RE: Subaru Impreza Turbo: Spotted

[Guvernator]

Shotaro said:

I have a completely standard Turbo 2000 wagon, it was in great condition until February when an old boy in a left-turn-only lane decided to go straight ahead and drove in to the side of it. Gutting

I'm usually not a fan of fast estates but they seem to have quite a following on PH and I'd probably make an exception for one of these.



Subaru doing fast estates properly and before they became so popular too.

[SuperchargedVR6]

nicfaz said:

Great cars. 215bhp doesn't sound like much, but they don't weigh much and have total traction - mine felt pretty fast! They also have that old fashioned turbo rush that makes them feel faster than they actually are. Had to sell mine because the seat had no lumbar and it was crippling me, but fond memories.

I drove one in 2001 and it's still a memorable driving experience today. Supple ride, tons of traction and grip and that charismatic exhaust note! It's a classic without a doubt.

[trickywoo]

I had one - shat the big end bearing on number 3 after 50k miles. Very common failure due to detonation caused by poor design of the fuel rail. That and rust guarantees I'll never own another.

[Lefty]

Guvernator said:

The current trend for uber hot hatches seem to have pretty much killed off the rally rep but these original Subaru's got so many things so right. Light, especially compared to modern cars at around 1200kgs, genuine 4 seat practicality, great suspension which made them handle like they were on rails while still having enough suspension travel and compliance to handle anything our crap UK roads could throw at them. OK they tended towards understeer in standard form but this was very easily fixed.

Best of all a 2 litre turbo engine that was actually exciting to drive, great thump in the back shove, that lovely burble and in STi form, able to rev to over 8krpm. It has character that modern turbo lumps can only dream of.

My pick of the bunch would be a late P1 or the Japanese import Type R because I am a sucker for the two door model as I just think it looks a bit more special plus they come with a few extra trick bits that you don't get on the normal ones but they are at least twice the price of this 4 door. I had a Type R many moons ago and I still miss it.

Indeed. To get some market share back Subaru need to be doing it faster and cheaper than the equivalent. These days that probably means 350bhp and a monthly pcp of £300.

I love GC8 Imprezas, had a couple (including a p1) and a good one is still a lovely thing to drive.

[trails]

Prohibiting said:

I've owned mine for approx. 2 years. Completely standard bar the Prodrive dealer upgrade exhaust and never been remapped- running the standard 215bhp. But the car only weighs 1240kg and with AWD traction it can get to 0-60 in 5.5-6 seconds, seriously. In the wet it'll beat most modern hot hatches off the line if you're into that stuff. My funniest moment was a young lad in his new GTI golf giving his car some revs at the lights obviously wanting to race and looking over to me. Needless to say I held the revs at 5000 and dropped the clutch and off I shot.... I'll always remember his funny face when we pulled up at the next set of lights. Beaten by a 17 year old saloon!

I had considered getting mine remapped as they'll make 280bhp with a sports cat, fuel pump and filter but I decided against it as I want to enjoy the car as it was intended. God knows why chavs want to ruin them as they look and drive right just the way they are.

All in all the turbo 2000 is a truely fantastic car and I disagree with expensive servicing. It's cheap to service, hardly anything goes wrong and a lot of items you can change yourself.

I've got a readers thread too.

Edited by Prohibiting on Tuesday 20th December 11:23

Remap makes a huge difference, as does an uprated rear ARB...closer to the JDM spec sti, you should drive one and and feel the difference.

Opted out of my company car scheme in 2003 with the intention of buying a new blobeye wagon, drove it and was gutted because it was terrible Drove a classic the dealer also had and I was hooked...owned mine for 14 years now.

[ArmaghMan]

Had the last one of these to be registered in N.I
Absolutely standard. Did nearly 50000 miles in it over 2 years. Absolute hoot to drive when you wanted to have fun, not nearly as much fun on a boring motorway slog.
Sadly it now sits in a garage near where I used to work. Looks like somebody's started to work on it but run out of either funds or time.
Sadly it has been well and truly "modified " , and would to my uneducated eyes take thousands to put back to original.
If I scoop the Euromillions.............

