Does anyone own the newer version of the Impreza Sport?
Like the look of it, price, running costs and benifit of having 4wd.

Are they a good buy, or proper poo?

Looking for a 4 door family car that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to run, but is a bit different to the boring mondeos and foc'i'!

 

mine is the R sport version not heard of the RX though.



car tax £134 for 6 months or £245 for the year. £60.00 for a full tank of fuel- i can get anywhere between 250 to 300 miles to a full tank. insurance depends on how old and how many no claims you have but i recommend you get quotes before you buy as impreza insurance is stupid at the moment. servicing is about £150-£200 for a full service (more if you go main dealer)
you can pick a decent model up for anywhere between £6000 and £8000.
dont expect it to break any speed and performance records with a modest 160bhp but i am more than happy with the ride quality and performance and love the awd especially in the snow. they are very limited in the modifying sense, you can do very little in performance mods to increase bhp (exhaust. panel filter etc) but body mods the sky is the limit. if i could have afforded the hawkeye wrx/sti when i brought mine then i would have but i dont regret going for the sport. always puts a smile on my face when driving it.

 

The RX is the 07 onwards version of the R Sport. Nothing as far as I can tell that is different. The 160bhp is sufficient enough for me. I would love to have the extra grunt of the WRX if only to know its there and to be lazy but most of the time it would be wasted as it is very rare that I am actually able to use all the 160bhp at the full rev range but then again I dont drive like a nutter.

I dont think that running costs will be that different to be honest. From what I gather fuel is fairly similar. The WRX is obviously more powerful but it requires far less RPM to get to and maintain the same speeds as the RX. If you get an early 06 plate WRX the tax is the same so it comes down to insurance. When I lived in Spain there was only £50 difference.

The looks are obviously personal but personally I dont think there is a better looking car for the price age for age. It is certainly the most talked about car in the school car park and it has to compete against cars 3 times its price.

As mentioned it is easy to upgrade most things except the engine. The WRX wheels and calipers bought on eBay for a total of £340. I picked up the rear GB270 skirt for £50 same place (not sure whether I prefer it on or not).

Overall I think it was extremely good value for money. There isnt any other car that I would want or that gives you as much for the price given the age/milage.

Anyway here is a photo with the above on.

 

Why not get an LPG impreza, my hawkeye WRX does about 200 miles on £30 of fuel now.

 

How much was the conversion?

 

Have you lost half your boot? I have just noticed the LPG thread in the general technical that the photo showed the boot being taken up with the massive tank.

 

The tank is level with the left side of the load through hole so I've lost just under half of the floor area of the boot. It stands around a foot high so there is still a bit of space above the tank.

I don't really use the boot very much so I've not found it to be an issue.