Impreza STi
Canada just got a taste of the fun us Europeans have been having. Nauman Farooq reports.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make. The Subaru Impreza WRX STi is not a good car. The Subaru Impreza WRX STi is a great car. It is simply magnificent.
The Subura Impreza Turbo has long been a performance icon in Asia and Europe, yet these turbo charged versions of the humble Impreza are new to Canada.
2001 saw the Impreza WRX set its tires on our tarmac, and now in 2003 we finally have the big, monsterous STi version arrive at our shores. Having read all about the STi in European mags, I had expected a lot from this car. I wasn't expecting this much though.
Power Plant
There are soo many appealing features of this car, but the heart of its appeal is its heart. For the North American market, the STi has a 2.5 liter, "boxer" flat-four cylinder engine, pumping out 300 hp and 300 lb/ft of torque.
That power makes its way to the active four-wheel drive system via a six-speed manual gearbox. This has got to be one of the finest gearboxes on the planet. The shifts are effortless, and as soon as you get it out of one gear it seems to automatically fall into the next gear.
It's amazing, you have to try it out to really see how good this is. Making matters even better is its clutch. Yes it is a bit on the firm side but its action is smooth and it engages the gear the very moment you start pulling out the clutch.
911 Fast
All of this just means that making blistering runs in this car is a piece of cake. It really is blisteringly fast too. The famed 0-60 mph run just takes 4.8 seconds, and it will top out at around 160 mph. That is not only faster than a Porsche Boxster S, it'll keep right up with a 911 C4S.
Not only is it 911 fast, it is just as stable too making high speed antics safe and a laugh. If someone told me a month ago that this STi is a four door alternative to a 911 for 1/3rd the price (in Canada, an STi is $47,000 while a 911 C4S is $139,000), I would have laughed and told them to go lay an egg. Now I can tell you honestly, this STi can seriously irritate anyone in a 911.
Through the Bends
The really irritating bit is that it'll keep up with any supercar through the twisty bits. The STi with its active all-wheel drive system is sensational. It forgives stupidity and rewards your occasional talents superbly. On the center console, near the hand brake, you'll find a switch that allows you to control the center differential. With this, you can choose how much of the power should be sent to the rear wheels. This is simply brilliant. However, I liked keeping it in the auto setting and let the computer sort it all out.
All of it's qualities just help in making every journey an event. Every corner, every overtaking manouvere makes you feel like you are on a rally stage.
The only painful bit is the ride harshness. This car is very stiffly sprung, and the small tire walls don't absorb the bumps either. That can make trips on unnurished roads a bit of a back breaker.
Interior
The seat does try its best to not only provide comfort but also support you in all the right places. The STi's sport bucket seats are very well padded and the driver gets a heated seat too while the passenger doesn't.
The ergonomics of this are very decent too. Not only will you and your friends find it roomy, but you will also find the car very nicely equipped. The full assortment of power windows, mirrors and locks are here, so is cruise control.
The HVAC controls are well placed, not that you can say the same for the dash mounted cup holder. Put anything in that cup holder and you'll for sure spill it, and that means your drink will be swalloed up by the CD player. That's okay actually, the CD player is crap anyway.
The instrument binnacle on the other hand is not. The dials are nice and clear, with the electro-illuminicent gauges not only making them look good but also very easy to read.
The rev counter has a light in it to remind you to change up 'cause you've red lined it. The 160 mph speedo sits on the right of it.
Missing in action however is a boost gauge. Give a dealer here $500 and they'll install one for you, but it really should have been standard.
One of the coolest gadgets in here has to be the button to spray ice cold water onto the intercooler, just for that extra fine tuning.
There is no question that this is one of the best cars on the road today. However, the looks rasie many questions. Yes, it certainly isn't a handsome car, nor is it a pretty one, and with it's big wing in the back and it's huge air intake on the hood, it certainly isn't a shrinking violet either. But believe you me, after driving it, it begins to look beautiful.
I have driven many cars this year, and every time you approach a car, it either turns out to be as good as you expected it to be, or falls short. Very rarely a car has exceeded my expectations. The STi certainly exceeded mine.
