Subaru Impreza STI Type RA
Discussion
I'm after some general information about these cars- what are they like for everyday use? Do they have any major reliability issues? If there are any RA owners on here can you please tell me how long you have owned your car and whether you are happy with it along with any other information you think I may find useful.
I have been searching the PH classifieds and it seems that I can pick up a reasonable example for around 4K. Not really knowing much about the RA market would 4K get me a clean example or is it best to spend a little more? The 4K examples I have seen are predominantly freash imports which puts me off slightly...
Any feedback is much appreciated, thanks.
I have been searching the PH classifieds and it seems that I can pick up a reasonable example for around 4K. Not really knowing much about the RA market would 4K get me a clean example or is it best to spend a little more? The 4K examples I have seen are predominantly freash imports which puts me off slightly...
Any feedback is much appreciated, thanks.
I can only give you information vicariously, a good friend had one for 6 months....
Good points:
VERY fast
Excellent handling, It's like Subaru grippyness squared.
Bad points:
Image - You get raced all the time off lights and on the a roads. Pointless, as you can always win.
Thirst - Low 20 mpg's in every day driving.
Range - small tank means 250 miles to a fill up, and you need posh fuel.
Gearbox - They have a close ratio gearbox and the short ratios mean you're at about 4,500 Rpm to cruise at 70-80 in top gear. This gets tiring very quickly. They also have little sound deadening so they're boomy and there's lots of road roar.
Ride - It's too firm for my liking, the sports suspension is overly stiff for broken surfaced roads and round town potholes.
Finding a good one - They're cheap for the performance, so they do tend to get ragged/abused/crashed etc.
Personally I know I couldn't live with on day to day. Think of it like an elise rather than a saloon with performance. But only you can tell - find one for a ride out and you'll either love it or have to re-think.
Good points:
VERY fast
Excellent handling, It's like Subaru grippyness squared.
Bad points:
Image - You get raced all the time off lights and on the a roads. Pointless, as you can always win.
Thirst - Low 20 mpg's in every day driving.
Range - small tank means 250 miles to a fill up, and you need posh fuel.
Gearbox - They have a close ratio gearbox and the short ratios mean you're at about 4,500 Rpm to cruise at 70-80 in top gear. This gets tiring very quickly. They also have little sound deadening so they're boomy and there's lots of road roar.
Ride - It's too firm for my liking, the sports suspension is overly stiff for broken surfaced roads and round town potholes.
Finding a good one - They're cheap for the performance, so they do tend to get ragged/abused/crashed etc.
Personally I know I couldn't live with on day to day. Think of it like an elise rather than a saloon with performance. But only you can tell - find one for a ride out and you'll either love it or have to re-think.
I've had mine for nearly 3 years. It's been used daily by myself and good lady. She's not so keen because it doen't have the low down torque of her car and it needs to be run at high RPM on cruise. 60 is 3000 RPM in top.
Only one reliability problem for mine - the gearbox hadn't had enough oil changes so one of the bearings died. Bad luck really - the car had been serviced as an STi, not an STi type RA.
If you hold out for a "Limited" version, the 5th gear is a bit longer, so the car is slightly more bearable on the motorway, but still far from ideal. (My preference is for a Forester STi 6 speed box, although I can't afford one at the moment.)
The tanks on newer type RAs is 60 litres (as for normal Scoobs) but you still only get around 260 to 270 miles to a tank.
The requirement for super unleaded can be got around by a remap if need be.
Only one reliability problem for mine - the gearbox hadn't had enough oil changes so one of the bearings died. Bad luck really - the car had been serviced as an STi, not an STi type RA.
If you hold out for a "Limited" version, the 5th gear is a bit longer, so the car is slightly more bearable on the motorway, but still far from ideal. (My preference is for a Forester STi 6 speed box, although I can't afford one at the moment.)
The tanks on newer type RAs is 60 litres (as for normal Scoobs) but you still only get around 260 to 270 miles to a tank.
The requirement for super unleaded can be got around by a remap if need be.
Actually my 02 WRX sportwagon only has a 50ltr tank and will do 250 mile to the tank if driven sensibly otherwise 200 to the tank if driven spirited. Later ones have the 60ltr tank. If i had the extra 10 ltrs i might get the full 300miles a tank on a trip to Scotland, which would be good.
These RA's are nice looking and superquick, ideal track car, but they peter out at 120mph top end so not much good on motorways, but i bet B road madness is great fun.
Failing the RA get a P1 or 22b if you fance a two door, even rarer still, very quick and not bad on long journeys.
These RA's are nice looking and superquick, ideal track car, but they peter out at 120mph top end so not much good on motorways, but i bet B road madness is great fun.
Failing the RA get a P1 or 22b if you fance a two door, even rarer still, very quick and not bad on long journeys.
