Subaru Mum
22 September 2002, 08:20 AM
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From the Sunday Times
A road-going rally car might not seem the first choice for a mother with two children, but its electric effect on men on the road is at least one reason to buy, writes Helen Mound
The woman in the car behind was giving me funny looks all the way home from the park this morning. She was shaking her head and pulling that face you give pregnant women who smoke, the one meant to convey something between disapproval and ridicule. She watched me strap Grace and Fox in the back, hand over drink beakers, and jump into the driving seat. She followed me out of the car park and was still shaking her head a mile down the road, looking like one of those nodding dogs that sit on the parcel shelf.
I could spend all afternoon wondering what upset her so much. Was it the fact that Grace was eating a bun the size of her head at 11 in the morning, when any good mother would be about to sit her little darlings down to a nutritious lunch? Was it because I didn't stop my two-year-old son licking the gold wheels on the Subaru Impreza WRX STi? (What can I tell you? He's a boy, they do that stuff.) I could wonder, but I know the answer. I've been getting the same look from mothers all week. It's the car. A road-going rally car. And that look means: how could you be so cruel as to drive your children around in that monstrosity?
hey're right, of course. The WRX is not easy on the eye. Its hot-saloon looks are clumsy, from the cheap-looking air vent on the bonnet to the awkward and enormous tail spoiler. The gold wheels are plain tacky, while the round headlights — normally my preference — just look comical on this performance car. If you know what this car is you'll be surprised to see a mother and two kids out in it; and if you don't know what it is you can probably tell it's a serious bit of kit not intended for such domesticity. The average pre-schooler doesn't appreciate a blow to the back of the head when the turbo kicks in, a ride as hard as a wooden sledge, and racing home on three wheels while the shopping rearranges itself in the boot into a scrambled egg, smashed biscuit mess. But when Grace and Fox squeal "Faster mummy, faster" as we approach every bend in the road, what can you do but indulge your little ones?
Despite the common theory that kids love high cars because they can see more, they also love racing cars. Given the choice between a Ford Galaxy or being squished in the back of a Porsche 944, the Porsche will win every time. Given the choice between a Fiat Multipla (my everyday wheels) and an Impreza WRX STi, Grace and Fox have been running to the "racing car". They love the newly-discovered intimacy: "Now I can see you drive mummy", "Look at the cheesy pedals" (they're drilled aluminium), "Look mummy, we can hold hands" (only a super-waif could travel between the two child car-seats), "Turn it more mummy, more," (so I've been teaching them the subtleties of oversteer and understeer, just don't tell their grandmother).
A girl behaving badly in an Impreza WRX STi is about as far as you can go in winning the battle of the sexes on the road. Men hate women driving this car. Really hate it. Their look of disdain is born of dismay that yet another bastion of masculinity has been invaded by women. We can have their Jaguars, their Porsches if we must; they will even tolerate us driving their Ferraris these days. But a fully body-kitted road-going rally Impreza? If you wanted to offend the boys you wouldn't get as big a reaction if you came out of the closet as Catherine Zeta-Jones's lover. This is the car of the moment. And men want it almost as much as they want to be Jack Nicholson, or Jack Bauer, or Jack . . . anyone, for that matter. It is the car that Jack drove. Not Jill. Never Jill.
There is nothing feminine about this Impreza. It is so blokey it probably reads Loaded in the garage at night. How it looks, drives and performs evoke seriously butch motoring. The only (and frankly peculiar) whisper of girlishness is the Barbie-pink STi badge which features on the two UK special editions, one standard and one — the one in our pictures — wearing fancy Prodrive-designed couture. Intended as a low volume niche product, the original Impreza Turbo very quickly built up a cult following.
It was launched in 1994 to homologate and then celebrate Subaru's world rally car. Many hotter models have since been produced (with slightly disturbing sub-cultures growing up around each version), however the STi is the first to go on sale in the UK as neither a limited edition nor a so-called grey import. This model takes prime position at the top of the standard line-up of Imprezas and it is the car against which Ford's impressive new Focus RS — as well as many other modestly-priced machines with sporting pretentions — is most often compared. Given the early reports on Ford's new super-hatch, however, this is one stand-off I suspect the Subaru may end up losing.
There's just one small problem with driving such a virile car. The Impreza WRX STi needs to be treated roughly. To get the best from it you must be brutal, which isn't a driving style I find instinctive. Both the accelerator and the brake respond best under lead feet. To keep the turbo spinning you need to keep the revs up, which means extravagant use of the right-hand pedal. Equally, the brakes are far from sensitive and if you want to slow down in a hurry stamping is the most effective approach. None of these actions endears you to passengers, and even the children will eventually turn a bilious shade from all the thumping back and forth.
