This is to with cars a bit….

I live in the UK (Derby) but I have been offered quite a good job in
Tampa Florida USA.

The car bit: -

What sort of cars can I get out there?
I’m not sure I would really like a 2.5RS after having a wooshing STI with
a nice big turbo. Can you convince me otherwise?

What sort of turbo cars are available in the US and at what sort of price?
Are Escort cossies available?
How easy it to get cars with proper gearboxes (no offence taken )

Other bit (sorry but I need infomation)

What’s insurance like out there?
What is the rate of tax, petrol etc?
Would I be able to get a mortgage?
Could I get car loans?
What will I like about the US, what will I miss about the UK (apart from
my car, oh and family)?

 

Only question i can answer is petrol is about 50p a gallon over there

 

This is all a bit vague but...

AFAIK, the only similar car there to the Scooby is the Mitsubishi Eclipse. They do 4WD and FWD versions and there's a 220-ish bhp turbocharged 2 litre engine available. IIRC, the number of 4WD 220bhp Eclipses sold in the USA is something like <10% of all Eclipses, so there aren't tons about. This model ran from about 1995-99 and there was no direct replacement for the turbo version.

BTW, it's a coupe and not bad looking. There'll be some details at

 

Chris

I hope that I answered most of your questions offline. If you have any more then please e-mail me or try

 

forget it sunshine - they don't make cars in North America - they're 'Modes of Transport'.... grew up there ... what's the point of having a car you can't go over 60mph anyway - built for comfort not speed... and don't forget the obligatory cruise control - guaranteed to put you to sleep in less than 2 minutes.... have fun...
stay here if you want to DRIVE !!!!! LOL.

 

If you are talking house mortgage my parents had trouble getting one when we lived in the states some years ago. Ended up with the company my dad worked for having to guarantee it, (apparantly they couldn't get their heads round the idea of a 40 year old having no credit history in the US) Also same procedure with credit cards which you cannot live without.

On the other hand when we left 5/6 years later Sears would not close our account as "nobody closes an account and we don't have a procedure to do it" apparantly dying was OK but other than that no way to do it!

 

I lived in Atlanta, Georgia for 6 months in 1993, my mate lived there from 92-97.

Go for it, its ace. Where i lived there were loads of great roads to drive on in the country.

I had a pontiac Grand Prix that was a 3.5litre V6 front wheel drive. It sounds toss but it was actually a great car to drive quickly.

Forget the odd problems you will inevitably have with setting up credit etc. The banks are well backwards over there. Once you can show a regular salary or have soom info from the employer you will be fine.

As for housing, the house i lived in cost $90,000. It had a 15,000 gallon swimming pool, 1 acre land, 2 garages and 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms etc.

housing in the southern states is much cheaper than up north and the weather is fab, i used to love coming home from work, jumping in the shower then straight into the pool followed by a chat on the decking with the locals with a case of beer to share, absolute bliss.

Sod the car issue, they aint that bad, the lifestyle is great though.

 

I agree with Paul, the Mitsubish Eclipse is the closest thing to a Scooby available over there. It was actually sold from '89 to '99, in two generations, the second generation coming out in '95. The second generation came with 210 hp and I believe the first generation came with 200 hp. Both are very easy to extract power from. 300+ hp AT THE WHEELS is pretty easy to get (i.e. there are guaranteed cookbook recipes to get these levels of power). There not really that uncommon and a whole host of them run 12 second quarter mile times on street tires.

The engine is actually a detuned version of the one that comes in the Lancer Evo 1,2 and 3. The first generation is actually easier/cheaper to get big power out of because the turbo from an Evo is a direct swap in.

Check out

 

Not to worry, there will be an Impreza Turbo in the US in early 2001. Probably January. It will be very similar in spec to the UK Turbo.

Subaru sponsors a performance driving school at Road Atlanta in Georgia, btw.