Links
Special thanks to Clifford DeSilva at Subaru of Mississauga for providing the test vehicle
The point is, what is the point of having a "fast" car that simply gets from Point A to Point B quickly through all kinds of gadgetry? Especially since you cannot legally use this capability on the road. Arguing that the active safety of the car will make you safer in bad weather is like arguing having a gun in the house will make you safer - just as you are more likely to shoot yourself or be shot with your own gun, you are more likely to use a high performance car to its limits so in bad weather you will still drive fast.
So there doesn't seem to be too much point to cars like this. The original Lotus Elan embodied what a sports car should be:
"When asked in a recent issue of Classic & Sports Car, what sports car he would buy if limited to £10k, Gordon Murray replied 'Even if I had £100,000 to spend it would be on an Elan. Still the best driver's sports car built'.
"
and it inspires statements like this even though it has cornering limits lower than many econoboxes today, thanks to its tyres.
With all these attempts at a niche car - Strathcarron, FBS, Farboud, etc... - someone should simply try to make a modern day version of the original Elan. No more than 650 kg, at least 12,000 NM/degree torsional rigidity, front engine, rear wheel drive, just copy the exact dimensions of the Elan. Price it like the Miata/MX5 and they'll sell like hotcakes. You'll be almost under half the weight of an MX5 and 240 kg lighter than the new Elise.
Cheer up mate. It's a fun car. Plenty of people enjoy them. Life would be boring if we all drove Elans.
stevenrt said:
So there doesn't seem to be too much point to cars like this. The original Lotus Elan embodied what a sports car should be
I don't mean to be rude but what exactly are you going on about?
This isn't a sports car, it's a sports saloon. There's no disputing the fact that it has the ability to humble most exoctica in the 'real world' whilst seating four adults. I can't really see where the Elan fits into the equation here(apples & oranges etc)
stevenrt said:
Quite a lot...
Sorry mate but was your post related to this article or were you just looking for a suitable thread on which to have a general rant about the number of electronic aids on modern cars?
AFAICT the only electronic aid mentioned in the article is the ability for it to automatically distribute the power to the front or rear wheels, which you can override manually if you want. I'm guessing it has ABS and power steering but most cars have that now anyway. What exactly is your point regarding the Scooby? It has a manual box, a stiff chassis and suspension, oodles of power and is not FWD. Sounds like a proper drivers car to me
stevenrt said:I don't think they are strong enough yet for high power applications - IIRC Audi are the nearest for this
Is the goal to get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible? If so, dump the manual transmission for CVT,
stevenrt said:Yeah right! Think this may be a few years off yet...
let a computer decide how much and when to turn the steering wheel through image recognition software analyzing input from dual front mounted video cameras to decide the optimum line,
stevenrt said:Really? That's impressive! This would oviously need to be tied into image-recognition SW, so that you could use the right profile for the conditions - dry/wet/hot/cold/greasy/icy etc
let the computer take over the braking as well since I can definitely write a program that will brake the car quicker than any human
stevenrt said:What, gadgetry like 4WD,ABS, wheels, engine etc.? The point is that they've made it fast, fun, strong, simple & safe.
The point is, what is the point of having a "fast" car that simply gets from Point A to Point B quickly through all kinds of gadgetry?
stevenrt said:Just because it isn't necessarily legal, doesn't mean that owners don't use its capabilities every day, safely (in the UK certainly)
Especially since you cannot legally use this capability on the road.
stevenrt said:Aside from the fact that many Americans would argue that a gun does make you safer, a better analogy would be that if you are going to have a gun, you might at least have one with a safety catch, and a telescopic sight, so if you *are* going to use it, you can use it effectively.
Arguing that the active safety of the car will make you safer in bad weather is like arguing having a gun in the house will make you safer - just as you are more likely to shoot yourself or be shot with your own gun, you are more likely to use a high performance car to its limits so in bad weather you will still drive fast.
stevenrt said:The point is that it does family car *and* sportscar pretty well - don't get me wrong, I love proper sportscars, but with a Subaru, you can have both.
So there doesn't seem to be too much point to cars like this. The original Lotus Elan embodied what a sports car should be:
Yep, you'll also fail all the current crash tests, just like the original Elan would.
The original Elise was well over 700kg, how would get any lighter than that?
The rant at the Impreza is a bit unjustified. The car IS great fun to drive actually.
Mark
BT52 said:
"No more than 650 kg, at least 12,000 NM/degree torsional rigidity, front engine, rear wheel drive, just copy the exact dimensions of the Elan. Price it like the Miata/MX5 and they'll sell like hotcakes. You'll be almost under half the weight of an MX5 and 240 kg lighter than the new Elise."
Yep, you'll also fail all the current crash tests, just like the original Elan would.
The original Elise was well over 700kg, how would get any lighter than that?
Mark
The original Elise was 690 kg in fact, and one could get the weight down to 650 kg using F board (GRP skinned aluminium honeycomb) ( www.tech.plym.ac.uk/sme/acmc/download/chass.pdf ) to cheaply make a composite chassis with the specific torsional rigidity required.
Next I would mount the rear suspension directly to the tub as with the GTM Libra/Spyder, avoiding using a heavy steel subframe like the Elise uses.
Similarly the front suspension and engine cradle would be mounted directly to extensions of the tub at the front (like the Spyder/Libra), rather than a subframe. Basically just like the Spyder but with the engine in the front.
Instead of using a relatively heavy 1.8 litre engine as in the Elise , I would use a 1.5 litre "Scotch Yoke" flat 4 boxer engine design ( www.autospeed.com/cms/A_0948/article.html and www.cmcpower.com/html/pressroom/clippings/210412.asp ) which is about 30% less volume and mass than an equivalent capacity inline 4, has perfect balance with a single balance shaft and has a sinusoidal piston stroke for longer Top Dead Center time (can rev higher). This would save about 50 kg on the Elise powertrain and with the longer TDC should easily provide 150 hp.
The body would be GRP, and the GRP body and honeycomb tub would give good crash protection, front and side. The low instrinsic NVH of the engine would reduce the need for sound absorbing material, reducing weight.
That's how you would do it.
I'll make a deal - I'll drive an Impreza when you all drive an Elan, and then tell me you can't see what I'm on about.
stevenrt said:
"No more than 650 kg, at least 12,000 NM/degree torsional rigidity, front engine, rear wheel drive, just copy the exact dimensions of the Elan. Price it like the Miata/MX5 and they'll sell like hotcakes. You'll be almost under half the weight of an MX5 and 240 kg lighter than the new Elise."
Yep, you'll also fail all the current crash tests, just like the original Elan would.
The original Elise was well over 700kg, how would get any lighter than that?
Mark
The original Elise was 690 kg in fact, and one could get the weight down to 650 kg using F board (GRP skinned aluminium honeycomb) ( www.tech.plym.ac.uk/sme/acmc/download/chass.pdf ) to cheaply make a composite chassis with the specific torsional rigidity required.
Next I would mount the rear suspension directly to the tub as with the GTM Libra/Spyder, avoiding using a heavy steel subframe like the Elise uses.
Similarly the front suspension and engine cradle would be mounted directly to extensions of the tub at the front (like the Spyder/Libra), rather than a subframe. Basically just like the Spyder but with the engine in the front.
Instead of using a relatively heavy 1.8 litre engine as in the Elise , I would use a 1.5 litre "Scotch Yoke" flat 4 boxer engine design ( www.autospeed.com/cms/A_0948/article.html and www.cmcpower.com/html/pressroom/clippings/210412.asp ) which is about 30% less volume and mass than an equivalent capacity inline 4, has perfect balance with a single balance shaft and has a sinusoidal piston stroke for longer Top Dead Center time (can rev higher). This would save about 50 kg on the Elise powertrain and with the longer TDC should easily provide 150 hp.
The body would be GRP, and the GRP body and honeycomb tub would give good crash protection, front and side. The low instrinsic NVH of the engine would reduce the need for sound absorbing material, reducing weight.
That's how you would do it.
I'll make a deal - I'll drive an Impreza when you all drive an Elan, and then tell me you can't see what I'm on about.
Mark is correct.
The K series is only 100kgs so saving 50kg's whilst adding a propshaft as per your front engined RWD plan is going to be some going. How much do you think the sound proofing in an series one elise weighs?
Also bear in mind that non of this original elises have actually been found to weigh 690kgs, they've all been heavier.
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