RE: Subaru Impreza Turbo: Spotted
Discussion
Owned 2 Impreza's, a mint, low-miles V reg 'Classic', and a mint, low-miles WR1.
The Classic I loved for its lightness and ability to cover ground very quickly at a time when you needed to spend 50%+ more on a car that could be as capable, and the WR1 for its extra power and the DCCD. The DCCD was either left in its Auto mode, or dialled to the rear, making the car come alive.
My longest-standing friend recently rocked up to chez-moi in a 1994 WRX type RA V-Limited, in pretty much mint condition and for which he paid under £4K. £4K! And for that he gets all the fun of the fair.
Unfortunately it has set me off scouring the relevant forums for a similar bolide, but those in the lower reaches of affordability seem to have been to the moon and back, have rear arches like slices of Leerdammer, or have a list of mot 'advisories' that seem to have been lifted from the exam to become an MOT tester..
Overall, my choice would be a standard'Classic' Turbo, but how much would I really be prepared to pay for a low miles, FSH car with no squiffy MOT history?
The Classic I loved for its lightness and ability to cover ground very quickly at a time when you needed to spend 50%+ more on a car that could be as capable, and the WR1 for its extra power and the DCCD. The DCCD was either left in its Auto mode, or dialled to the rear, making the car come alive.
My longest-standing friend recently rocked up to chez-moi in a 1994 WRX type RA V-Limited, in pretty much mint condition and for which he paid under £4K. £4K! And for that he gets all the fun of the fair.
Unfortunately it has set me off scouring the relevant forums for a similar bolide, but those in the lower reaches of affordability seem to have been to the moon and back, have rear arches like slices of Leerdammer, or have a list of mot 'advisories' that seem to have been lifted from the exam to become an MOT tester..
Overall, my choice would be a standard'Classic' Turbo, but how much would I really be prepared to pay for a low miles, FSH car with no squiffy MOT history?
KimJongHealthy said:
Personally I've had more problems with german engines than with my Subarus – drinking oil, smoking, failing turbos, and none of them were even closely as stressed as blown boxer with its roots in the early 90's.
Just to be pedantic (because this is PH after all), They were already making turbo EJ20s in the late 80s (1st-gen Legacy RS from 1989).I owned two. A '00 uk turbo, which whilst lovely to drive, felt quite mundane once on the move. I know that would have been easily sorted by simple mods, but modding isn't really my thing. W7 WRX was its registration. I always felt a bit of a fraud, as it obviously wasn't a WRX.
The second one was a P1. That was great fun, but I think I was a bit too immature at the time. It used to attract every idiot under the sun weaving about in my rear view mirror (usually Saxo VTSs and Rover Tomcats for some reason), and I'm afraid I took the bait a few times.
I px'd it for a far more grown up (read more boring) feeling BMW 330ci before I lost my license.
The second one was a P1. That was great fun, but I think I was a bit too immature at the time. It used to attract every idiot under the sun weaving about in my rear view mirror (usually Saxo VTSs and Rover Tomcats for some reason), and I'm afraid I took the bait a few times.
I px'd it for a far more grown up (read more boring) feeling BMW 330ci before I lost my license.
R8Steve said:
Apart from the thousands of cases of piston slap of course.
In UK Turbo form (nominal 215bhp) these engines suffer very few issues. 99% of the problems seen are down to imports being run on the wrong fuel, modding or lack of maintenance. One of mine had 202K on it and was still going strong, serviced bang on its intervals and looked after properly. Guvernator said:
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.
Interestingly, I also happen to own 2 of the other cars on the CAR article previously mentioned - a 106 gti and an MGF - I'm not entirely sure I would put the MGF up there with the impreza or the 106 gti in handling terms though.
cb1965 said:
R8Steve said:
Apart from the thousands of cases of piston slap of course.
In UK Turbo form (nominal 215bhp) these engines suffer very few issues. 99% of the problems seen are down to imports being run on the wrong fuel, modding or lack of maintenance. One of mine had 202K on it and was still going strong, serviced bang on its intervals and looked after properly. I should know, i had one slapping like crazy at 18k miles, standard UK turbo, always ran on super and FSSH.
