Discussion
I'll make it easy for you!
2000 Subaru Impreza P1
~450 bhp/475lbft
I started looking for a "fun" car in Summer '12 with a reasonably flexible budget of £15k. I live in rural North-East Scotland, the roads are an intriguing mixture of fast open smooth stuff and incredibly nadgetty, twisty, narrow, bumpy badly-surfaced stuff.
Key requirements were:
Small (narrow)
Light
4 seats
Decent ground clearance and suspension travel
Fast
Fun
Capable of the odd trackday
I looked at 996, e46 m3, e39 m5, Monaro, AMG E55, Sierra Cosworth and a variety of evos but previous experience of a classic Impreza (just a humble 2000 turbo estate) prompted me to look at a cheap p1 advertised locally.
I remember reading very favourable things about them in 2000/2001 in Evo magazine. In fact, the p1 came 3rd in ECOTY in 2000, behind the 996tt and Diablo 6.0. They also rated it above the evo vi and it won "Best Drivers car in the Real World" test.
The chap selling it was a young lad who freely admitted he couldnt afford the superunleaded for his daily commute. A test drive, a bit of haggling and it was mine - for the princely sum of £4000. Since he sold it to me he's asked me a few times if I'd sell it back to him - even despite the considerably worse fuel consumption now...
The car was running fine but only had partial service history, short MOT, had rusty arches, nasty alloys, dirt finder tyres, loads of DIY "ICE" and a horrendous VTA dump valve. The headers were leaking, the radiator was rusty as hell, it needed new pads all round and the seat bolsters were worn.
After de-barrying it I set about making some improvements, first of these being a preemptive forged engine, new headers and new rad. A 2.5 block was available at my local specialist and with emphasis on driveability and mid-range torque I decided on this over a high-revving 2.0.
Most parts came from Roger Clark Motorsport http://www.rogerclarkmotorsport.co.uk/ and the engine build was done by Brian Downie Motorsport in Kemnay, a very well respected Subaru specialist (and old-school motor engineer) in these parts.
Turbo-wise i started with an Andy Forrest TD05 20G (dynoed at 375bhp/375ftlb) then moved to an RCM450 which makes more power and torque everywhere and with a lower boost threshold. I also ended up splurging on a Syvecs S6 and mapping by Paul Blamire of Zen Performance http://www.zenperformance.co.uk/p/Home.html. The Syvecs uses wideband lambda, doing away with troublesome MAF's. It also allows 8 different maps, anti-lag, launch control etc etc.
Since then I've been working on the suspension and have gone for some adjustable Bilstein coilovers which retain a decent spring rate and good damping adjustment. Also fitted a few bits from Whiteline (ARB's, drop links, anti lift kit, roll centre kit and some of the bushes).
The standard 5-spd box wouldn't cope with the torque from the RCM450 so I chose a blobeye 6-spd box, much stronger and with a quickshifter fitted is very nice to use too. Tough choice to give DCCD a miss but I really had to question how much I would use it.
Gone slightly over budget (!) but I love it. Modifying doesn't make much economic sense but I justify it to myself saying that if I'd spent £25k on a new car it would probably be worth a similar amount to my p1 now. Maybe. Hmmmm.
Full spec:
Engine/Turbo:
EJ25 2.5 block, machined by RCM
Rebuilt P1 heads
Mahle forged pistons
Manley forged rods
STI nitrided crank and bearings
RCM450 hybrid turbo (zircotec coated)
RCM Baffled sump plate
RCM 340l/hr fuel pump
RCM 11mm uprated oil pump
RCM Induction Kit
FMIC
Fuel pressure regulator
RCM Fuel rails
740cc injectors
Mishimoto 9-row oil cooler
Mishimoto alloy radiator
RCM Zircotec-coated unequal Headers and up-pipe
RCM 3"exhaust, straight-through centre section
ECU:
Syvecs S6
Mapped by Zen Performance
99 1.6 bar
99 1.6 bar ALS
99 1.2 bar
95 1.2 bar
3500rpm valet
Brakes:
AP 355x32 discs / 6-pots DS2500
Newage rear two-pots DS2500
Braided Brake hoses & DOT5.1 fluid
Tegwa Brake Stopper
Suspension:
Bilstein B16 adjustable coilovers
Sti Group N top mounts
Geo setup (RCM fast-road)
Whiteline 22mm front ARB
Whiteline 24mm rear ARB
Whiteline Rear ARB drop links
Whiteline Anti-lift kit
Whiteline Roll Centre kit
Whiteline adj rear control arms
Drivetrain:
6-spd box
Exedy hyper pro twin plate clutch
STI quickshifter
New Front wheel bearings
New oem driveshafts
New oem hubs
Interior:
Recaro Speed seats
STi red-spot pedals
OMP Targa 330mm steering wheel
OMP adjustable steering wheel spacer
HKS airbag-delete boss
Toucan display and Forester gauge pod
Other:
18" P1-WRC et53 alloys
225x40 r18 Yoko AD08
Underseal
Front end respray
Rear arches (new metal and respray)
New oem HID Driving lights
New powder-coated cross members and beam.
2000 Subaru Impreza P1
~450 bhp/475lbft
I started looking for a "fun" car in Summer '12 with a reasonably flexible budget of £15k. I live in rural North-East Scotland, the roads are an intriguing mixture of fast open smooth stuff and incredibly nadgetty, twisty, narrow, bumpy badly-surfaced stuff.
