Im looking to buy a Scooby as a project car for track day racing, I've found one within my budget, I'm not looking for a serious car or one that will cost me an arm and a leg but still want one I can spend a bit of money on and still have some fun and go faster than the average 2L car, have I picked the right one? Advice would be greatfull

 

Powerwise no, most other 2.0 NA cars will be faster unfortunately, clios etc

You need to spend a lot to get close to 200 bhp with a gc8 NA

On the plus side most parts from a turbo Impreza will bolt on making it handle better but ideally you want to swap out the running gear for a low ratio set up and drop a 2.5 NA lump in with a few mods will see close to 190 bhp then

 

My advice is buy something else like a Clio or an MX5, non turbo Impreza's are VERY slow and heavy and it's not just as simple as bolting on turbo parts... Classics weigh around 1300kg and Newage around 1500kg and the non turbos have around 120bhp that's not even 100bhp per ton, which means my 32yr old Golf 1.6 diesel has the non turbo in power to weight ratio and that's before you take into account the drive train losses of the 4wd system.

Just trying to put things into perspective for you before you waste your time and money trying to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear.

Something like an MX5 will teach you way more, cost you way less, be reliable and good to go straight out of the box, as well as being a lot more fun with the rear wheel drive.

But hey... your money, your choice.

 

The Sports are not known for their speed. I know, I have one

It certainly won't be as fast as other 2.0 cars around but you can have some fun in it with a number of handling modifications.

 

thanks for you advice guys, the one i was looking at already has the gearbox removed which was in mid replacement would it be better and possible to buy a bigger engine and just swap the whole engine as most of it is already disconnected or does that just seem like a waste of time

 

Extremely large waste of time and money, seriously pal I can't think of many worse cars you could chose for a track car, they are absolutely NOTHING like their turbo brothers, only reason to have a non turbo is if you're a farmer or live somewhere it snows a lot.

I'm not saying this to be anti turbo or anything, it's just the facts, people see Impreza and think oooh turbo rally car but seriously you really are talking total opposites, they're agricultural and slow as all buggery, think tractor, great if you've got horses, but a real non starter as a track car.