M3's

Matt82 · 3 Dec 2009 at 09:05

its not how you stand by your car, it is how you race it

stand alone fuel management system. Not a bad way to spend ten-thousand dollars

s-man · 3 Dec 2009 at 09:08

This thread makes me

and

Firestar_3x · 3 Dec 2009 at 09:24

s-man said:
This is pretty wide of the mark tbh. Subarus may not be up to BMWs perceived level of quality (seems to be the OcUK preferred nomenclature these days...) but an 03 Impreza is not a rattly sandwich box by any stretch. Subarus ime are well engineered, high performing well put together cars. For some people (including me) it still comes down to the fundamental contact points in a car - steering wheel, seat, gearstick and the Impreza is fine in all those aspects. It may not have a swoopy dash or plastic carbon inserts but those things don't matter to quite a lot of people. The engines in Subarus are generally strong and relaiable...and tuneable. They are practical performance cars.

Every single impreza I've ever been in has the following characteristics:

- Inconsistence gaps around the dashboard
- Bargain basement discount plastics no doubt sourced from a clearance sale at Woolworths
- More road noise than a tank
- More rattles than a playschool

The above make it a very poor car to spend any sort of time in, the mechanics are indeed well engineered I'm not disputing that, but the bits the driver actually use have all the aesthetics and tactile feel of Jade Goody, the BMW manages to be well enough built and a nice place to sit.

Lets face it having 0.00001% more grip matters not when the car spends 99.97654% of its time on the road, for road use the M3 is a much much better prospect.

s-man · 3 Dec 2009 at 09:45

Firestar_3x said:
Every single impreza I've ever been in has the following characteristics:

- Inconsistence gaps around the dashboard
- Bargain basement discount plastics no doubt sourced from a clearance sale at Woolworths
- More road noise than a tank
- More rattles and a playschool

The above make it a very poor car to spend any sort of time in, the mechanics are indeed well engineered I'm not disputing that, but the bits the driver actually touches and uses have all the aesthetics and tactile feel of Jade Goody, the BMW manages to be well enough built and a nice place to sit.

Lets face it having 0.00001% more grip matters not when the car spends 99.97654% of its time on the road, for road use the M3 is a much much better prospect.

Nah going to have to disagree again

Gaps around the dashboard?...can't speak for you obviously but I can count the number of seconds I've spent fingering my dashboard on 1 digit so that's not really a deal breaker for me.

Bargain basement plastics...see above really. If stalks and switches work and don't break off in my hand then thats all I worry about. Just as an aside this forum loves Fords yet their plastics are some of the crappiest around...go figure. Subarus are solid if unattractive.

Road noise - seriously?! You do realise how much of a part tyre choice plays in this? Anyway Imprezas are generally bought by people who want a certain level of rawness not to waft down the autobahn in silence. Not feeling that as a tangible flaw I'm afraid unless you bought an Impreza thinking it was a BM...

More rattles AND a playschool? Must have been one the limited edition Subaru Early Learning editions you were in

. Seriously though...that may be your experience but I've owned 2 and they were no worse than many many other cars in that respect.

As I mentioned before...driver contact points are actually primarily wheel, gears and seats and Imprezas generally have adequate to good setups in those respects so the JD analogy is wasted I'm afraid. Plus I don't just want to feel nice 'sitting' in my car its about the drive as well. The M may be better in this regard too but the Impreza is not dire.

And...to your final point - you are simply wrong. I know of at least 3 people who have gone Impreza->M3->Impreza for exactly the opposite of the assertion you are making. We live in a temperate (read wet) country with a lot of fun, if poorly maintained, B roads and in such an environment the Impreza is often the more effective and driveable point to point choice. An M3 in the right hands on the right surface and in the dry is better in several respects no doubt about it but given imperfect driving conditions it can (and has) been too limiting for some owners. Again that's from actual owners feedback not conjecture.

Just to be clear: I concede that the BM is the more civilised, higher quality place to be (as you'd expect) but your criticisms of the Impreza are just not that accurate.