Key requirements were:
Small (narrow)
Light
4 seats
Decent ground clearance and suspension travel
Fast
Fun
Capable of the odd trackday
I looked at 996, e46 m3, e39 m5, Monaro, AMG E55, Sierra Cosworth and a variety of evos but previous experience of a classic Impreza (just a humble 2000 turbo estate) prompted me to look at a cheap p1 advertised locally.
I remember reading very favourable things about them in 2000/2001 in Evo magazine. In fact, the p1 came 3rd in ECOTY in 2000, behind the 996tt and Diablo 6.0. They also rated it above the evo vi and it won "Best Drivers car in the Real World" test.
The chap selling it was a young lad who freely admitted he couldnt afford the superunleaded for his daily commute. A test drive, a bit of haggling and it was mine - for the princely sum of £4000. Since he sold it to me he's asked me a few times if I'd sell it back to him - even despite the considerably worse fuel consumption now...
The car was running fine but only had partial service history, short MOT, had rusty arches, nasty alloys, dirt finder tyres, loads of DIY "ICE" and a horrendous VTA dump valve. The headers were leaking, the radiator was rusty as hell, it needed new pads all round and the seat bolsters were worn.
After de-barrying it I set about making some improvements, first of these being a preemptive forged engine, new headers and new rad. A 2.5 block was available at my local specialist and with emphasis on driveability and mid-range torque I decided on this over a high-revving 2.0.
Most parts came from Roger Clark Motorsport http://www.rogerclarkmotorsport.co.uk/ and the engine build was done by Brian Downie Motorsport in Kemnay, a very well respected Subaru specialist (and old-school motor engineer) in these parts.
Turbo-wise i started with an Andy Forrest TD05 20G (dynoed at 375bhp/375ftlb) then moved to an RCM450 which makes more power and torque everywhere and with a lower boost threshold. I also ended up splurging on a Syvecs S6 and mapping by Paul Blamire of Zen Performance http://www.zenperformance.co.uk/p/Home.html. The Syvecs uses wideband lambda, doing away with troublesome MAF's. It also allows 8 different maps, anti-lag, launch control etc etc.
Since then I've been working on the suspension and have gone for some adjustable Bilstein coilovers which retain a decent spring rate and good damping adjustment. Also fitted a few bits from Whiteline (ARB's, drop links, anti lift kit, roll centre kit and some of the bushes).
The standard 5-spd box wouldn't cope with the torque from the RCM450 so I chose a blobeye 6-spd box, much stronger and with a quickshifter fitted is very nice to use too. Tough choice to give DCCD a miss but I really had to question how much I would use it.
Gone slightly over budget (!) but I love it. Modifying doesn't make much economic sense but I justify it to myself saying that if I'd spent £25k on a new car it would probably be worth a similar amount to my p1 now. Maybe. Hmmmm.
Full spec:
Engine/Turbo:
EJ25 2.5 block, machined by RCM
Rebuilt P1 heads
Mahle forged pistons
Manley forged rods
STI nitrided crank and bearings
RCM450 hybrid turbo (zircotec coated)
RCM Baffled sump plate
RCM 340l/hr fuel pump
RCM 11mm uprated oil pump
RCM Induction Kit
FMIC
Fuel pressure regulator
RCM Fuel rails
740cc injectors
Mishimoto 9-row oil cooler
Mishimoto alloy radiator
RCM Zircotec-coated unequal Headers and up-pipe
RCM 3"exhaust, straight-through centre section
ECU:
Syvecs S6
Mapped by Zen Performance
99 1.6 bar
99 1.6 bar ALS
99 1.2 bar
95 1.2 bar
3500rpm valet
Brakes:
AP 355x32 discs / 6-pots DS2500
Newage rear two-pots DS2500
Braided Brake hoses & DOT5.1 fluid
Tegwa Brake Stopper
Suspension:
Bilstein B16 adjustable coilovers
Sti Group N top mounts
Geo setup (RCM fast-road)
Whiteline 22mm front ARB
Whiteline 24mm rear ARB
Whiteline Rear ARB drop links
Whiteline Anti-lift kit
Whiteline Roll Centre kit
Whiteline adj rear control arms
Drivetrain:
6-spd box
Exedy hyper pro twin plate clutch
STI quickshifter
New Front wheel bearings
New oem driveshafts
New oem hubs
Interior:
Recaro Speed seats
STi red-spot pedals
OMP Targa 330mm steering wheel
OMP adjustable steering wheel spacer
HKS airbag-delete boss
Toucan display and Forester gauge pod
Other:
18" P1-WRC et53 alloys
225x40 r18 Yoko AD08
Underseal
Front end respray
Rear arches (new metal and respray)
New oem HID Driving lights
New powder-coated cross members and beam.
FBP1 said:
Sorry to see you / it go, Iain.
It'll be a hard car to replace with that performance allied to its (comparatively) light weight
Thanks FB. Yes, it's been quite an experience! I love the p1 but time for a change, I usually only keep cars for 12-18 months s0 33 months of p1 ownership should tell you how much I've enjoyed it.It'll be a hard car to replace with that performance allied to its (comparatively) light weight
Stepping down a bit in PWR doesn't bother me to be honest, the p1 is damn fast I often find myself driving a bit quicker than is perhaps sensible, it would be nice to be able to push a car and really use the Rev range in more than a couple of gears without doing huge speeds!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff