rossmarts

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and comments. T5NYW, I certainly intend to leave it as it is. It already has substantially more go than anything I have had before plus making changes to it will more than likely have an adverse effect on the already painful insurance costs. That said, I will be using the car in a sprint series so the need to be competitive may call for me to reconsider. First things first though, I will be getting it dyno'd and attending some sprint events with the car as it is. If I can be competitive without making any changes to the car then it will remain unmolested.

Absolutely true, and thanks for the advice. Wish I could have kept the S2000 for a summer car as in good conditions it is a very engaging drive. In other conditions however it was just a bit too nervous all of the time, plus it was just a bit to impractical sometimes for even the simplest of journeys. I have to say the Scoob certainly fits my needs a lot better at present. Just waiting for some good weather (could be some time) and next years sprint championship to start so I can give it a proper test.

Well I managed to get out yesterday thanks to the thaw and finally picked up the Impreza. Due to a blocked route home I had to find an alternate way back from the garage and ended up being faced with a road covered in snow and packed ice. Took it steady and just drove straight through it as if it wasn't there. Ok so it isn't the type of situation I chose to get an Impreza for, but it is massively reassuring to have a car that can handle the snowy conditions that seem to be turning into the norm. Anyway, I have found a certificate confirming the fitting of the PPP as well as a receipt for that and another for a Prodrive lowering spring kit. I'm hoping that means the power is closer to 315bhp as previously suggested by Supremeweb. I am attending a dyno day with the Celica GT4 Owners Club in Jan so will find out for sure then. Whilst I'm sure you have all seen plenty Impreza's with blue paint and gold wheels, here is a quick pic. Lets just hope I am a bit more steady behind the wheel than I am behind a camera.

It does have the PPP, but beyond that the dealer maintains it is unfettled. I'll take anything a car salesman says with a pinch of salt, but it has been very well maintained and has only 20k on the clock after 4 years. Will have to adjust my driving style a little to keep clear of the limiter given my S2000 experience! As things stand I am yet to pick it up as originally planned. The snow means I can't get to the garage to get rid of my 2WD for some 4WD goodness. Anyway thanks for the pointers, Ross

Hi Tony, It is the 2.5 ltr UK model and definitely not a US one. I read somewhere though that the same engine/drivetrain was used in the US and UK models and that the UK version had been detuned somehow. Of course not everything you read on the internet is true. So a remap is a good place to start then before messing around with changing parts? Thanks, Ross

I had a feeling this might turn into an expensive endeavour! Thanks for the warning about the tyres/snow and so on. I am trading in my Honda S2000 for the Subaru, so even with the reduced grip that it may give me relative to dry driving conditions I'm sure it will be sigificantly better than I get from the Honda.

Hi All, I am picking up a Hawkeye WRX STi tomorrow and given the current weather conditions it certainly seems like the right time to be going 4WD. It is my first venture into the 4WD turbo market and based on my test drive my only regret is not doing it sooner. To my knowledge, the car is as originally delivered and as far as I can establish would have been 280bhp when new. The USDM version was 300BHP and was apparently 'detuned' for the European market. Does anyone know how this was achieved? Was it something like a different fuel pump or a more restrictive cat for example? Just wondering if there is a relatively straight forward way of getting it back up to the 300-ish mark. Any thoughts welcomed. Thanks, Ross