RE: One-owner Subaru Impreza RB5 for sale
Discussion
Good to see some old scooby names on here. I remember John’s / jsf’s first StiV very well from various early track days. In fact, he’s largely responsible for the project creep in my then brand new standard P1 which was a fairly relentless (low speed) understeerer on track unless heavy trail braking/chucked in to get some rotation. I used to sit in my car watching him slide it out of corners in front of me and think I want my car to do that more easily.
So began a long odyssey through suspension and gearbox changes, then engine and turbo/mapping upgrades to today with effectively a high powered (566bhp) version of his Sti V RA…
Talking of John’s early designs - I even have one of his earliest baffled sumps still on the car now (I bought it from Damien).
Back to the OP - £40k for grey paint and some stickers on an otherwise mainly standard Uk 2000 seems daft to me, but I’m not going to complain if it makes mine go up in value too!
So began a long odyssey through suspension and gearbox changes, then engine and turbo/mapping upgrades to today with effectively a high powered (566bhp) version of his Sti V RA…
Talking of John’s early designs - I even have one of his earliest baffled sumps still on the car now (I bought it from Damien).
Back to the OP - £40k for grey paint and some stickers on an otherwise mainly standard Uk 2000 seems daft to me, but I’m not going to complain if it makes mine go up in value too!
Alan H said:
jsf said:
It's still being used, good stuff.
My first RA spent half its first life on the Nürburgring.
It went to a proper enthusiast, which was a nice thing, great car.
My current JDM STi has 136K on it, had that one nearly 13 years now.
My first RA spent half its first life on the Nürburgring.
It went to a proper enthusiast, which was a nice thing, great car.My current JDM STi has 136K on it, had that one nearly 13 years now.
Just ticked over to 186 k miles
19 years ownership
if Greta only knew what that has burned through trails said:
I was going to ask if you still had it...must be one of the longest owned and hardest driven in the UK
It's been used properly. When you build and tune these cars properly they are superb cars, sadly a lot were not built or tuned properly.Mine is 99% of the time a daily driver, but is a properly quick thing when you want it to be. I stopped sprinting it in 2015 and didn't do another event until Feb 2020 when i entered the last event to run at Silverstone before the world changed for Covid, I won that event outright, which was a nice surprise.
FBP1 said:
Good to see some old scooby names on here. I remember John’s / jsf’s first StiV very well from various early track days. In fact, he’s largely responsible for the project creep in my then brand new standard P1 which was a fairly relentless (low speed) understeerer on track unless heavy trail braking/chucked in to get some rotation. I used to sit in my car watching him slide it out of corners in front of me and think I want my car to do that more easily.
So began a long odyssey through suspension and gearbox changes, then engine and turbo/mapping upgrades to today with effectively a high powered (566bhp) version of his Sti V RA…
Talking of John’s early designs - I even have one of his earliest baffled sumps still on the car now (I bought it from Damien).
Back to the OP - £40k for grey paint and some stickers on an otherwise mainly standard Uk 2000 seems daft to me, but I’m not going to complain if it makes mine go up in value too!
I did enjoy chucking the RA about a bit, it was a lovely balanced car after a few simple mods. People used to tell me you cant get an Impreza to power oversteer and they just understeered everywhere, err No. Sorry about the damage to your bank balance. So began a long odyssey through suspension and gearbox changes, then engine and turbo/mapping upgrades to today with effectively a high powered (566bhp) version of his Sti V RA…
Talking of John’s early designs - I even have one of his earliest baffled sumps still on the car now (I bought it from Damien).
Back to the OP - £40k for grey paint and some stickers on an otherwise mainly standard Uk 2000 seems daft to me, but I’m not going to complain if it makes mine go up in value too!
Well articulated man! I will be para-phrasing you in the future when trying explain why my RA is fully sicker than a boggo STi lol
jsf said:
I've not driven a GR Yaris yet, but they use a design of centre diff torque control which uses some of the technology in the Subaru DCCD centre diff unit. The Subaru is effectively two diff units in one package, it has a mechanical gear based diff which creates the torque split (66/33) and then has a two stage plated diff arrangement which clamps the two outputs together at a variable rate.
When people mention the variable rate torque split, then what they are actually referring to is how tight the clutch plates in the diff are clamped together, the tighter the plate clamp, the more equal the torque delivery to front/rear. This is controlled by an electromagnet, in Auto mode the diff ECU is using sensor and switch inputs to change the tightness of the plates. In Manual mode you are just controlling that clamping load via the dial, from full electromagnet current to switched off and just the preload in the plates and the mechanical gear ratio.
On the DCCD-A system even in manual mode, the diff ECU controls the current to the electromagnet if it gets some inputs from the other car systems, for example when the ABS activates, even if you have it set manually to 100% lock, the diff is unlocked to just 5%, this allows the wheels to rotate at different speeds as the ABS pulses, without that unlocking you wouldn't get a true ABS as the diffs try and transfer torque through the system into each wheel.
That is the reason why UK cars never got DCCD until they had developed the DCCD-A option, because they all had to be fitted with ABS and the manual DCCD fitted to the JDM GC8 cars was only available on cars without ABS. This is why the P1, although it used a 3 door type R shell, was based on the normal saloon JDM STi models running gear, which had ABS and a VC centre diff unit.
It's worth knowing this because a lot of people think when driving in snow and locking up the DCCD-A system, you have that lock under braking. You don't, as soon as the ABS starts you lose most of the diff lock benefit. Come off the brakes and the diff unit locks back up, so if you are sensitive to this, you can modulate the brakes and if you hold it off the ABS, the car will often work better.
It's quite a clever integrated system, with the ABS wheel speeds fed into the diff controller via CAN and depending on model you have G and Yaw sensors it uses to work out where in a corner phase you are to give you the best torque split, the brake system also uses the G sensor to alter the brake bias, so you can really push the car to the brake threshold on all 4 wheels. I use a programable centre diff controller in competition events, so i can map the lock rate profile to better suit what i want on the day, as the road mapping is based around that environment. I would think a GR Yaris with a mappable controller would be a useful tool if pushing for competitive times and a better balance at the limit.
When people mention the variable rate torque split, then what they are actually referring to is how tight the clutch plates in the diff are clamped together, the tighter the plate clamp, the more equal the torque delivery to front/rear. This is controlled by an electromagnet, in Auto mode the diff ECU is using sensor and switch inputs to change the tightness of the plates. In Manual mode you are just controlling that clamping load via the dial, from full electromagnet current to switched off and just the preload in the plates and the mechanical gear ratio.
On the DCCD-A system even in manual mode, the diff ECU controls the current to the electromagnet if it gets some inputs from the other car systems, for example when the ABS activates, even if you have it set manually to 100% lock, the diff is unlocked to just 5%, this allows the wheels to rotate at different speeds as the ABS pulses, without that unlocking you wouldn't get a true ABS as the diffs try and transfer torque through the system into each wheel.
That is the reason why UK cars never got DCCD until they had developed the DCCD-A option, because they all had to be fitted with ABS and the manual DCCD fitted to the JDM GC8 cars was only available on cars without ABS. This is why the P1, although it used a 3 door type R shell, was based on the normal saloon JDM STi models running gear, which had ABS and a VC centre diff unit.
It's worth knowing this because a lot of people think when driving in snow and locking up the DCCD-A system, you have that lock under braking. You don't, as soon as the ABS starts you lose most of the diff lock benefit. Come off the brakes and the diff unit locks back up, so if you are sensitive to this, you can modulate the brakes and if you hold it off the ABS, the car will often work better.
It's quite a clever integrated system, with the ABS wheel speeds fed into the diff controller via CAN and depending on model you have G and Yaw sensors it uses to work out where in a corner phase you are to give you the best torque split, the brake system also uses the G sensor to alter the brake bias, so you can really push the car to the brake threshold on all 4 wheels. I use a programable centre diff controller in competition events, so i can map the lock rate profile to better suit what i want on the day, as the road mapping is based around that environment. I would think a GR Yaris with a mappable controller would be a useful tool if pushing for competitive times and a better balance at the limit.
Cracking example. It'll be a lucky new owner for sure, although scrap both plates and grab a new set with the correct font/spacing please.
I had a Turbo Classic, then a WRX PPP, and finally a P1 (fettled by Walkers Garage, North Yorks) back in the day.
They then managed to persuade me to go Delta Integrale, it was the most thrilling car to drive, but living with a left-hooker in the UK was too much of a hassle.
Took the P1 over to the Isle of Man with the SIDC and it was the single greatest trip with the Scoob.. and the happiest petrolheaded decade.
I look on in horror at what Subaru are doing now and shake my head at the utter dereliction with which the current models hold no sway towards their rally heritage at all.
Give me an RB5 again and I'd be as happy as Bozo when Carrie says he can go out to play again.
I had a Turbo Classic, then a WRX PPP, and finally a P1 (fettled by Walkers Garage, North Yorks) back in the day.
They then managed to persuade me to go Delta Integrale, it was the most thrilling car to drive, but living with a left-hooker in the UK was too much of a hassle.
Took the P1 over to the Isle of Man with the SIDC and it was the single greatest trip with the Scoob.. and the happiest petrolheaded decade.
I look on in horror at what Subaru are doing now and shake my head at the utter dereliction with which the current models hold no sway towards their rally heritage at all.
Give me an RB5 again and I'd be as happy as Bozo when Carrie says he can go out to play again.
That's in lovely condition and having bought a V2 Sti back from the dead I can testify that like all old cars it isn't cheap or easy to achieve.
I have watched Impreza prices closely over the past few years (I have 2) and for that money I would say a Type RA GC8 would be a better investment bet but that is still a great car.
I am biased but truly believe these cars will continue to appreciate, they are a fantastic drive and relatively easy to keep on the road. There is still a lot of OEM parts available and loads of really good tuner parts for not silly money.
I have watched Impreza prices closely over the past few years (I have 2) and for that money I would say a Type RA GC8 would be a better investment bet but that is still a great car.
I am biased but truly believe these cars will continue to appreciate, they are a fantastic drive and relatively easy to keep on the road. There is still a lot of OEM parts available and loads of really good tuner parts for not silly money.
Edited by Chris.65 on Wednesday 1st December 13:15
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