On a positive note most should be fixed by now.
I bought my impreza a few months ago and am in two minds about how much I like it.
I bought it on a bit of a whim as the clutch in my Civic broke and I got a pretty decent offer on gumtree for it as it was. A friend had the impreza for sale and had spend more on it in the last year than he'd take for the car so i thought bugger it I'll give it a go.
Mines a 2002 wrx, so the base model, standard other than an exhaust and stage 1 re map.
It's ok to drive on the road, 4 wheel drive works well for this time of year and overall it's a nice enough place to be, far from luxurious but thats never really been a concern of mine.
In a way the chassis feels so planted on the road it almost take the fun out of it until the point at which speeds are getting pretty high for the roads.
I took it to snetterton and did a track day where I really didn't get on with it, too much understeer and in my opinion the brakes were no where near up to the job, so I was coasting towards the end of the straights. I'm sure theses issues could be sorted without too much hassle and possibly required a different approach from myself. It wasn't exactly slow on the track day but just not all that much fun.
My biggest issue is the MPG, I do the best part of 20,000 miles a year and am struggling to get any more than 24 MPG on super unleaded ever. Even my GT3 has the ability to get the best part of 30 on a steady motorway run if i need it to. I did know it was going to be pretty bad when driving it in a spirited manor but expect it to change when trying to be sensible but it doesn't appear to make any much difference.
So after a couple of months I've chucked it on ebay. If it goes then great if not then so be it I'll drive it for a while longer.
I bought it on a bit of a whim as the clutch in my Civic broke and I got a pretty decent offer on gumtree for it as it was. A friend had the impreza for sale and had spend more on it in the last year than he'd take for the car so i thought bugger it I'll give it a go.
Mines a 2002 wrx, so the base model, standard other than an exhaust and stage 1 re map.
It's ok to drive on the road, 4 wheel drive works well for this time of year and overall it's a nice enough place to be, far from luxurious but thats never really been a concern of mine.
In a way the chassis feels so planted on the road it almost take the fun out of it until the point at which speeds are getting pretty high for the roads.
I took it to snetterton and did a track day where I really didn't get on with it, too much understeer and in my opinion the brakes were no where near up to the job, so I was coasting towards the end of the straights. I'm sure theses issues could be sorted without too much hassle and possibly required a different approach from myself. It wasn't exactly slow on the track day but just not all that much fun.
My biggest issue is the MPG, I do the best part of 20,000 miles a year and am struggling to get any more than 24 MPG on super unleaded ever. Even my GT3 has the ability to get the best part of 30 on a steady motorway run if i need it to. I did know it was going to be pretty bad when driving it in a spirited manor but expect it to change when trying to be sensible but it doesn't appear to make any much difference.
So after a couple of months I've chucked it on ebay. If it goes then great if not then so be it I'll drive it for a while longer.
KimJongHealthy said:
Which usually is a result of Impreza being a cheap, fast car. Every 19yr old can buy one with 3 months' joiner apprentice salary and thrash it from cold without changing the engine oil even once. Besides, piston slap on cold engine is quite normal in them and people do thousands of miles with it.
Personally I've had more problems with german engines than with my Subarus – drinking oil, smoking, failing turbos, and none of them were even closely as stressed as blown boxer with its roots in the early 90's.
5-speed gearboxes made out of meccano are a different issue though...
