Car Enthusiast - click here to access the home page


 



Pant Pissing Pace! Image by Shane O' Donoghue.

Pant Pissing Pace!
Subaru stumbled upon a cult car when it released the Impreza, the relatively anonymous Japanese manufacturer suddenly became the purveyor of the giant killing performance bargain of the '90s, and arguably all time. Times have moved on but the Impreza's status as one of the most desirable driver's cars remains and we jumped at the chance of a week with the legend.

   



<< earlier review     later review >>

Reviews homepage -> Subaru reviews

Subaru stumbled upon a cult car when it released the Impreza, the relatively anonymous Japanese manufacturer suddenly became the purveyor of the giant killing performance bargain of the '90s, and arguably all time. Times have moved on but the Impreza's status as one of the most desirable driver's cars remains and we jumped at the chance of a week with the legend. How lucky that our friends at Subaru leant us a Type UK, meaning more power, and the good news continued: to our delight the Impreza turned up with the Prodrive Performance Pack fitted, meaning yet more power, chassis changes and sexy rims.

First impressions are pure WRC. The Impreza is normally an aggressive looking machine, particularly in its post-startled wide-eyed form with the neater front end, but this black PPP looks more vicious than lesser models. The rear spoiler is frankly massive and the bonnet scoop for the intercooler is a tad on the large side as well. All in all it may be a little OTT for some. The interior is a tad more reserved. Brightly coloured bucket seats, a dominant central rev counter, drilled pedals and a nice Momo wheel let you know the car is meant for driving, but the rest of the interior isn't brash. One thing's for sure, with looks like this it'd better be good hadn't it?

Handy then that this PPP equipped Impreza has 301 horses crammed under that bonnet scoop. These are well fed horses as well, a fact confirmed by their hunger for fuel, and they love to run. Find an appropriately empty stretch of road before you decide to let them all out of the paddock. In 2nd gear at 20mph wield the whip, and after a momentary thought the Impreza sits back on its haunches and bolts down the road. Boost swells from 2500rpm; by 3500rpm you've got the lot and it's pulling hard. The good bit is that the surge doesn't let up on the way to the 7500rpm redline. In real terms the power band is 5000rpm of usable poke. It also sounds fantastic in the way only a heavily blown boxer four can. Plenty of off beat lobba lobba stuff at idle and low down, lots of thrum and whoosh as the needle sweeps around the tacho.

In most of the closely stacked six gears at most speeds the Impreza responds keenly to the throttle, as keenly as only a 300bhp plus car can. We didn't measure it, but I have no reason to doubt the 4.6 seconds claimed for the rest to 60mph sprint. The 155mph maximum looks entirely feasible as well. Use the Impreza as it wants to be used and it will drink super unleaded at a scary low teens per gallon rate, but you'll do well to average as low as this. If you do you'll have been locked up, or at least you should've been! Even on the track the Impreza feels like it has a huge amount of power; on the road in some circumstances it could even be construed to be too much. Straight-line speed is laugh-out-loud fast. I'd prefer to think that the PPP is an answer to Ralliart's FQ moniker and stands for Pant Pissing Pace.

The four-wheel drive system works very well, much better than a previous PPP we drove that seemed intent on getting intimate with hedgerows and fences. The only difference we know about is the tyre/wheel combination, with this car riding on wafer-thin Pirelli P-Zero Neros. Whatever, you can feel the front wheels pulling the Impreza out of bends in the right direction now and its previous understeery nature is all but gone. We had the opportunity to take the Impreza on a private track and although it did eventually give in to understeer the thresholds are so high that in most circumstances you wouldn't reach this condition in the dry. In the main it remains neutral, and with most provocation the transmission is too quick and clever to allow lots of oversteer. Unless you Scandinavian flick it, which is probably not the best approach to your daily commute... I'd still adopt a slow-in-fast-out-with-a-whiff-of-oversteer approach but it's highly rewarding and addictive. At first over zealous application of the throttle sees a large majority of the work of the 301bhp (305PS) expended in vaporising rubber, but feed the power in gently and it just hooks up and flies.

The brakes are huge with plenty of feel and fade resistance to depend on. Even the Ed couldn't beat them on his favourite tortuous B-road. It's always nice when you've got a huge amount of power in a car weighing a not insignificant 1,500kg to be able to tank up to a Y mph corner X mph too fast knowing that you can scrub off X minus Y every time with enough in hand for a bit of Z in extremis! Confidence inspiring and stable under maximum retardation, this aspect of the dynamic ability is almost as memorable as the searing accelerative nature of the beast. Almost as good is the steering that manages to retain feel whilst damping out any corruption from the transmission.

Where the Impreza really scores over its predecessors is in its refinement and improved interior quality. This latest model is actually quite a soothing companion compared to say, a higher-powered Lancer FQ. The engine noise is subdued unless you want to hear it (at which point it's really good) and the ride is much more compliant than you'd expect. The seats are comfortable for long stints behind the lovely to hold steering wheel and you can adopt any position from wheel-in-the-chest attack mode to reclined cruiser with no problems. It is a car your grandmother could drive without ever suspecting the ferocity available under provocation. It actually could be described as quite a "nice" car. Cabin quality and equipment levels are good and the whole package really makes sense as an everyday car.

If you can live with the image and looks, and let's face it this car looks like it's going to punch you in the face and nick your dinner money, then it's a compelling prospect. It's like a brutal second row, a beast when needed on the pitch but ever so mild mannered when he's talking to his girlfriend's mum. A serial killer with excellent table manners; it's, it's... Hannibal Lector! And we loved it.

Dave Jenkins - 31 Jan 2005



  www.subaru.co.uk    - Subaru road tests
- Subaru news
- Impreza images

2003 Subaru Impreza specifications: (STi Type-UK with PPP)
Price: £24,995 on-the-road (£28,790 as tested: £1,995 for the PPP, £1,800 for wheel/tyre combination).
0-60mph: 4.6 seconds
Top speed: 155mph
Combined economy: 25.4mpg
Emissions: 265g/km
Kerb weight: 1470kg

2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.

2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.



2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 

2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type-UK with PPP pack. Image by Shane O' Donoghue.
 






 

Internal links:   | Home | Privacy | Contact us | Archives | Old motor show reports | Follow Car Enthusiast on Twitter | Copyright 1999-2024 ©