Just drove one and think its an excellent basis for a great handling road car. But like most that steering has toyota written all over it.

Does any1 here think white-line, or litchfeld, or some motor sport co like Roger Clark or Prodrive, will be able to do anything with the steering feel? How could it have gotten so poor? thanks, JL

 

I never really found it a problem on the test drive.

Certain not as good (or direct) as the steering on my Evo VIII MR but I wouldn't say it was all that bad.

I've never driven a classic or new-age though so I might be missing something there.

 

I'm getting used to mine slowly, not the best but doesn't cause me any concern.

 

I drove 08 STi JDM, it has a quicker Rack than the 08 STi UK and doen't have such a light feel as the UK 08 STi i drove. IMHO

Also drove the Litchfield 08 STi after the AST suspension was fitted but they were waiting for the rest of the Handling bits, they should have and be testing now.

But like most scoobs Some Prodrive Springs, slighly stiffer rear anti-roll bar and 4WD Geometry done will considerally improve the looks and Handling

Tony

 

thanks for the info and good to here it can get better. I seem to remember
that one of the best 4 wheel drive cars in the steering feel dept was the
Lancia Integrale and it had many of its suspension parts rose jointed. Also I know that Litchfeld now seam welds portions of his type 20/25's, so maybe
there are ways. JL

 

replacing a lot of the presumably very soft rubber bushing on the 08 should sharpen it up a bit.

 

What all scoobs really need is a smaller (about 14") diameter steering wheel which seems impossible to do if you want to retain the airbag. On road I find the steering too light (I prefer the steering feel of my 10 year old Fiesta runabout which incidentally has a 14" wheel as standard) but it does improve when loaded up on track.

 

Yes they have made the ride very soft and agree on the bushes front

Having tried both 08's on 17" and 18"s, there is more of a need for 18"'s on the 08 model than prevoius models. I probably wouldn't ever consider buying the 08 Sti on 17"s IMHO

Tony

 

Interesting point and I should have said this on my first post above - the only 08 I've driven was on 18" wheels.

 

The steering has Subaru written all over it!

Yes it understeers a bit, but ALL un-modified Impreza's understeer - they always have and always will.

Its designed in by the manufacturer for safety! The natural (untrained) response to under- or oversteer is to back off. With understeer that's exactly what you need to do to make the car turn in - hence safety. With oversteer, backing off will usually result in a spin - hence dangerous!


IMHO, the 08 is by far the best handling impreza ever in standard form! Yes, it needs a few tweaks to make it perfect, but far less than any previous impreza! I would say a front strut brace and solid drop links all round would just about sort it for most people! Only serious track users need do more!

 

As a slightly related subject, I wonder what tyre pressures people are running on the 245/40 18"s the new 08's optionally run on? Think I'm at 32 front and 28 (might be 29 can't remember) on the rear. Given how light the steering feels, particularly at slow speeds, I wondered if a tweak to the front pressures might help a bit? Although I don't think it's anything like perfect I think the steering is something you notice more when you first jump into a car but can work with once you've clocked up miles in it and understand where the chassis and steering are coming from and what to expect.

If I was to describe the problem in a non-techical way given I know very little about how the power steering system works I'd suggest it's running too much pressure or something, just feels over-assisted to me which I don't think would change with just a quicker ratio rack which should be more about how much the steering wheel needs to turn to move the wheels a set amount unless as a by product they also generate weight into the system - maybe the JDM runs a different pump on the rack (assuming it has a pump) as well as the lower ratio? Or maybe it does jsut generate more load and therefore more feel... don't know.

But I'm living with it and to be honest it isn't really distracting me from smiling lots whenever I get it and start to drive it and that's what owning this sort of car is all about for me

 

Not knowing much more The Pump is normally just to the left of the Altenator and has two 12mm steel to rubber pipes. I reckon the UK & JDM pump setups are the exactly the Same and only difference are the Racks.

The JDM quicker Rack is a Higher not Lower Ratio which could feel heavier because of that. (depends if pressure settings are set up by pressure or set up by Torque)

Hope this may help with understanding it but sorry won't help with the Problem

There must be some ECU control as I though pressure assistance was speed relative???

Tony

 

I think it's speed sensitive like you Tony which makes me wonder if it can be tweaked to be less 'effective'? But I suppose someone would have done it already on other models or these if it was so simple!

 

ups, posted into wrong Thread.