Such is the utter competence of its chassis that you have to pick the Impreza up by the scruff of its tail spoiler and bully it down the road before it actually feels like any fun. You have to work intensely at getting the most of out this car, as it hides all its best treats for those who look hardest. That's another reason why the STi is really one for the boys because, let's face it, the real automotive investigators tend to be men. The appeal of going around corners dragging the door handles along the ground is rather lost on me.
So it's not hard then to see why the Impreza WRX STi is the ultimate daddy's car. Just as mothers of pre-schoolers soon give up wearing any clothes remotely fragile or expensive, new fathers abandon all hope of driving high-performance two-seaters. So here is the answer: a masculine-looking, butch-performing, motorsport-fantasy-inducing, family-sized car. The only drawback being the sumptuous too-good-for-kids soft suede bucket seats. Now if only Prada could design a range of easy-clean child-repellent clothes we could all be happy.
4/5 stars
A road-going rally car might not seem the first choice for a mother with two children, but its electric effect on men on the road is at least one reason to buy, writes Helen Mound
The woman in the car behind was giving me funny looks all the way home from the park this morning. She was shaking her head and pulling that face you give pregnant women who smoke, the one meant to convey something between disapproval and ridicule. She watched me strap Grace and Fox in the back, hand over drink beakers, and jump into the driving seat. She followed me out of the car park and was still shaking her head a mile down the road, looking like one of those nodding dogs that sit on the parcel shelf.
I could spend all afternoon wondering what upset her so much. Was it the fact that Grace was eating a bun the size of her head at 11 in the morning, when any good mother would be about to sit her little darlings down to a nutritious lunch? Was it because I didn't stop my two-year-old son licking the gold wheels on the Subaru Impreza WRX STi? (What can I tell you? He's a boy, they do that stuff.) I could wonder, but I know the answer. I've been getting the same look from mothers all week. It's the car. A road-going rally car. And that look means: how could you be so cruel as to drive your children around in that monstrosity?
hey're right, of course. The WRX is not easy on the eye. Its hot-saloon looks are clumsy, from the cheap-looking air vent on the bonnet to the awkward and enormous tail spoiler. The gold wheels are plain tacky, while the round headlights — normally my preference — just look comical on this performance car. If you know what this car is you'll be surprised to see a mother and two kids out in it; and if you don't know what it is you can probably tell it's a serious bit of kit not intended for such domesticity. The average pre-schooler doesn't appreciate a blow to the back of the head when the turbo kicks in, a ride as hard as a wooden sledge, and racing home on three wheels while the shopping rearranges itself in the boot into a scrambled egg, smashed biscuit mess. But when Grace and Fox squeal "Faster mummy, faster" as we approach every bend in the road, what can you do but indulge your little ones?
Despite the common theory that kids love high cars because they can see more, they also love racing cars. Given the choice between a Ford Galaxy or being squished in the back of a Porsche 944, the Porsche will win every time. Given the choice between a Fiat Multipla (my everyday wheels) and an Impreza WRX STi, Grace and Fox have been running to the "racing car". They love the newly-discovered intimacy: "Now I can see you drive mummy", "Look at the cheesy pedals" (they're drilled aluminium), "Look mummy, we can hold hands" (only a super-waif could travel between the two child car-seats), "Turn it more mummy, more," (so I've been teaching them the subtleties of oversteer and understeer, just don't tell their grandmother).
A girl behaving badly in an Impreza WRX STi is about as far as you can go in winning the battle of the sexes on the road. Men hate women driving this car. Really hate it. Their look of disdain is born of dismay that yet another bastion of masculinity has been invaded by women. We can have their Jaguars, their Porsches if we must; they will even tolerate us driving their Ferraris these days. But a fully body-kitted road-going rally Impreza? If you wanted to offend the boys you wouldn't get as big a reaction if you came out of the closet as Catherine Zeta-Jones's lover. This is the car of the moment. And men want it almost as much as they want to be Jack Nicholson, or Jack Bauer, or Jack . . . anyone, for that matter. It is the car that Jack drove. Not Jill. Never Jill.
There is nothing feminine about this Impreza. It is so blokey it probably reads Loaded in the garage at night. How it looks, drives and performs evoke seriously butch motoring. The only (and frankly peculiar) whisper of girlishness is the Barbie-pink STi badge which features on the two UK special editions, one standard and one — the one in our pictures — wearing fancy Prodrive-designed couture. Intended as a low volume niche product, the original Impreza Turbo very quickly built up a cult following.
