New Sti On Top Gear?

[fmj]

Ok so loads of you must have seen it, but no coments?

I know the opinions of the Top Gear Presenters are mostly just for fun and arn't really based on real life but still... gotta feel bad for the new Impreza.

Interesting that it was faster around the track by a little bit...

It would be interesting to see the cars compared to the earlier versions ie an STI 6 and EVO vs the 10's.

I think top gear should do one of there used car challenges with jap sports cars evo's, scoobs, skylines, surpas etc as they have done with super cars for under £10,000 etc.

Edited June 29, 2008 by FMJ

[Classicscoob]

I saw it mate,wasnt fair that he tested the 360 bhp evo against it,but at least they used the 300bhp for the lap. Gonna get flack i know but it didnt look that nice going around the track IMHO

[fmj]

I saw it mate,wasnt fair that he tested the 360 bhp evo against it,but at least they used the 300bhp for the lap. Gonna get flack i know but it didnt look that nice going around the track IMHO

I don't want to offend any new red sti owners but I think a black, blue or grey one would have done us more favours. Red contrasts too much with those rear lights.

[Classicscoob]

I don't want to offend any new red sti owners but I think a black, blue or grey one would have done us more favours. Red contrasts too much with those rear lights.

I agree,red wasnt the best colour. I agree, a comparison with the old marks would be good

[pezzar]

Clarkson wasnt too kind to the Impreza was he, i think he's just an Evo lover full stop. Didnt want to admit it was faster round the track though did he

they're both stunning cars though.

[Classicscoob]

Clarkson wasnt too kind to the Impreza was he, i think he's just an Evo lover full stop. Didnt want to admit it was faster round the track though did he

they're both stunning cars though.

I dont think the pratt had it set up right,it looked good in the hands of the Stig!

[stevew647]

I dont think the pratt had it set up right,it looked good in the hands of the Stig!

is it just me or does anyone else think that cars have too much electronic crap on them? Why spend twenty odd grand on a car that you have to set-up, what ever happened to just turning the key and getting going?

And no i'm not an old codger, i just want a car to be a car, not a laptop with wheels.

[fmj]

is it just me or does anyone else think that cars have too much electronic crap on them? Why spend twenty odd grand on a car that you have to set-up, what ever happened to just turning the key and getting going?

And no i'm not an old codger, i just want a car to be a car, not a laptop with wheels.

Well I know top gear always go on about "before you go you have to set this, and select this, and enter this menu..." I am sure they are just saying it for comedy value.

I'm sure some of these cars must have a memory function so that the settings remain even when you have turned the car off? If they don't then to be honest you wouldn't have it set to full on thrash mode for every drive would you? Just for when you want a bit more fun. To be honest they take a few seconds to set at most.

I do agree that too many electric bits are not good. I like my classic Good old metal on metal no fancy electric stability controls at all.

Forget the EVO X wait until they have the GTR35 on there

[stevew647]

Well I know top gear always go on about "before you go you have to set this, and select this, and enter this menu..." I am sure they are just saying it for comedy value.

I'm sure some of these cars must have a memory function so that the settings remain even when you have turned the car off? If they don't then to be honest you wouldn't have it set to full on thrash mode for every drive would you? Just for when you want a bit more fun. To be honest they take a few seconds to set at most.

I do agree that too many electric bits are not good. I like my classic Good old metal on metal no fancy electric stability controls at all.

Forget the EVO X wait until they have the GTR35 on there

Good point made there; guess i'm just of the opinion that i want to control what the car does, not the car deciding what it will do for me. Granted, cars with electronics will lap faster and be easier to drive for the vast majority of people, but where's the fun? I mean in my classic and also when i'm on my motorbike, if i take a corner or stretch of road really well ,then i feel good about it; if i were driving one of the newer cars i'd be thinking how much of it was me and how much was the cars electronics?

That's my gripe over; got to say i did love the looks of that Evo X though!

[colzo]

As said before red was not the best choice so EVO won it for looks IMO. I would not buy a car on the strength of a Top Gear review either.

[bmwhere?]

Everyone knows black is the fastest colour for an 08

As for the electronics gubbins, I used to be in favour of the no-electronics approach, but now I've got it, I really like it! The DCCD is awesome on the 08. Using the Auto+ and Auto- modes is really nice and much simpler than manual settings IMHO. I was driving a great road home last night with Auto- really improving the driving feel on turn-in. Ran into a localised shower and the road suddenly turned wet, quickly knock it into Auto+ and the improved traction from the front drive bias gives you the confidence to keep pushing in the wet!

[ian_smith6]

I agree my 08 sti is simple enough, just get in, start it and drive, and if you want to go that little bit quicker just select sport#. just be onest your not going to drive like they did on top gear or fith gear on the public highway are you. Its a lot of money wasted if you get it wrong isnt it.

[LEEscoob]

Everyone knows black is the fastest colour for an 08

Didnt clarkson also say it was quicker than the WR1 round the track? Anyway I will probably never drive mine like that, and am more than happy with my choice. Not that i have to justify it to anyone, except the wife £££.

satisfied MY08 STi owner.

Lee

[paul n]

Didnt clarkson also say it was quicker than the WR1 round the track? Anyway I will probably never drive mine like that, and am more than happy with my choice. Not that i have to justify it to anyone, except the wife £££.

satisfied MY08 STi owner.

Lee

Agree & yep black is the fastest colour don't even have to justify it to the wife mind have to fight her for the keys so I can drive it every now and again

[stinger]

Just watched it now.

WR Blue ftw!

Cant say i'm suprised by the review tbh.