Edited by ScoobieWRX on Monday 22 October 14:41
had mine now for around 6 months. started off as a toy for the weekend and looks like it'll be my only car. they're great for around town and slower driving due to the short ratio box. stick it in 5th at 3-0 and it'll happily sit therre returning good mpg.
however, if you do a fair bit of motorway driving forget it unless you have a good few quid to spend on petrol. i went to castle combe recently for rally day and used a tank and half to get there and back. small price to pay though for the grin factor.
they have little sound deadening which can be annoying but the handling difference over other imprezas is superb.
get yourself over to www.type-ra.co.uk for more info
however, if you do a fair bit of motorway driving forget it unless you have a good few quid to spend on petrol. i went to castle combe recently for rally day and used a tank and half to get there and back. small price to pay though for the grin factor.
they have little sound deadening which can be annoying but the handling difference over other imprezas is superb.
get yourself over to www.type-ra.co.uk for more info
WeirdNeville said:
Bad points:
Image - You get raced all the time off lights and on the a roads. Pointless, as you can always win.
Thirst - Low 20 mpg's in every day driving.
Range - small tank means 250 miles to a fill up, and you need posh fuel.
Gearbox - They have a close ratio gearbox and the short ratios mean you're at about 4,500 Rpm to cruise at 70-80 in top gear. This gets tiring very quickly. They also have little sound deadening so they're boomy and there's lots of road roar.
Ride - It's too firm for my liking, the sports suspension is overly stiff for broken surfaced roads and round town potholes.
Finding a good one - They're cheap for the performance, so they do tend to get ragged/abused/crashed etc.
The OP should be used to most of those anyway... Image - You get raced all the time off lights and on the a roads. Pointless, as you can always win.
Thirst - Low 20 mpg's in every day driving.
Range - small tank means 250 miles to a fill up, and you need posh fuel.
Gearbox - They have a close ratio gearbox and the short ratios mean you're at about 4,500 Rpm to cruise at 70-80 in top gear. This gets tiring very quickly. They also have little sound deadening so they're boomy and there's lots of road roar.
Ride - It's too firm for my liking, the sports suspension is overly stiff for broken surfaced roads and round town potholes.
Finding a good one - They're cheap for the performance, so they do tend to get ragged/abused/crashed etc.
ScoobieWRX said:
Actually my 02 WRX sportwagon only has a 50ltr tank and will do 250 mile to the tank if driven sensibly otherwise 200 to the tank if driven spirited. Later ones have the 60ltr tank. If i had the extra 10 ltrs i might get the full 300miles a tank on a trip to Scotland, which would be good.
These RA's are nice looking and superquick, ideal track car, but they peter out at 120mph top end so not much good on motorways, but i bet B road madness is great fun.
Failing the RA get a P1 or 22b if you fance a two door, even rarer still, very quick and not bad on long journeys.
I didn't know they shrunk the tank after 1999. I've put 58 litres in mine - not quite sure how I got to the petrol station that time!These RA's are nice looking and superquick, ideal track car, but they peter out at 120mph top end so not much good on motorways, but i bet B road madness is great fun.
Failing the RA get a P1 or 22b if you fance a two door, even rarer still, very quick and not bad on long journeys.
Edited by ScoobieWRX on Monday 22 October 14:41
Do you mean 120? Mine has managed 140, although it was quite slow to get from 120 to 140 - not enough torque.
A chap i know that works for TSL has an old Type RA that has the close ratio box, and that will do 120 max as it runs out of revs.
I've just checked the workshop manual and according to that it says 60 ltrs but i am full, from empty at 52ltrs on the pump, go figure. I always thought the extra 2litres was just reserve.
I've just checked the workshop manual and according to that it says 60 ltrs but i am full, from empty at 52ltrs on the pump, go figure. I always thought the extra 2litres was just reserve.
ScoobieWRX said:
A chap i know that works for TSL has an old Type RA that has the close ratio box, and that will do 120 max as it runs out of revs.
Different year STi type RAs had different gearing (3.9, 4.1 or 4.4 final drive for a start), and some of the V-ltds also had a longer 5th (from the regular STi I think) for better cruising. List of different boxes and ratios you could check here:http://www.catherineandken.co.uk/sti/trans.html
Edited by GravelBen on Tuesday 23 October 03:01
Thanks you to all that have replied. I knew they had a short ratio box but didn't figure it would top out at 120mph, similar to the Nissan Pulsar GTiR Dakar model...
mneame- I'll get myself over to the typera club and have a look around
Can any of you guys share with me any common problems these cars may have. Someone mentioned that a later model RA had a longer final gear- what would the revs be at say 80mph?
Thanks again
mneame- I'll get myself over to the typera club and have a look around
Can any of you guys share with me any common problems these cars may have. Someone mentioned that a later model RA had a longer final gear- what would the revs be at say 80mph?
Thanks again
There are so many diferent versions of Type RA's, you need to be model specific to get the correct advice.
For example the STi 5 Type RA 555 WRC limited has a very diferent spec to an early WRX RA, so it's pointless trying to advise you without more details on what you are looking at.
I must have driven 70K miles in RA's by now.
For example the STi 5 Type RA 555 WRC limited has a very diferent spec to an early WRX RA, so it's pointless trying to advise you without more details on what you are looking at.
I must have driven 70K miles in RA's by now.
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