RE: Subaru WRX STI: PH Fleet

RE: Subaru WRX STI: PH Fleet

Thursday 16th April 2015

Subaru WRX STI: PH Fleet

One German rival seen off; another more formidable one has now joined the PH Fleet



The NotImpreza has certainly been working for its supper of late. The inevitable comparisons with our recently delivered Golf R will happen in due course but first up it faced up to the closely related Audi S3 saloon.

On-track battle revealing of Subaru's pace
On-track battle revealing of Subaru's pace
The homepage story off the back of that attracted an awful lot of comment, much of it highly entertaining. Those who still believe in the Subaru dream are as passionate as ever; those who've 'grown up' and realised they can achieve pretty much the same ends behind a more mature looking Audi badge equally eager to declare their love for their cars.

I really enjoyed reading through the 200-odd comments and hearing both sides of the story. PHer WokkaWokka typifies the kind of person I would consider a traditional Impreza customer won over by the charms of the Audi. "I regularly thrash the fk out of mine on North Yorkshire roads," he says, heading off the predictable jibes by concluding, "I don't imagine everyone who says it's boring lives with four strippers and snorts cocaine for breakfast." On the other side MyEvilTwin asked us to imagine the scene at a petrol station when someone wanders over and asks about your car. "Subaru: 'Nice car, bet it shifts a bit.' Audi: 'Nice car, is it a diesel? What mpg are you getting?'" Plenty more like that within the thread too - take a look if you haven't already. The video that featured in our PHTV episode 7 is now available to view as a standalone too - see here.

Fun on the track; this remains its domain
Fun on the track; this remains its domain
For what it's worth I enjoyed the Audi a lot more than I expected and was impressed with its abilities. I much prefer it to the Golf R too, which is odd given it's mechanically pretty much identical. Whether it's the addition of the boot or just the fact it's nearly as quick but doesn't shout so loud about it the S3 has the feel of a real sleeper about it. I'm determined to spend some more time in the Golf though, if only to see if it really does live up to the at times deafening hype.

I remain loyal to my Subaru fanboy roots though. Even if I have to concede one stereotypical failing in comparison with the Germans. Generally I'm not as offended by the cabin as some but when the aux/USB sockets came adrift and disappeared into the centre binnacle it seemed to confirm the assumptions about plasticky Japanese interiors. First time it happened I unscrewed the casing, skinned my knuckles fishing about within and managed to reattach it. Returning from a stint with a colleague I was dismayed to find it had once again disappeared into the depths. Bah!

Audi and VW fans, I grant you a small degree of uber alles smugness...


Germany Vs Japan 2   


FACT SHEET
Car:
 2014 Subaru WRX STI
Run by: Dan
On fleet since: December 2014
Mileage: More!
List price new: £28,995 (£30,007 as tested including £1,012 for Pioneer touchscreen navigation unit; c. £75 fitting charge applicable but varies according to dealership)
Last month at a glance: Have the Germans really stolen Subaru's thunder?

Previous updates:
New arrival - the NotImpreza has landed!
Rusty nail plays Scrooge over a white Christmas
Four wheels back on his wagon, Dan's having fun
Busy month for the Subaru in first of showdowns against German rivals

   


   
   

Track photos: Terry Oborne

Author
Discussion

Neil_M

Original Poster:

694 posts

183 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
A nice balanced article Dan, great to see as these threads are usually just full of bias!

Videos required for the car of course biggrin!

Edited by Neil_M on Thursday 16th April 14:19

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
The front end on that Impreza is just marvellous. It looks fantastic. They have such s presence on the road too, I saw a blue one recently that stuck out from a mile away, thrute magnificent.

AdamBingley

15 posts

143 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
why do you dislike the Golf Dan?

Mafffew

2,149 posts

110 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
I saw the PH one, on the M25 a fair few weeks ago. It does stand out against the rest of boring Audis/Mercs/BMWs etc. Fantastic looking thing I think, definitely on my list for next car!

Axionknight

8,505 posts

134 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
I need to stop reading and watching these before I end up at the Subaru dealer with my wallet in hand.

Heck, it's my 27th birthday on Sunday, I may go for a look! silly

Dan Trent

1,866 posts

167 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
AdamBingley said:
why do you dislike the Golf Dan?
I have to qualify it by saying I *still* haven't had a chance to go on a proper drive in it yet so my observations are based on commuting and normal trundling about. Number one is the fake noise though; superficial but it'd be a deal breaker for me. More fundamental is the fact it completely desensitises its ability to go extremely fast. If I'm going that rapidly I want an equivalent increase in pulse rate/sensory gratification/whatever.

Like I say, I haven't had opportunity to drive it in a way hidden depths may emerge so I'll reserve judgement until that happens. But on first impressions it's left me entirely cold. A great product though, no doubt about that - looks ace, feelgood factors galore, incredibly accomplished and extremely rapid. Just hasn't lit the fire in me yet!

Cheers!

