Indy

I decided in January to come off the list for the P1 and go for the Evo. I have not been disappointed so far. After reading the Autocar report of P1 v. Evo 6 I feel justified, but we all take out the the bits we like, don't we?

Any P1 drivers give me their honest opinions considering the hype that WE were all given?

If I had read this report before choosing in January, it may have tipped the balance towards the Evo anyway.

Indy!

DocJock

Indy,

I'm not a P1 driver but can I comment anyway ?

Main point is , it's your car , it's awesome , if you're happy stuff anyone who criticises.

Second point is about the P1. Personally I would import from the continent and have lots of fun spending £14K on serious upgrades.

Regards, John

ps I know I am cynical but doesn't a headline "we think P1 is crap" sell a few extra copies ?

JasonHook

I wonder if the new UK WRX will improve on the current Imprezas in the areas mentioned.

I came off the P1 list because the new shape complicated the issue.

The EV0 might be superb but its looks don't appeal to my good self.

Jason

Stupot

I have an STi and I love the look of the P1. EVOs look utterly out of place on the road, have a tiny fuel tank, worse fuel consumption and a filling jarring ride. Scoobies have crap brakes and poor lights but hey, thats easly fixed ! What would the verdict be if the P1 had Brembos?? P1 for me every time thankyou very much.

Stu

[This message has been edited by Stupot (edited 12-04-2000).]

Steve Prockter

John......I agree with Indy. the P1 in isolation is probably great, however as pointed out by Autocar and known by most owners the brakes are "crap" (to use their terminology), and steering feel turn in and front end grip (even with modified suspension) is no equal for the EVO VI.

EVO mag readers will probably feel better having read this months issue. I don't need to read it to know that they will judge the P1 at the top, because they love Imprezas. However interesting to note that they also compare the TM EVO VI against the latest STI VI, and conclude similarly to Autocar. Lack of steering feel and thus only give it a 4 star rating. (EVO 5 stars).

Steve

Mike Shaw

I can't make a comparison myself having only driven a UK Scooby and never been in an Evo VI. But if I buy again I'll almost definitely go for the Evo VI.

Why? Cos it's different, the market isn't swamped with £9k ones driven by kids, and the aggregate media opinion seems to have tipped in its favour - though one can never tell how much of that is simply down to "fashion".

Two real world stories from another (neutral) list - one bloke got bored silly with his M3 and utterly adores his new Evo VI, another swapped his STi for an Evo VI and said he never believed anything would out-grunt, out-grip, out-everything a Scooby until he drove the Evo...

They'll never take one thing away though - NOTHING this side of a Ferrari V12 sounds remotely as good as an Impreza with a Scoobysport 'box. Woof!

Cheers,
Mike

Yex

Will Prodrive offer a brake upgrade for the WR option they have yet to release ?

Standard stopping time of 2.5 seconds 60-0 seems very good to me and more than adequate for "day to day" driving. From the magazine articles recently written the only sign of brake fade came when driven very hard. As this should usually only happen on track days I would imagine that the standard brakes are better than a UK car, on a par with a "standard" import and less functional than the after market upgrades available. I don't possess an engineering anorak so please don't knock me down for an opinion

The only way to get a good idea if you like the P1 (and any car for that matter) is to drive it yourself and make a judgement on how the car suits you and what you require of it. I have yet to be offered the chance to do this by my dealer, but if the car does not perform significantly better than my UK98 model then I will cancel the order, £31,495 is a lot of money compared to stock UK cars and the performance gap needs to be big to properly justify the cost.

Yex

HUNTY

At Cadwell a Prodrive demo P1 turned up. It had the Prodrive 4 pot brake upgrade on, seems now many P1 owners will be tempted to do the same as a £1500 dealer option.

kerrr,*****. Another money spinner for Prodrive.

Should be standard on a £32,000 car

[This message has been edited by HUNTY (edited 12-04-2000).]

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

Hi All

As I was curious, & I had full performance figures for both cars I decided to compare in gear times for the P1 & my car (WRX STI v4)- as you can see the WRX is faster in not only these few measures but, in fact almost all other times whatever gear/speed.
All times from Autocar mag so should be consistant.