Engine reliability - top 10 brands according to Warranty Direct
1. Honda (failure rate: 1 in 344)
2. Toyota (failure rate: 1 in 171)
3. Mercedes-Benz (failure rate: 1 in 119)
4. Volvo (failure rate: 1 in 111)
5. Jaguar (failure rate: 1 in 103)
6. Lexus (failure rate: 1 in 101)
7. Fiat (failure rate: 1 in 85)
8. Ford (failure rate: 1 in 80)
9. Nissan (failure rate: 1 in 76)
10. Land Rover (failure rate: 1 in 72)
Engine reliability - bottom 10 brands according to Warranty Direct
1. MG Rover (failure rate: 1 in 13)
2. Audi (failure rate: 1 in 27)
3. Mini (failure rate: 1 in 40)
4. Saab (failure rate: 1 in 40)
5. Vauxhall (failure rate: 1 in 41)
6. Peugeot (failure rate: 1 in 44)
7. BMW (failure rate: 1 in 45)
8. Renault (failure rate: 1 in 46)
9. Volkswagen (failure rate: 1 in 52)
10. Mitsubishi (failure rate: 1 in 59)
Nowt wrong with the v5\6 five speeds below 280 torques; bigger bell housing improved oil flow...the v5\6 sti boxes had no issue to 350 torques, so both plenty of headroom over standard figures. I ran circa 380 torques without any issue on a v5sti/P1 'box Personally I've had more problems with german engines than with my Subarus – drinking oil, smoking, failing turbos, and none of them were even closely as stressed as blown boxer with its roots in the early 90's.
5-speed gearboxes made out of meccano are a different issue though...
Engine reliability - top 10 brands according to Warranty Direct
1. Honda (failure rate: 1 in 344)
2. Toyota (failure rate: 1 in 171)
3. Mercedes-Benz (failure rate: 1 in 119)
4. Volvo (failure rate: 1 in 111)
5. Jaguar (failure rate: 1 in 103)
6. Lexus (failure rate: 1 in 101)
7. Fiat (failure rate: 1 in 85)
8. Ford (failure rate: 1 in 80)
9. Nissan (failure rate: 1 in 76)
10. Land Rover (failure rate: 1 in 72)
Engine reliability - bottom 10 brands according to Warranty Direct
1. MG Rover (failure rate: 1 in 13)
2. Audi (failure rate: 1 in 27)
3. Mini (failure rate: 1 in 40)
4. Saab (failure rate: 1 in 40)
5. Vauxhall (failure rate: 1 in 41)
6. Peugeot (failure rate: 1 in 44)
7. BMW (failure rate: 1 in 45)
8. Renault (failure rate: 1 in 46)
9. Volkswagen (failure rate: 1 in 52)
10. Mitsubishi (failure rate: 1 in 59)
andye30m3 said:
Mines a 2002 wrx, so the base model, standard other than an exhaust and stage 1 re map.
It's ok to drive on the road, 4 wheel drive works well for this time of year and overall it's a nice enough place to be, far from luxurious but thats never really been a concern of mine.
...
I took it to snetterton and did a track day where I really didn't get on with it, too much understeer and in my opinion the brakes were no where near up to the job, so I was coasting towards the end of the straights. I'm sure theses issues could be sorted without too much hassle and possibly required a different approach from myself. It wasn't exactly slow on the track day but just not all that much fun.
TBF the bug WRX is as unexciting as a turbo Impreza can be. Try a MY99 STi or a MY03+ JDM car and it will feel totally different and far more engaging.It's ok to drive on the road, 4 wheel drive works well for this time of year and overall it's a nice enough place to be, far from luxurious but thats never really been a concern of mine.
...
I took it to snetterton and did a track day where I really didn't get on with it, too much understeer and in my opinion the brakes were no where near up to the job, so I was coasting towards the end of the straights. I'm sure theses issues could be sorted without too much hassle and possibly required a different approach from myself. It wasn't exactly slow on the track day but just not all that much fun.
plenty said:
TBF the bug WRX is as unexciting as a turbo Impreza can be. Try a MY99 STi or a MY03+ JDM car and it will feel totally different and far more engaging.
I had heard that it wasn't the most exciting of the impreza line up, still do quite fancy a clean standard early impreza one day R8Steve said:
It was completely standard, low mile MY98 cars that were affected. It was a build issue and nothing to do with lack of maintenance. Subaru themselves acknowledged it was a problem.
I should know, i had one slapping like crazy at 18k miles, standard UK turbo, always ran on super and FSSH.
On a positive note most should be fixed by now.
The 98 was the phase 1.5 engine and to be fair I never had one of those, two Phase 1s and two Phase 2s. All bullet proof.I should know, i had one slapping like crazy at 18k miles, standard UK turbo, always ran on super and FSSH.
On a positive note most should be fixed by now.
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