All

With my boy racer days long behind me - I rarely ever cane the Scoob - in fact lots of my jouurneys nowdays are below 4k revs.
Can this "clog up" the internals - does it need regular thrashing to clear things out - is there any long term danage being done by being a grandad ?

Ro.
PS: I know I should do track days..

 

Now, how the hell would any of us know?

 

Back in my first days of driving, my sister had owned a VW polo. She never thrashed it, probably never went over 3.5k on the rev counter. When I got my hands on it, along with my old man, the car would *not* go over 65mph in 3rd or 4th... it just wouldn't go. 3 months later after a good bit of thrashing, the speedo would get upto 85ish. So at the end of the day, (no flames please) an engine is an engine. I'd say yes, but maybe not in then sense of "clog". (i.e no damage).

--
Mike

 

'coz we're all anoraks at heart?

Yep, there is a risk of clogging up the engine & valve heads with carbon deposits if you don't give the engine a chance to get hot once in a while. "Glazing the bores" is pretty much the same thing - driving long distances at low revs causes carbon deposits to form the outside of the cylinder walls.

Ask any garage what's the quickest way to improve a car's performance - give it a damn good thrashing.

You'll also shorten the life of your exhaust if you don't get some heat into it. Condensation will form inside the pipes if you switch off when they're still cold causing them to rust more quickly (unless they're stainless steel! ).

In short, Imprezas are designed to be driven hard once they're warmed up, so go for it!

 

RoShamBo,
don't think you'll do any harm to your scoob, though giving it a light thrash every now and then might be a good idea.

in a similar vein to Mike's post, guy at work here has a boat, big ol diesel engine, a fellow boater friend of his never thrashed his boats engines, then one day after many years of careful use, decided to give it some beans. the result? dead engine. my mate's had no such problems as he canes the boats engines on a regular basis.

 

RoShamBo,

I'm also in a similar situation. My car's two years old and done 8,000 miles. I spoke to the dealer as I said I do small journeys every now and again, they told me to go out in it a couple of times a month, warm it up steadily and then hammer the b*****ks off it.

Mark

 

BarryK

Ro,

For what it's worth my RB5WR always feels stronger if I have had it on a long motorway cruise the day before. Doesn't have to be at mad speeds either, a sustained drive at 80-85mph usually does it.

Yex

 

Recently handed over company car turbo to someone else - I had never really thrashed it and the first time he used it - it broke down !! Nothing terminal but some sensor blew. Was told engine management system learns how you drive and gets used to the revs you use - needs some period of readjustment before responding fully to new rev limits requested . Also told there is some way of resetting the engine management system so it starts from new again - is this true?

 

Errr !


Why buy a petrol guzzling, turbo charged, four wheel drive, high insurance risk impreza... and then drive like a grandad.

Sell it and by a Toyta Yaris.

mark.coleman 8000 miles in 2 years..... My MY01 is 5 months old and I already have 8000 on the clock.

It must feel like a new car everytime you get in it

 

Vmax and LeeP,

Yes, it's sad isn't it. Don't really get a chance in the week and can't be bothered to take it out in the wet normally, the fun just isn't the same. Seriously, lately the wife won't come out in it, bit too hard for a preggy woman.

 

I think their more fun in the wet!

 

Reason I asked originally was that the car feels faster/smoother etc after a good thrash. Before it can feel a little lumpy & slow (well - slow for a Scoob anyway !)

Also clutch judder is better after a good run.

My wife summed it up recently when she said "this car really doesn't like being driven slowly does it" & she is right !

Must invest in some trackdays though.

 

I took the cossie to be rolling roaded at PE a few months back. The first thing he said was "you dont thrash it much do you?" apparantly you need to thrash the engine to keep it running well. helps it rev faster if you do it all the time too.
Wonder if that would stand up in court?
astraboy

 

RoShamBo,
Totally agree with you, feels a right dog until it's warmed up.


Dustbin,
They certainly are fun in the wet, I don't drive as much as I used to, so I think I've lost that bit of edge.

Mark

 

I picked up my Sti 2 on Friday from down near London Village drove back up to Cumbria and never went above 4000rpm. Traffic was a 'mare. Took my brother for a ride out on Sat, misfire at about 4500/5000
Now I'm getting more used to it, using the revs a bit, just to see how quick these things are you know
Now the misfires gone Proof, Impreza's LIKE being used

 

come on mark-coleman get it used! mines 10 month old and done 23500 mile enjoyed every one of em! dont know how people dont use em? i still find excuses to go out. get this my mates just got uk 300, had it 2 weeks and hasnt done over 50 miles yet!!! hell it will never loosen up! y got nice at about 20000 miles, seemed to take on different charecter. cheers Lee

 

I've the same problem - 4.5 miles to my office every day, so car hardly gets warm before its switched off and left for the day in the car park.

So I now drive the longer 20 mile route home, warm her up for 15 minutes then thrash her to within an inch of her life and she certainly goes better for it.

Neil