I'm in the market for an Impreza in the coming months, most probably from the used sector of the market.

Being the sort of fellow who doesn't want to draw undue attention to himself, I was thinking about the ways to make a Turbo Impreza more of a Q-car and escape unwanted attention from both John T Law and any light fingered Tugboats who might take a fancy to my hard earned motorcar.

The simplest option I'd come up with was just swapping the 'Turbo' badges for 'Sport' badges, but that would only outwit people who knew what the 'Sport' was (or even wasn't).

My next thought is what I need your collective advice on. I assume it is relatively easy to remove any bootlid spoiler which comes with the car, and get someone to fill in the resulting screw holes (or our they glued on?). Secondly, can a front bumper from a 'shopping' model Impreza be swapped easily with a Turbo one, ie. have the same mounting points?
Does the Turbo bumper provide any extra cooling facilities over the standard bumper?

I also assume the bonnet scoop does actually perform a function by feeding air into the intercooler/air intake and isn't just for show, and therefore switching to a flat bonnet would lose power - which is the last thing I want http://bbs.sidc.co.uk/smile.gif so I'll leave that it place as the only give-away as to what the car actually is.

I reckon with these two easily reversable 'upgrades' and a set of 1.8GL badges I will have an excellent Q-car.

Any thoughts?

Unfortunately I think both of the groups of people you mention would be not in the least fooled if the intercooler scoop is still there (and yes, it is very much needed for the intercooler).

How about a real project and moving the intercooler to the front like the Evo 6? Then you could junk the scoop...

Andy

Sadly, the Impreza is conspicuous whatever you do to it, so you'll not deter the pro thieves. As long as you get a standard one (i.e. no gold wheels, big spoilers, loud exhausts etc.) then you'll generally escape any undue attention from plod, boy racers and joyriders.

Security is one of the reasons mine's up for sale now (Terzo with bits, the other reason is mileage) - I'm working in Glasgow from next month, and I don't want it wrecked and/or nicked. Which is why I'll probably end up with a V6 Mondeo. What else can you do though if you want to do 40,000 miles a year and park it anywhere?

Cheers,
Mike

Well Guy Please don't forget to remove those rear disc brakes and replace them with some
nice 1.8 GL drum brakes.

Also get that factory exhaust out of the way.
Change the front seats.
Depending which MY you chose make sure to
up grade to GL spec instruments.

may be you better buy a real 1.8 or is it
1.6 and save your self a lot of hard earned
money ,besides what will your insurance company think of such a Q car?!

GOOD LUCK

Mike Shaw relevant - I live & work in Glasgow and it is not the car crime capital of the western world!

I have owned & driven in Glasgow anything from a 2CV to Lotus Elan to 3 Scooby Turbos (now with an RB5) and never had a problem.

My new car will probably get nicked now....

To summarise, don't sell your Scooby because you are coming to work in Glasgow.

PS Two good restaurants for you:-

78 St. Vincent (78 St. Vincent St. / tel 248 7878) Fixed price menus, good food guide, etc.

Leonardo & Co., 77, Bothwell St. - 564 7577
Pizza, pasta, grill work, own label beers, great atmosphere

Live in Edinburgh & commute to (soap) Dodge City.

It's far more civilised in Edinburgh.... http://bbs.sidc.co.uk/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by Mark McE (edited 19-05-99).]

Guy,

I've got a silver 98MY STi4, which seemed to attract a lot of the wrong attention when I first got it. I made a few minor changes that have fixed things pretty much:

1. Removed big rear spoiler -- it's easy to find someone with a Sport or late 98MY that will swap a low-level one, or you can take it off totally if you really want. Personally, I like the low one. Whatever, the big spoiler is the biggest attention-getter, and 90% of your problems will go away once you get rid of it.

2. Swapped the gold alloys for silver ones. They looked horrible (IMO) against the silver bodywork anyway, and seemed to attract a fair bit of attention too.

3. Almost totally de-badged the car. The only words appearing on the outside are on the SUBARU "mini-hubcaps" and the very small oval STi badges below the indicator repeaters. I got rid of the pink grille badge and swapped it for a plain UK black one.

I was toying with repositioning the intercooler and getting a flat bonnet, but to be honest, the car gets so little attention now I can't be bothered. The only people who give it a second look are Scooby-freaks, and I don't mind about them.

One classic case was when this yuppie-type looked at the car and said to his mate "but it's it's not a Prodrive one though" as I rumbled past with all my Scoobysport bits neatly hidden away. "If only you knew mate..." I said to myself.

BTW, I live in South London and spend quite a bit of time parked in and around some fairly rough estates, and the car has had nothing but respect so far. (Touch wood, BIG TIME, now I've said that!)

-= mike =-

As you won't fool the pro thieves, you just have to watch out for the maxpower/yobbo lot. Best option is silver wheels & a 5 door Impreza in a less sporty colour.. like white, or maybe dark green. Don't bother about the badging, but take off the tacky Turbo transfer as many people do. If you get a releatively recent Scoob, you could think about getting leather seats which would then hide the gtey flashes on the seats.

Mr Conyers - thanks for the reassurance.

I am keeping hold of the Impreza for now, and will bring it up to Glasgow occasionally (i.e. when I want a damn good thrash around Scotland at weekend). Mostly though, I'll be tooling around in a dark red Nissan Maxima that I've just picked up for toy car money. Definitely low key, and a good motorway mile eater (don't want to pile too many miles on the Impreza anyway).

Look forward to trying those restaurants, though from your profile can I assume you;re not entirely neutral? http://bbs.sidc.co.uk/smile.gif

Cheers,
Mike.

Can I add my 2p to the debate on Glasgow?

I, too, live and (sometimes) work in Glasgow and can confirm that it's not the car crime captial of the western world.

My Terzo (Gold wheels, loud colour, ScoobySport exhaust etc) DOES attract some attention but typically it's of the "woo, nice car" kind rather than the more sinister kind of attention we all prefer to avoid.

On balance, I'd rather have my car attract attention which displays a "protective" desire than the attention of thieves which is purely selfish.

In short, Mike, tell me when you're bringing your Terzo up and we'll go and explore some fun roads I know... :> If there's a friendly RB5 in the area then so much the better!

(2p used up)

Cameron

[This message has been edited by leaskc (edited 21-05-99).]

Has anyone tried fitting the later style Grille and Vents to the earlier models my MY95 is looking a bit drab and needs beefing up a little???