I'm becoming worried about myself
Discussion
My nephew has just bought a 2001 Impretza P1 with ProDrive upgrades. He handed me the keys on Sunday and off I went. What a car! Forget the party dress looks and wide boy reputation. This car has an amazing ability to get the power onto the ground and what power. It simply puts my Chimaera to shame. No need to feed the power in through fear of step out. The traction management just handles everything putting power to which ever corner needs it. The turbo lag is quite short too, a fraction of a second, but that loss of power on change up could become irritating.
Overall I still couldn't see myself owning one. I can't cope with the dressed up body styling but if I could find that power and traction in something more subtle and maybe open top I would be in the market.
Overall I still couldn't see myself owning one. I can't cope with the dressed up body styling but if I could find that power and traction in something more subtle and maybe open top I would be in the market.
Agree they are extremely efective but I find their appeal a touch one-dimensional and truly believe that you'd get bored after a while. The way you can just boot it out of every corner and wait for the boooost without fear of power oversteer..... well, I like having to modulate the power myself to prevent oversteer or have a bit of a play when I want to.
Still, if you have only four cylinders to configure, thats the best way to do it....
Still, if you have only four cylinders to configure, thats the best way to do it....
adom said:
Agree they are extremely efective but I find their appeal a touch one-dimensional and truly believe that you'd get bored after a while.
That pretty much hits the nail on the head. Where's the thrill of driving if all you have to do is steer the thing and stand on the loud pedal. Mate of mine has a'93 Jap import WRX sti, 280 bhp out of the crate. There are no pub discussions amongst us any more; Impreza is king.
But like the twin-turbo Nissan 300ZX I drove a few years back, it's too... boring. Boringly efficient at what it does, boringly reliable, boring to look at, just bloody boring.
In a full-on race with my (or most other) TVR, no contest. But I know which I'd rather be in for a hoon round the Lakes, or a pose round the town...
In fact he actually admitted when we swapped cars in the Lakes last year, that the torque of the V8 made it preferable to the Impreza's frantic cog-swapping due to the stop-start nature of the roads that day...
But like the twin-turbo Nissan 300ZX I drove a few years back, it's too... boring. Boringly efficient at what it does, boringly reliable, boring to look at, just bloody boring.
In a full-on race with my (or most other) TVR, no contest. But I know which I'd rather be in for a hoon round the Lakes, or a pose round the town...
In fact he actually admitted when we swapped cars in the Lakes last year, that the torque of the V8 made it preferable to the Impreza's frantic cog-swapping due to the stop-start nature of the roads that day...
adom said:
Agree they are extremely efective but I find their appeal a touch one-dimensional and truly believe that you'd get bored after a while. The way you can just boot it out of every corner and wait for the boooost without fear of power oversteer..... well, I like having to modulate the power myself to prevent oversteer or have a bit of a play when I want to.
Still, if you have only four cylinders to configure, thats the best way to do it....
Still, if you have only four cylinders to configure, thats the best way to do it....
a fair point. understeer is what scares me about scoobies. every one i've driven has understeered at some point when being pushed very hard, its very snappy and just comes without warning. Much prefer evo's.
I considered a P1 or an Evo before i got the skyline. It's a common myth that they all remove the fun from driving, obviously they're not as raw as TVR's and the like, and thus a degree of purity and pedigree is missing. I've got well over 400bhp on tap in the skyline, and lots of torque. It's a big car, but it can still dispose of just about everything i've encountered on both the straight and the curly roads, purely because the power is so effectively delivered, and it sticks to the road like glue on accelerating. Even gave a yamaha R6 bike a bit of a fright today which he wasn't expecting.
as for the aforementioned myth, the back end of the skyline will still try and overtake the front if i plant the noise pedal mid corner for example, it does require skill to be driven hard, but you will find the limits of most drivers before you find the limits of the car.
I suppose it depends what you're after in a car. I've been lusting after a cerbera since the day they were released, great driving experience, however i chose the skyline in light of its inherent tuneability, the fantastic RB26DETT engine, and the fact that i can quite easily extract 500+ horsepower whilst still being an ultimately reliable car.
i'd love something along the lines of a TVR or a Lotus, but i'm a sucker for plasticy jap crap unlike most on pistonheads, what it lacks in prestige it makes up for in ability though, how many other 15 grand cars can dispose of 996 turbos
Edited by MeLLoN Stu on Tuesday 4th July 03:17
MeLLoN Stu said:
adom said:
Agree they are extremely efective but I find their appeal a touch one-dimensional and truly believe that you'd get bored after a while. The way you can just boot it out of every corner and wait for the boooost without fear of power oversteer..... well, I like having to modulate the power myself to prevent oversteer or have a bit of a play when I want to.
Still, if you have only four cylinders to configure, thats the best way to do it....
Still, if you have only four cylinders to configure, thats the best way to do it....
a fair point. understeer is what scares me about scoobies. every one i've driven has understeered at some point when being pushed very hard, its very snappy and just comes without warning. Much prefer evo's.
I considered a P1 or an Evo before i got the skyline. It's a common myth that they all remove the fun from driving, obviously they're not as raw as TVR's and the like, and thus a degree of purity and pedigree is missing. I've got well over 400bhp on tap in the skyline, and lots of torque. It's a big car, but it can still dispose of just about everything i've encountered on both the straight and the curly roads, purely because the power is so effectively delivered, and it sticks to the road like glue on accelerating. Even gave a yamaha R6 bike a bit of a fright today which he wasn't expecting.
as for the aforementioned myth, the back end of the skyline will still try and overtake the front if i plant the noise pedal mid corner for example, it does require skill to be driven hard, but you will find the limits of most drivers before you find the limits of the car.
I suppose it depends what you're after in a car. I've been lusting after a cerbera since the day they were released, great driving experience, however i chose the skyline in light of its inherent tuneability, the fantastic RB26DETT engine, and the fact that i can quite easily extract 500+ horsepower whilst still being an ultimately reliable car.
i'd love something along the lines of a TVR or a Lotus, but i'm a sucker for plasticy jap crap unlike most on pistonheads, what it lacks in prestige it makes up for in ability though, how many other 15 grand cars can dispose of 996 turbos
Edited by MeLLoN Stu on Tuesday 4th July 03:17
You could, however, argue that if you put a big enough engine and expensive enough suspension on just about any tin box, it would be a Skyline in effect. That I think is what disappoints people about the Skyline, Impreza etc.; they don't really LOOK the part. Even the Evo with all its vents and scoops and wings just looks like some boy racer blew his wad on some fantastic plastic - we KNOW it's fast, but it still started life as the Colt Lancer grandad-mobile
Hell, the taxi firm I worked for had a Subaru pickup for fetching bits from the scrapyard long before anyone had heard of the Impreza. With, say, TVR or Lotus there's an element of humanity about it: you know that blokes like you and me turned up for work every day, rolled up their sleeves and got covered in resin, weld spatter, glue, carpet fibres and wire strippings. Some of them even signed their names when they'd finished. You know that things aren't millimetrically perfect, that sometimes someone just found a quick way to get the job done, but it doesn't matter. It's a bit like saying your grandad helped win the war; TVR and others keep Britain (and Britons) great
wedg1e said:
You could, however, argue that if you put a big enough engine and expensive enough suspension on just about any tin box, it would be a Skyline in effect. That I think is what disappoints people about the Skyline, Impreza etc.; they don't really LOOK the part. Even the Evo with all its vents and scoops and wings just looks like some boy racer blew his wad on some fantastic plastic - we KNOW it's fast, but it still started life as the Colt Lancer grandad-mobile
Hell, the taxi firm I worked for had a Subaru pickup for fetching bits from the scrapyard long before anyone had heard of the Impreza. i see your point and agree to an extent. i very nearly bought an evo 8 before the skyline. i'm not as hung up on aesthetics as a lot of people, but i agree it does look like its been used in a ram raid of a halfords store. As a drivers car it'll put most others to shame though. The skyline i preferred as it has a degree of subtlety to it. Granted it has a spoiler on the back, however this is more function over form. at 180mph you tend to need some downforce, hence the 5 way adjustable spoiler its fitted with as standard.
i can't see the attraction to manufacturing methods personally, but if that's what you like about the cars then good stuff, the world would be very tedious if we all liked the same things. That's not to say i don't like the TVR's and Lotus' etc, quite the opposite, i just prefer my spoilered up plastic and tin box jap crap and the fact i can dispose of some seriously expensive metal in acceleration, top speed and handling disciplines, whilst not being in fear of ending up on the back of a transporter every time i take it out.
I drove an Impreza las year and while I was impressed with its capabilities, I came to the conclusion that it is such a capabale car that it doesn't require a great amount of skill to actually drive it.
Due to its grip capability, I actually came to the conclusion that it would do very little to help me in my quest to actually get my driving up to a better standard.
Due to its grip capability, I actually came to the conclusion that it would do very little to help me in my quest to actually get my driving up to a better standard.
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