Impreza as a daily abroad?
Discussion
Hi everybody,
I am looking for a 4 wheel drive car (no big 4x4) due to the location where I am moving abroad (mountains). I am thinking of an Impreza (maybe wagon) year 2004-05. RHD doesn't bother me at all when I am on the other side of the channel.
Good idea or completely stupid?
Cheers,
I am looking for a 4 wheel drive car (no big 4x4) due to the location where I am moving abroad (mountains). I am thinking of an Impreza (maybe wagon) year 2004-05. RHD doesn't bother me at all when I am on the other side of the channel.
Good idea or completely stupid?
Cheers,
Nothing wrong with it as an idea, assuming it covers all the bases with size, space etc etc.
I ran one for three years from 54-113k miles, and it's still going strong with its new owner. Gave me very, very few issues in that time. I'm seriously considering an old Forester as a runaround at the moment, in fact, to keep winter miles off the new car.
I ran one for three years from 54-113k miles, and it's still going strong with its new owner. Gave me very, very few issues in that time. I'm seriously considering an old Forester as a runaround at the moment, in fact, to keep winter miles off the new car.
E34-3.2 said:
Hi everybody,
I am looking for a 4 wheel drive car (no big 4x4) due to the location where I am moving abroad (mountains). I am thinking of an Impreza (maybe wagon) year 2004-05. RHD doesn't bother me at all when I am on the other side of the channel.
Good idea or completely stupid?
Cheers,
Not at all stupid, in fact it's a near ideal mountain basher. Go for the wagon as you be able to load all your summer/winter gear in the back and skis on the roof rack. Or even better buy a Forester XT...then you'll really be 'eating mountains' en route to the white stuff and tartiflette for breakfast !I am looking for a 4 wheel drive car (no big 4x4) due to the location where I am moving abroad (mountains). I am thinking of an Impreza (maybe wagon) year 2004-05. RHD doesn't bother me at all when I am on the other side of the channel.
Good idea or completely stupid?
Cheers,
I really like these 2:
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
Mileage is ok and they have good specs (to my untrained eye)
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
Mileage is ok and they have good specs (to my untrained eye)
Impreza makes a great daily. Fast, comfortable with lots of space,
However, what are you expecting from the 4wd ?
Not really 'off road' capable with the torque biasing diff's they are really a road. Great on wet roads, 'interesting' on snow, crap with a wheel off the ground
Loved my STi.
However, what are you expecting from the 4wd ?
Not really 'off road' capable with the torque biasing diff's they are really a road. Great on wet roads, 'interesting' on snow, crap with a wheel off the ground
Loved my STi.
They have Suretrac lsd in them , they are not open diffs , in the snow with snow tyres on they are a hoot and very sure footed , i had a 0 to 60 in the snow with a range rover , i floored it a bit of spin yes but it shot off in a more or less straight line , i never got stuck in the snow even silly looking hills where i was we’re fine to tackle
Front diff on my STi was a suretrac and it was a torque biasing, so if one wheel is without any grip at all, it can't lock up the other wheel.
However, I imagine with decent snow tyres you can still produce grip and get good traction, but my STi with road tyres was utter crap in the snow,
However, I imagine with decent snow tyres you can still produce grip and get good traction, but my STi with road tyres was utter crap in the snow
,vxr2010 said:
The Fsti diffs are better than open ones , the snow tyres make a lot of difference as standard tyres have little grip
Of course they are better than open, but a torque biasing diff just moves up to ~5x the torque on one wheel to the other wheel dependant on speed difference.
If a wheel is off the ground or on zero grip surface it will spin up with bugger all torque, and 5x bugger all is, bugger all. So the other wheel gets bugger all torque and you go nowhere.
So with decent snow tyres, your confirming that in snow you get enough grip to allow enough torque to do something useful. Which is great to know.
On my STi in snow, with a suretrac front and a helical rear, the tyres generated bugger all grip and the car was spectacularly poor.
However back to the op, I wondered if he was expecting 4x4 with diff lock type of traction from an Impreza. If so he might be disappointed.
standard tyres v snow tyres , grip levels are 3 to 4 times better with the snow tyres it is night and day , but not over stating the obvious here snow tyres are intended for snow , on the flip side of this i put snow tyres on my impreza when it’s looking bleak over the winter months so i always have one car with snow tyres on , the fsti also has a spare set of rims with snow tyres on them , the fsti snow tyres lack grip when it’s not snow kuhmo ku27 , the impreza is not as bad i think they are called autogrip they were cheap but work pretty good in all conditions but still not as good as a summer tyre in non snow conditions , hope that makes sense , the torque diff comment , due to grip being that much better than normal tyres i’ve never had that issue in any snowy conditions i have driven in
vxr2010 said:
standard tyres v snow tyres , grip levels are 3 to 4 times better with the snow tyres it is night and day , but not over stating the obvious here snow tyres are intended for snow , on the flip side of this i put snow tyres on my impreza when it’s looking bleak over the winter months so i always have one car with snow tyres on , the fsti also has a spare set of rims with snow tyres on them , the fsti snow tyres lack grip when it’s not snow kuhmo ku27 , the impreza is not as bad i think they are called autogrip they were cheap but work pretty good in all conditions but still not as good as a summer tyre in non snow conditions , hope that makes sense , the torque diff comment , due to grip being that much better than normal tyres i’ve never had that issue in any snowy conditions i have driven in
Fancy a forester now E34-3.2 said:
Hi everybody,
I am looking for a 4 wheel drive car (no big 4x4) due to the location where I am moving abroad (mountains). I am thinking of an Impreza (maybe wagon) year 2004-05. RHD doesn't bother me at all when I am on the other side of the channel.
Good idea or completely stupid?
Cheers,
If it's for driving on roads in poor conditions, yes. If "off road", not so much. It's a road car that can go off-road, as opposed to an off-road car than can go on road (Land Rover for example).I am looking for a 4 wheel drive car (no big 4x4) due to the location where I am moving abroad (mountains). I am thinking of an Impreza (maybe wagon) year 2004-05. RHD doesn't bother me at all when I am on the other side of the channel.
Good idea or completely stupid?
Cheers,
The other thing to consider is parts supply and mechanical expertise in whichever country you are moving too.
- * The early non-turbo Imprezas/Forresters were dsigned more for agricultural use and therefore came with diff-locks and hill climb assist. I don't know whether this was carried over to the later non-turbo models. You probably don't want a non-turbo engine though anyway....
- ** The newer ones do also come with diff lock.
Edited by TEKNOPUG on Monday 9th October 12:57
Edited by TEKNOPUG on Monday 9th October 13:00
I live in the mountains in Switzerland and drive a subaru legacy. In the mountainous areas every other village has a subaru garage. They are incredibly popular over here for good reason, 1. they dont break down, 2. The AWD eats bad road conditions, 3. they Haul.
If you think you are going to be an obscurity with one then think again. Whatever the model Subaru is doesnmt really matter they all handled the snow/ice impeccably. Stay away from the diesels though if you are moving to Switzerland. With the way the wind is blowing here they could be banned soon enough and in the short term will be hit with higher taxes than petrol. if you are moving to this area feel free to PM me for any advice. Im here 7 years now.
If you think you are going to be an obscurity with one then think again. Whatever the model Subaru is doesnmt really matter they all handled the snow/ice impeccably. Stay away from the diesels though if you are moving to Switzerland. With the way the wind is blowing here they could be banned soon enough and in the short term will be hit with higher taxes than petrol. if you are moving to this area feel free to PM me for any advice. Im here 7 years now.
Edited by rastapasta on Monday 9th October 14:05
I ran a RHD '07 Hawkeye WRX wagon as a daily for 5 years while living in Spain - worked out absolutely fine, an absolute blast round the mountain roads, refined enough on motorways. Driving up to the Pyrenees to visit clients was absolutely fantastic. The only challenge is overtaking with a RHD car, which you'll want to do plenty of if you get a Turbo. With a remap 
If you're planning to keep it on a UK plate, just check insurance and legal status and how that will work for the length of time you plan to be in the country with it. Insurance is usually a few months max outside of the UK by default, I think.
If you're going to import it, check the import duty and the difficulty of the local bureaucracy - in Spain we first imported an LHD Audi A6 that was originally German registered, then imported to the UK where we bought it and took it to Spain. Had to get it "homologated" by the local ITV (MOT) centre before importing it as the switch from Germany to the UK before Spain meant the original German records were missing and the "new" date of the car on the paperwork was the arrival in the UK several years later, not when it was actually first sold in Germany. That kind of thing makes a big difference to your import duty! The whole thing took about a year...Import duty will usually apply if you're resident there more than 6 months in a year but if it's your only/main vehicle and you're a new resident, I think they usually do you a deal.
With the Hawkeye, I registered it in my father's name (he's UK resident) so I could always claim it was his and I was borrowing it, should the local coppers ever stop me and accuse me of not having imported the vehicle despite me being a resident...fortunately, the average policeman sees a foreign plate and leaves you alone, unless you're doing something stupid. It probably wouldn't have stood up to much scrutiny as an excuse...It was also parked off road, so they didn't drive past it day after day and wonder why it was still on UK plates after several years. French friend of mine got done as they saw his French registered car outside his house every day, they waited outside and nabbed him one morning, the fine was quite steep.
Hope that's of some use!
If you're planning to keep it on a UK plate, just check insurance and legal status and how that will work for the length of time you plan to be in the country with it. Insurance is usually a few months max outside of the UK by default, I think.
If you're going to import it, check the import duty and the difficulty of the local bureaucracy - in Spain we first imported an LHD Audi A6 that was originally German registered, then imported to the UK where we bought it and took it to Spain. Had to get it "homologated" by the local ITV (MOT) centre before importing it as the switch from Germany to the UK before Spain meant the original German records were missing and the "new" date of the car on the paperwork was the arrival in the UK several years later, not when it was actually first sold in Germany. That kind of thing makes a big difference to your import duty! The whole thing took about a year...Import duty will usually apply if you're resident there more than 6 months in a year but if it's your only/main vehicle and you're a new resident, I think they usually do you a deal.
With the Hawkeye, I registered it in my father's name (he's UK resident) so I could always claim it was his and I was borrowing it, should the local coppers ever stop me and accuse me of not having imported the vehicle despite me being a resident...fortunately, the average policeman sees a foreign plate and leaves you alone, unless you're doing something stupid. It probably wouldn't have stood up to much scrutiny as an excuse...It was also parked off road, so they didn't drive past it day after day and wonder why it was still on UK plates after several years. French friend of mine got done as they saw his French registered car outside his house every day, they waited outside and nabbed him one morning, the fine was quite steep.
Hope that's of some use!
I had a '95 Legacy Turbo, the facelifted 4cam Turbo, brought it with us when we moved to SW France and kept it for 15 years in the end. It was brilliant, perhaps the best car I ever owned. As others have said they are dead reliable, handle wonderfully, cope with any sort of weather easily - on one occasion we went over a col which had been closed to all traffic en route to Andorra and on ordinary Michelin Pilot tyres and it never put a foot wrong! The biggest problem down here is a terrible scarcity of dealers, the first one we went to closed down and the second one was a dishonest thief, both were more than an hour away. Lack of good service facilities was, in the end, why I reluctantly sold it.
We had a 06 Forester X from new for 5.5 year up in the North that is Scandinavia.
great car, planted in summer on gravel or tarmac or winter on propper (studded) winter tyres and ice or snow.
Could get the back end to step out on command of right root at our local mid-sized roundabout.
abouts 30mgp or 10l/100km avg.
Both my partner and I wuld have another no issues, only sold it as would not fit 3 infant seats across the back.
02 WRX a couple of years after that, great car, lots of fun but for sure footedness in winter was nowhere near the Fozzi.
I agree with others, winter tyres, studded or studless (NOT M&S or all weathers) make a difference below +5 and a HUGE difference below 0, those that say othe wise have not had the right tyres/conditions.
I was a major sceptic before moving there, 17 years later and I am sold on the idea of winter tyres below +5.
have fun
great car, planted in summer on gravel or tarmac or winter on propper (studded) winter tyres and ice or snow.
Could get the back end to step out on command of right root at our local mid-sized roundabout.
abouts 30mgp or 10l/100km avg.
Both my partner and I wuld have another no issues, only sold it as would not fit 3 infant seats across the back.
02 WRX a couple of years after that, great car, lots of fun but for sure footedness in winter was nowhere near the Fozzi.
I agree with others, winter tyres, studded or studless (NOT M&S or all weathers) make a difference below +5 and a HUGE difference below 0, those that say othe wise have not had the right tyres/conditions.
I was a major sceptic before moving there, 17 years later and I am sold on the idea of winter tyres below +5.
have fun
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