I only had the Impreza for a few months now and already, bored.

Find car is not so quick in a straight line, lots of lags and understeer. I have not been impressed. Now am able to spend between 10-15K on a new car. Don't care for practicality but don't want it to be very dear to run. I thought of buying a new mini Copper S or similar. How slow are these until it is chipped at works? Only ones I saw where 18 thousands, a bit too much for a mini.
Oh and I say, the car must be reliable. When looking at the diesel options I wasn't sure how fast they are or how expensive to run (do not diesels need more and expensive servicing?).
Time to leave the expensive running impreza and get somehting fun!

 

Put a bit more cash in and get a Focus RS for aprox £18k. No understeer, quick once rolling and great looking too. Less turbo lag than most Scoobs.

The Minis are nice, but like all BMWs far too expensive for what you get.

 

yes, but they hold their value well

could go along the lines of a VAG turbo'd model... Seat, VW, Skoda..
can always chip 'em and get more out.

i would consider getting a new-ish diesel for that money - again, if it's a VAG design, chip it and get some serious torque
very entertaining !!

 

Spend £5k doing up the scooby, then £49 on one ticket to Amsterdam. £10k left for some serious fun
On a more serious note, Integra type-R. Cheap to run, and an absolute hoot to drive. Plus you will have money left over for something else, a diesel if ness.
Kam

 

Leon Cupra Diesel chipped is fun - 190 bhp and 300 lb ft torque

Cooper S is a nice car - in standard form, a Scoob is quicker. Chipped I don't know, never driven one. I've had a few little run ins with S's and there is no comparison. OK they weigh less, but with only 160 ish bhp they will lose out. Nice cars though and great handling, although they are expensive for what you get.

Any turbo is going to have some sort of lag - you have to adapt your driving style to compensate for this. Scoobs understeer, like most modern cars, as it is deemed to be safer. That is not to say, you can't cure it. Set of decent springs, changes to anti roll bars etc and a visit to Powerstation to have a proper alignment setup can work wonders.

Choice is yours...

Chris

 

Have a chat with Jabbasport to see what they can wring out of VAG Diesels, you will I think be mightily impressed & look closely at the torque figures as well as BHP

www.Jabbasport.com


Re servicing we have a Diesel Octavia thats on variable servicing which all the new VAG Diesels can have, First service was at about 28000 miles & just under £200 at a main dealer, currently on 49000 & still no second service called for.

It was 110 bhp pre Jabba, its now 164 + 393 torque, tops out at 135 indicated & averages 54 mpg. Also blows off the small TT's which I think are rated at something like 180 horses.

Some of the newer VAG Diesels are 130 & 150 bhp as std & a remap can see you around 200 bhp + Loads of torque

Its sad to admit it but Diesels are definately a very serious consideration.

Oh & I used to have a STI so I know where you are coming from, I now run a Skoda Octavia 4x4, £450 remap = 228 bhp new brakes & suspension & you have a seriously quick car THAT DOSENT BREAK

Also Skoda are now offering Brand New Octavia Vrs's for £13900 & I understand some dealers can even be squeezed lower, again £450 at jabba gives you 230 ish bhp

 

Could always pass your bike test, apologies if you have already......

 

you say impreza striaght line speed doesnt impress you, yet your considering a Cooper S which is slower?????

 

Someone I know much prefer his Hartge Cooper S over the Focus RS he has especially over bumpy and demanding B roads....his also has a new M3 and he says the MINI is more fun....my own Hartge Cooper S is pretty nippy 16 secs to the ton rather than the 23 secs a std Cooper S takes to get to 100...

You need to test drive a few different models to make you mind up....good thing is they hold their value pretty well and 5 yrs free servicing is not to be sniffed at and my dealer does not have a problem servicing my car at all..

I suppose the Focus RS would hold it's value pretty well too

 

What about an E36 M3, 10-15k should get an exceptional 3L or warrantied Evo though running costs may be bit on the high side.

 

Merc C43

 

Get yourself a proper car, like a 70's 2002 bmw or a mk2 RS. Real cars like these keep you grinning from ear to ear. RWD and no poofy driver aids!

