Shed of the Week: Subaru Impreza Turbo Estate
Shed spots an increasingly rare chance to buy back into Subaru's halcyon days...
While the dwindling supply of Samantha-style double entendres is perhaps something to be welcomed, the reduction in the numbers of unmessed-with classic Japanese cars is more worrying. Nobody in their right mind would go about modifying properly old stuff like Chippendale furniture, Michelangelo sculptures or Gutenberg bibles, but cars from the last twenty years or so remain constantly vulnerable to the serial messer's clumsy attempts at 'improvement'.
So it's very nice to see this lovely first-gen Impreza Turbo estate still looking more or less the same as it looked when it rolled off the Gunma line in 1996. With not a single 'I Love My Scooby' or 'Hoonigan' sticker to be seen, only the replacement of the fog lights with PIAA spots might bring a slight frown to a concours judge's brow. But that's being uber picky.
Shed has tried to pick out the 'scrape down one side' that is meant to be visible in the pictures, but all he's managed to come up with are a couple of marks to the middle of the offside rear door. Less ancient PHers with better eyesight may find something else.
Generally speaking though, this is a very presentable car with a remarkably fresh interior. The leather upholstery looks nicely worn-in and non-baggy, and the period-appropriate acreage of hard grey plastic is all present and correct. It even sports the towbar that is so useful for speedy touch-parking.
Although the PH ad puts it at 155hp, the EJ20 2.0-litre flat four turbo in this wagon should actually be running with something over 200hp, plus 214lb ft of torque. That's a nice mix for an engaging drive. Considering the performance it has, not to mention the four-wheel drive, mpg figures in the mid to high 20s aren't so bad. You might want to stick to the dear juice though.
The sills and arches will need regular monitoring - rust never sleeps, and old Japanese metal is one of its favourite delicacies - but they seem to be OK just now. The MOT, which was done slightly before Christmas, mentions the oil leak plus some brake binding and tyre tread distortion on the nearside rear wheel. A couple of years ago there was a much longer list of advisories, some of which related to odd tyre wear and tracking, a common bugbear with Imprezas. Others were related to front suspension wear which, again, is a familiar issue for owners.
More hearteningly, the 2015 advisories that were to do with heavy corrosion across the entire bottom of the car - from the sills and floor pans to the steering and braking components - didn't crop up on the subsequent (2016) MOT, and haven't since.
Our Shed is pure old school Subaru, and as such is not only a reminder of better times but also a desirable machine in its own right, especially in this original state. Grab one while you can, because when they're gone, they're gone - and they ain't coming back.
1996 Subaru Impreza 2000 Turbo, UK car.
208bhp and 4 wheel drive.
118k miles
MOT December 2018
Good Service history, last oil change in June 2017
I have a lot of paperwork, most MOT certificates and service receipts
Service book with plenty of stamps
4 previous owners.
Unmodified car, with exception of fog light change to driving lights by a previous owner, to provide more light on full beam. I changed these to new PIAA ones last year as one of the original brackets had broken.
Mechanicals have never been modified or chipped as far as I know.
New back box exhaust and front tyres fitted last year.
I purchased this car from a friend in 2016, who'd owned the car for the previous 15 years. I intended to use as a stop-gap only but have kept it longer than expected. I've put on about 8k miles in the past year and it drives well but could do with some TLC. This car is almost 22 years old, cosmetically it is showing some small areas of rust, the door has a scrap on one side (visable in pictures). Electrics all work, including windows and mirrors. Car is fitted with air conditioning but has never worked in my ownership. Small oil leak from the engine since I've had it but never been an issue. Increasingly rare car, not many of these pre facelift "classic" Imprezas left anymore.
Car is available to view in Fleet Hampshire, just off junction 4A of the M3. Test drives available providing documented evidence showing coverage to drive other cars.
The original GC Impreza will surely go down as a classic soon, although I guess I'd expect the JDM models to be the ones that actually go up in price.
Interestingly, while Subaru UK may be in distress, they're selling (crossovers) like hot cakes in the much larger US market - well over half a million cars in 2017. So I suspect they're not worrying too much about redundancies in Gunma.
https://www.autoblog.com/2018/01/03/best-year-ever...
Oil leak likely to be rocker cover gaskets, 90 minutes labour and a gasket set that costs about £80 for both sides from import car parts.
It's rust around the rear arches that kills most of these. While it can look minor it does spread to structural parts.
If only I had the time, space and money for another car. But then, I say that most weeks.
As for this car, this is a very nice shed. Keep the rust off and it has another 20,000 miles in it easily.
Had a 4-door m-reg in the same colour when new and always regretted not having the estate. Cracking cars - this also has leather which mine didn't, which seems to lift the interior somewhat - mine was always let down by the dowdy interior.
Not seen one of these in quite a while, and still have the Subaru itch to scratch but would probably go for a forester sti in all honesty, though that wouldn't happen for that £1500!
The original GC Impreza will surely go down as a classic soon, although I guess I'd expect the JDM models to be the ones that actually go up in price.
However, see this ad there's something about this small wheel, no roof bars standard car which makes it look so rare & subtle as they were at the time - it's just living with that interior, the reason so many of us bought later models, for the wingback seats, leather steering wheel and non-haphazard dash.
Can still picture a local newspaper article in '95 where one of these early cars had been involved in an armed robbery & was cornered by police in a Dartmoor village - the photo was a square on, head on shot of an early Impreza Turbo wedged between a lamp post & wall.
You hardly see these anymore let alone finding one in nice standard non messed about condition like this with 15" alloys - just looks like a shopping car.
When these cars came out they were in many ways a game changer. The Subaru Impreza was reported at the time as being a bargain priced Escort Cosworth alternative - one that was more usable as a daily driver with subtle looks that gave no indication of its performance abilities.
The Imprezas will need the front discs replacing if you're doing any sort of spirited driving or track work. I once towed my Caterham to the Nurburgring behind the first Impreza. An instructor then drove the Subaru around the Nordschleife - the brakes were cooked after the first three corners! It was a long lap and a longer drive home with wobbly discs. Other than that I never fiddled with the cars at all.
In the end three of the four boxers suffered Head Gasket Failure. They felt impossibly fast at the time, I wonder if they still do now.
The NVH levels were astounding - like being inside a biscuit tin as it gets thrown down the road.
But I remember drooling over one just like that that mate bought - it had had the Prodrive treatment - zorst, induction, springs and dampers.
Another mate had a standard saloon and it was funny in that non-petrolheads had no idea what they were. Looked just like a Proton.
And I want as far as going for a very long test drive in an import. It was running 280-odd bhp and had a very long name - WRX STI Spec C or something. You could squirt water onto the vast intercooler which made me laugh. And it was seriously quick.
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