Has the era of the Impreza past?
 

I've been coming on this forum for a while now, and I notice there aren't many people on here with new cars. Are the latest cars not as good as the older models? Does the fact that Subaru don't contest the WRC like they used to make a difference to the amount of cars they sell over here? Has the bad press that the 2.5 Lt. engine had made a difference? Are the Hawkeyes any good? The hatchback wasn't well received, will the new saloon sell any better? Are the latest JDM cars as good as the old ones?
So many questions..............???????????

It's not exactly the new car you are likely to buy in a recession, is it? :)

The era end a long time ago mate and its now the enthusiast imo that are left along with a shed load of punks who can now afford a shed of a UK turbo,wrx or sti and lower the tone of this forum. Still a good group around but too many Muppets on here creating issues n ripping folk off.

Rant over lol

I have ran the NBO for nearly ten years and have witnessed the club scene grow to what it is now

The classics are getting fewer and those that are left are quietly rusting at the rear arches and the rest are getting broken up for spares or been wrote off and generally abused by the chavs untill they blow up or crash
The few classics that will be left will be restored and it will develop like the RS scene
Early bugeyes are heading this way too
Still strong support for the blob and hawkeye and the big power boys are having fun with these ,again they will end up like the classics in ten years Time
The new hatches have not sold well ,bad press on chocolate engines has not helped and the most important thing that us killed subaru is the price point
£34k for a new Sti with £480 rfl every year and 25mpg is not good for sales and values of older subarus have shrunk to such a poor level that the px is too much and people have decided to keep thier old modles and modify them with thier spare cash
Shame as the new hatch is a fantastic car ,but priced killed it ,my wrxd rose to £25k before it was discontinued ,great car with excellent performance and 28mpg
We need a wrx that will retail at 20k with 35mpg to get the market moving again
Te exchange rate of the yen against the poor value of the pound has not helped either

Subaru pulling out of rallying has not helped and loosing Ken Block with his great driving skills lost a great PR exercise for subru as a performance car of the decade at a bargain price
New saloon again is 35k BMW /Audi Merc territory and they all do great turbo diesel with 45-50mpg and performance to match.
Can the BRZ save Subaru
Only time will tell but its having fantastic reviews despite no turbo / AWD

Unless the BRZ takes off and Subaru produce a bargain STi I worry about the future for Subaru in the uk
Never mind I will keep with them with my classic and new age and future modle

With so many local club forums going lots of good discussions go on their own forums which as they are smaller and they police the idiots and potential scammers

Lots of laughs on here though And this is still the national forum

Agree with a lot of what John says. The club scene will continue as Subaru still have a number of sensible die hards following them.

As for Subaru U.K, they have dropped some almighty clangers over recent times and continue to pay the price. The BRZ is pulling me in but i am not sure i want to give Subaru the business.

I really believe that Subaru U.K have lost respect for the people that have kept them going for several years, there is no genuine customer focus and the marketing is truly awful.

Such a shame !!!

Oh yes Subaru marketting
They Really dropped a changer with the cosworth which should of been the ultimate Subaru
Wonder how many are unsold ?

The restoration scene will be massive for subaru in the future with lots of middle aged men spending many happy times in the garage and taken them to shows

Talking to guys last weekend at the Subaru stand at the Autosport show there were 75 cossies made and 5 remain unsold. Subaru were chipping in around 6k towards one at the show on the basis you take their finance deal as an incentive. I think the cossie is overpriced in my opinion despite apparently being a great car that actually handles well unlike the STI hatch.

I like my classic too much to sell it! When im bored of it i will re shell it into a Hawkeye but still have the love for it now! lol

In 2006 about 80% of Subaru's vehicles sold in the UK were Imprezas and most of those were WRX/STIs.

The introduction of the hatch was and is a sales disaster in the UK even after adjusting for the recession. Subaru missed the point that their existing customer base in the UK was mainly people wanting a performance car that was practical, but looked the part too.

They needed to preserve that customer base and grow into new sectors, but the hatch just immediately alienated most of the existing customer base and wasn't good enough to pull in new customers wanting a more 'normal' car i.e. not a performance car.

Couple that to some daft decisions over the saloon/sedan Impreza and with the rest of their range and they are now reaping what they have sowed.

Of course outside of the UK in markets like the US and Aus things are different in that they sell a lot more 'cooking' models so maybe they will just withdraw from the UK altogether.

