RE: Impreza STI vs Evo V: Foes Reunited

[bordercontrol]

I have always been a Subaru man but buying a house meant that my '98 STI Type-RA had to go about 18 months ago.

I can honestly say it was the best car i have ever driven.

And i would have posted some photos but Flickr doesn't seem to want to allow me to embed on the forum.

[GravelBen]

bordercontrol said:

I have always been a Subaru man but buying a house meant that my '98 STI Type-RA had to go about 18 months ago.

I can honestly say it was the best car i have ever driven.

And i would have posted some photos but Flickr doesn't seem to want to allow me to embed on the forum.

I've come close to buying Ver.2 STi-RA Ltds a couple of times, but keeping being practical and buying Legacies instead!

Flickr have kinda hidden the embed links with their latest 'update' - click the square-with-arrow symbol, then the pin symbol, select image size to embed and then it highlights the link for you to copy. Its a bit retarded!

[Alfa159Ti]

CHIEF said:

Even in the dry Scoobies can sometimes suffer from a lack of grip.



This was on a run out in Yorkshire a few years back.

Fun, oh yeah.

Just nearly sprayed coffee all over my keyboard and monitor warranting concerned looks from colleagues!

[johnmacdonald]

In your write up you describe the Impreza as an in line four. All five of our wonderful Imprezas owned since 1998 have been flat fours!!!!

[yellowstreak]

I have yet to drive an EVO, but its the one I would like now as a weekend car.

All the comparisons now are pretty useless. I would never leave any of these cars standard for very long, the Subaru engines especially respond so well to minor breathing modifications and a remap.

[iloveboost]

Ved said:

Many don't have 50/50 but it can adopt that upon conditions. The DCCD can add more slip on the centre diff to push more torque to the rear but it'll only happen when needed or forced to lock.

I thought the same as you for years but found out I was wrong.
Apart from the 2005 onwards 'hawkeye' Sti until now, which is 41/59, every WRX, STi and EVO is 50/50 front to rear. The DCCD/ACD can only unlock from 50/50 and shift more power to the front tyres. It's the LSDs, and AYC on the EVO, that reduce understeer or increase oversteer.

[Ved]

iloveboost said:

Ved said:

Many don't have 50/50 but it can adopt that upon conditions. The DCCD can add more slip on the centre diff to push more torque to the rear but it'll only happen when needed or forced to lock.

I thought the same as you for years but found out I was wrong.
Apart from the 2005 onwards 'hawkeye' Sti until now, which is 41/59, every WRX, STi and EVO is 50/50 front to rear. The DCCD/ACD can only unlock from 50/50 and shift more power to the front tyres. It's the LSDs, and AYC on the EVO, that reduce understeer or increase oversteer.

Can I see your source please as there's so much differing info out there (no pun intended. I think you may have that wrong but I'm happy to be corrected. If we're talking mechanical CDs then yes it would be 50/50 as it can't really do anything but until it has to release but the default for the DCCDs was 59 to the rear (with a few changes per revision) which was my understanding and how it was written up on my Hawkeye and I believe this was also the case in the UK for the 04 WR1 and widetrack Blobeyes. I'm not sure you can send more than 50% to the front though so I'd like to know more about that claim. It should be a rearward push with DCCD in anything other than fully locked as far as I know when I owned mine.

Edited by Ved on Thursday 17th April 15:50

Edited by Ved on Thursday 17th April 15:50

[bordercontrol]

GravelBen said:

I've come close to buying Ver.2 STi-RA Ltds a couple of times, but keeping being practical and buying Legacies instead!

Flickr have kinda hidden the embed links with their latest 'update' - click the square-with-arrow symbol, then the pin symbol, select image size to embed and then it highlights the link for you to copy. Its a bit retarded!

To be honest, the next car I am looking for is a Forester because of practicality reasons.

Anyway, thanks for the Flickr tip......

DSC_0007 by IMGPhotography, on Flickr

DSC_0063 by IMGPhotography, on Flickr

DSC_0037 by IMGPhotography, on Flickr

[bonesX]

FORESTER:

Yeah, I have the STi version and have to say it is the 'better all round car' than the Impreza, but I also own a Type R 330 BHP Impreza which is the most fun :-)

UNDERSTEER:

Factory set for safety. Thicker rear arb eliminates ALL understeer, improves rotational balance and trims the handling generally. A mod most Impreza owners make

[Hol]

I got my first Type R mpreza off of the back of that original article in 1998.
Exactly the same colour, in fact.

I let the mag go with the car.







Incidentally, I have had two Foresters as daily runners now and they are the perfect Q car.

Although, I prefer the Leather and toys of the Xten.

