Subaru drivers.

[finisterre]

The FIL has a Forester, he uses it for retrieving gliders, it does it well. It also hauled my Vito out of a snowdrift on sheet ice, extra low gear and a gentle tug worked better than four of us heaving at the van. Nice to drive and unpretentious.

I have my eye on it.

 

[Dave Lewis]

I have a non-turbo Forester, it's an excellent all-rounder, peerless in the snow and ice, excellent for towing, fun to drive and very well put together. Also unique with a flat four, proper 4 wheel drive, hi/lo gearbox and hill hold clutch. I love it.

 

[grober]

Having looked at Subaru's latest range of models again I think I have twigged why they appear so very ugly. They are Japanese! By that I mean many of their features are reminiscent of Japanese architectural forms found on their tradition buildings. Subaru are a very traditional company in many ways and this is reflected in the excellence of their engineering. However they should be aware that styling forms which may be pleasing to the Japanese eye may not go down well with eyes more accustomed to more minimalist occidental architecture.

 

[A140driver]

Although I don't think any of the current Subaru range are attractive, I think that the previous generation Legacy is rather sleek.

 

[Oli]

The hatchback Impreza is fugly for sure, but they realized their mistake and now they've got a saloon version as well, which doesn't look too bad I think:

Although, I think quad exhaust is not necessary on this....

That doesn't look bad actually, when I first saw the hatchback I thought WTF have they done, I still would pick an Evo X over one though, although the main thing that must be very hard to live with on them is the short service intervals, I'm not sure if they've improved from 4k miles or not yet?.

 

[A140driver]

I think that even when we had them, the service intervals were 6k or 10k miles, though I could be mistaken. They now have 'normal' service intervals.

 

[Schuey]

It wasn't actually a traffic light GP, it was more of a rolling start race exiting a roundabout onto dual carriageway. Mine is not standard either, obviously not a C63 but more than capable to out perform quite a few cars at 272bhp and 590 Nms of torque with the Brabus Chip.

I actually used to own a MY05 Impreza STI PPP with 320bhp, had it for 2 years. The acceleration off the line was brutal, really was. But rolling start and the extra weight of the AWD used bog it down a bit until the turbo spun up. Think everyone saw this issue when Clarkson was showing the new impreza on Top Gear.

Off the line mine would have no chance though against an STI.

 

[martin_a]

The TG thing was a bit boggo though, of course setting off in 5th at 30 is going to be slower than having it on the power. Bit daft really and he has done it before.

The fact is the current WRX STi (not that Cosworth one) went round their track faster than a 911 Carrera S and quicker than a CL65 but I agree, a large part of that is handling.

I could launch mine at silly speeds but 40 -80 mph it wasn't much quicker than the N/A FTO I had before because like a VTEC car it revved to 8000 rpm and was on the power from about 3000. Scooby powered up at 3000 but was out of puff at 5500 really. That's just turbos for you. Get it in the right gear though, so regular road driving, it couldn't be accused of being slow.

m.

 

[Ade B]

Having looked at Subaru's latest range of models again I think I have twigged why they appear so very ugly. They are Japanese! By that I mean many of their features are reminiscent of Japanese architectural forms found on their tradition buildings. Subaru are a very traditional company in many ways and this is reflected in the excellence of their engineering. However they should be aware that styling forms which may be pleasing to the Japanese eye may not go down well with eyes more accustomed to more minimalist occidental architecture.

Slightly OT I think you'll find that the Japanese invented minimalism (as it is commonly perceived) - westerner's pinched it at the turn of the 20th C. Traditional Japanese architecture is rather beautiful too..

My brother disposed of his 07 scooby recently and replaced it with a ..... E320Cdi 211 estate

He wanted more space for his bikes and was fed up with never being able to stretch the car's legs on our congested roads..


Ade

 

[Neiltodd]

Although I don't think any of the current Subaru range are attractive, I think that the previous generation Legacy is rather sleek.

I had 6 of them.

 

[Neiltodd]

I think that even when we had them, the service intervals were 6k or 10k miles, though I could be mistaken. They now have 'normal' service intervals.

7.5k when I had them

 

[Oli]

Sorry I meant the service intervals for the Evo being very short not the Impreza which I know isn't as bad.

 

[moonloops]

I've had a couple of fast impreza's and a legacy estate twin turbo that was interestingly quick.

Just to give you some perspective, standard UK wagon I had with circa 220BHP was annihilated by a BMW 330D on the motorway. I was accelerating flat out and the beemer sailed passed me like I was standing still.

I has a classic impreza type-r which was lightweight, shorter gearing and over 320BHP and it chewed up lots of exotic cars and bikes. Gearing maxxed out at 160 but it got there stupidly quick.


The legacy twin turbo used to get off the line smoothly and faster than laggy imprezas that had more power, due to small turbo giving instant pick up.

The transition between small turbo and when the large one kicked in was call the valley (or valley of death ??) - not a problem if you knew it was coming

The thing about subaru's is that like porsche 911's the engine has real character and the driving experience is up there..

 

[johnpidge]

I had a blob eye one for a while WRX - went like sh1t off a shovel - which was great if you wanted to drive everywhere like you stole it (and a few tried that!) - it was just noisy (gave me a headache on longer runs) and drank petrol - which is rich coming from someone with a CLK55! Or am I just getting OLD