General costs where fine tbf, general parts were mainly ford bits so cheapish, plus i worked for mazda at the time which was a bonus! Bit thirsty but found insurance was dirt cheap. Modifications were tough to come by back then though and very $$$$$$

I thought all of these cars after march 06 fall into the £490 a year road tax bracket?

MK1s yes MK2s have different pistons and much much more complex ECU which helped drop emissions by controlling combustion much more efficiently.

I see. :thumb: Was a good move as very few people will want to pay more for tax than insurance. Mine are about the same on my 05 WRX - £240 for insurance and £280 for tax. Madness.

I actually looked at these before getting my 4th Impreza (5 year gap since the 3rd) but was put off by fwd setup. Shame as the 6 MPS has 4wd.
I don't care what anyone says, anything over 250bhp, on British roads, really needs 4wd to use the power properly. Or you end up like the MPS, ST, Gti etc all pulling the power back in 1st & 2nd gear. Where is the fun in that? :wonder:

As a fast straight road, mile muncher, I'm sure the MPS is great.

Those limiters are bollocks , in british weather you just modulate your right foot and im still faster than most .

Yes if you drive like a nob it will spin for fun and using launch control in the damp is just full of lols.

However once into 4th or on a motorway your off .Even if i had 4wd i wouldn't push it in wet/icy conditions.

It is a much better car overall than a subaru but every time that hawkeye sti on my estate drives past my house i dribble and so does the mrs when she hears it .

<chuckles> that horse bolted a long-ass time ago...Loads of comedic value having a newb post like that though, good work nikon-man :lol::thumb:

And if you hardly use the motorway? :wonder:

I would hardly say it was better than the Impreza if you can only really use the full power once you are into 4th. :lol:

For a bit of a giggle, I floored the throttle in 1st at 5mph in my WRX last week. The weather was absolutely hammering it down and I just wanted to see what the grip limits were. I already knew that is was pretty good having fitted some brand new Goodyear F1's last year.

I got a tiny amount of wheel spin and then she just gripped. Now, I got into 2nd and backed off as I knew all I needed to know.

Cornering is also a joy. I rarely get understeer, even when it is like a monsoon. You don't have to be driving fast to get understeer either. My wifes Peugeot 107 is truly laughable in comparison. Even when we fitted decent tyres, it just falls over when it starts to rain.

I'm sure the Mazda is a very capable car. I wouldn't have looked into them if they weren't. But having spent 5 years away from the Impreza breed, coming back to my WRX just underlines why I just love 4wd. It just does it. No fuss, no drama.

Can't wait for the snow to arrive.

A chap at my work has just had a Mazda 3 converted to 4wd and reckon's once finished it will run 600BHP. When he told me how much he'd spent I almost had a heart attack.

https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/...14976221_n.jpg

Not my cup of tea but each to their own.

Lol what a plonker, he should of just bought a hatch STI, looks almost identical at a glance and has 4wd as standard, close the decks forge it and hello silly torque, save a fair few grand to.:cuckoo:

I think if he sat down and realised what he could have had for similar money he'd go insane.

All very true and the reasons i wanted a subz as i really gave one death on a testdrive in the damp but like i said i dont fit and that 2.5 engine put me off as i wanted a hawkeye .


as for the 4wd 3 ,thats davids and hes basically took the 4wd system from the cx-7 suv (as its the same platform) and grafted it onto a 3 .Now all the bits are new hence the cost .IMO he is mad

If you wanted a 600bhp AWD car that looks like a Mazda 3 he could have bought a Jap Spec C hatch and gone 2.35 with meth or even nitro.

does every subaru owner on here have a race with something on every journey???

Shouldn't you be on an Audi forum.:wonder: