chris139ryan
Octane Boostaholics
nice video but id have the m5 over the tt any day
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Famous last words
- Thread starter FRAWLS
- Start date
DUFFMAN said:frawls, you would have enjoyed a thread i started awhile back in the members section as im sure you have contributed some useful info.
here's how i started it.
THE FUTURE FOR SUBARU FANS IN IRELAND
i ask myself, what will i be driving in ten years time and i cant see myself in a road going subaru for a few reasons.
i was never a fan of the legacy and after driving one or two it never gave me the trill of the turbo impreza, so the only car in the subaru range would have to be the impreza for me especially been a rally fan and enjoying the odd track day and some road going spirited driving on occasion. ive been driving impreza's 8 years now and have had a jdm wrx wagon, a uk turbo, a sti type r and now a uk wrx hawkeye and a jdm wrx for the track but as above i dont see myself buying another one, am i going to have to hold on to the hawkeye for a very long time and just modernise it as i go to keep the interest or let go and go for some of the new low emission european cars on the mmarket like the alfa mito or similar.
With the very plain interiors that come in the impreza which i find very boring towards most european preformance cars i.e. the 90's escorth cosy, lancia delta integrale and r5 turbo to name but a few, which came with a "boost" guage and oil presure guage as standard and still look great today and the cars of 2000 i.e. alfa 156 gta, ford focus rs and golf gti. there is now dought that the impreza is still a very fast car in todays market but other brands have caught up and passed them, subaru made its name on the the stages of the wrc in the early nighties and back then the turbo impreza was the king of the road and could eat supercars for breakfast on a back road but imo have not kept up with the times and need to look down a different route.
Imo i would love to see subaru going down the road like lotus, small engine+ light weight = fast car(which the wrc is looking for) with a low ratio gearbox with a paddle shift to get the best from it and 2 seat with rwd, now i know most here love the practiacality of four doors and a boot but in todays ireland, it costs you big and is only getting worse, i know ill get bored in a few years as i only got the hawkeye lately but when the time comes what will we all do? so i ask the question,
with the demise of the petrol impreza in ireland and subaru world rally team pulling out of the WRC, what does the future hold for irish fans of subaru road going rally cars i ask you??
Duffman,
I agree with what you said in that thread. I think there comes a stage when everyone asks themselves the question "how long more do I want to be driving this car". If Subaru were clever they would take a leaf out of Porsche's book and keep modernisng the Impreza but retaining the cars core appeal which is four doors, awd and flat four rumble. The problem nowadays is there is no more flat four rumble, the awd kills emissions and until recently there wasn't even a 4 door.
The reality is that the only way anyone will be driving new or nearly Imprezas is if the car is transformed drastically so that it is relevant to the current performance car market. People still want all the things that made the Impreza great only they want them with low emissions, vastly better mpg and high quality interior and exterior design. No one will pay 2200 road tax for and ugly, low rent interior, average performing performance car anymore.
The future for Subaru is all about the use of lightweight materials, efficient direct injection small capacity turbo engines (1.6 to 1.8) and well designed and built cars with low co2. Unfortunately I see no sign that this is even in the pipeline. The phase 3 boxer is actually the kind of engine the current car should have originally been launched with as a phase 4 is what is actually required now. It makes me laugh to think Subaru can proudly advertise the phase 3 as having 10% improvement in fuel economy. Wow a whole 2.7 mpg. I'll bet it still wont crack 30 mpg whereas Audi and Ford are already producing 42+ mpg cars with similar power to the current WRX in their everyday family cars.
I would love to meet with the decision makers behind the next Impreza and tell them what they need to be doing to ensure the Impreza doesn't become an entry in an index of a book on extinct cars. I wish I could be more positive but I just haven't seen any evidence of real change from Subaru or any sign that they really understand the scale of the crisis they are facing. That's why I jumped ship in Feb 2007 and whilst I always crane my nect when a Scooby rumbles past and sigh in appreciation of their awesomeness I know I made the right choice and sooner or later everyone on here will have to make the same one.
Frawls
America is the market. They are doing well in America, so far all our criticisms of the hatch we were wrong they were right.
Why would they spend billions trying to catch up with European rivals when they never sold well in Europe anyway?
Their next target is China.....
Why would they spend billions trying to catch up with European rivals when they never sold well in Europe anyway?
Their next target is China.....
@Dagnut, Subaru as a company is doing well in America but I was talking about the future of the Impreza as a performance car.
As a shopping trolley, it isn't much cop either as a Golf/Focus/Quashi will all do the same thing much better. The Forrester has been an ok seller in the US but the Tri Becca has been a disaster. The car the yanks love is the legacy estate and Outback, which are not exactly paragons of performance and excitement but are perceived to be reliable safe mommy mobiles.
In America the regular Impreza is sold as a budget family car in the same vein as Kia and Hyundai. It is not even remotely seen as premium but they do like the Outback and have high regard for it and see it as a sub premium product just below a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. The Impreza hasny exactly been a sales success in the US but it is dirt cheap over there and as they have no road tax the high emissions are not a problem for sales outside of California.
PS I saw some of your old posts on Piston Heads yesterday. Its a good site but most of the posts end up in the usual immature slagging will wars. I'm a member of the TTOC which is a very impressive site. They have some features which I think would work well with this site.
Frawls
As a shopping trolley, it isn't much cop either as a Golf/Focus/Quashi will all do the same thing much better. The Forrester has been an ok seller in the US but the Tri Becca has been a disaster. The car the yanks love is the legacy estate and Outback, which are not exactly paragons of performance and excitement but are perceived to be reliable safe mommy mobiles.
In America the regular Impreza is sold as a budget family car in the same vein as Kia and Hyundai. It is not even remotely seen as premium but they do like the Outback and have high regard for it and see it as a sub premium product just below a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. The Impreza hasny exactly been a sales success in the US but it is dirt cheap over there and as they have no road tax the high emissions are not a problem for sales outside of California.
PS I saw some of your old posts on Piston Heads yesterday. Its a good site but most of the posts end up in the usual immature slagging will wars. I'm a member of the TTOC which is a very impressive site. They have some features which I think would work well with this site.
Frawls