wayland

Am thinking of getting more boot space - sold my 5 door STi4 3 months ago for an Audi TT (BIG mistake)and am looking to change already. Although the TT is very pretty, more practical than you might think and considerably less thirsty, it is not a patch on the Impreza in terms of performance, handling or practically. How does the handling of the Legacy compare to the Impreza and is there a noticeable drop in performance? Anybody lived with the Legacy?

Also, can you get a full Scoobysport system for the B4 (I REALLY miss the boxer beat of the Scooby compared to the whine of the TT)

I've never seen a B4 in the flesh so any helpful comments much appreciated.

Lunchie

Boxer beat. Now there's the title of a naff song I haven't heard in a long time... but now can't get iy out of my head. Aaarghhh

But seriously now folks, I'd also like to know about the B4 in case I find my 5-D too small in the future.

Lunchie

Richiehash

noooooo! you want a nice cheap uk estate turbo for about 4k then spend the rest on mods
see the mrt rally site for legacy tuning gear
richie

JJamess

I run a Legacy B4 RSK 1999, it is the best car I have ever driven let alone owned.
I use it as a every day business car it has loads of space a big boot and is easy to drive in traffic.Due to the twin turbos the small turbo works between 2000 and 4000 rpms which makes for easy normal driving. After 4400 the bigger turbo kicks in and then your off. The car is very quick and pulls very hard and I've had 155mph out of mine and it was still going, I ran out of *****.
E-mail me if you want to know more.
Another thing is that nobody knows what the hell it is.

AJbaseBloke

Wayland,

There's plenty of info on:

pwebb

not much point comparing the two but I went from sti 5 (modified) to a b4 rsk (2001) and am as pleased as punch - The legacy is nothing like the impreza - it is a big comfortable + very capable car - nothing like the crude imprezas I had (3) before - proper build quality, brilliant suspension and it can still be chucked around. You won't get the huge shove in the back of the single VF28 turbo of the sti, though the EJ208 engine pulls hard from very low revs - feels like a big V6 - then there is a brief pause as the secondary comes in (4000-4500 rpm) - then it really goes - above 100 mph it pulls as hard as my STI did - the sweet spot is 5000 - 7000 revs.
most owners, myself now included, wouldn't have anything else - add full leather, climate control, decent 8 speaker stereo, electric seats and all the other goodies and you have a lot of car for the money (UR spec).

plus points - totally incognito - no-one knows what it is, top Q car capability too.


minus points - group 20 insurance, big thirst, too quiet after a decatted sti ;-)

scoobysport do a full exhaust with two downpipes, primary side has a cat, secondary DP doesn't - so it could just about scrape emissions (they claim) though it would probably spoil the character of the car.

The jury is out on how sensible it is to replace the exhaust - this a hell of a complicated engine with far more trickery going on than the impreza - thus modifications are not really on and are confined to a few suspension tweaks and fitting bigger brakes etc. It is not as highly strung as the sti engine though and I have no problems with fuelling - no knock, very healthy ignition advance no instances of ecu retarding - thus probably much happier on 97 RON than an sti.

best places to buy are Iain Litchfield in Cheltenham and Car Imports Direct in Bristol, Park Lane and David Hendry can do them but at a much higher price.

Get one asap as it is unlikely people will get them through the more stringent emissions tests once the new sva comes in - the cold start test may be too great a barrier and is sure to be a headache for the importers to get around.

Paul W

AJbaseBloke

Paul,

Good point about the emcon test, but hopefully the new D revision (2002MY in your lingo?) will get through...

Wayland,

Amongst our lot, we have ex Skyline, Audi, MR2, BG GT-B & RS owners. We are all smitten by this car, the awesome combi of price, perf and packaging.

No judgements on the SS system, but if you can get the car with a Fujitsubo Legalis R Evolution muffler (check out the legacyB4 page for numbers) you will have a very quick car that already needs better boost control or at least the earthing kit to keep things together (my car was spiking up to 1.28kg/cm ).

Good luck with your car!!

legacyb4

AJbasebloke,

Thanks for the kind words about the site. If you are in Tokyo and drive a B4, why not give us B4 blokes a buzz and get together?

Wayland,

Good luck on the car purchase; you will not regret it at all!

Cheers,

Jeff

Ed Hodgson

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by wayland:
Anybody lived with the Legacy?
[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

yes - but I don't think I could live with an Impreza.

The Legacy is a much more sophisticated car IMHO. Best car I've ever had. The only problem with running it in the UK is finding a garage who knows enough about it to fix it. Don't know about London, but they are thin on the ground up here. I think you'll need to find someone who has the correct Select monitor gear.

Looks like you can pick up a new one for around 22-25K, second hand ones pretty thin on the ground and can be pricey - and they don't needs loads of mods to make them go/handle. The suspension is a great compromise, still compliant enough to give a smooth ride on motorways, absorb back road bumps, but smart enough to handle well on the track.

I would recommend 4 pots though - they came with 2 pot fronts which aren't really up to the job.

The estates are more plentiful, a bit noisier, you'd need to check they had the Bilsteins as well - most don't.

You don't get a big turbo "punch" below 4500K - which actually makes it much more relaxing to drive. It reminds me more of a Honda VTEC in that respect, but with enough low down torque.

the B4 yahoogroup is the best place to get info & opinions (there's a link from Jeff Tsai's website)

Ed

AJbaseBloke

Ed - get the muffler, get the muffler - you'll love it!! You are unlikely to wake the neighbours and the shove in the back is simply awesome!

Promise!

Hi Jeff - where've you been all this time?

For everyone's info - Jeff is the legacyB4 site!

Hope Wayland is swayed to join the ranks of the B4 family!

Cheers y'all!

Grant.revan

Hi All,

Same old names I see. I have a B4 and love it. Saw someone on the B4 owners bulletin board, in the UK, looking to sell their B4 for 18.5K pounds. Go to the B4 web site and look up the link to for the e-groups board - it was on there about a week ago.

Buy it - Its the best car on the road for the money.