The largest issue Subaru have is that the car is now underpowered and overweight for what is supposed to be.

4 years ago, there was'nt much on the road that could touch it for straightline speed let alone around the bends. It was every oridinary man's supercar.

Now other car marques have caught up, offering hot hotches that can match the standard WRX for straight line and 90% of the cornering pace.

I'm reserving judgement on the new look blobeye, but first impressions, personally The lights should have been more 'skyline ish' and the nascar style bonnet scoob toned down(or gone).

Now if Subaru wanted to get back to where they were 4 years ago they should (IMHO) have

For the WRX

1. 6 speed box as standard
2. STI Brembo brakes as standard
3. 240Bhp out of the box
4. Got rid of the top mount 'interwarmer' and fitted a front mount intercooler.
5. Tried to reduce the weight, although due to safety and chassis rigidity they might not have been able to trim much off.
6. Price 22K
7. PPP to take it to 265Bhp

For the STI

As above
Except for
1. 280Bhp standard, with revised <4000 rpm friendly maps
2. Close ratio box
3. 18 Inch wheels
4. HID lights
5. Prodrive bodykit style
6. PPP to take it to 310.

Price 25-26K

Styling should have been Junior skyline.

All the above is easily achievable and would set cat amoung the pigeons once more.


[Edited by Neil Smalley - 9/26/2002 7:31:50 PM]

Have Subaru released the tech specs for the MY03 now then?

A lot of the power-to-weight issues could have been resolved with a 2.2l block, giving a 10% head start over that 16% extra weight penalty the STi carries. Easy to do and instantly appealing.

Turning the top-mount inter-cooler into a front-mount is more difficult. and it's a bit like saying the engine layout is fundamentally flawed and that big space above the flat-4 motor is the perfect spot for an inter-cooler - if only it wasn't the worst place! Subaru are between a rock and a hard place with that one and their solution appears to be stick with the top-mount but we know it's wrong so we'll make the inter-coller bigger and put ever-larger scoops on the bonnet!

Cheers.

Richard.

left it alone :D

In fairness bugeye wasn't the best inhancement made :rolleyes: if they'd made the WRX lighter and fitted Front & Rear Torque diffs :D thus improving Power to Weight and handling a lot more Classic shape owners would have moved on from MY96/8's to MY01's and not to MY00's.

After all did buy Subaru's for Looks/Paintwork/Interior/fuel economy or price :D LOL NO because of Handling and Power. IMHO

The 22B is the definetive classic scoob :D:D:D
but the new kid on the Block is the S202 (with bugeyes :D:D:D) time to move on :) or we will still be wearing Tank Tops or White 'n' Tarten bay City Roller gear

Tony

Neil,

In reply to your question I would have gone back to basics and designed an all new car from scratch. It would have been smaller, lighter and capable of virtually guaranteeing the return of the WRC title to Subaru.

Not difficult to do, just ask Peugot (sic?).

I would also have ditched the engine and gone for either an in line jobbie or a larger (in litres) block. However as the fundamental design of today's engine is so expensive to upgrade (unlike, say an Evo) then the in line item, suitably over engineered, would have been my choice.

I love the marque (I'm on my 2nd car) but Subaru have lost their way somewhat.

Hope they recover in the next 2 years before my next change of car else I might seriously consider going over to the dark side.... (oh dear). That is unless another unsung Q car hits the streets before then.

Come on Proton & Lotus, what are you waiting for? :) :) :P

WB

Could've saved a potload of re-tooling costs by getting rid of the Euro-bugeye lights and fitting the Jap market/UK STI lights to all Imprezas... That might have been the fillip it needed. Funny how they restyled the lights before the Euro-spec car was launched a couple of years ago.

I'm with Neil.

F :D

Looks good ,i would have designd a 3 door hatch and placed the 3 door on the wrc, as it has been proven that the small hatch dominates the rally.And within the year bring out a 2 door coupe, side desing will have old 22B look.

Totally agree with you neil

Mines the STI please Neil ;)
Andyp

The boxer might be old, but it gives the Scooby an advantage by lowering the centre of gravity at the front of the car.

2.2 litre sounds interesting, but I doubt they've done enough testing of the engine in that configuration to be confident of it (apparently, in the 22B, they only bored out the cylinder walls, they didn't increase the size of the cylinder "dome" to match it). Anyone know the costs of moving to a cast-iron block? ;)

Subaru are doing what Toyota did to the Mk2 MR-2 and Volkswagen to the Golf GTi. They are trying to make it appeal to the mass market by making it more comfortable and refined, but in the process they have killed the spirit of the car and blunted its performance.

Maybe they should take a leaf out of Mitsubishi's book and do a lightweight version with no door padding, wind up windows and half the carpets missing.

Yes, but US market sells 2.2 and 2.5 NA motors.

So although there hasn't been any formal testing of turbos on the engines, they do exist.

Subaru had been playing with a supercharger for the US baja Legacy (I think on a 2.2 engine, but I could be wrong).

Now THAT could have been interesting