Originally Posted by 53WRX

TBH you get off to a bad start in the MY06/07. Higher seating position immediately makes you feel like you just sat down in a forrester. Secondly the DBW throttle seems to deliver the power in a somewhat sloppy way, there is almost no resistance feel in the accelerator unlike a cable. Standard springs are awful, wallowing around and the steering is very light and needs far more correction and input than my classic for example. The extra power is great but you are constantly holding back and hovering half way on the power. In contrast my classic is foot to the floor and cruises tidy with a nice foot resting position.

The good thing is you can rectify all these things via mapping, new springs, whiteline products etc. The bad thing is I have yet to own an impreza that hasn't required modification to make it fit for purpose as a proper fast road car.

Originally Posted by dunx

A touch harsh, 53WRX mate, they are producing road cars, the fact we are so demanding says a lot for the basic product with some mods can provide as much fun as we can handle !

dunx

P.S. everything has coped with a 50 % BHP/torque increase, well the clutch and suspension were 7 years old, and better brakes are a no-brainer....

Originally Posted by corradoboy

It's been a while since I owned a Scoob of my own, but a couple of mates both offered drives in theirs recently and I hated both

The first was an 06/07 Hawkeye STi with full decat and remap, running IRO 320bhp. Within a very short distance I felt the car had more power than its chassis could cope with. Along a road I know very well the car felt nervous and edgy, turn-in was vague and it seemed to lurch around on its OE suspension set-up. I had no confidence in it for high speed cornering, and minutes later my crappy diesel Skoda went through the same sequence of bends 5mph faster than I'd done it in the Scoob and it felt safer, and much more planted. I admit, I have probably forgotten how to get the best out of these cars, and my own WRX with its AST coilovers and Whiteline bits was astoundingly composed on minimal (261bhp) power, but I was shocked how poorly this STi handled. I'm hoping to have a longer run in it to see if it was all me or if the car is indeed out of balance, with more power than the car can handle. Having driven similar powered Litchfield T20's, and even a T25, both with similar chassis mods to mine and significant power hikes, I never felt those cars were unstable like this one running OE chassis components.

The second car was a Bugeye STi which has had a few quid thrown at her over the years resulting in about 390bhp. Straight away I could tell this car had much better handling (Apex BC's and Whiteline bits), but what I couldn't get my head around was the awful power delivery and how it needed to be used. With a bigger turbo fitted the lag was horrendous, with nothing happening under 4,200 revs. When you hit the boost however the acceleration was brutal, but this only served to highlight the incorrect gearing. With so much power coming in so late in the range and taking effect so quickly, you had to change gears like a maniac in an attempt to keep up with the engines frantic efforts. I've always thought that the 6sp 'box on STi's was awkward, often needing a change mid-bend or at other inopportune moments due to the short ratios, but by having so much power on tap, the time it took the engine to utilise each ratio was minute. Throw in all the beeps, bleeps, hisses and roars from the defi's, change light/buzzer, DV and zorst and I found the experience tiresome. I certainly wouldn't like to drive it enthusiastically for more than 1/2 an hour.

Getting back to my WRX, even with just the PPP power I found the longer gearing of the 5sp 'box much more suited, allowing a choice of gear on entry to a corner, and enough range in each ratio to see me able to accelerate out from the apex balanced, controlled and on throttle and rising boost, with no drama or pantomime showmanship. My driving style tends to be very smooth, calm and controlled, and reducing the amount of gear changes meant I could keep my car stable on entry, through apex and out of every bend. The T20 and T25's managed this even with their increased power and shorter ratios, and this only serves to prove that I chose well in my modification route on my car by fitting near identical set-ups.

My dilemma from this experience is in where it leaves me for getting another Scoob. I now realise that if it is to be an STi, then it can't be a mega-power model, as they simply do not suit me. It must also have very good chassis mods (or I must do them). I have been fantasising about Hawkeye Type RA's, RA-R's and S204's, but would these be too manic for me ? Am I limited to T20's, or a JDM STi mod'd to similar spec ? However, I also had a ride in another friends STi at Cadwell on Monday and he had had some major internal work done resulting in around 380bhp, but a massive 560 lb/ft of torque (IIRC). This saw the car able to pull like a train from very low down, all the way to the red-line, maximising every gear. This flexibility I feel would be more suited to my driving, but Cosworth internals and full rebuilds along with associated products and services don't come cheap.

Opinions ?????