col666

Well after 18 months without a Subaru I took the plunge and bought this Hawkeye STI today. I had been looking at old classic's to buy as a second car with a view to making a road/track car but after much thought I decided running 2 cars wasn't ideal.

I always said I would never have a newage but hey ho here I am....sorry classic guy's!!!! I still think they are the 'real' Impreza's though.

I picked the car up first thing this morning from Grieve's in Falkirk who I recommend, great service, and decided to take the scenic route back to Perth. Through Doune, Callander, Lochearnhead, Crieff etc.

First impressions are-

The seats are too soft and not enough side support but very comfy when cruising. Stereo's awful too.

The steering is a bit short on feedback but I think that's more to do with the rock hard Avon tyres that are on it!

You cant throw it about like a classic, very little body roll but you can feel all that extra weight when your change direction quickly.

She drinks a bit but that was expected!

A lot more solid and safer feeling than the classic's.

Very torquey and smooth power delivery, didnt realise these had a shift light was worried when this red light kept flashing on the rev counter!

Deceptively fast, cruising along near Comrie I didnt realise I was near licence losing territory!

Its too damn quiet, got absolutely no burble or anything....but that will be sorted very soon

Overall I am very impressed. 7.5 out of 10

Not the best pics, was too busy wanting to drive the thing and didn't check camera settings..oops.

Just after picking it up, all nice and shiney which didn't last long!

Somewhere near Callander I think-

Didn't stay clean long!

Went home and fitted a front splitter which I think makes the whole front a lot meaner, then headed back out for another blast-

Col.

If the bugatti had'nt have been on at the end I would have switched over after 10 mins, what an awful episode....yawn.

I wonder how the Veyron got the damaged sill?? Zonda is so much better looking the the veyron too.

It's each, surely?

Neilswrx,

you touch goats

Thats a very basic bucket seat, in my opinion it would cheapen your whole interior not to mention turn pink after the sun's been on them for a few months. I had these in a 205 and they were pretty uncomfortable.

The shell backed seat's look a lot better and are probably lighter, spend another £200 and you'll get 2 seats that are far superior to those things.

Those seats are £95 brand new from demon tweeks, got a catalogue here.

Looking good Paul, some 555 graphics and lowered right down on the rims and you'll have a great McRae replica:)

I've been looking at a few 95/96 555 Impreza's recently as I wanted to do something along the same lines as you, even found a set of proper ex-WRC speedline rims but have decided to do something different

All going well my plan will be revealed on here next week....I blame Ken Block!

Nice pics G, great looking cars too.

I'll admit the new STI has grown on me, but those alloys on the 330 are horrific!

Spotted a white 08 STI at Extreme earlier wth 5k miles for 20k, thats a pretty good saving over list!

I think there is a crail thrash this sunday or so i was told.

Its the Max Power nedtastic fireshow innit!

Buckfast, rough pole dancers, peeing rain, howling gale, drunk neds, bodykitted corsa's.......might pop along actually!

Cheers for the advice guys, will have another wee think!

I found a car I really liked a few weeks ago on pistonheads, looked at it again last night and its gone up by £1000! strange!

I have a little plan in my head to purchase a 2nd car, this car will be something older and very much performance orientated so will need to keep my Cooper S for the normal day to day stuff.

Just wondering how you insure 2 cars, can you put it on your existing policy for your first car? or do you need to start another policy altogether?

I will be the only person driving both cars so they wont be on the road at the same time obviously.

I'm a bit worried I will be crippled by running 2 cars that aren't cheap to insure, then tax, Mot etc...

Thought about selling the mini and buying something with cheap insurance to run along side my 2nd car but in the present climate it's not worth selling as I would'nt get much for it.

Or do I sell the Mini and not bother buying a 2nd car but a newer performance car that will be reliable and fun?? I cant decide!

With the market in freefall I might find myself back in a scoob yet......every credit crunch has a silver lining sorry guys!

Did anybody see this months Evo mag? Sales of all new 'hot' Impreza's are not surprisingly seriously struggling, dealers reckon at best to sell about 1200 which is about 70% less than 4 years ago.

http://www.sweeney-kincaid.com/Sales/Photo...mp;s=1#frmFocus

These are all from Indy Car Sales in Rothienorman which went down the tubes recently, possibly pick up a bargain!?

At a guess i think they are about 1250kg, sure somebody will be along in a bit with more info!

Just back from thailand this morning . Was out at the local race circuit the other day and took a few pics. Unfortunately we were only there for an hour and it was lunch break so no track action, it was a bit different from knockhill as it was nearly 40 degrees! All these cars are from the Superclub championship which is open to all sorts of cars, the fastest being the red Honda which seemingly whips the scoobs and Evo's.

Most of the cars seem quite standard, a lot dont even have roll cages! My freind who I was visiting out there is trying to get a car for next season and was quoted 7k for a full on race prepped Honda Civic with Motec management etc which seems very cheap.

There was plenty scoob's at the circuit but never saw any on the road, the import tax is about 200% so thats maybe why!

This is the quick Honda Civic, was very well prepped a with a lot of trick parts-

Col.

I like it! especially the huge saltire!

I made a little thing up on photoshop as a personal tribute, getting it printed just now ready to get framed and put on the wall-

Col.

Did this email have any pics in it? I was contacted by Prolong last week about supplying pictures from the Knockhill round of the time attack for a feature they were doing for the SIDC mag.

I thought it was a wind-up as I am having copyright issues with another time attack competitor at the moment.

mctwistuk,

Cant find any of your Scoob.

Empty heed-

Neil, you have mail.

Heres some more-

A few more convoy pics from Lanark-

Col.

Another link I found while trawling the net-

http://www.caradvice.com.au/16107/subaru-p...s-mcrae-legend/

You all deserve a medal for this! Saturday was amazing, if my mate didnt have a meeting on sunday morning we would of carried on all the way to banbury and slept in the car !!

Well done to all who was involved in the organisation of the event

Colin.

P1's have a briquette in the fuel tank to increase the octance of the uk fuel, if this hasn't been replaced as per servicing guidelines and hasn't been re mapped for uk fuel this can cause them to go bang. if it's really a 2 door your after go for a type r,

Later type R's have the same engine problems as the P1, dodgy MAF's or O2 sensors which eventually fail and the engine goes pop. Been there done that!

Quite fancy a P1 myself but would only buy one that has already been rebuilt by a reputable company.

My old Type R that was on the convoy yesterday for a while may be up for sale.....trying to resist buying it back

Can see me going past at 14 secs in the middle lane on the motorway video Bit of a strange angle to film at though!

Great pics.

I had a cracking day out, wished id went all the way now in stead of truning around at charnock richard.

The amount of support showing today was superb!

I think we had a little play with you on the way back up the road I was in the blue Type R.