impgb270

iTrader: (1)

Looking through this thread I have and do own some of the cars that are been talked about.
The VRs owned one for about 2 years great capable car never missed a beat and did look at the diesel version but never got around to a test drive.

The Golf R32 huge disappointment on the test drive. I was a big vw fan and this was on my wish list of cars to own but just didn't do a thing for me, to understated, dull drive no great punch out of the corners.
Maybe should've tried the standard GTI ?

Tried and seriously looked at the Cayman what a great drive so involving loved it but only 2 seats and the wife didn't want to leave the kids behind

Then it was a RS4 I had done the Audi track day at silverstone and that was me sold but just couldn't bring myself to write the cheque out I was looking at a second hand example a couple of years back and it was £42 big ones.

Then it was the turn of Subaru and the GB270 and a week later the skoda was history !

Then about 6 months ago the Focus Rs kept nagging away at me and if the steeler had offered me even half decent money I would have one now but £10,000 for my GB270 was just not happening

Anyway the GB's staying and getting decatted although an Evo X looks nice

Mark'sWRX

From what's been said so far, there seems to be only one winner: The GB270 wagon.

The only negative is the road tax, but will have lost a fair amount of its original price and should not lose as much as a standard WRX.

You should be able to find an unmolested one and keep it standard and still have a well sorted car that best of all is a Scooby!

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any for sale on pistonheads or autotrader at the moment, but a good one would be worth around £14k.

I'd rather have that than a Focus Zetec.

John Hughes

I think the ST is only a consideration when its purely down to tight finances. Nothing wrong with that but hopefully not the way Sunny has to go. I kept my ST for over 18 months, but the front wheel drive couldn't even handle 220 BHP, never mind the power hikes being quoted on here. Every time you hit a corner or tried to pull out fast on anything other than a straight line the ST's traction control cut back the turbo boost – shockingly ordinary. Turn off the traction control and it became unstable. Add in a bit of rain and even in a straight line the ST was treading water. Makes a good noise and looks the part, but at the end of the day it's a sheep in wolfs clothing. Easy to compare the ST conversion with the RS as both will suffer the same problems. If you like torque steer,wheel spin and changing your front tyres every 5000 miles I bet it's a joy.

aggs

Spec B Legacy is spot on for value secondhand.
My Father in Law bought one new for approx £28000 now probably worth half that if not lower.
He put a Prodrive (twin) Back Box on it sounds great!

Our local dealer got 54 plate for £9500ish.

Fab looking car, goes well, mpg is not a stong point.

Litchfield get some good WR turbo Legacys in once in a while, look a nice car too.

Turbo might be better mpg wise too!

paulbu

So, yes, I really would like an Impreza Hatchback - probably a WRXS .... but at £21,500 and £405 a year tax and 20mpg and tiny boot and with residuals falling through the floor ..... surely I would be completely mad to do so?

Bought a pearl white WRXS last June for £19.1k.
Fuel consumption from new (5.5k miles) = 27.3 mpg
4WD so no torque steer as with other 250+ bhp FWD hatches (despite what Ford fanatics try to tell us, the RS focus does torque steer in the dry)
In the scheme of things the £405 road tax is surely an irrelevance.
I notice that somebody posted above that they are not very quick but gave no comparison. Well for £19k you get a new car that is quicker to 100mph and accelerates from 60 to 100 faster than performance cars costing £8-15k more, including the RS focus, Audi S3. It's as quick from 60 to 100 as the 330s and the 287lb ft of torque make mid range overtaking a doddle.
I've had three Imprezas and this hatch is the best of the lot by a country mile. A bargain.

SimonD

I've been down this road the last couple of years and have ended up sticking with my UK MY00 Classic.
I like the new hatch but can't get on with the seats (no lumbar support). The boot doesn't bother me now the kids are out of buggies.
The strongest contenders were the Hawkeye wagon or the Spec B Legacy.
I don't like the tarted up look of the WRXS (hatch) and the GB270 so I was looking at a WRX SL or a Spec B wagon. Get one registered before March 2006 and the tax issue goes away.

The Spec B really is a spectacularly good car. The interior is lovely, the spec is excellent and it is sooooo discreet. In the end, though, I thought that blowing more money on another six pot Subaru when the wife already has a Tribeca was rather silly when I am perfectly happy with my Classic........

.........with cheap tax, almost zero depreciation and I know its history..........but I'll, no doubt, do it all again next year!!!

STEVECHAPS

I've had 5 imprezas & the hatch is the best by a lot more than a country mile!!

SunnySideUp

Thanks for your opinion, I value it.