 

MX5 for something completely different and definately good fun. Verrrrrry nice to drive!

 

And for those of you harping on about minis, get yourself a real one, not that modern ****e- one with twin SU's! Always good for a giggle.

 

MX5?!?!?!?!?!
Only hairdressers drive those!
If it's open top motoring you want with a bit of poke behind it, get yourself a TR7!
One eye up, one eye down and RWD, what more do you need?

 

Re Suhail - I only had the Impreza for a few months now and already, bored.
What scooby have you got?

 

I'm still trying to find one hasn't rotted, still on the look out though even though some of the prices for a old, slow rot box with no brakes are extremely high, fun yes but times have moved on and even a 106 Gti is more fun IMO than a mini, oh and twin SU's sound crap compaired to a , KAD 16v head, throttle bodies and straight cut gearbox....

 

If i had 15k to spend i would look at a mint 205 GTI with a tuned Mi16 dropped in, LSD, full cage, stripped out with massive breaks and crazy power to weight for some proper fun.

Oh........ the other 10k? Maybe a 172/Cup/182 or similar?

 

ITR

 

Another vote for an Octy vRS. I swapped my MY01 WRX for one and haven't looked back! Especially once it had been Jabba'd

Steve

 

Does it need to have 4 wheels? Get a Suzuki GSX-R1000, thats fast (extremely fast!!), impractical and for £9K that'll leave you £6K to run the thing.

 

Maybe spend the money on learning to drive properly? Your post says to me "I've bought a Scooby because everyone said they were good but I can't make it go properly".

No offence intended, but they are a different kettle of fish to your average hot hatch. Brake deep into corners like you would with something FWD and it will push wide, you need to get your braking out the way before the turn in and get on the gas hard and early to pull through the bend. It takes a while to get used to using more gas when the nose runs wide as it's counter-intuitive if you're a FWD driver.

And lag's only a problem if you let it go off boost

 

I've had a Scooby and I always found it very impressive, personally its already been said but I also would say get a Teg because they are superb!!

The only trouble you may have is finding a decent one with low mileage.

I've heard alot of people say they've been 6 months trying to find a decent one.....I've got mine and I'm keeping it

It not the fastest car on the road but man has it got soul or wot ?

 

NotoriousREV- just a quick point, by booting the car entry/mid corner will surly promote more mid-corner "push" wont it? However, i have never driven a scoob so i could be completly worng (driven a powerful pulsar GTI-R, and you can accelerate mid corner,but still you had to be patient with the throttle, well atleast you have clipped the apex.) Plus by braking too early, and coming off the brakes before slight turn in will only transfer the weight away from the front wheels, promoting poor turn in.
Still i am a relative 4X4 novice, well driven a GTIR a alot, but not for altleat a year-sticking the Crx.
kam

 

This is one of those posts where the original poster buggers off and never reads it

I would sell it and spend the money on some English lessons

If you think its not that quick in a straight line, 1) you should have tried it before you bought it, and 2) you wont find many quicker cars out the box for the money.

MB

 

We can but hope

 

MB

 

In the wet, maybe, but being on the gas in the Scoob pulls the front end round rather than pushing it wide (I'm guessing a 350+bhp monster would be different). It took me a long time to come to terms with it. In a "normal" car, when it pushes wide, you back off the gas to allow the front to recover. In a Scoob (well mine at least) giving it more gas helps it tuck in.

 

The problem with Impreza is not my driving.

It is that it has no power until it comes on boost at 3K, hard to keep it on boost at all times in all driving situation. Like from the lights, main point for quick getaways, rev upto 3K all the time before start? Rubbish. It lags like a bitch. The understeer is not a my driving problem either, it's what they all do if you read reports. All in all a very disspointing car that does no better than average in every category. It goes to be replaced by something good. Like a mini copper S, only things putting me off are small fuel tank and bad consumption of mini, I need to be able to drive from Bradford to Glasgow and back without stopping all the time for fuel.

 

for that money you could import a late revision 5 MR2 turbo, that'll keep you entertained