[ShuthanVtec]

Prohibiting said:

I've owned mine for approx. 2 years. Completely standard bar the Prodrive dealer upgrade exhaust and never been remapped- running the standard 215bhp. But the car only weighs 1240kg and with AWD traction it can get to 0-60 in 5.5-6 seconds, seriously. In the wet it'll beat most modern hot hatches off the line if you're into that stuff. My funniest moment was a young lad in his new GTI golf giving his car some revs at the lights obviously wanting to race and looking over to me. Needless to say I held the revs at 5000 and dropped the clutch and off I shot.... I'll always remember his funny face when we pulled up at the next set of lights. Beaten by a 17 year old saloon!

I had considered getting mine remapped as they'll make 280bhp with a sports cat, fuel pump and filter but I decided against it as I want to enjoy the car as it was intended. God knows why chavs want to ruin them as they look and drive right just the way they are.

All in all the turbo 2000 is a truely fantastic car and I disagree with expensive servicing. It's cheap to service, hardly anything goes wrong and a lot of items you can change yourself.

I've got a readers thread too.

Edited by Prohibiting on Tuesday 20th December 11:23

When it comes to these sort of cars, I am glad there are examples like this, they don't really need much doing out the box, enjoy them as they were designed IMO. Your one looks really nice by the way.

My Accord Type-R is standard but an exhaust despite it being slightly modified before, and have to say, I enjoy it more now it is stock.

Edited by ShuthanVtec on Tuesday 20th December 12:41

Edited by ShuthanVtec on Tuesday 20th December 21:14

[freeform]

Leins said:

How does the early 90s Legacy Turbo compare to these? It seemed to get largely forgotten as soon as the Impreza came on the scene

I had a '92 saloon form about 1996 to 2010. At the time I bought it, nobody knew what it was, people had not even woken up to the Impreza. The Escort RS and Integrale were still getting all the lust!

At the time, I thought it was pretty fast and it was a good Q-car. I liked that it never got any unwanted attention but was sometimes recognised by Subaru fans. I really liked the character of the car.

I eventually sold it for a couple of hundred and the new owner spent quite a bit on it.

[TartanPaint]

My dad has a standard 2000 turbo wagon in mica red. He bought it new, dailied it for years, and still uses it occasionally. It has done 140k, has had a bit of welding and a few resprays over the years, but it looks mint. He'll never sell it. The last bill for "keeping it fresh" was about twice its market value.

[ShaneBarnard]

Had my 99 Turbo 2000 for 4 years now, currently on 71k with PPP, uprated rear ARB and optional 17" Speedlines. Nearly sold it earlier this year to fund a house move, really happy I didn't have to let her go in the end.

[Leins]

MDMA . said:

s m said:

Leins said:

How does the early 90s Legacy Turbo compare to these? It seemed to get largely forgotten as soon as the Impreza came on the scene

Bigger and slower

unless you got a Legacy RS type RA

http://www.uklegacy.com/forums/index.php/topic/126...

Interesting, not heard of one of those before, only the standard turbo model

freeform said:

I had a '92 saloon form about 1996 to 2010. At the time I bought it, nobody knew what it was, people had not even woken up to the Impreza. The Escort RS and Integrale were still getting all the lust!

At the time, I thought it was pretty fast and it was a good Q-car. I liked that it never got any unwanted attention but was sometimes recognised by Subaru fans. I really liked the character of the car.

I eventually sold it for a couple of hundred and the new owner spent quite a bit on it.

That's what sort of made me wonder, as when people think of early 90s rally reps it's usually Cosworths, Quattros & Integrales they seem to think of, or from Japan the likes of Celica GT4s or Sunny GTiRs. The Legacy seems to be up there with them in terms of rally heritage and power (almost), and yet seems to be nearly forgotten

[ingrowtn]

trickywoo said:

I had one - shat the big end bearing on number 3 after 50k miles. Very common failure due to detonation caused by poor design of the fuel rail. That and rust guarantees I'll never own another.

Totally not my experience. My Turbo2000 was totally standard, bought on 75k miles and sold on 170k miles. Never used a drop of oil or water and pulled like a train; broke down once in 3 years with the common fuel pump failure. It lived outside all year round. Had the usual rusty rear arches fixed properly when I bought it and then a liberal waxoyl treatment meant no other rust problems. Brilliant car. Servicing not too bad, the only (what I'd call) expensive maintenance were the cambelt changes; since I'm not handy with the spanners these were just planned in advance.

