wacky.banana

Hope this hasn't been done already. Just read the latest edition of CAR magazine featuring the Mitsubishi EVO FQ400 against the Zonda. The FQ more than holds its own in this company!!

What I found striking about this article is that the FQ400 is/will be a dealer supported special in the same way as the WR1 is. The main difference is that this car is pushing out serious power rather than the girly output of the WR1 (no offence to WR1 owners, btw).

My question is this: if Mitsubishi can produce a fully warranted beast like this why can't Subaru? Granted, the car wil cost £45K but at least EVO owners get a decent choice. We don't.

Whats your view on this "inequality"?

WB

Neil Smalley

There are only a few FQ400's being made, therefore less risk to warranties and having to pay for it. I expect that if Subaru wanted to create a 400HP car it could, but like Mitsubishi it would cost 40K plus and thats not really the market they can or do compete in.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Standard scoobies blow up enough as it is

No, just jesting. But most likely they see no real market gain for this, due to costs vs demand.

Plus all UK scoobies are based on their JDM counterparts, and the most powerful one they currently do is the Spec C (280bhp). So I.M. (being the tight wads they are) are not going to fart about making a 400bhp version.

wacky.banana

Neil,

You may be right. However in marketing and brand awareness terms, including the halo effect and all that, I bet my bottom dollar that these "few" FQ400s wll more than pay for themselves in terms of increased EVO sales across the range.

The fact is that if you compare the Mitsubishi and Subaru products the Subaru products seem to be lagging behind on the technical highlights front. In my view that is where Subaru are missing a trick.

The active yaw thingy on the MY05 Scoob is a case in point; useful piece of engineering but brought to market well after the competition, and, in the eyes of some, too late.

Its unfortunate that one looks to the next technical advances to come from Mitsubishi (at least for the road cars) and not from Subaru. By technical advances I mean those things that make a whole lot of difference to the performance and driving experience of the car, ie that puts clear blue water and space between these products.

Neil Smalley

Wb

I don't think Subaru are playing catch up. It's only in Europe they are seemingly behind. Also in the scheme of things, the European market is pretty small compared with Asia and the US so I guess they would rather focus their limited resources on those than here

Taff107

Jesus,......imagine the insurance on the FQ400!

wacky.banana

Yes Taff, its not going to be cheap. However if you can afford to buy the car you won't be worrying about the cost of insurance.

Neil, if Subaru don't see the UK market as a key one (I assume that Mitsubishi think the opposite) then that's a great shame.

I must say that at the point where I need to consider changing my car (circa June next year) the Mitsubishi EVO product range will be very high on my list.

Neil Smalley

One thing to bear in mind is the financial stability of Mitsubishi(or lack of it). It's ok having a warranty, but only if the company is around to honour it.

Of course things may be on the up for them, but it's worth checking once it gets nearer the time.