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This Car of the Week could easily be referred to as the car for the contemporary enthusiast. The Subaru Impreza Turbo. It sounds like a Japanese saloon, looks like a Japanese saloon, performs like the Bolshoi ballet! In terms of bang for your buck, it is hard to beat the Impreza.

The standard (!) Impreza Turbo available in the UK Photograph copyright Subaru

But of course no homage to Subaru's samurai can go without a mention of a certain Scotsman. Before Colin McRae started winning rallies with the Impreza, Subaru were commonly associated with farmers for their four-wheel drive system. The Impreza Turbo was launched in 1994 and has been eating up supercars ever since. McRae captured the world championship in 1995 and people really started to notice this beast. Powered by a 4-cylinder, horizontally opposed, turbocharged and intercooled engine linked to a 5-speed manual transmission, the Impreza delivers 144 mph and 0-62mph in 6.3 seconds. The commercial success of the Impreza Turbo is already impressive. No other four-wheel drive turbo charged car has been produced and sold in such important numbers. Rumor has it that Subaru is selling more Impreza Turbos in Europe than normal versions. The main reasons for this success are the Impreza's price to performance ratio and it's reliability (it came first in Top Gear's JD power survey in 1998). Add to this the fact that most car magazines highly rate it's abilities (as we do) and the huge commercial success is no surprise.

The 1999 Impreza WRC - click here to follow Subaru's progress in the World Rally Championship Photograph provided by Prodrive
The Impreza Turbo is, essentially, a car to be used everyday, all year round. However, underneath the family-saloon body (it has 4 doors remember) lurks a speed-hungry monster. The car's commercial success has led Subaru to produce many awesome versions of the Impreza Turbo (including the 22-B version detailed in All Torque) most of which are, unfortunately, not available outside Japan, although the now booming grey import trade in the U.K. has helped to eradicate this. There is hope for us all!
Cian S Hanley
Model
SUBARU IMPREZA 2.0 TURBO 4WD
Type Water-cooled, horizontally-opposed, 2.0-litre, 4 cylinder, turbocharged.
Bore, mm 92.0
Stroke, mm 75.0
Capacity, cc 1994
Compression Ratio 8.0:1
Power, bhp 208 @ 5600rpm
Torque, Nm 290 @ 4000rpm
Fuel 95 RON unleaded
Gearbox 5 speed manual
Steering Speed-sensitive power-asssistance - rack & pinion
Front Suspension Independent, Macpherson strut-type with coil spring
Rear Suspension Independent, Strut-type with trailing arm & dual link - coil spring

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