wrxjay03

Anyone got the august edition evo mag? the new impreza wrx is in there and the interior doesnt look too good either

Rasher

yep read it in WH Smiths yesterday, the car handles well enough apparently but the noise has been muted and so has the turbo delivery. It is much smoother now as to try and appeal to a wide audience but in doing so alienating the very people who ensured the car had a cult following all these past years IMHO



Still pig ugly as well!!

wrxjay03

248bhp good for WRX though

Mark'sWRX

248bhp for the jap spec 2 litre, 225bhp for the US market 2.5!

SirFozzalot

But how many of the people that are part of the "cult" following are buying new scoobs? Obviously not enough for Subaru, hence the reason they are targeting a bigger market.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

You might as well give up mate; they'll never listen...

Rasher

the impreza will always be for the 'niche' market as long as they have the AWD system etc, because it is not a cheap car to run. To appeal to a wider audience they are going to have to cheapen everyday running costs IMHO

Elmer Fudpucker

as far as I can tell the majority of the current crop of Scoobynedders run 10 year old + Subaru's
and are far more concerned about what the 'best' dumb valve is,or what the loudest exhaust sounds like before they start to worry about what the new model looks like,or not?

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Hence why they've designed a car which when you've ditched the turbo, you still have a "class leading luggage space", great safety because of 4WD.. etc etc etc.. They want an NA car that appeals and sells to the Ford Focus and Golf buying public.. not loons who want a saloon car that can keep up with Porsches

SirFozzalot

That's exactly what they are after, the Focus/golf etc. is a much bigger market.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

All they have done is sink their own ship. They are after the Focus market, but to get sales in that market your car has to be a class leader of many things. Style, badge, price, build quality etc. People who buy a focus demand different things from their cars, and the new Impreza does not even get close to giving them what they want

PeteBrant

Exactly.


Trouble is, that market has, you know, Focus and Golf. Not to mention Vauxhall, Alfa, Seat, Fiat, Audi, BMW, Honda, Toyota, Mazda.... and so on.

Subaru just went from being a big fish in a small pond to being an infinitesimally small amoeba in a very big ocean.

richiewong

It'll be classed as a hot hatch now and be classed in the same group as CTR's, Focus ST/RS, Cupra's and Golf GTi's etc, it maybe found wanting in this respect!

Scoobyspanners

As PeteBrant said, it looks like Subaru want a share of the main stream motor trade. I think this is a BIG mistake and this will finnish off the impreza for good (In the UK at least. The yanks may like the car, some god awful things have sold well there in the past!).In the UK the fast hatch market is just about sown up between Ford and Vauxhall and VW, everyone else has what's left over. Ford, Vauxhall and VW have market loyalty on their side too, I know of a few people who swear by them and stick to either mark's and I cant see them changing to the new dull as dish water Impreza. So Subaru look like loosing the base of loyal fans and trying to break into one of the most competitive market in the uk with a car with above average running costs, poor looks, and a Dealer network to thinly spread to support a major market penetration if one should happen. IF anyone from Subaru read these pages please take note, most people who buy the impreza want something different from the main stream cars available today, why else would we stick with the impreza with its drinking habits, high price parts and crippling insurance? The new car is not it I am afraid...........

The rookie

iTrader: (1)

Subaru/FHI has long been targetting increased sale/turnover, the trouble is previous cooking Impreza's (which support the development required to give us the fast turbo cars we as enthusiasts want) have been hambstrung too much by being more based on those faster cars we like, so this time around they have made the base model more along the lines that buyers (and worldwide they sell more base models than turbo's) of that sort of car want. Personally if I was in the market for a turbo then I would wait and see what we are offered before going off on one, after all its the way they drive that's important!

Its also worth understanding that despite Scoobyent being a huge forum, its still a very small proportion of the number of 'fast' Subaru's out there, and that there is also a demand for unmodified Impreza's that dealers struggle to satisfy and so many are modified.....

Simon

SirFozzalot

What have so many people on here been moaning about recently? The increasingly "chav" (I hate that word ) image of the impreza here in the UK. Suabru obviously don't want to be associated with that image either and so possibly they are trying to move away from it.

Look at all the posts that have been posted on this forum comparing the Golf GTi, the Focus ST, the Leon Cupra R etc. etc. etc. against the Impreza......and all the replies saying that the WRX isn't any better and not really any faster!

So surely this means that it is already in that field, but they never really concentrated on that market because they always thought they were bigger, better and ahead of that field, I guess they have realised that the hot hatches have caught up with the Impreza in it's standard WRX form so why not try to compete on the same level and possibly gain some sales.

If the STi version is going to be a much more powerful and better handling option then it should still appeal to the real enthusiasts, regardless of the looks. The bugeye, the blobeye, the hawkeye have all had their fair share of batterings about their looks but they still sold and are still currently owned by those so called enthusiasts!

wrxjay03

The impreza won't appeal to real enthusiasts, the evo will.

SirFozzalot

Why?

Surely a real enthusiast will wait until the STi has been released and they have actually had a chance to drive it before they make the decision.

Personally I'm not so keen on the Evo now the pictures of the ACTUAL car have been released, not quite as good looking as all the prototype pics released imo.

There is normally a fair ol' price difference between some of the more appealing models of the Evo than the Impreza too.

PeteBrant

Becaue they want a performcne saloon not a performance hatchback.


If I had wanted a hatchback I would have bought one from the simply enourmous choice out there.

scoobystiv8

I am waiting to see the real thing.
At the end of the day hot hatches and 4 wheel drive hatches are what started the whole turbo thing, I started in the era of the R5 GT Turbos, cossies etc.... All but ugly cars IMHO. But I had one of each.
The argument about the saloon vs hatchback is personal preference.
I had a saphire cosworth and then an escort cosworth, I know which was better.
I have had a classic saloon and now a version 8 STi saloon, in honesty I would have bought a hatch if it had been available and went well.
I havent bought many cars on looks, mainly on how they make you feel. Thats what being an enthuisiast is, just knowing the car is special and what it can do.
No one can honestly tell me that they bought a subaru for its looks against similar price cars, its all down to what it can do. End of.