Just taken out the sentence above - I just know that the powers that be will NOT leave that £405 Tax alone, it will be £600, £900, £1000 in the few years to come.

This will have the effect of rendering the car worthless secondhand - or, at the very least, slashing its value massively (that's probably the time to buy one!)

My car is very nearly 10 years old - I fully expect to keep my next one 10 years too .... and I ask myself, as I pay my £200 car tax - what would I feel like if I had to pay £405 instead? I would HATE it!! Yes, it's OK on a £21k car which is new and exciting and novel .............. but it soon fades to a very capable, but old, car and worth £3k!!! Then, it's not funny!! Imagine a £1000 Tax Bill on a £3k Impreza? It ain't happening.

And I don't want to get shafted on the Car Tax .... remember how it was applied retrospectively? Otherwise, the Tax was never an issue once you had bought the car - but now, it is!!!

Quasi Modo

Funny you should say that, i had a look on we buy any car.com and got a quote of £1500 odd for my Scooby, was disappointed tbh, but like you i need a different car due to changes at home, eg, need a longer boot, i love the Impreza to bits, but the bills etc just hit you so hard. The newer cars are far too expensive as well.

SunnySideUp

I'm thinking the same .....

My Impreza is great, does everything a new one can (better in the case of the space in the rear) and isn't losing much these days.

If it picks up another Car Park ding - well, who really cares?

If I buy new - whatever I buy - the total value of my current car is lost when I drive off the forecourt ..... and that's a tough thought - to me, anyway.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

An interesting statement. I have driven an STI hatch and was totally unimpressed and I know it's a case of horses for courses, but in what way is a hatch better than your other Imprezas by a lot more than a country mile?

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

I think the WRXd is the one for you £150 road tax no cam belt to change 45MPG andit is so much more refined and easy to live with day to day

but at the weekends my classic come out of the garage the scooter cd goes on loud and the horns grow out of the side of my head :

STEVECHAPS

Corners better, faster, better built, looks better (the right colour & bits), more kit, more practical, more subtle........could go on.
I've never driven a 300bhp hatch though.
Comparing to 2 classics & blob sti ppp and blob sti tsl333 btw.
Just my opinion, what do i know, hatches are crap right?

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Corners better - not the one I drove - it wallowed, then again it was on factory suspension whereas my classic isn't so not a fair comparison.

Better built - you would need to define that. Engines letting go at 3000 miles doesn't seem to support that theory. Car seemed cheap in some areas to me.

Looks better - subjective I know, but you have to be ****ing joking. It's only marginally better looking than a Fiat Multipla. it's hideous.

Faster - maybe, but how you get there is what matters and the edge seemed to have gone for me.

More practical is a subjective thing - the police for instance won't use them as they are smaller interior wise than the Hawk's they have now.

So not crap, but not country miles ahead of the preceding model either IMO.

paulbu

SunnySideUp

In the unlikely event of the top band of car tax ever reaching 1k per annum then you can rest assured that the other bands won't be far behind. In any case, once we get rid of 'climate change nut' Gordon Brown in a few months time any future increases will be far less irrational than those imposed over the past five years.
In addition, I look at it this way. I aquired a car list price 21.5k for 19k, a car that I wanted now having driven it and a car that is far superior to anything else on the market at the price. The saving pays for an awful lot of road tax differential.

StickyMicky

Octavia vRS would be my choice if i had 15k for a car, it seams a no brainer IMO and they look quite nice.

SunnySideUp

Well, tonight took out a Focus ST ... it had just come in as a secondhand ... in Silver, looks good.

It had Sat Nav Screen which talked to you, you spoke to it too - say, "Demist" and the blower comes on, the windscreen heats up, so do the mirrors and rear hatch, the climate adjusts too.

It's got Leather Heated Seats - lovely seats .. heats your back too!

Space for the dog.

Bluetooth, apparently you talk to the Sat Nav Screen and it phones who's name you say - good god, it's clever!

On the road, seemed OK - if slower than my Impreza, there was no shove up the rear - no Turbo push? I'm assuming it has a Turbo? Seemed very civilised actually ... no torque steer to speak of, vision a bit limited.

I did like the look of it sat there with it's lights on in the twilight ... just saying, "Take me home, Lewis" ... normal for the women to say that to me - but not a car.

It had 7,500 miles on it - 12 months old - with what seemed to me like all the extras (however I would NOT have paid £2000 for the Sat Nav which was in it!) ... in Silver. Looked unmarked, will be serviced before sale and has 24 months warranty left on it.

Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to how much something like that should be?

I also looked again at a Skoda vRS, brand new 200BHP Petrol, OTR for £15,250 .... pity it looks like a Taxi Cab really? ... but you cannot argue with the value, can you?

So, give me a price I should pay for the ST above ....

Tim W

iTrader: (1)

I'd want it to be less than the Skoda for it to be worth the deal...But looking at the prices out there 15.5k to 16k seems to be there or there abouts

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

You wish

As for the ST - £14.5K I reckon.

Nice car too, will do all you want and has the added bonus over the new Impreza of not looking like the new Impreza

SunnySideUp

The Dealer told me he wanted £17,995 ..... + whatever 12 months tax is ...

I've just checked (online) and the car, brand new, specced as that one was (it was a ST3) is, oddly, £17,999 ... with 12 months car tax! and delivered to my door - he's avin a larf wiff me ain't he?

SunnySideUp

This is the one above:-





FORD FOCUS 2.5 ST-3, 5 Doors - £17,995

Cannon Fodder

iTrader: (100)

I have driven a friends Focus ST in its ST3 guise and I have to say it is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

The turbocharged Volvo T5 engine under its bonnet is almost 'too refined' and gives you no sense of its power or urgency. This may well suit the more 'sedate' drivers out there, you know who you are...

If I were looking at moving away from Subaru it would certainly not be to a Ford or a Skoda (good value for money I know but the asthetics are horrendous IMHO) it would be to a Mitsubishi Evo 8,9 or even a 10 at the right price.

SunnySideUp

Evo's have boots ....

The only reason I am looking outside Subaru is because the dog will not fit in the hatch of an Impreza.

I did look at a RalliArt Mitsi tonight, a Lancer GR something or other ... it appeared to have a big hatch - opened it and the floor is too high like in the Impreza ...... I thought, "Maybe it's AWD" looked underneath and no axle/diff that I could see - so, why is the floor so damned high? It was a cracking looking car!

This is the one I looked at:-





MITSUBISHI LANCER 2.0 GSR Ralliart SST, 5 Doors - £18,000

Same price as the Focus ST3

Mark'sWRX

The Focus ST is a cracking car. I drive them a lot and there is a lot to like. The handling, noise, stereo, wheels, seats, low end torque are all spot on.

I'd say it's not as good as my WRX due to the lack of grip in the wet and runs out of steam too early. I couldn't get excited about owning a Ford Focus, either. (Even the RS). There's no sense of occasion, if you know what I mean?

The spec on the ST3 is good, but remember, the leather seats mean you can only seat 2 in the back. Don't bother with an ST1, they are too basic (don't have traction control, which makes them a pain to drive.)

I'm surprised you can get a new one for £18k as the current discounted price is £22k. I would be tempted at that price.

SunnySideUp

It isn't new - it's 12 months old.

How come my pictures don't show now? They did before?

Mark'sWRX

I thought this meant you could get one brand new for £18k?

markjmd

iTrader: (11)

If you mean they'll keep applying higher and higher rates retroactively to cars that have long left the showroom, I think that's very unlikely. The current bunch of clowns already famously back-tracked on this isue once just a couple of years ago, when they cancelled plans to scrap the >225g/km exemption for vehicles registered between March 2001 and 2006, and I can't see any future government being in a hurry to repeat a similar scenario.

Slightly higher tax on barnd-new cars, maybe, but not the sort of top-end increases you're talking about here, and definitely not on stuff that's already been on the roads a couple of years

SunnySideUp

You're absolutely right, I did, and I do mean that a ST3 is £18k Brand New - but the spec of the secondhand one was higher ... Sat Nav and some other stuff .... sorry about the misunderstanding.

SunnySideUp

Maybe I have misunderstood what has happened?

I did think that older cars, which had been on the roads a few years, WERE being asked to pay much more in Road Tax? Retrospectively?

Like 2006 cars going from £200 a year to £405? Have I misunderstood
and there was no retrospective application?

SunnySideUp

Today, went to see:-

Mazda 3 - seems OK, no MPS to view - but possible option?

Mazda 6 - great looking car, but no MPS option at the moment!

Octavia vRS - again. I wish it looked like a Mazda6 - instead of a Taxi Cab, £15,200 it's a bargain but looks as boring as dishwater, sadly

Astra VRX - exhaust in centre of rear bumper, so TowBar not possible!

Mondeo ST220 - wildcard, dealer suggested it could be a contender - at £7,000 (think I would rather keep my Scooby? Unless you know different?)

Dealer suggested I look at a Vectra VRX .. only secondhand now - but, he says, would suit my requirements perfectly - what do you think?? He didn't have one to sell me - but thought it could deliver everything I ask.?