It was launched in 1994 to homologate and then celebrate Subaru's world rally car. Many hotter models have since been produced (with slightly disturbing sub-cultures growing up around each version), however the STi is the first to go on sale in the UK as neither a limited edition nor a so-called grey import. This model takes prime position at the top of the standard line-up of Imprezas and it is the car against which Ford's impressive new Focus RS — as well as many other modestly-priced machines with sporting pretentions — is most often compared. Given the early reports on Ford's new super-hatch, however, this is one stand-off I suspect the Subaru may end up losing.
There's just one small problem with driving such a virile car. The Impreza WRX STi needs to be treated roughly. To get the best from it you must be brutal, which isn't a driving style I find instinctive. Both the accelerator and the brake respond best under lead feet. To keep the turbo spinning you need to keep the revs up, which means extravagant use of the right-hand pedal. Equally, the brakes are far from sensitive and if you want to slow down in a hurry stamping is the most effective approach. None of these actions endears you to passengers, and even the children will eventually turn a bilious shade from all the thumping back and forth.
Such is the utter competence of its chassis that you have to pick the Impreza up by the scruff of its tail spoiler and bully it down the road before it actually feels like any fun. You have to work intensely at getting the most of out this car, as it hides all its best treats for those who look hardest. That's another reason why the STi is really one for the boys because, let's face it, the real automotive investigators tend to be men. The appeal of going around corners dragging the door handles along the ground is rather lost on me.
So it's not hard then to see why the Impreza WRX STi is the ultimate daddy's car. Just as mothers of pre-schoolers soon give up wearing any clothes remotely fragile or expensive, new fathers abandon all hope of driving high-performance two-seaters. So here is the answer: a masculine-looking, butch-performing, motorsport-fantasy-inducing, family-sized car. The only drawback being the sumptuous too-good-for-kids soft suede bucket seats. Now if only Prada could design a range of easy-clean child-repellent clothes we could all be happy.
4/5 stars
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22 September 2002, 11:47 AM
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A girl behaving badly in an Impreza WRX STi is about as far as you can go in winning the battle of the sexes on the road. Men hate women driving this car. Really hate it.
Great article. I remember Helen Mound writing a piece in the Telegraph Motoring section a while ago having a go at old men who drive at 40 mph everywhere and get all self rightious about it. My Dad wrote a letter in response which got published mentioning the fact that not all oldies drove like that and that some of them (like him) drove performance cars like Impreza Turbos
22 September 2002, 12:02 PM
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Excellent piece!
"probably reads Loaded in the garage at night" LOL!
The wife managed to get the tyres squealing on the Mountain section at the Isle of Man - just need to get her trained up on a couple of track days, then she can go out baiting the local Nova posse
"probably reads Loaded in the garage at night" LOL!
The wife managed to get the tyres squealing on the Mountain section at the Isle of Man - just need to get her trained up on a couple of track days, then she can go out baiting the local Nova posse
22 September 2002, 12:04 PM
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A girl behaving badly in an Impreza WRX STi is about as far as you can go in winning the battle of the sexes on the road. Men hate women driving this car. Really hate it. Their look of disdain is born of dismay that yet another bastion of masculinity has been invaded by women. We can have their Jaguars, their Porsches if we must;
Maybe the only blokes she's seen are Co55ie and Alex zetec cabrio.
I doubt she met any other Scoobie drivers as we all
at each other 
22 September 2002, 12:54 PM
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I can totaly identify with all that, I have a little 'un, and he's the same, faster mummy etc, and I live in a village, so it's full of disaproving oldies! (just wait 'till I get flames!!)
22 September 2002, 03:24 PM
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"a masculine-looking, butch-performing, motorsport-fantasy-inducing, family-sized car."
Perfect. As if further justification of purchase is necessary
Sendin' out waves to all the other Sti dads (and mums too)!
[Edited by STi-Frenchie - 9/22/2002 3:26:11 PM]
Perfect. As if further justification of purchase is necessary
Sendin' out waves to all the other Sti dads (and mums too)!
[Edited by STi-Frenchie - 9/22/2002 3:26:11 PM]
23 September 2002, 06:51 PM
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She followed me out of the car park and was still shaking her head a mile down the road
23 September 2002, 08:53 PM
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Wow! Kewl article.
Whenever I drive our STi7, I always SPAAAAAAAANNNNKKKKKKK it. The car, guys,...the car!!!! 
...and guys *do* hate seeing a woman drive a car like this. Like it's some kind of challenge. Too much of a mind **** for them.
Gina G
Whenever I drive our STi7, I always SPAAAAAAAANNNNKKKKKKK it.
The car, guys,...the car!!!! ...and guys *do* hate seeing a woman drive a car like this. Like it's some kind of challenge. Too much of a mind **** for them.