Looks - still looks miles better in real life

Understeer - big suprise! wouldnt be a scoob without it

Wallowy suspension - just not true

Electronics to difficult to set up - complete and utter rubbish but is bound to get a mention

Too quiet - yes we know that

I'm just waiting for the people who have watched it, rubbishing the car and these are probably the same people who have been coming up for weeks saying what a nice car it is!

Edited June 30, 2008 by stinger

[JT79]

I'm not sure I agree guys, the Evo looks better - Colour aside, and also appeared to handle and drive better generally.

The track lap time is largely irrelevent its about how it drives on the roads, but again its worth noting the the new STI was only 0.8 of a second quicker round the track than a WR1 and I seriously doubt you'd feel the 0.8 difference even if you drove them back to back

Personally if I was looking for a new Impreza I'd hang on to my money and see what Subaru do next (probably a max of a years wait for a new version!) as the latest car as a whole package just doesn't do it for me. That said I like the seats and the stereo head unit but thats about it.

I also agree with an earlier post about too much electronics I've got a variable diff but thats it and I still haven't figured out what its supposed to do anyway!

Edited June 30, 2008 by JT79

[bmwhere?]

I also agree with an earlier post about too much electronics I've got a variable diff but thats it and I still haven't figured out what its supposed to do anyway!

The old DCCD was a bit tricky as its a fully manual system that most people will shy away from. The 08 has three automatic settings (Auto+ / Auto / Auto-) which is basically 3 presets each with a given purpose, so you're much more likely to use it and you can notice the difference.

The 08 is not going to be everyones cup of tea as its a pretty huge change from the old car. To be honest, it meets my needs more than the old car ever did, so I'm really happy. I guess a lot of it comes down to your reasons for buying a scooby in the first place!

As for the press reports in general. I think its getting some really unjustified revievs. The steering is no worse than any other standard Impreza ever built. I think the biggest problem is the press usually always test the Prodive versions and this time they just get a bog standard car as there is no Prodrive version available yet!

[listeninstereo]

Worth noting that Clarkson bought his wife an Evo X a couple of months ago so he will be bias. Two very different cars for different tasks.

EDIT - I do have to disagree with what BMWhere said about the steering though. i took out an 08 in May and there was about 5 degrees around straight ahead which had no feel at all which is very different to my 07. Aside from that and the roll i liked it, especially the economy mode for the Si-Drive - I'm clearly getting old!

Edited June 30, 2008 by ListenInStereo

[digger33]

i love my subaru to bits think its the best car i have had will be sticking with them for a long time but got to be honest wot r they doing with the new one its so ugly am sorry but i hope they change it soon its given subaru a bad name now most people want evo s now

[jason751]

Everyone knows black is the fastest colour for an 08

As for the electronics gubbins, I used to be in favour of the no-electronics approach, but now I've got it, I really like it! The DCCD is awesome on the 08. Using the Auto+ and Auto- modes is really nice and much simpler than manual settings IMHO. I was driving a great road home last night with Auto- really improving the driving feel on turn-in. Ran into a localised shower and the road suddenly turned wet, quickly knock it into Auto+ and the improved traction from the front drive bias gives you the confidence to keep pushing in the wet!

With you on this one. All the gadgets take a second to do or just flip in auto thats it... He also forgot to say that the Evo FQ360 is around £14.000 more than the STi and the bass EVo is about £5.000 more than the STI. Yes its not the best looking car but it dose what it needs to do to get the job done. I really did not like the new shape when i saw it. But now i got one i love it.

[jason751]

i love my subaru to bits think its the best car i have had will be sticking with them for a long time but got to be honest wot r they doing with the new one its so ugly am sorry but i hope they change it soon its given subaru a bad name now most people want evo s now

The new shape is not giving us a bad name, they change the shape to try and get rid of the bad name that subaru are getting now. They are looking at a new market not only for a bigger market i.e hatchback, but to try and start winning the WRC again. Which is what we all want.

Edited July 1, 2008 by jason751

[Jimmy99]

Not sure I agree that Clarkson was biased. I saw an old Top Gear a few weeks ago (from about 2004 I think) when they compared the Evo and the Impreza STi and whilst both Clarkson and Hammond concluded that the Evo was faster and better handling they both said they'd take the Impreza home every time.

Maybe this time we just have to concede that Mitsubishi have raised the bar higher than the new Impreza (I'm bound to get a kicking over this comment).

[bmwhere?]

Or that Clarkson just bought his mrs an Evo X!

[fmj]

Or that Clarkson just bought his mrs an Evo X!

I think that 95% of people will agree that the evo looks better. So that point i agree completely with Jezza.

As for the rest its hit and miss really, I mean the scooby is a lot cheaper so if its not quite such a good car then the price compensates for that. I think in past years Mitsi have been more agressive by maxing out their cars to get max power and performance where as subaru haven't tried quite as hard. Subaru were obviously panicing or they wouldn't have changed things so much and time will tell if it works out. I personally don't think it will work out and the new car will never have the following the old cars have. There is a small chance that if they win a few WRC championships then maybe just maybe they can pull it back.

All my opinion of course. You don't have to agree

[ace555]

I do like the new '08 scoob. To be honest at first i didn't like the looks, but have to admit there growing on me. But as already stated theres too much electronic doo daas fitted. Personally i don't care if it takes 2 seconds or 2 hours to set up. Its an STi!!! It should be ready to destroy any tarmac in front of it with out me fannying about first! And if they are there because it makes it comfortable when your not in the mood, you brought the wrong car!

I don't mean that to offend or upset, just my opinion.

Also agree that the test itself was slighty unfair. An FQ-360 should not have gone up against the standard STi. But this was addressed before the power laps, as was the price difference between the scoob and both the 360, and the 300.

And the scoob was quickest! Like the hamster said Jezza was made to look a knob