hoskib

iTrader: (1)

just been reading a few various topics and the same thing keeps popping up, alot of people turn their noses up at them.
i've got a MY99 uk turbo and i'm well happy, driven an sti4+5 recently and wasn't exactly blown away by the difference, certainly not enough to sell mine and buy an import,especially taking into acount the increased insurance/maintenance.
probably gonna start a uk v import slagging match, but come on, it's a turbo impreza, i thought we loved them all?!

my00scooby

iTrader: (1)

Its really a personal preference thing, buying domestic cars would (when bought from a dealer) come with the piece of mind of a Subaru warranty.
But if you are looking for a faster car why spend the money on a UK car, then decat and chip it, losing that precious warranty?
If 220bhp is enough for you stick to the standard UK cars, barring the new age STI's or PPP kits.
Otherwise go for a jap import.

goonasuk

ive no problems with my UK MY99, no problems to speak of, fast enough atm, enjoying it and then will start playing next year

greasemonkey

UK cars aren't "bad" at all, quite the opposite, and there's certainly no general view here that they are.

The only time I can recall people possibly creating the opposite impression was in a recent thread where a well-known troll attempted to slag Impreza Sports, GL's, GX's and so-on for supposedly bot being quick enough to be worth buying.

The resulting comments weren't intended to slate the cars, more make the point that the original poster shouldn't be so quick to criticise when he's hardly got the most potent of Imprezas himself.

hoskib

iTrader: (1)

fair play greasemonkey, not having a pop at all at anyone, we're all entitled to an opinion at the end of the day, maybe i've been reading it wrong.

maxy666

uk or import? well ive got a uk 98 and im happy, can't fault it.

john banks

Things you don't get on most UK cars:

Tough gearboxes
Forged pistons
Decent heads and cams
Big enough fuel injectors
2.5 litre engines
Driver controlled centre differential
Twin scroll manifold and turbo

In comparison, JDM or US models are a modifiers dream.

For a shopping car the UK cars are not bad.

(I have a UK car).

my00scooby

iTrader: (1)

"shopping car"
Now that comment might just start an argument. Run for cover!

pslewis

Uk car verses Import?

No question which offers the best value, its the Uk car - unmodified and with intact Subaru warranty and service history!

You get comments on here like, 'My engine has blown up' 'My clutch has melted' 'Subarus are unreliable' 'They wont pay my warranty claim, just becuase I took it on the track for a day!'

The reason for the above is people spend £1,000's on stuff designed to give their car 600BHP, a 0-62 of 0.8 seconds and a lifespan measured in minutes!!

When will they learn? Take a UK car - line it up with an Import with 350BHP and point them at the nearest town centre ... time them to cover 20 miles in 'normal' traffic on 'normal' roads and see what happens ..................... I'll tell you for free what the result will be:-

Import arrives 20 seconds before UK car!! At a cost of £6000 worth of mods and an engine that now needs an overhaul!!

The UK car, however, covers 100,000miles on the same clutch, brake discs and turbo!!

And which would you say the sensible money goes on? Yes, correct, UK cars hold their value .................. imports, modified cars are worthless in the market place!

All IMHO of course!

Pete

my00scooby

iTrader: (1)

pslewis you make some very valid points, but I have to question one of them.
I have a 00 Classic and only got 40k out of a set of front disks and can't see the clutch lasting for another 60k miles, but all in all what you say is right, the standard UK turbo is enough of a car for 99% of any persons driving time!

scoobynutta555

get a P1 for both worlds, i did

There is a big difference between a std uk car and an import, but the biggest difference u can ever have is driver ability.

pslewis

P1??

And what good is that pulling a caravan? Lugging the dog around with all the camping gear in the back?

Its a 2 door saloon, pretty pointless to my view - but never mind

Pete

pslewis

Oh yes, at 46,000miles I am still on my first set of pads and the discs will need replacing on the second set .... that means the discs will last for about 100,000miles in my hands.

Clutch? well, why shouldn't that last 100,000miles also?

Pete

NelsonUK

I must agree - I now have a MY00 Uk Tub with PPP and bought this having owned a MY93 WRX (well modded)for a year and a half. The power or should I say torque difference is sort of noticeable but not enough for me to consider going back to Jap. The sleepless nights I had over the fuelling/Det and Octane Booster kinda took the enjoyment out of ownership and then the loss in value/ additional insurance cost kind of forced my hand. Don't get me wrong if you are out for pure performance/power then you gotta go Jap but I am very very happy with my Uk Turbo - I was expecting something very slow tbh having perused prev threads but was am still pleasantly surprised by my Tub

scoobynutta555

People who buy P1s dont have caravans.

Keep your sandal shod feet in a UK std car if you have to have a caravan

StickyMicky

there not bad cars, but they are watered down versions of the real thing.

pslewis

The 'REAL THING'?

That will be the Std Impreza UK spec then?

As that is the ONLY real Impreza in the UK - the imports are just poor relations, you try selling one for more than £4:99 and you will get laughed at! They are toys plain and simple!

