UHF

I'm not after a performance comparison, my 99 turbo with a tek2 can more than handle a ctr, what i'm wondering is the running costs compared to an impreza, from a servicing and fuel perspective.

I drive my car to and from work which is costing me about £200 a month in petrol alone, then there is servicing and the "scoobynet" influence of me wanting to modify the damn thing.

I'm looking for a car with decent performance like a civic type-r that I can just buy and leave as it is so I can save my money for buying a house etc!

The subaru for me is not only a huge stack of cash to have tied up in something, but costs a lot to run and its all too easy to play with and do up!

Is a CTR the answer?

Dark Blue Mark

Not sure, but I was in the same boat as you, sold my TEK2.5 MY99 for a Golf turbo. Car is ok, saving me much money, but you cant put a price on happiness!

Maybe the CTR is a loser match, and probably a much better car than the Golf.

My advice - dont do it.

MB

UHF

I'm inclined to agree and if I ever sell the scoob i'll be better off going to a crappy car like a 1.2 fiesta, if I go for another lesser performance car I know i'll only end up regretting being 90% of the way to a scoob!

Problem with these cars is that you end up doing more mileage and driving places just for fun, I suppose I dont need to, i drive it everyday to work and back so why would I need to drive anywhere else.

Oh well, keep paying back the credit card for me then!

LG John

I personally think going to a CTR than say a Golf Turbo, Fiat Turbo, etc would be a great idea as you are changing engine characteristic. What you'll loose in outright pace and low down torque you'll gain in a revvy grins For that reason if it works out cheaper (which seems to be your goal) then go for it

Personally when I come to sell the scooby I'll be going for something that gets 50mpg. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry about that

Dark Blue Mark

Saxo - have you tried living without one?! I cant overtake anything and get overtaken regularly! Obviously the Civic would be different.

UHF - Keep it. I worked out how much I would have saved on fuel, as I do 40 miles a day. It was only hundreds of pounds. Ok, there is the servicing and insurance saving, but thats no fun. The Honda is very expensive to mod should you decide too, scoob is cheap.

With hindsight, I needed the money from the sale of mine. Other than that, it wasn't a good idea.

My workmates and lady contingent have lost respect for me too!

LG John

Does the 22 years prior to getting mines count

I know what you mean and it will suck but I'm going to put my 'car' money into the 'home' which will also have rewards

Toonman1

I got rid of my 3rd Scooby ('98 Turbo) for a new Seat Leon Cupra, and hated it. Apart from the woeful reliability of the Spanish car, I missed the Scooby sooooooo much. The savings were small, and I sold it after 9 months and bought an 02 WRX PPP.

Keep the Scooby!

Toonman1

Oh, and we tried a CTR recently for my Wife - didn't like it at all. New 03 Scoob on order.

Dark Blue Mark

Saxo,

that was the boat I was in and now the house is sorted, I can re scoob myself!

Its painful, but has to be done.

MB

lpitt

I went from a MY98 Scooby (reported 256bhp on RR) to a MY01 CTR when they first came out and haven't looked back since.

It does take a while to get used to a CTR as the engines are totally different - one has middle range grunt whereas the other needs more 'working the stick'. Once you get used to the CTR though it's more than enough fun.

Just as an idea of how slow the CTR is: I outran a TVR Griffith (Ok not the fastest but quick enough) up to 90mph from a rolling start recently. He started to overtake me (badly) from a set of traffic lights and I floored it in second, he just couldn't get past and had to give up.

I would say go for it

Laurence

BT52b

<chokes>
Um..the Griffith driver must have been either
a) dead
b) asleep
c) in 5th

He could get to 100 5 whole seconds faster than the CTR if he had wanted to.

That said, I think the CTR is a great car.

Mark

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Agree Mark!
4.5 to 60 and around 11 secs to 100, (thats the slow version, ie not the 500 )
I have to say that there is no way in hell i could go back to living with a hot hatch, yup they are cheaper to run but there are acutally more ctr's around here than there are scoobs (which is nice ) and just looking in the auto trader, the ammount of scoobs v ctr's is actually very close (private/trade, not new) so for a car thats been limited for the first 2 years of production it shows that some people cant live with them on a day to day basis (and they look like a bread van ) plus you dont get a/c as standard!!!! like most other hot hatches, which annoys me really as our summers are getting warmer (damn even mondeo's get a/c as standard now )

Tony

UHF

like i said, I know the differences in performance and for me the scooby is the more impressive from that perspective as a friend has one, i'm looking at running costs. The ctr would be a compromise on performance anyway.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

I think that they have 12k service intervals/1 year + 90k/3 year warranty.
Service costs are around 200 quid so somewhat cheaper than a scoobs!

Tony

JPR

Personally I think its a good compromise between cost and performance. If you get a CTR and are are not happy with it, you can always go back. I think you'll save yourself a reasonable amount annually when you consider cheaper/longer intervals between servicing, better fuel economy and cheaper insurance.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Must point out that the longer intervals only count on the pre MY01 cars, after that Subaru UK increased the service intervals on UK cars to 10k or 1 yr

Tony

druddle

Laurence's CTR is slightly modded tho

STIcky fingers

I have just changed from a CTR to an 02 STI so I can give you some input. Having owned the civic for 18 months I can say that it is a good car....as far as hot hatches go, fuel consumption was excellent considering the peformance available.I used to get approx 30-35 on motorways but this would drop to 20-25 with 'spirited' driving.
The Vtec engine is great but I found it to be intrusive on long journeys along with excessive road noise from the tyres.

But saying that the CTR does offer probably the best punch for pound at the moment in the hot hatch bracket.

It is getting very common (around here anyway) and a reputation as the new GTI for the boy racer!!!

zoog

No the Cup is the best punch per pound, higher bhp/ton ratio and only £12000

PPPMAT

I ran a ctr for 6 months, fabulous car in terms of perforance once rolling. It was quicker than my standard bugeye and possibly my bugeye+ppp. Not quicker than sti though.

Road and engine noise is intrusive and mine had more rattles and problems than enough, so I chopped it in after I had enough.

Economical car, but insurance aint cheap. I'd also look at a 172.

Cheers

MAtt

Dul

Well, I went last year from a MY98 (274 PS) to a BMW 330 Touring. I recently convinced my wife to change his car for a CTR (I was missing the sporty part of the Scooby)

My thoughts:

Performance: Impreza wins without any discussion (more traction, especially in the wet)

Cost: CTR is definitely cheaper to run.

Fun: The I-VTEC, the sporty sensations and the comportment of the CTR without any modification is really involving. To get the same sensation you really have to work hard with the Scooby and add a lot of components like suspensions, brakes...

Comfort: To commute, the Impreza is more comfortable. The standard suspensions are not as hash as the ones in the CTR and the Subaru is much better isolated again noise in general.

Room: Despite the CTR offers quite a lot regarding the space inside the car, the Subaru has more and is also more practical. (not a 3 doors car)

Look: it’s really a personal matter.

To summarize, the CTR is a very nice and capable car in term of performance and price but to my opinion it is not really a car to drive it every day during long time on the highway. Well, I might be a bit biased with the BMW...
Anyway, it’s really the CTR that I’ll take on the twisty roads in the Swiss Alps!!!

Greetings from Switzerland!

P1Fanatic

She a ladyboy?

Simon.