craggers

As I am on market for classic Impreza - I am bit unsure wether to go for UK or Jap import car. As far I know Japanese version got more power (bhp) over UK's but is it worth it?

Which one is better?

LG John

I'll tell you on Saturday

A few years back I owned an MY99 classic which I modified to around 270bhp. It was a good and capable car but I always felt it lacked 'something'. The handling was a little loose for my liking and the small TD04 turbo whilst effective at 1.2 bar always felt it lacked real puff.

On saturday I'm due to pick up a MY99 STI-5 running around 320bhp - I'm hoping to find its a completely different animal

My BIG concern though is the number of jap classics that go BANG! The one I'm getting has been mapped for optimax so it will only ever be fed V-power and I'll probably get a few monitoring gauges and what not in there as a little extra protection.

Ryo

Depends on what you want from it, and what 'better' means to you.

If you want cheaper insurance it might be a UK car that is 'better'.

There is no simple answer for your question.

MattW

It's JDM not "Jap" by the way

richie001

iTrader: (3)

jap spec car has better spec then a uk turbo

see here Subaru Impreza FAQ

The Chief

I think the Jap STI's have a stronger bottom end and pistons then the UK Classic. mine went pop (uk car) and i had an STI block fitted.

What i will say dont totally disregard the UK because of the TD04 Turbo - ok it runs out of steam above 5500 rpm but my 270ish Classic makes a great point to point car on twisty roads.

Knowing what i know now though, id by the best import i could and get it remapped straight away for uk fuel.

pslewis

UK Car all the way!!

Yes, tacky Imports are 33% cheaper ....... but, you need to sell it on eventually and to get the MOST buyers after it you MUST have a UK car!

~DrEaM~

and JDMs do 20mpg and Uk car gets above 40mpg according to pslewis

pslewis

Add to that the Insurance costs and the spare parts issues and you simply cannot buy a JDM Impreza!!

Not these days ... why settle for second best when a UK car is there for the taking and owning?

The Chief

Ok but you must admit Pete especially with the newer JDM's you get a much better car i.e. twin scroll turbo, all the toys - and rear wiper - Wooo

LG John

I agree - even at crail I was keeping a TD05+FMIC honest due to the losses in lag on changes. He had to crank the boost right up to get away in the final few runs. Down a country road a TD04 at 270bhp is pretty bloody effective but I always felt I wanted a little more and that it couldn't deliver. I'm hoping the VF28 at 1.25 bar can deliver that extra top end kick that I felt my uk classic lacked. I can say that when I was passenger in a P1 it certainly felt stronger from 4000rpm up than my TDO4 even though in real world terms they would accelerate at the same rate.

craggers

What do JDM stand for? I am a bit

As for insurance - UK's is only little bit cheaper than JDM one hence my thought of possibly getting JDM's over UK's.

The Chief

Japanese Domestic Market

MattW

Japanese Domestic Market

edit Snap

LG John

When I had my UK car a few years back the apparent general opinion on here was that the JDM cars were better and that UK owners were taking the safe easy option. Remember at this time the buyeye had only just come out.

Now it's my opinion that the apparent general opinion is that classic UK cars are the safest, easy option and that JDM's are a recepit for disaster.

Fundamentally therefore opinion has not changed but simply the UK cars have stood the test of time better. For this reason I'd say that if you buy a JDM you'll have to be very particular to ensure you get an excellent well cared for example as not servicing them correctly or running them on the wrong fuel will lead to problems. You could probably run a UK car on 95 ron, cooking oil and 15,000 miles before services without a problem

craggers

As far I can see the standard UK is running at 208bhp and JDM at 271bhp which is huge jump of power.

Is this true?

LG John

Depends on the version of UK car and the version of jap. Early UK cars were 208bhp. Then moved to 215bhp in around 98/99 (can't remember exactly).

I'm sure some early jap classics had something in the order of 240bhp, then 260bhp and then 276bhp.

When I turned my attention to jap classics I searched for STI 5/6 (phase 2 engine) and would have considered all varients (Type R, RA, V-limited and special editions). That's not to say older cars are bad - I just prefered a non-slapper phase 2 engine (thus ruling out 1998 cars) and I hate the old interior (thus ruling out <1997 cars). You pays yer money, etc

Unfortunately I can't comment on the differences in feel and drive until next week as whilst I've been in loads of JDM's I've not actually driven any and all the ones I've been in have been modded to ****

scoobie_eccosse

yea this is true i own a jdm my94 impreza wagon a tommy kiara edition and i would not go back to a uk spec she has more grunt and is alot lot quicker also it is easy to get parts i got to my main dealer and they get them for me and they is cheaper than getting parts for a uk spec model

pippyrips

do a search.

My insurance is considerably less on my 350bhp JDM sti than my uk wrx! - even with all mods declared.

JDM all the way - less for more!

scoobie_eccosse

yea ur right i even got a cheaper insurance on ma jdm as well 700 cheaper

Sweepickit

This has always baffled me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm guessing all Subaru imprezas are made in a factory in Japan. They are then specced to different levels and moved to whichever market they are destined, be it Domestic, UK, US, Australia, EU etc. So when does this car all of a sudden become lesser than one that went to a different country?

As far as JDM cars go, the fact that they are limited to 112mph (180km/h?) means that the engine problems associated with very high speeds and air-flow into the intercooler are less. You get A/C, rear wash wipe, folding mirrors and more BHP. How is that inferior to a UK car?

Whether a car has been ragged to bits in the UK, Japan or anywhere else it will still be ragged to bits, surely. So why are some people on here so anti jdm imports?

scoobie_eccosse

the jdm's are restricted due to jap law and its only a gentlemans agreement and ive had no problems wi ma jdm engine wise or mechanical wise as where ma uk was a piece off crap

myblackwrx

iTrader: (1)

Because they lower the residuals on their uk versions

92typeRA

JDM

myblackwrx

iTrader: (1)

as saxo boy said run imports on 95 ron and you will get trouble but since we have 97-99 ron fuels there is no trouble.
If you are going to buy a scooby (UK or JDM) i think it would be best to buy an unmodified one or one without any serious mods as i think its best to mod the car for yourself then you know whats been done and not rely on someone saying its been done.

Sweepickit

or just less toys/performance...

myblackwrx

iTrader: (1)

True i think if they released the classic STIs over here there would never have been a big import market.

Clubbi

I have had 3 x UK turbos (a Catalunya and 2 x Turbo 2000's), a Euro Import STi and a JDM Import STi. I think the problem a lot of folks have had with imports is down to them either not being remapped for UK fuel and been run on Standard unleaded. Thats what causes them to go pop usually and where the horror stories come from.

I took advice, and my JDM STi hasnt gone wrong at all. The JDM classics WRX and STis have completely different engine blocks and I dont think a standard classic WRX will run less than 240 bhp. They also tend to have a higher spec than the equivalent MY UK Car.

I thought owning a JDM car would be scarey, I thought owning a Euro import was dodgy but at the end of the day they are all made in the same place, and as long as they are looked after properly (regular oil change + boost guage and Knocklink fitted if modded) then its not a huge gamble IMHO.

Its more car for the money I reckon.

1168

what a load of crap!the jdm is far better than uk spec,and ive never had a problem getting parts.

EddScott

Regarding classics only.

Theres no point buying a JDM WRX. Prices are on a par with UK cars and the performance difference isn't as big as some would have you believe - most UK cars have been remapped to higher BHP and JDM BHP figures are quoted on JDM fuel which is more potent than ours.

The extra bits JDM cars (rear wiper and foldy mirrors) aren't the end of the world and can easily be fitted to UK cars for a few quid.

Unless your after a specific model you couldn't get in this country, stick to a UK car.