Gina G
23 September 2002, 11:57 PM
#23
I dont know any men that hate seeing women drive quick cars like the Impreza? 
Do you lot hang around with a bunch of sexist pigs stuck in the 70's?
This "women doing it for themselves" type of journalism is so old hat, women have been doing this kind of thing for ages, it's not news anymore. An article stuck in the 80's/early 90's in my eyes.
Now if she was talking about competition driving and women breaking into that arena then it may have been more valid, as there still arnt enough female competitors putting the work in to make a break in that arena.
Do you lot hang around with a bunch of sexist pigs stuck in the 70's?
This "women doing it for themselves" type of journalism is so old hat, women have been doing this kind of thing for ages, it's not news anymore. An article stuck in the 80's/early 90's in my eyes.
Now if she was talking about competition driving and women breaking into that arena then it may have been more valid, as there still arnt enough female competitors putting the work in to make a break in that arena.
24 September 2002, 07:06 AM
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"This model takes prime position at the top of the standard line-up of Imprezas and it is the car against which Ford's impressive new Focus RS — as well as many other modestly-priced machines with sporting pretentions — is most often compared. Given the early reports on Ford's new super-hatch, however, this is one stand-off I suspect the Subaru may end up losing."
Lol I think she's getting mixed up with a standard WRX.
I'm a Ford man but there's no way that Focus will be quicker and handle better than an STi 7.
It does spoil the article when they don't get their facts quite right.
Lol I think she's getting mixed up with a standard WRX.
I'm a Ford man but there's no way that Focus will be quicker and handle better than an STi 7.
It does spoil the article when they don't get their facts quite right.
24 September 2002, 08:09 AM
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John,
Well you wouldn't would you John. People tend to associate with like minded people.....
See above...
True with regards to the attitude but TBH, I can't remember the last time I saw a woman driving a performance car (that wasn't someone I already know ), so until that is a common sight, I think that some men (stuck in the 70's as you put it ) will have a problem with it.
Sideways, if the motoring press have trouble getting the details correct, what chance do the general "hacks" have?
The thing that stuck in my mind about the article is that (IMHO) it highlights the attitude from a lot of parents that life as we know it stops when you have kids. You know, you have to buy an enormous car, you can't go out anymore, you stop thinking logically and work only on emotions etc. etc.
Matt
I dont know any men that hate seeing women drive quick cars like the Impreza?
Do you lot hang around with a bunch of sexist pigs stuck in the 70's?
This "women doing it for themselves" type of journalism is so old hat, women have been doing this kind of thing for ages, it's not news anymore
), so until that is a common sight, I think that some men (stuck in the 70's as you put it ) will have a problem with it.Sideways, if the motoring press have trouble getting the details correct, what chance do the general "hacks" have?
The thing that stuck in my mind about the article is that (IMHO) it highlights the attitude from a lot of parents that life as we know it stops when you have kids. You know, you have to buy an enormous car, you can't go out anymore, you stop thinking logically and work only on emotions etc. etc.
Matt
24 September 2002, 01:43 PM
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My missus loves driving the scoob, always takes her an hour to do the 2 mile round trip to Sainsbury's
I like listening to her war stories after she's been out in it and yes she does get disapproving looks but she likes to reply by making as much noise as she can (Decatted, Dump Valves etc )
It doesn't make her any friends with the do gooders but she enjoys the scoob as much as I do and let's face it, thats why we have them.
Mikey
I like listening to her war stories after she's been out in it and yes she does get disapproving looks but she likes to reply by making as much noise as she can (Decatted, Dump Valves etc
) It doesn't make her any friends with the do gooders but she enjoys the scoob as much as I do and let's face it, thats why we have them.
Mikey
24 September 2002, 02:22 PM
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Mikey,
Same here with my wife and the Evo. Every night when she gets in from work the conversation goes along the lines of:
'How was your day dear?'
'Absolutely brilliant.... On the drive to work I had a blast with a scooby/Porsche/TVR/anything and it was great fun. Then on the way home I managed to beat.....' I think that she just forgets all the work bit in the middle of the day
However, she does say that she tends to get 2 sorts of reaction from blokes. They either love it and smile/wave etc... or they hate it and refuse to make any kind of eye contact at all.
Andy
Same here with my wife and the Evo. Every night when she gets in from work the conversation goes along the lines of:
'How was your day dear?'
'Absolutely brilliant.... On the drive to work I had a blast with a scooby/Porsche/TVR/anything and it was great fun. Then on the way home I managed to beat.....' I think that she just forgets all the work bit in the middle of the day
However, she does say that she tends to get 2 sorts of reaction from blokes. They either love it and smile/wave etc... or they hate it and refuse to make any kind of eye contact at all.
Andy