to get in the UK is the seats, they are the same as in my own sport, dont give good enough support laterally for real push on driving. They are still livable but the car would be better to drive with more suportive seats, just like my sport would be.

 

Thanks for the responses guys.

My next question is why didn't they launch teh turbo in the US was this emissions or cos of the US obsession with cubic inches.

I wonder if it was also due to the nature of the driving since turbos aren't exactly torquey at US speed limits 55mph - was the legacy motor better suited to these driving conditions?

I'm also a fan of the 2.5 motor but have only sampled in a legacy which I really rated.

Hopefully the WRX will be a big hit stateside and reddress the balance against all the Honda (Acura) Integras which seemed to be everywhere.