How reliable are Imprezas for track day use?
Discussion
Wattsym12 said:
Looking at a 300 bhp impretza to track day just wondering how reliable they are ? And if there is anything specific to look out for on a 1995 model
I remember seeing so many of those years ago on track days. All gone ? Reliable? I do know they go through tyres quite quickly but not sure about the rest. I think the turbos are not expensive to replace. But could be wrong. They are quite thirsty too.
Eduardo.
I took mine to brands and got through a brand new tyre in about 20 mins.
Then took it to snetterton and the oil temp went very high after about 5 laps and then the car completely stopped with total loss of power. Luckily a very kind chap has a look and found a fuse had blown , replaced it and it was working fine but since we did not know the cause , I decided to abandon they day. Turned out it was a wire from the lambda sensor shorting out against the chassis.
So my experience was not great, but it was a fast car when it worked and I am sure the tyre problem would have been solved with some work on the suspension settings and geometry. I personally would not recommend it for trackdays, there are better cars to choose from.
Then took it to snetterton and the oil temp went very high after about 5 laps and then the car completely stopped with total loss of power. Luckily a very kind chap has a look and found a fuse had blown , replaced it and it was working fine but since we did not know the cause , I decided to abandon they day. Turned out it was a wire from the lambda sensor shorting out against the chassis.
So my experience was not great, but it was a fast car when it worked and I am sure the tyre problem would have been solved with some work on the suspension settings and geometry. I personally would not recommend it for trackdays, there are better cars to choose from.
just to top it all a 95 impreza has a very small intercooler that will quickly become heat soaked on track(or road)-it wont even be that quick by todays standards-as standard brakes and suspension are very average even when fresh, let alone at 18 years old.
i reckon you could halve the cost of a trackday with a fresh clio 172,182
i reckon you could halve the cost of a trackday with a fresh clio 172,182
The first time I took my classic uk Impreza on track it was an expensive experience. I'd upgraded the front brakes to four pot calipers from a bug eye WRX, but still managed to get a set of brand new standard brake pads down to the metal by just after lunch, had to buy another set from a fellow scooby driver parked up next to us. A 1995 car will still have 2 pot sliders so may be even worse. The circuit (Anglesey) had several hard stops into right hand bends which is what wore the brakes down, and the brand new Toyo T1Rs I'd also fitted for the day I would say were 75% worn by the time the last session had finished. Was also averaging 10-11 mpg on track, two full tankfuls of petrol got me 200 miles on track, going out in every session I could.
The costs could be reduced significantly if you didn't get the red mist like me and try to chase down much quicker cars, I was cornering and braking on the limit most of the time, I could have braked a bit earlier and taken it a bit easier on the corners and probably saved a lot of wear on the car but first time trackday exuberance has a lot to answer for. The scooby did well and kept up with plenty of quicker/more expensive machinery, but knowing what I know now I wonder if they had already suffered my expensive first day and were holding back on purpose?
The costs could be reduced significantly if you didn't get the red mist like me and try to chase down much quicker cars, I was cornering and braking on the limit most of the time, I could have braked a bit earlier and taken it a bit easier on the corners and probably saved a lot of wear on the car but first time trackday exuberance has a lot to answer for. The scooby did well and kept up with plenty of quicker/more expensive machinery, but knowing what I know now I wonder if they had already suffered my expensive first day and were holding back on purpose?
Oil surge seems like a common danger in them, so baffled sump is recommended.
I've only done one day in my 2005 Impreza, was using scrubbed R888's and Carbone Lorraine RC5+ pads. The front tyres grained up a bit but my ARB settings were naff - had buckets of understeer. Pads have got negligible wear, so far.
I've only done one day in my 2005 Impreza, was using scrubbed R888's and Carbone Lorraine RC5+ pads. The front tyres grained up a bit but my ARB settings were naff - had buckets of understeer. Pads have got negligible wear, so far.
AdiT said:
I've seen more of them leaving early due to failures than any other car. Probably more than all the other cars combined.
This.I was a TDO and saw plenty of Impreza failure's - some of them didn't even make it out on track.
Much of the responsibility lay's with the drivers who mercilessly thrashed their cars and didn't warm them up properly or, more importantly, cool them down before coming in and switching off.
The cooling down lap wasn't called the 'money lap' for nothing.
Wattsym12 said:
Sounds like you've just saved me an expensive mistake thanks guys
Should've said I had a great time in my scoob and it didn't miss a beat all day, just got through consumables quick. Would still recommend looking for something lighter and 2WD for a track car though after my experience.GreigM said:
to be fair, Evos would be right up there as well.....don't think I ever saw one finish a day
Only because half run proper silly power 500-700bhpMy evo 6 is running 400bhp 400 torque.....40 trackdays completed with zero problems,out of 41.
Bloody thirsty tho. 5mpg on track...but to be expected tho with near supercar performance and grip.
wellground said:
AdiT said:
I've seen more of them leaving early due to failures than any other car. Probably more than all the other cars combined.
Even TVR's ;o))
As for Scoobys - reliability is a subject of conjecture but what appears the safest generalisation is expense. I have never met an owner who had ever been near a track that didn't think that the running costs for hard use of them were enormous.
DiscoColin said:
In fairness - if you see a TVR on track these days it is usually a cherished example that is extensively fettled, has had the weak points resolved and is generally being driven fairly sympathetically.
You wouldn't say that if you saw them being driven in the TVR Speed Championship 
DiscoColin said:
In fairness - if you see a TVR on track these days it is usually a cherished example that is extensively fettled, has had the weak points resolved and is generally being driven fairly sympathetically. The ones that break down are starting to become fairly rare - perhaps one might contend that those actually fail before they even reach the circuit?
As for Scoobys - reliability is a subject of conjecture but what appears the safest generalisation is expense. I have never met an owner who had ever been near a track that didn't think that the running costs for hard use of them were enormous.
Mine gets right royally ragged, in the group of cars I regularly do track days with the TVR has proved to be the most reliable being the only car in the last 4 years to run all day and still get home under its own power.As for Scoobys - reliability is a subject of conjecture but what appears the safest generalisation is expense. I have never met an owner who had ever been near a track that didn't think that the running costs for hard use of them were enormous.
Probably wouldn't have been straight out of the box but now poor quality manufacturing issues sorted she is a reliable car used frequently for the 100 mile round trip to work in all weathers and frequently tracked.
I've had a 2005 Impreza STI PPP for nearly 4 years and it's now up to nearly 90k hard and reliable miles. It's my daily driver and also gets regular track days and quite a bit of use at Santa Pod.... I'm not very mechanically sympathetic!
At about 80k miles i replaced the turbo as it was beginning to smoke, and at 85k hard miles I've recently finally had to replace the clutch. The car has been totally reliable and great fun with no other issues through ownership.
However, it's heavy on brakes, tyres and fuel... But so are most cars of this type and size, and it needs to be well looked after and maintained to keep it reliable. I think the reputation older Imprezas got was because people could afford to buy them but not afford to properly maintain them, or they got too greedy when tuning them.
When I eventually have to replace it, it will be difficult to see her go!
At about 80k miles i replaced the turbo as it was beginning to smoke, and at 85k hard miles I've recently finally had to replace the clutch. The car has been totally reliable and great fun with no other issues through ownership.
However, it's heavy on brakes, tyres and fuel... But so are most cars of this type and size, and it needs to be well looked after and maintained to keep it reliable. I think the reputation older Imprezas got was because people could afford to buy them but not afford to properly maintain them, or they got too greedy when tuning them.
When I eventually have to replace it, it will be difficult to see her go!
Edited by schwarzpm on Sunday 10th November 22:54
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