40 - 60 in 3rd
P1 - 3.0
WRX - 2.5

80 - 100 in 4th
P1 - 5.0
WRX - 4.4

70 - 90 in 3rd
P1 - 4.0
WRX - 3.3

Standing 1/4
P1 - 13.9
WRX - 13.3

Standing km
P1 - 24.6
WRX - 24.1

Not proving a point or anything - just shows that the P1 is slightly slower through the gears & off the line.....

Ro

DocJock

Steve Prockter,

I think I didn't make my point very clearly.I also agree with Indy, I think the P1 is grossly overpriced for the improvement over the standard car.

What I was saying is that a standard car imported for £17K leaves you £14K to spend on mods which will give you a car to kill a P1 and maybe even give the mighty EVO a run for it's (your) money.

For example for less than £2K you can upgrade the brakes or suspension to better the P1 setup.

Remember if Subaru have all the answers how come we all have modified our own cars in some way ?

Regards, John

ARRON BIRD

My my.
I am amazed at some of the rubbish I read here. Whats all this about buying imported cars and spending 14 k doing them up?
It seems that there are alot of jealous people about!
I for one am not going to harp on about warranties on imported cars but just take it from me they aren`t worth the paper they`re written on.
Any body who spends 14K on mods see`s absolutly **** all of that when it comes to re-sale no argument!
The P1 is a truely great car but I reserve my true judgement until I drive the Prodrive car on Friday. If it`s crap I wont buy it!
How many people paid 26-28K for imported STI`s about a year ago?
I don`t agree with Subaru`s ethicks on brakes and upgrade costs but lets face it if you could launch a new product at that price with only a thousand units and flogg the lot you`d be smileing.
The only interesting thing will be just how good the re-sale values on P1`s will really be?
Evo`s a cracking car but from personal experience it can be a bit tiresome after a couple of years.
Regards to you all and I would love to here some non-Subaru biased opinions on the P1, and are any current owners dissapointed?

Kevin Tree

OK so I am biased, I took delivery of my P1 last Friday. Have only clocked 300 miles but I can say that it is a big improvement over my MY97. The brakes are sharp, the handling is sharper, the lights are fine as are the instruments at night (I can`t understand what Autocar said about the instruments bing hard to read at night?)

Although I haven`t `driven` the card hard, I am sure that it is going to be a cracker when it is run in!

I did consider an Evo but I just couldn`t see myself living with the look of it, the P1 offers much better looks (to me). Having spoken to an Evo6 owner, he convinced me that I had made the right choice...quote `A month after I put the deposit on the Evo, the P1 was announced, I now wish that I had waited and the Evo is going up for sale, it just isn`t a car that you can live with every day`

I think that sums it up, if you want an out and out racer that you don`t have to use every day, go for an Evo. However, if you have to use the car every day and you are not going to drive on the limit all the time, go for a P1.

Kevin
A happy P1 owner


[This message has been edited by Kevin Tree (edited 12-04-2000).]

Indy

Kevin,

Glad to see a P1 man who is happy.

Regarding your Evo friend, I am the direct opposite of him. I came off the list for my Evo and I drive 80 mile round trip to work each day with no qualms. Depends on the individual I suppose. I had an Integra Type R for 2 years and others asked about day-to-day noise, I couldn't see the problem unless I jumped directly from one car to another.

The look is an interesting point. I thought the P1 (from some pictures) reminded me of a long-skirted dalek! (I know, I drive an Evo...). My choice was "dull & common" (Impreza) or "ugly & unusual" (Evo).

I read a letter in Autocar (P1 v Evo) proving that some of us (Scooby & Evo) obviously drive for fun, not vanity! Can't grumble there.

Arron, as for warranties, I have had no problems with independent ones so far (touch wood!). Saved £5k on my Evo which I could put towards repairs if you are right...

Indy!

DocJock

Kevin, Indy,

Happy to see two satisfied owners. As I said in my original reply that really is the only thing that matters.If we all drove the same cars it would be a boring old world.BTW Arron I drive a modified Impreza by choice.

Hear hear to your comments on driving for fun as well.

