DMW

Martin, Did think about it but the elise is in for its geometry so I need to be in Kirkaldy in the morning. Pity as it could have been an ideal opportunity and would have loved to had a chat with you guys and see what everyone has done to their cars. Cheers DMW

Fai, I live out in Broxburn and work at South Gyle in Edinburgh. Is this around about where you stay? Cheers DMW

Stephen, Great to hear that there is a solution then. Only problem I have been having is getting to a Subaru dealership that has a used car with the pro-drive spring kit on as I would like to feel the difference in the handling. I am very surprised that the majority of Subaru's do not have them fitted as an aftermarket option as I agree for the sake of £300 they can transform the car. I suspose the majority of people tackle the engine route first and then upgrade the suspension when they reach the limit of the cars handling due to the extra power. When I came back on the test drive with the wrx that I did realise that I was comparing a car that was twice the weight of the elise so it was always going to feel heavier braking but the Sti brakes gave me a lot more confidence in the stopping ability so yep bigger brakes are definitely better. The great thing that really appeals with Subaru is the fact you can fit the Prodrive upgrades later on the warranty is still valid. Do not see many manufacturers treating their customers so nicely. Cheers DMW

Well had a great weekend with my test driving shoes on. Both started out on Saturday all kitted up: MultiMap to Falkirk Multimap to Cupar Puma Speedcats on Breakfast bar As it was such a nice day we ended up taking the Elise as it was a good excuse to give it a blast and let us have a good yard stick to measure the Scooby on. Popped along to Falkirk eventually (after me giving Sandra wrong directions so ended in going through Falkirk rather than round it) and had a quick look at the 2.5 Wrx they had it and a couple of other cars. Unfortunately they did not have a 2.0 Sti that we could have a back to back run in. So decided it pointless to go out in the 2.5 Wrx as it would not have given us an opportunity to compare. Took a lovely drive along to Cupar and had a complete blast on the back roads. Ended up at Cupar and spoke to Gary. Introductions started well with me choking on my breakfast bar for 2/3 minutes. I am sure Gary thought he was going to have to call A&E at one point or other but after been given a bottle of water I was a lot better and not dying on the premises. 1st of all we took out the 2.5 Wrx to have a blast. A really nice car that we enjoyed. However I found it a little bit slow and not quite the same level of braking that I was expecting. If you own a Wrx please do not be offended as it is a great car but I was just looking for a little bit more. Gary took in all our thoughts on the car and suggested an 2.0 Sti that had the PPP pack on it.After the test drive what a difference and it was more like what we were looking for. Being pressed into the seats under acceleration, brakes a lot better. My wife Sandra said it sounded more like a Scooby should sound with the nice distinct burble. After she had a drive we were both very impressed with the car although my head was a little bit sore with being pressed into the seats so much. As they were also a Mitsibushi dealership we took out an Evo 8.5 as Gary called it (Evo 300 upgraded to 330, and Evo 9 bumpers). The handling was great and more akin to the Elise. The only problem with the car was that it had a dump valvle that made the throttle very sensitive when coming off/on which detracted from the experience. After speaking to Gary he has suggested that if we want to go the Sti route we would suggest we get the handling kit which makes the Sti more Evo like. Unfortunetly we are still undecided but Gavin has said he can get us a standard Evo 8 to compare against the Sti. Once that has been tried we will decide whether we go Scooby or across to the dark side ;-) I must admit that I was very impressed with Gary and made the experience a complete joy. No hard sell tactics and more importantly listened to what we were saying. His passion in the marque definitely shown through and suggested different avenues to get what we were wanting. I would definitely give this dealership 10 out of 10 based upon our experience on Saturday. Also recommended a great bakery in Cupar for lunch which was an added bonus (although not to the waistline) So, now managed to discount one Scooby (Wrx) and know more what we are looking for. The 2.5 Sti is a little bit more than we want to spend so it will have to be a 2.0 Sti. However looking for opinions from anyone who has plumped for the handling pack and what difference it made to the car. Thanks again for all opinions and keep them coming in.

