taylor

Is there a big difference between the handling of import imprezas compared to the uk ones?

I've had my uk impreza for 6 months now and have been extremely unimpressed by the handling.(my last car was an Integra type r). Especially considering the rave reviews they get in the press, and the "my scooby's the bestest handling car in the universe" type threads on here.

A quick search of the technical forum shows that I'm not alone, and I'm taking some of the advice to improve it.

Because I need the 4 doors, my next car will probably be another impreza(possibly a wagon). So is it worth buying an STI, or will I need to modify the handling of that as well?

Dizzy

The impreza has always been described as a good handling car with awesome levels of grip.

However I think its an excelent handling car I have a uk turbo "classic" and I love it to bits Anyway you can improve the handling buy getting leda suspension (Scoobysport / scoobymania) and you wont have to shell out on a new car and will have better suspension than the STi's & WRX's (flame suit on ).

I'd stick with the uk one for all the reasons I bought a uk one in the first place

chiark

Are you talking new shape or classic shape?

The STI8 handing is, 99% of the time in my limited experience, fantastically wonderful. The car handles brilliantly, communicating much more than my MY00 turbo. After a small drive I could make the STI do what I wanted - my MY00 has grip and grunt, but isn't as controllable despite me being quite familiar with it.

The other 1% is wierd when there seems to be a resonance in the STI suspension that a bump in the road induces: it "bounces". This may get better with more miles as the springs bed in, but a Subaru dealer told me it was due to the inverted macpherson setup.

Cheers,
Nick.

Dizzy

Sorry I assumed you were refuring to "classic" shape ones..

Dont think it fair to say the STi8 is a bog standard uk Do you mean a Bugeye WRX?

Brun

If you are talking about the Classic shape then i would agree to a certain degree.
Having come from the world of hot hatches into my Scoob, i found it too squashy when pushed. The grip was there, but it made me a touch nervous when pushing through a corner. I took a trip to TSL and had a set of Eibach springs fitted. This made the car sit much squarer mid corner and had a much sharper turn in without compromising too much comfort.

taylor

I have a uk my98. Yes it has grip, especially under power mid corner. It's the turn in thats unpredictable. You either get chronic understeer or lots of body roll followed by unpredictable lurching as the suspension unloads. By the way it's only done 30k so the supension should be in good nick.

My old integra was far more confidence inspiring and therefore, more fun to drive.

Brun

Yup, that sounds like mine
Eibach's are the way forward, unless of course you have a few spare wads, in which case Mr Avo could be calling.

siwrx

Dizzy is right put good coilovers on a uk and ull outhandle the imports, but then again do like i did get an import put tanabi coilovers on it and laugh at the uk cars trying to keep up as u outhandle them on any corner and obliterate them on the straight

hehe

stubee doo

i have just got a uk prodrive turbo and have just got rid of an evo 5,the evo 5 was terrible **** end was for ever jumping out on me and scared me sh**less all the time.
now my scooby has 17" prodrive wheels with excellent rubber on(not sure of the make of tyres) and a full prodrive suspension set up,yesterday i took it back to my dealer because i had some concerns re the clutch so he took us out in my scooby,there is a huge right hand bend which i know well and dont like at all,he leathered the car up to the bend and i was expecting him to brake and take the corner slow,but he didnt and just accelerated round the bend flat out i had to shut my eyes as it was very wet and pi**ing it down at the time and when i opened my eyes we were half a mile up the road still flat out,so i for one am very very impressed with it not the slightest of twitches just pure grip.
dont think i would take the bend that fast ever.

johnfelstead

To Answer the original question, yes there is a diference between UK and Import, but only on the DCCD equiped versions of the Import, the normal WRX and STi imports are the same.

You can improve matters greatly by having the geometries setup by a specialist.

ROFLMAO @ the dealer, ask him to explain what an inverted strut is, that should get even more bull$hit flowing.

N1 SPAN

Bumpsteer, geometry, Eibachs and 17's = different car.
All pretty cheap for the difference.
Trouble is, a Subaru needs more space to be experienced. It is by far the most adjustable car I have ever driven (the list is long) but you can't really experience this on a road like you can in an integra. The Subaru is more competant and more fun, you are just going faster and using more space when you discover what they can do!!!!
Had mine one and a half years before I realised. Now have real respect for the thing...Awesome, really is.....
uk 99...

58GT

Hi John Felstead been watching your in car 'ring vids with more than a little admiration.

Anyway elaborate on the statement about having the geometry set up by an expert. Please.

chiark

Yeah, it got me wondering John. He said something in the suspension was inverted, thought it was something macpherson, and that it matched the rally car.

Out of interest, do you know what the change really is?

Cheers,
Nick.

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

Some sort of suspension modification, I personally went for the Prodrive option, which uses Bilstein dampers/Eibach springs.

To improve the handling further, I fitted upper front and rear Cusco strut braces and MRT front and rear solid drop links. The drop links made the biggest difference!

All these modifications were with slightly modified Prodrive geometery settings, only going for 0.7 degrees of negative camber, although all the other settings were the same. (I found 1.5 degrees of negative camber or whatever maximum the car would allow to skittish on motorway, although there was a lot of bite into the twisties!)

It got to the point where I knew I would give up way before the car would!!!

If I kept the car, I would have added a Whiteline anti-lift kit along with PowerStation's bumpsteer modification.

Forgot to mention this was on a MY99 UK car.

[Edited by Andy Tang - 2/4/2003 10:05:07 AM]