The UK was graced with a car that would cover huge mileages, at an incredible speed, lasting well into their 100,000miles without fault and some people want to change that?

They then moan that they have an Impreza that is as unreliable as a 1982 'Monday' Metro!!

I must say that the P1, being a UK car, has my vote ..... but its soooooooo pointless?? You can get the better RB5 and have 4-doors PLUS you are allowed to tow what you want! With the P1 it is NO TOWING, ANYTHING!! so that nice Jet-Ski or Speedboat will have to be trailered down to the coast behind your Mondeo! Whats the point of that?

Pete

[Edited by pslewis - 12/9/2003 12:40:56 AM]

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Depends what you mena by "REAL" thing, I've seen WRX classics give power outputs as weedy as 240bhp on the rollers on super unleaded. OK they are fine if you want to go pouring in gallons of octane booster and optimax

I'm far happier sticking to a UK car that can run normal fuel thank you, and I happily get a nice safe 240bhp without the thing detting like crazy (providing my MAF doesn't play funny beggers

OK for a weekend play toy, perhaps I may go the STi route. But I bought a UK car solely because it was more reliable everyday hack. And I was put off Jap imports beacuse of questionable issues over what fuel, dodgy importers/dealers, geniune mileage/Km's where did the service history go etc etc.

Now I now know some of you lot managed to get a service book, but all the cars I looked at when I was looking to buy never had any. Pretty useless to me for a car 6 years old and with 20K Kms on the clock

Only thing I resent is I don't have ellecy folding mirrors

NotoriousREV

My import is coming up to 100,000 on the odometer on it's original turbo and disks (obviously the pads needed replacing, but that was only a year ago) and the clutch will probably outlive the rest of the car.

Sorry, what was your point again, Mr Lewis, I've forgotten?

pslewis

Service books are all in Japanese anyway!!

Its been found that some of the service books belong to tractors!!

Nah, UK cars have PEDIGREE and a proven Service History - worth WADS come resale time!!

Pete

spufus

iTrader: (2)

I've got folding mirrors!



And one of them works!

StickyMicky

my import is worth more then my mates same age uk turbo acording to what people round this way are willing to pay

how do u like them apples

StickyMicky

and it pushed out a touch more then 240bhp on the rolling road, and to be honest

the uk cars came after the jap versions, thereby proving that the uk cars are poor relations to the real fathers of the impreza family

have u finnished with them apples yet

StickyMicky

ok lets all hug and be friends lmao

uk cars are slow, heavy, and boring and dumbed down for the uk, if they were so good why do most owners try to upgrade the power back upto JDM spec

StickyMicky

i stand by my previos statement

they are not bad cars but are watered down versions but i can i also add this

sorry for any confusion lol
i would not buy a early jap car tho

StickyMicky

PMSL

the importer who brought in my car can not bring enough cars fast enough to satisfy demand, and there ALL JAP

i have a waiting list for my own car LOL
the importer even asked me to sell it back to him and do a deal where i get a new one from him and we all make a bit of cash.

scare mongering stories are no longer stopping people from buying the more powerfull jap cars, i have put nearly 12k on my car scince i bught it and in that time i have had a leaking dump valve and a turbo failiure (which was my own fault)

pretty unreliable in my book
it doesnt matter if you have a jap or uk car in my book, if you dont look after it then its going to blow up regardless of its intended market

NACRO

An interesting comparison

I had the chance to "race" an old Jap model WRX (with the large WRX logo on boot)in my UK Wagon with scooby ECU and his car was no faster than mine, he couldn't pull away and if anything I was gaining on him. Does this suggest that without octane boosters the JDM are slow than a well set up UK car? I didn't get chance to ask him if he was using the octane booster but he was going hell for leather on our little sprints that I'm pretty sure of.
What are the differences in times posted on the 1/4 mile for both cars?

pslewis

Why buy a crappy Import when you can now buy a proper UK Impreza?? Ok, when the UK cars couldn't satisfy demand .... BUT now you have a choice!

You had to make do with an Import in the 90's if you wanted an Impreza ............ luckily you can demand the best now and get a UK car

Simple really?

Pete

Bubba po

I've never driven a UK sti which seems to be similar to a jap import "out of the box", but the specs seem to say that the major difference in performance is in the midrange (50-70) acceleration, where you get nearly twice the pick-up. It might make a big difference to motorway driving, which I don't do a lot of, but I wouldn't seek it out for all the extra costs over the standard UK turbo.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Britain has crap roads, crap petrol, crap insurance rates and a crap speed limit!!! why bother importing a 280ps car when the 220ps car you can get in britain is already to fast, to powerful and to expensive to run. Also the brit cars have suspension setup to run on the crap british roads, and the ecu is programmed to run for 100,000 miles on crap 95 ron petrol. Any UK car with a few minor changes is more than a match for an STi anyway. All you JDM STi owners are just being elitist and think your better than anyone else, which is tosh. My eurospec MY00 is more than a match for my mates eurospec STi7. 260kmh on the autobahn is fast enough for me.