I would certanly never buy anything in their current range so I shan't be losing any sleep if that happens.

I'd say that is not true.
These were official Subaru employees I assume?

1 year warranty on a 50k car!!
thats what you get on a cosworth

Very interesting posts, thanks very much. Looks to me, after reading your replies, that it's mainly the high running costs that have hurt Subaru in this country. Cheaper fuel in the States and Oz, where they still drive huge muscle cars will make the Impreza seem like an economy model. lol
The other point about £30k cars not selling. I don't have any figures, but the Focus RS Mk2 seems to have been a massive success for Ford. The car sold mainly on it's looks, although the 5 pot was also a big plus. It's like as has been said, the Impreza used to be the everyman's performance car. It had the rally image like the old Escorts of the 70's. Who had every heard of Peugeot until they won the WRC? I think Subaru have forgotten their core customers in the UK. Maybe they don't need us any more with the US and Oz markets sewn up?

It's "passed". :D :thumb:

^^^ What he said.

I've owned four imprezas since 1997, three of them brand new and the other one six months old, and each one has been an improvement in all aspects than the one before. The latest hatch and saloon does not have that 'street racer' appearance that appeals to many who had bought earlier models. The new, more subtle appearance has been an attempt to install the Impreza as a family car aimed at the more mature owner who still likes to have a bit of oomph under his right boot. However the Impreza badge does now suffer from an image problem with many older cars now in the hands of those from the lowest social strata. It makes little difference to me but many are put off by the idea that they may be perceived as 'chavs' if they own an Impreza. Sales have suffered and the sight of a new hatch or saloon is indeed a rare event. As I said, the new models are much superior in every aspect that you care to mention and they are still in terms of 'smiles per gallon' at the very top of the tree. The idea that you can buy a car returning 45-50mpg and come anywhere close to the performance of the latest 330bhp Imprezas is pure fantasy.

Not really.

Take a 335D BMW for example.

BMW 335D, 23 mpg around town, 36 mpg on a motorway according to long term road tests, marginally better than a 330 Impreza.
Not only does the BM fail in terms of mpg, in terms of performance with 50 bhp per ton less than a 330 bhp Impreza, the german car is not in the same league.
As I said, it's pure fantasy.

+1 :thumb:

Since I own a 330S, I can tell you that there's no way in the world it would achieve 23mpg around town.

I reckon that the 335D would average 40mpg.
Also - your 50bhp could easily be mapped out of it too, probably increasing the average mpg in the process.

^^^ What they said

Watch my lips! I never said that a 330S would do 23 mpg around town, that's not the issue. All I said was there is no car returning 45-50 mpg that gets close to a 330 Impreza in performance terms. If there was, the roads would be full of them.

Well you did state MPG figures and then claim "marginally better than a 330 Impreza"

Thats a good point - I think getting under the 225gco2 tax bracker was a good move and one that subaru dropped a bollock on. Residuals on the RSmk2 seem to be strong - I was looking a while back and 2yr old is still low £20k's and they were what £26k new? Compare that to the latest STis saloons and your talking low £20k's for an 18mth old card from £33k at new.

Yep, and I was spot on.

Yes, but if you're spot on, then they are substantially higher than the 330S mpg figures.

Especially if you factor in the extra cost of diesel over petrol... if my wife's 3.0d X3 and a neighbours '08 plate 530d are anything to go by then I can't see a 335d driven enthusiastically returning anywhere near the figures quoted by BMW and therefore probably won't be that much more fuel efficient than a 330S

In the not so far future I reckon Subarus, specially Classics will become... well classic and be worth a lot of money, specially factory ones. So many idiots are trying to modify their Subarus badly.

Admittedly they aren't the car to buy when money's tight. Still doesn't mean they won't go up in value. A specialist car model (which I consider them to be) will always go up in value, a collectors item.

I totally agree with this reply. Scooby's WILL go up in value over time. This could happen quicker than anyone thinks aswell because so many cars get broken up these days there wont be many left on the roads.

The 'era' has passed but that doesn't mean the end for the impreza, quite the opposite in my opinion! Just look at any other classic car.

One things for sure though, subaru Uk are screwed. My local subaru garage used to be thriving with new and used scooby's but now there's just one lonely hawkeye for sale

Yes classics will go up in value in a couple of years time they will get down to £800 for an early classic and the chavs blow up a few more on the road
Original will be desirable and threads on scoobynet will be DIY rust repairs and cleaning and renovations and desire to be concourse