Subaru Impreza Turbo (Subaru Impreza 2.0Turbo)

Member Name: Steve80

Product:	Subaru Impreza 2.0Turbo
Date:	19/05/09 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Supercar killing performance, and practical too.

Disadvantages: 22mpg at best, costly servicing

The Subaru Impreza Turbo is a car that I had aspired to ever since I was 15 years old and the late Colin Mcrae won the World Rally Championship.
In 2004 I bough myself a UK spec Impreza Turbo, year 2000 model. In standard form it produced 215bhp and it's all wheel drive provided great traction. Because of the typical British weather I ran the car on Toyo Proxes TR1's which provided great handling and grip in the wet, and a decent amount of grip in the dry.
One of the first thing I did to the car was to fit an Afterburner Vortex back box, which in my opinion is one of the best sounding back boxes you can buy. You can hear the distinctive flat 4 burble coming from miles away!

I also fitted an atmospheric blow off valve from Forge Motor Sports, which added an extra element to the car, and sounded great too.
No matter where I drove the car no-one was in any doubt that an Impreza was coming.

The car is some what of an icon and it was summed up to me when I drove past a primary school and there were two young girls waiting to cross the road, and I heard one of them sound "Oh my God!! That Impreza is so lush!" Even young girls know what it is!

My favourite moment in my Impreza has to be when a Ferrari 360 pulled up next to me at a set of lights. Ahead of us was a straight road with a 70mph speed limit, and the road was slightly damp. The Ferrari driver starting blipping his throttle so I knew he meant business. When the light changed to green I dumped the clutch from 4000rpm and launched away from the line, and all I heard from the Ferrari was a bag full of traction control. By the time I got to 70mph the Ferrari was still some way behind struggling to get its power down on the road.

The Impreza Turbo is an awesome car, and the classic shape will always be my favourite. It has such a distinctive sound and that bonnet scoop is so recognisable.
I know the Mitsubishi Evo is the faster car, but for me the Impreza has so much more character.

The only grip about the Impreza I had was it's tendency to under steer. I rectified this by keeping Yoyo Proxes on the front and cheaper Hannock tyres on the back, now the car had a much more even balance with a hint of over steer.
However when I had the car serviced once, the garage swapped the wheel round so the proxes were on the back and the Hannocks were on the front! How I avoided hitting that tree on the way home I'll never know!!! So I quickly swapped the tyres back over when I got home.

I was forced to sell my Impreza when petrol prices reached £1 a litre, as I could no longer justify the expense. But I do miss the car badly. Every time I hear an Impreza rumble by know I feel a tug on the old heart strings.
If you ever get the chance, and you can afford to run it, it needs servicing twice a year! I suggest you buy one. Get one of the classic shape pre 2001 ones. These are unrefined monsters, and huge amounts of fun.

Summary: Awsome car. You have to own one.

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