Guys, Thanks for all the feedback on this, I think getting a Subaru is very much like the Elise - there is such a large community of really nice people that enjoy the marque and willing to help you out if you have a query. I must admit, this is something that does appeal to me as well as the vehicle itself. It is nice to have a passion about the motor vehicle that you are driving. Not everyones cup of tea I must admit but it is nice to see. Will report back with my finding this weekend, hoping to be enlightened after the test drive and a bit more concrete on which directions we wish to go. Cheers DMW

Gavin, Spoke to you on the phone a couple of days back about the demo (name is George Douglas as it is not easy to get from my signature) so we will definitely be popping in to see you this Saturday probably first thing so we will ask for Dave or Adam instead. Enjoy this weekend off. Cheers George

We popped across to A F Noble last Sat and was impressed with the varied selection they had on the forecourt. Just waiting for the phone call when they have their new 2.5 WRX demo as he suggested sampling the various flavours back to back to decide what we want. Must admit that we are looking forward to the Scooby pick-n-mix. What is your impression of the Falkirk Subaru dealer (as you are so close by) as we were thinking of popping across there on Saturday as they have a 2.5WRX (with STi spoiler and different alloys) as there demo and a couple of other ones on the forecourt as well. Cheers George

Great to hear the F1's work on the Scooby as I currently have them on the Cupra and absolutely love them. Definitely my weapon of choice in the tyre front. Even have a great tread pattern that looks great when you drive into a dry garage/car park. Sad I know but tread pattern's can be great. DMW

Surprised to hear that the Impreza's tyres are not that great in the wet as I would have thought the 4wd would have more than made up for it but it is something I will bear in mind. After riding a motorbike for a number of year I must admit that I tend not to enjoy the wet that much and tend to be a lot more careful and aware of things like manhole covers, overbanding and white lines. I have had enough scares on the bike that these are pretty high on my hazard perception now adays. I will probably be thinking about keeping the Scooby pretty standard but a factory approved system like the PPP would be pretty interesting so will see whether any of the dealers have anything in their used stock. Does the factory modification add a lot to the insurance or is it pretty negligible ? Cheers DMW

Guys, Hate to say it but I am not even considering an Import. May be the wrong way to go but I would prefer a UK car. Unfortunately for me the extra hassle of getting insurance, having to chase for any warranty issues and any additional servicing costs as well as less of a residual value makes the idea of an import out the window. I am probably wrong to be predudiced as I know it is a better car for the bucks but as it will be the main runabout I do not want any extra hassle. May be stupid thinking this way, especially as imports are not frowned upon in the Scooby community , but looking from a selling angle years down the line. Hope I have not offended anyone with this way of thinking as I can totally understand the logic of getting an import but just not for me. Cheers DMW

St3ph3n, Definitely did not go to Arnold Clark as they do not know how to spell service. I turned up in my other car, Lotus Elise, for a test drive in the Leon Cupra. The salesman in Sighthill just let us go around the industrial estate onto the bypass and back in again. When asked to have an extended test drive as I was not able to open the car up he came out with the excuse - "Sorry sir, this is an approved test drive route and we are only insured for this route". Must admit I was not too impressed, did not expect special treatment just because I turned up in the Elise but took the car so they could see I was not tyre kicking and was genuinely interested in purchasing the vehicle. Ended up going down to the Seat dealership in Earlston, chucked the keys to the Cupra, told to enjoy myself. Ended up having a chat to the salesman for a good hour on cars in general and decided that they were the dealership for me. Will defintiely vote with my feet on good dealers. Cheers DMW

Have finally decided to get a Scooby to replace our current car (Leon Cupra). However we went to the local dealership and was completely perplexed at the number of various options that were available (and this is from someone who is a petrol head and reads Evo magazine), boy with the number of modification you can get I think subaru should just call then fast, faster, very fast and blinding fast. We have a budget of around £20k, so were possibly looking at a new 2.5 WRX or possibly a nearly new 2.0 STi and was wondering what the advice of you guys would be as to which one to plump for. Before the 2.5 was launched I do not think that it would be such a difficult choice but with the new engine it adds another level of difficulty in deciding which one to go for. Would I regret getting the WRX and wish I had the STi with the extra power? We will be going to test drive all the options out before we decided but would like some info in advance. Also wondering whether any dealerships in the central area are better than others as I value after service from a dealership quite high (hence why I never got the Cupra from Arnold Clark and went down the borders to get it) Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers DMW