Which Impreza is best, play and track ?

[Sarge 4x4]

Can I ask for a little help as I know very little about the Impreza's.

I am looking for an Impreza which I can use as a play and track day car, had a day with Pirelli at Prodrive in Warwickshire last Monday and was very impressed, needs to be road legal, been looking at all the different one's available, would like to get away with under 10K, will it be reliable etc, etc, thinking 2.5lt is best ?

Any help on this most usefull.

I have a Bathurst VXR8 for the road, so am looking for good power.

[juggers]

You want to get yourself JAP SPEC (JDM) STI SPEC C it's basically a group n rally car with a few creature comforts £80kg lighter and are the best impreza's available. Here's a link to a MY03 SPEC C for sale however it's a little on the expensive side it's worth about £9k http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3320880.htm

Or for that sort of money you can get a MY05(Model year) sti JDM with the stronger 2.0l engine. Not as hard core as the spec c, but still miles better than any UK spec equivalent. The MY05 has a few revisions like wider rear track ad better handling plus the interior is much better to.

The JDM cars respond to tuning bettr aswell as the engines are good for 450bhp out the box and they rev to 8000 rpm as opposed to the UK 7500 limit.

Edited by juggers on Thursday 27th October 15:34

Edited by juggers on Thursday 27th October 15:35

[Sarge 4x4]

Thanks for that, been thinking that I could sell the VXR8 and buy the STI Cosworth, now that looks like a great bit of kit.

[juggers]

I wouldn't waste ya time on a cosworth however this on the otherhand is worth every penny.......naughty bit of kit this is

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

Much better than a Cosworth in my opinion.

[Sarge 4x4]

So how so I find one like that ?

What about buying a standard car and going to town with it, can you get proper power ?

[juggers]

You can get a standard Spec c and go to town on it! There good for 450bhp on the standard 2.0l JDM engine which can be done with a bolt on turbo nice and easy.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3351420.htm

Give us a shout if you need any help

[GravelBen]

For raw fun the early Type-RA and Type-R (2-door) STi's are pretty hard to beat, much lighter than the newer models though perhaps not quite as solid.

[TAS1981]

Why don't you buy something considerably cheaper than £10k, as in a JDM classic and pocket the rest of the cash for something else? If its just going to be for a bit of fun but mostly track work, then surely something you could shrug off if you binned it fits the bill?

Just my thoughts...there are any number of cheaper Imprezas on the market. If I stuffed one of those into the armco I would take the money I saved and buy another and drive that in to the ground as well....there all pretty fast and light and if you spend a few quid on "stuff" for it, most likely you could just swap it to the next one....

[Sarge 4x4]

juggers said:

You can get a standard Spec c and go to town on it! There good for 450bhp on the standard 2.0l JDM engine which can be done with a bolt on turbo nice and easy.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3351420.htm

Give us a shout if you need any help

You say 2.0ltr, would the 2.5ltr be better or as you say is the 2.0ltr stronger.

Trouble is there seem to be soooooooooooooooo many different options which I just can't get my head round.

That white one looks like a nice thing, please tell me are the new one's from the showroom 2 or 2.5ltr ?

Andy.

[juggers]

From 2001 to 2005 the UK STI had a 2.0l engine however this was never the same as the JDM spec cars.
The jdm cars get the same engines they use in the group N rally cars which are all hand built using stronger components .
In 2006 the UK STI got a 2.5l engine due to the emissions regs in Europe as it was to hard getting the 2.0l through emissions.
So they started using the EJ25 block ike the states however the EJ25 is the same block as the 2.0l just bored out to 2.5. However the EJ20 was never designed for that sort of capacity and even if you throw sh't loads of cosworth goodies at it the engine will let go due to inherent issues with the 2.5 block.
Even the Litchfield type 25 with the cosworth engines have had issues.

The JDM cars have been running the stronger 2.0l engine since 2001 and in 2003 they introduced a twinscroll turbo with equal length headers which is a great setup reducing turbo lag and giving great spool up, response and performance.

[markCSC]

IIRC all Japanese import Impreza Sti's are 2.0 lt

There have been a "few" issues with the 2.5lt engines letting go. See http://bbs.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-general-1/82899...

[paulmoonraker]

2.0ltr is more fun and revs harder and its easier to make more power if you start modifying. The 2.5ltr is not as strong, but does produce more low down torque so makes for a better daily.

IMO, as far as new age cars go, the 2005 was the best as it has the benefits of the hawkeye (wider track etc, etc) but still has the 2.0ltr engine.

I have never driven a classic so cant comment on that. I personally like a slightly newer car, so I got the 2005 car.

-P

[GTR Cook]

I would look at a classic STI, much cheaper and lighter and leaves room in your budget for some choice and necesary upgrades.

Its also alot, in my opinion, to ask a spec c to run 450 reliably, you really need to know its history before pushing it to that on track.

I know the pit falls of the 2.5, but i regularly attend track days with a couple running the 2.5 and they run without issues. Guess it depends on how its been looked after.

Edited by GTR Cook on Saturday 29th October 20:15

[Sarge 4x4]

I am testing the Cosworth next week, it's a bit pricy though.

Thinking of a 5 door STI with the 320bhp upgrade, big difference in the pennys.

At least if I buy a new one I have three years help on tap.

[Sarge 4x4]

O.K. Driven the Cosworth and yes it's quick and is not to bumpy round the lanes but, it seems like all these Cosworth editions are two years old and best price I can find is 45K, so lots of dosh for a two year old car and maybe why there is 30+ available, have seen one at 39K with 4,000 miles, think they are going to take a big nose bleed.

So my plan is a new or almost new 5 door STI with the 320PS upgrade, then I would like to spend some money and give it some nice usable power upgrade's, so who or where do I go, would be nice to have 400ish bhp.

Any help would be great.

Andy.

[juggers]

Get down and have a blast of my R205 had a chap come over the weekend said it was miles better than the CS400!!!

Have a look at this

http://pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&amp...

[paulmoonraker]

Sarge 4x4 said:

So my plan is a new or almost new 5 door STI with the 320PS upgrade, then I would like to spend some money and give it some nice usable power upgrade's, so who or where do I go, would be nice to have 400ish...

Andy.

Get a jap Import then with the stronger 2ltr engine. Your probably knacker the engine on a UK model and have no recourse with the warrante... A risk IMO....

[juggers]

paulmoonraker said:

Get a jap Import then with the stronger 2ltr engine. Your probably knacker the engine on a UK model and have no recourse with the warrante... A risk IMO....

My thoughts to

[GTR Cook]

paulmoonraker said:

Sarge 4x4 said:

So my plan is a new or almost new 5 door STI with the 320PS upgrade, then I would like to spend some money and give it some nice usable power upgrade's, so who or where do I go, would be nice to have 400ish...

Andy.

Get a jap Import then with the stronger 2ltr engine. Your probably knacker the engine on a UK model and have no recourse with the warrante... A risk IMO....

Can be risky buying an import as well. Not likely to get a warranty on these either.

Edited by GTR Cook on Sunday 6th November 20:09

[markCSC]

This 460 bhp monster is being sold by a friend of mine. http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3286501.htm He has spent a lot of money on the upgrades