Monday 10th May 2010

Prodrive P1 Imprezas Celebrate 10 Years

100 P1s descend on Prodrive HQ for birthday bash

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100 Impreza P1s descended on Prodrive at Banbury yesterday, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the car, which hit Britain's roads in 2000.

A further 300 Subaru Imprezas and 1000 fans also joined in the commemorative event, the company says.

The P1 was one of the most iconic in a range of limited edition Subaru Imprezas which were produced by Prodrive during the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was also the only road car to bear the Prodrive name.

The car was unveiled by England's only World Rally Champion, the late Richard Burns, at the UK motorshow in 1999, but went on sale in 2000. Only a 1000 were produced, all in the same unique blue colour. The car was based on two door Japanese specification Impreza, but had significant modifications engineered by Prodrive to the suspension, drivetrain, trim and aerodynamics to make it one of the best point-to-point cars on British roads.

[KrissJ]

Happy birthday P1! It is a fantastic car. I've actually been looking at buying one recently.

[p1doc]

i had one with prodrive exhaust and alcon brakes-lovely car
martin

[Mannginger]

Great car...don't like the rear light cluster that's been highlighted though

[Windymiller]

Are these things falling into the hands of chavs now? That shot with the afterburner-style lights (very 1982!) and the huge drainpipe exhaust aren't good signs...

[300bhp/ton]

me likey

[K50 DEL]

Windymiller said:

Are these things falling into the hands of chavs now? That shot with the afterburner-style lights (very 1982!) and the huge drainpipe exhaust aren't good signs...

Sadly I fear they might be, they've dropped a lot in price recently and that seems to have put the lower quality cars firmly in that camp.
A shame really, the P1 and 22B were always "the" Impreza to have.

[Windymiller]

Yeah, I saw a P1 last week and it still looked pretty impressive!

[Scooby P1]

Agreed, too many chavs. Afterburner lights are horrendous, sideways dustbin lid exhausts looks stupid and are obnoxious.
Hayward and scott backbox, almost new Prodrive Alcon brakes (which are epic), Eagle F1 tryes - the purest A to B Ferrari killer. Owned it for 5 years now and only had one previous owenr!

[Adz The Stig]

nice cars. cars like these dont need smartened up on the out side. i used to know a girl who thought her stepdad would buy her a p1. she went round telling everyone. it was priceless when she asked him if he would buy her one. she wouldnt talk for a whole day and sat in her car (she is 27 with no job). im big fan of these cars tho it is a shame when you seen one with loads rubish stuck to the out side!!!!

[JumpinJack]

Scooby P1 said:

Agreed, too many chavs. Afterburner lights are horrendous, sideways dustbin lid exhausts looks stupid and are obnoxious.
Hayward and scott backbox, almost new Prodrive Alcon brakes (which are epic), Eagle F1 tryes - the purest A to B Ferrari killer. Owned it for 5 years now and only had one previous owenr!

Yeh these are still tidy cars, and I've often though of investing in one... BUT their reputation is definatley being tarnished due to the chavs trying to deafen everyone, which is a shame!!

[MattGreen7]

Adz The Stig said:

nice cars. cars like these dont need smartened up on the out side. i used to know a girl who thought her stepdad would buy her a p1. she went round telling everyone. it was priceless when she asked him if he would buy her one. she wouldnt talk for a whole day and sat in her car (she is 27 with no job). im big fan of these cars tho it is a shame when you seen one with loads rubish stuck to the out side!!!!

Cool story.

The last great Impreza?

[leon9191]

MattGreen7 said:

Cool story.

The last great Impreza?

The last great Impreza? No.

Spec-C, RB320, Linchfiled Type-25 (Granted not a factory car), even if you dont like the new shape the 330S is a very fine car (had a go in one on thursday) not to mention the forth coming cossie!

Imprezas are still great cars.

I will be adding another one to my fleet as soon as I stop doing silly miles.

[Ved]

Hubba hubba, lovely cars. I was close to buying one last year but the engine stories put me off and it's only as good as the last long time owner which, as some have said, might not be the right person to inherit a car from.

[identity_crisis]

I actually looked at buying one recently but horror stories of a fragile block put me off.

I ended up looking for a impreza type r but just couldnt find a decent one so plumped for my second choice.

[Slippydiff]

Windymiller said:

Are these things falling into the hands of chavs now? That shot with the afterburner-style lights (very 1982!) and the huge drainpipe exhaust aren't good signs...

My thoughts precisely . . .

[anonymous-user]

Lovely cars.

Here is one next to my old Bug-eye.

[Dagnut]

MattGreen7 said:

Adz The Stig said:

nice cars. cars like these dont need smartened up on the out side. i used to know a girl who thought her stepdad would buy her a p1. she went round telling everyone. it was priceless when she asked him if he would buy her one. she wouldnt talk for a whole day and sat in her car (she is 27 with no job). im big fan of these cars tho it is a shame when you seen one with loads rubish stuck to the out side!!!!

Cool story.

The last great Impreza?

Not even close the S204 is the best Impreza I've been in.

The P1 in reality is not that great, the JDM type r is a better car IMO..shorter gearbox and DCCD makes it quicker.

[Neil G60]

Scooby P1 said:

Agreed, too many chavs. Afterburner lights are horrendous, sideways dustbin lid exhausts looks stupid and are obnoxious.

+1!!!

[Essex Exile]

The 22B has to be the daddy of Imprezas, if only for it's looks.

[Mafioso]

DR10 said:

Lovely cars.

Here is one next to my old Bug-eye.

God that really highlights how ugly the later ones became! Never forgave my father for selling his after about 3 months and a few hundred miles because he thought the suspension was too hard...