After writing his Tyre R Accord off my dad is after a new car. He has got his shopping list down to three cars. An R32, an Impreza estate with Prodrive 265 bhp pack, or a Focus RS. Budget is preferably 15k - 18k but would stretch to 20k for the right car. The criteria is: 2 or 3 years old. Still under warranty. Low mileage. FSH, etc... Big enough for 5 people. Hatch or estate so he can fit his bike in the back. Comfortable enough so my Mum can drive it to the shops but sporty enough to handle abuse on Trackdays in standard(-ish) form! What would you choose? Sean Edited by: seanlazyass
What sort of money are S4's going for when they're a couple of years old? I'd look into one of those as well. Fordo!
What about a MkV GTi ?? 18-19K would get a decent low miles early one. A slightly riskier proposition would be the Alfa 147 GTA.
mate there's a sweet as f**k impreza estate running 425bhp for 12k is been maintained by an enthusiast who's spent over 40k on it, so its a bargain!!! i'll dig a link out in a bit
We've looked at a few MkV GTi's but they just dont appeal so much, plus the performance isn't upto the same standard as the above. I'm afraid we just don't like Alfa's, and the questionable reliability. Cheers, Sean
Brand new focus st for 17.5k. 10 seconds faster round the 'ring than the rs apparently and the 5 pot engine sounds fantastic.
This looks very nice! http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www/cars_search.asp?modelex act=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&make=SUBARU&mode l=IMPREZA&variant=&keywords=estate&min_pr=13000& amp;max_pr=15000&mileage=&agerange=&postcode=S11 +7BW&miles=60&max_records=50&source=0&photo= 1&sort=3&ukcbottomarch_full=SEARCH
Also found this, 225bhp in the new Focus ST all for around 15 for the 5dr. Prob an import but still with 3 years warranty. http://www.ukcarbroker.co.uk/fordfocus.htm#FORD%20FOCUS%20ST
Thats fairly close to were we live and we've just been to test drive it along with an R32. Both very nice cars but very different. We took both of them out along some wet country lanes. The Impreza was quicker as expected but didn't feel as nice inside. But the sound of the R32 engines amazing! The handling of both cars was also quite different. From what other people and journalists have said, i expected the R32's ride to be too soft. While it was comfortable it was still firm, similar to the Impreza. I expected the Impreza to have more outright grip but while playing on a deserted roundabout it seemed easier to provoke and make it slide. The R32 just gripped and gripped, until the front let go first. Whereas the Impreza 4 wheel drifted. One disappointment with the R32 was the fueling didn't seem very good at low-ish revs on part throttle. The power came on slightly jerky and not very smooth. This made it hard to control the car mid bend. Although I suspect this may have just been down to this particular car and engine. What are anyone elses experiences of these cars? Sean
The R32 can be taken back to the dealer for engine management updates to combat some of the flat spots that were standard on the car. This might not have been done on the model you tried? Id choose an R32 any day, slightly biased and brand loyal, but they are so much nicer inside and the ride is still fairly stiff and sporty. And that 6pot engine note blows away the Imprezzas boxer engine for me.
As Deako says, you can get the ECU upgrade from VAG (or get it remapped (Revo,AmD etc) to iron flat spots with the R32 also, the throttle is VERY sensitive and takes a bit of getting used to to drive slowly, can be a bit jerky when crawling along in traffic until you're used to it. Having driven both an Impreza STI bug eyed ugly f**k,and a classic Turbo, I would choose the R32 anyday. I was disapointed with the Subaru,very overated. Never driven a Focus RS, we don't have any on our books at work, few ST170s but they're nothing special. Also if your dad is going to do track days the Subaru brakes are a bag of pooe, they warp the discs like they're going out of fashion. Region of 2k for an AP kit to sort it... Claire's R32 is still on the original discs and 2nd set of pads @ 37k and she's done 2 Cadwell track days, one @ Donny and we did around 40 laps of the 'ring between us. Short vid of Claire's after she had the AmD stage 2 done..(remap and Miltek exhaust with the noisy option ticked) http://gvkgti.free.fr/vids/R32_amd_st2.wmv Edited by: GVK
Yes, but you both were poodling around the track, so that doesn't count, more like a shopping trip. Ok, Only kidding!