Dan

Axionknight

8,505 posts

134 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
Dan Trent said:
I have to qualify it by saying I *still* haven't had a chance to go on a proper drive in it yet so my observations are based on commuting and normal trundling about. Number one is the fake noise though; superficial but it'd be a deal breaker for me. More fundamental is the fact it completely desensitises its ability to go extremely fast. If I'm going that rapidly I want an equivalent increase in pulse rate/sensory gratification/whatever.

Like I say, I haven't had opportunity to drive it in a way hidden depths may emerge so I'll reserve judgement until that happens. But on first impressions it's left me entirely cold. A great product though, no doubt about that - looks ace, feelgood factors galore, incredibly accomplished and extremely rapid. Just hasn't lit the fire in me yet!

Cheers!

Dan
Wrong answer.

mnx42

215 posts

162 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
There's a black Scooby like this in WGC where I work and to my eyes it looks brilliant. It sits nicely and in all black looks quite menacing..... one cool car.

TheFinners

543 posts

126 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
Axionknight said:
Wrong answer.
How can an opinion be a wrong answer?

Axionknight

8,505 posts

134 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
TheFinners said:
How can an opinion be a wrong answer?
Easily when you're talking about a Golf R looking awesome, he was answering a question for what it is worth jester

KM666

1,757 posts

182 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
Do the A3 and Golf display the text 'mellow out or you will pay' when you fire them up or something?

WokkaWokka

698 posts

138 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
Thank you for using my comment in the article Dan! laugh

tonyb1968

1,156 posts

145 months

Friday 17th April 2015
quotequote all
I have owned 4 Subaru Impreza's between 2000 and 2014, 2 of which were new and 3 were JDM (2 twin scroll).
I loved the cars i owned, not the cheapest things to run with high service costs and parts (if you can get parts that is), but a great performance car for the money.
But since they introduced the EJ25 engine and its issues that (still) comes with it, a lot of die hard owners have moved away from the marque.
Already one 2015 car has let go, mainly due to the owner running it on 95 ron fuel, but still, it sits in the back of your mind, how reliable is my car and why does it only get a 3 year warranty when the others in the range get 5.

I am not a great VW/Audi lover either as I think the marque is over hyped for what you get, still you cannot argue that they are giving the customers what they want.

I also dont understand why manufacturers are making cars with so many driver "gadgets" in these cars, evo drive, sports mode, comfort mode, exhaust sound, so by the time you set your car up its time for tea.
Sometimes I wish the likes of Subaru would go back to their roots and just build a good drivers car (ok we have the BRZ) and forget about the fancy aids you can set up, eco mode is how softly you feather the throttle, sports mode how hard you put your foot down, maybe this is why I went back to Peugeot and ended up with an RCZ R and not regretted the move from Subaru since.

mackie1

8,153 posts

232 months

Friday 17th April 2015
quotequote all
Just doesn't look right to me. To tall and narrow looking to really look aggressive. It's got a Barry'd 90s Hyundai feel to it. I'm sure it's great to drive though.

RB5Bird

502 posts

194 months

Friday 17th April 2015
quotequote all
What kind of Muppet runs a 2015 on 95RON?

Any more news on this?

Ali_T

3,379 posts

256 months

Friday 17th April 2015
quotequote all
tonyb1968 said:
But since they introduced the EJ25 engine and its issues that (still) comes with it, a lot of die hard owners have moved away from the marque.
Already one 2015 car has let go, mainly due to the owner running it on 95 ron fuel, but still, it sits in the back of yomod, how reliable is my car and why does it only get a 3 year warranty when the others in the range get 5.
Pretty much this. I would be on my 3rd STI by now if my 330S hadn't joined the lunched engine club and Subaru been so difficult to have it fixed. Bring on the turbo FB20.

tonyb1968

1,156 posts

145 months

Saturday 18th April 2015
quotequote all
RB5Bird said:
What kind of Muppet runs a 2015 on 95RON?

Any more news on this?
Yes, he's gone off to have 13k spent on the car to get it up to 450bhp, totally unbeliveable that someone can be that stupid, spend 29k on a car and run it on unleaded fuel (it even tells you to run it on a minimum of 97 ron), then blame the dealer, then totally invalidate the warranty and go throw 13k at it to get it up to 450bhp... that is straight into GT-R money and a better car.

There is a little more to it also but it does make the owner look completely incompetent/gullible tbh.

lucky5trike

37 posts

110 months

Saturday 18th April 2015
quotequote all
tonyb1968 said:
Yes, he's gone off to have 13k spent on the car to get it up to 450bhp, totally unbeliveable that someone can be that stupid, spend 29k on a car and run it on unleaded fuel (it even tells you to run it on a minimum of 97 ron), then blame the dealer, then totally invalidate the warranty and go throw 13k at it to get it up to 450bhp... that is straight into GT-R money and a better car.

There is a little more to it also but it does make the owner look completely incompetent/gullible tbh.
Actually, that's not quite true regarding the recommended '97 RON' bit.

It tells you to run on 98 RON fuel. I queried that with the dealer I purchased mine from as I personally know that BP Ultimate is 97 RON and therefore would that technically invalidate any warranty issues from Subaru; to which they replied "nah, it'll be fine".

I only ever use Shell V-Power in mine, and would only resort to BP Ultimate if ever caught short!

smile