Shame I'm not flush with funds right now or I'd buy that; regretted selling mine from the day after it went.

[hondansx]

Well, any kind of hot Legacy was an import so understandably didn't get much media attention and awareness as result. We're also assuming they are any good; just because the Impreza was, doesn't mean the Legacy was!

I can't ever imagine being 'under the radar' in an Impreza though! I remember every issue of Performance Car and EVO in the early days was some kind of Impreza vs Evo battle. With the addition of Gran Turismo knowledge, i knew exactly what they were capable of.

As a kid of 17-18 paying £3,000 for insurance on a 1.2 Clio, owning one was a pipe dream. And by the time i got old enough and had the money, the Impreza 'thing' had been over for some time.

[s m]

hondansx said:

Well, any kind of hot Legacy was an import so understandably didn't get much media attention and awareness as result. We're also assuming they are any good; just because the Impreza was, doesn't mean the Legacy was!

The normal Legacy Turbo ( 2oo bhp ) was a UK model. That was still pretty 'hot' in 1992

[MDMA .]

ShaneBarnard said:

Had my 99 Turbo 2000 for 4 years now, currently on 71k with PPP, uprated rear ARB and optional 17" Speedlines. Nearly sold it earlier this year to fund a house move, really happy I didn't have to let her go in the end.

happy to go out on a limb and say red really suits the impreza. yours looks stunning. would have that off you no problem

[s m]

They seemed to constantly revise them over the years

I remember the early Uk 94 cars seemed to be a fair bit slower, both off the mark and in-gear, when road tested

By the late 90s they were road rockets, esp the imports

[ShaneBarnard]

MDMA . said:

happy to go out on a limb and say red really suits the impreza. yours looks stunning. would have that off you no problem

Thanks, wasn't looking for a red one at the time although always liked the Mica red mentioned above, certainly makes a change from all the blue and silver ones. Someone spent a lot of money on it when they ordered it as it has dealer fitted grey leather (the UK upholsters name is on a tag under the front seats) and a glass sunroof, think the factory option versions had 2 tone leather (black and body colour) and either metal sunroof or air con and not both. I've spent some money on it, all the bubbly arches were cut out and replaced with new steel along with the rear sills and jacking points, rust is a real issue on UK cars and JDM ones if they've been in this country a while however well they've been looked after, even some of the newage ones are starting to go on the rear arches and I've seen a few people looking for front subframes as they've started to go.

[Niffty951]

Fantastic timing. Thank you. I bought an original (barring the usual sports exhaust) 1996 Import Sti V3 from a friend earlier this year that he had kept off the road for 10 years. I've been restoring it slowly throughout the year replacing tyres, brakes, fuel pump etc and just got it through an MOT this week the tester made a particular note to mention how surprisingly 'rot free' it was. He also commented, as mentioned here there are a lot of rotten ones around now.



It'll never be a museum piece/concours car but it feels like a good week of news. Keep an eye out on the classifieds if interested, I'll be putting it up for sale in a few months when the weather improves.

Edited by Niffty951 on Tuesday 20th December 15:11

[lcs_turbo]

ShaneBarnard said:

Had my 99 Turbo 2000 for 4 years now, currently on 71k with PPP, uprated rear ARB and optional 17" Speedlines. Nearly sold it earlier this year to fund a house move, really happy I didn't have to let her go in the end.

I think I nearly bought this exact car 5-6 years ago! T252 xxx?

Had a couple since - this is my current project. Been off the road since I bought it last August- hopefully get round to fixing it up in the summer.

[FN2TypeR]

Guvernator said:

Shotaro said:

I have a completely standard Turbo 2000 wagon, it was in great condition until February when an old boy in a left-turn-only lane decided to go straight ahead and drove in to the side of it. Gutting

I'm usually not a fan of fast estates but they seem to have quite a following on PH and I'd probably make an exception for one of these.



Subaru doing fast estates properly and before they became so popular too.

That's awesome IMO.