Arron,my opinions may differ from yours but that does not make them any less valid. If I may reply with a couple of questions,
1 Exactly who/what am I jealous of ?

2 I know mods have no residual value. So what ? It is a car, a fun tool, an expendable commodity the resale value of which is of absolutely no interest to me. Does this mean I should assume you are jealous of me ? Of course not.

3 Why do you assume nobody else has had to deal with import warranties ?

4 You describe the P1 as truly great car although you have not driven it I have driven P1/EVO6 as well as Imprezas standard and modified before offering my opinion.

5 Because the majority of replies are from Scooby drivers does not necessarily mean they are biased. If you take the trouble to read them properly the majority contain criticism particularly of the brakes/lights.

6 If I am Scooby-biased why did I agree with Indy ? Because I did does not mean that I think Kevin is wrong just that he has a different opinion from mine,and doesn't mean I feel the need to rubbish his opinion.

Vive la difference!

John

Mike Tuckwood

If Hunty is right and the P1 (Prodrive) brake Upgrade is £1,500. Then people can yet again save some money and do better than Prodrive at the same time by choosing the AP racing brake upgrade (better for less).

Mike

[This message has been edited by Mike Tuckwood (edited 13-04-2000).]

Jonathan

This must be at least the sixth time this thread has been posted !!.

We all have diferent requirement, tastes etc. Does one suspension set up suit every driver on the road ? Obviously no. The P1 has its place as does the EVO, STI and Euro Model Scooby.

Prodrive had a marketing brief when they developed the P1. As far as I'm concerned they got it spot on and I'm happy to pay the price. Being in my 30's with a good job, the need to do 400 miles in a day and a requirement for a comfortable ride high on the list, whilst offering great handling for an average driver the P1 hits the spot.
Ive driven a P1 as hard as I would along A & B roads and its for me. It might not be for everyone. A guy that does 20 miles each way each day, or who only drives it at the weekend might prefer the EVO or STI. To me a both more focused car. Someone who likes spending money modifying their car could go the Euro Import route.

Arron might not like the P1 when he drives it tomorrow along the same roads as I did. I hope he does and it will be interesting to hear his opinion ( being a much better driver than myself).

Just one comment for Ro. Unless the STI was tested alongside the P1 with the cars having roughly the same mileage there is not really any validity. Was it the same driver. Look how many attempts and smoked clutches drivers go through. There are too many variables. Look at the Rolling Road days and different readings with the same operator. So you must think the EVO VI is significantly faster than your car according
to Autocar figures !!.

For me the EVO article journalistic words aside is pretty much in line with my own findings. But one testers preferences are different to anothers.

Jonathan

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

The EVO is faster on paper & feels faster on the road (having driven one recently) - not much but you do notice it in some gears.

Ro

Jonathan

Ro

Cant say I noticed and when my car was in the EVO VI vs STI V article in EVO mag. In the drag race I pulled a lead on the EVO, and that was with Barker driving.

Jonathan

ARRON BIRD

Oh dear it seems I upset DOCJOC!
Believe me i`m not in the buisness to upset ANYBODY.
This thread is going nowhere cos it`s all personal taste.
I do class myself as a reasonably good driver and yes I have driven many different cars,Evo`s Imprezas Skylines 500 bhp Cosworth etc.......
All that can be said has been so i`ll stick to my word and let you all know what I thought of the P1 tomorrow night, but I will have spent most of the day in a brand new R34 V-SPEC.
Regards to you all.

Richard Simpson

As David Yu said in EVO, "There is more than one route to Driving Nirvana"

As long as it doesn't have Gatso's just enjoy the ride.

R

Indy

My God! I've created a monster! :eek thread, that is)

Best leave this to P1 drivers with their own particular thoughts.

Indy!

P.S. Our Evo BBS at

Kevin Tree

Indy,

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!

I DO however, like the looks of the Tommi Makinen Evo 6, the changes to the spot light cowls improves it for me. Maybe the fact that my wife bought me a P1 plate before I ordered the car made me a bit biased, just couldn't see me putting it on an Evo

Kevin

Jonathan

Ro

Check out this months Top Gear. P1 quicker than EVO in back to back.

Both STD cars with same mileage, same driver, same track etc

Jonathan