[bonesX]

Impressive

You've obviously got Subaru engraved on your heart too

[Hol]

The Impreza in the garage was Bob Rawles old car.





I count myself as fortunate to get into ownership early, when people still thought they were special and kids parents would ask if they could sit inside.

Sadly, both scoob sand EVO's have gone the same way as the Cossie.

[mfnick]

Ved said:

Good looking car you have there too! Same as mine by the look of it too. You should put a readers cars post together to show it off a little more

Thanks! I would but I don't think it really compares to the incredible metal and projects that make up most of the readers cars section. Although I love it, it's a bit boring compared to those examples haha.

@Bones - I was about to make the same comment about understeer. There's a surprising amount of comments here about that being a problem. But as you say a different ARB eliminates it. You can get rid of it in other ways too. I've still got standard ARB's but it does have Coilovers and it has had the geometry set up differently to standard. I've got no understeer at all. In fact I have to be careful about the back end slipping when really pushing on.

[Fruitcake]

My 2.1 stroker 1998 V4 Type R

[RSgeoff]

I've had 1 Scooby and 14 Evo's since 1999. Back then they were superb with 300bhp when most hot hatches / coupes etc were 200bhp at most.

Unfortunately the few harsh winters we had a few years back have killed them with all the salt on the roads and most of them are rot boxes now &/or have been thrashed and ruined / over modded.

Would still love another mint, std V or VI but they are so rare now. Took a long time but the other manufacturers have now caught up and everyone sees a hot hatch as having this same power level now.

VW / Audi and Merc have now move into this vacant space.

[goldblum]

I don't know why Japan doesn't start producing rice rockets again - a superlight rally rep with a V8 might be fun.

[GravelBen]

iloveboost said:

I thought the same as you for years but found out I was wrong.
Apart from the 2005 onwards 'hawkeye' Sti until now, which is 41/59, every WRX, STi and EVO is 50/50 front to rear. The DCCD/ACD can only unlock from 50/50 and shift more power to the front tyres. It's the LSDs, and AYC on the EVO, that reduce understeer or increase oversteer.

I'm afraid you were right the first time - I used to have a copy of an original owners manual from an STi Type-R or RA Impreza, it stated very clearly that with the DCCD set to open the static torque split is 64R:36F. AFAIK all the viscous centre diff versions are 50:50 though.



As you gradually lock the centre diff the effective torque split gets a bit more variable depending on traction etc - at full lockup you can have an effective 100:0 or 0:100 torque split as the front and rear axles are forced to rotate at the same speed.

IIRC the owners manual also said that you should not adjust the DCCD while the car is airborne.

Edited by GravelBen on Friday 18th April 01:33

[LancerG]

Love my EVO 8MR - best of the bunch for performance, if not the original looks and they are a bit popular by historic 5 6 standards. But the performance !
400hp and 400lb/ft without forged internals is quite unbeleivable.

A mate has just mapped his GTR to 620hp and its a little quicker in a straight line, but thats about it.

I just cant find anything to replace it with !

[iloveboost]

Ved said:

Can I see your source please as there's so much differing info out there (no pun intended. I think you may have that wrong but I'm happy to be corrected. If we're talking mechanical CDs then yes it would be 50/50 as it can't really do anything but until it has to release but the default for the DCCDs was 59 to the rear (with a few changes per revision) which was my understanding and how it was written up on my Hawkeye and I believe this was also the case in the UK for the 04 WR1 and widetrack Blobeyes. I'm not sure you can send more than 50% to the front though so I'd like to know more about that claim. It should be a rearward push with DCCD in anything other than fully locked as far as I know when I owned mine.

Edited by Ved on Thursday 17th April 15:50

Edited by Ved on Thursday 17th April 15:50

I understand your concerns as the internet is full of misinformation it's one reason I'm always cautious to phrase my speech on here! You'll have to just trust me but I'm sure that every Impreza up to the 'Hawkeye', including all the DCCD ones, is constant 50/50. Apparently they all use a viscous diff which is essentially like an early mechanical pump haldex system in operation and is used by many other cars that were converted from FWD/RWD to AWD for the top performing model. This is the reason they can never put more than 50% of the power to the rear tyres. People get confused because the DCCD can 'unlock' and put more constant power to the front tyres but not the rear ones and also because, like you said, from your Sti 'hawkeye' onwards it is 41/59 and puts more power to the rear tyres. I'm not an expert but I think it's a common myth that any other EVO/Impreza models put more power to the rear tyres.

[GravelBen]

iloveboost said:

I'm not an expert

You can say that again! If you're worried about the internet being full of misinformation then stop spreading it.