Question for the Impreza owners....

Associate
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7 Jun 2005
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I'm in a strange choice of deciding between a MK5 Golf R32 or a Hawkeye Impreza STI.

Strange thing is, the two test drives I've had totally surprised me;

R32
  • Felt solid
  • Sounded awesome
  • Excellent responsive steering
  • Good braking
  • Was like a go-cart, so much fun

Impreza
  • Felt heavy
  • Brakes were very soft
  • Handling was VERY unresponsive - so much give in that steering wheel and no road feedback
  • Erm, wheres the Boxer rumble?
  • The only acceleration that felt remotely exciting was in 3rd

The test drive of the Impreza was from a Chrysler garage too so I can only assume it's been checked over and it representative of any other Hawkeye. Frankly it was nowhere near as fast as I anticipated, not to mention I didnt feel safe in it, it just felt like a big heavy mess. Do my conclusions sound way off? I was very dissapointed after wanting a Scoob for so, so long.

I'm off to test drive an RB320 tomorrow, to see if I take it up a notch it feels any more exciting to me!
 

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Soldato
Joined
21 Nov 2004
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13,500
Location
Wishaw
strange one, try another impreza tbh.

R32 is overpriced for what it is, if you like it go look at an A3 3.2 same car more or less with an audi badge and a 5k difference in the price :)
 
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OP
Joined
7 Jun 2005
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Location
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Wen't down the Audi S3 route pal after some suggestions on here. It felt more luxurious and had a little extra back of the seat push with the turbo, but just lacked any nice sound or character. Still a cracking motor though and can understand people's reccomendations to try. As for the A3 with the same 3.2, not so sure TBH.

Hopefully this RB320 will give me the thrill I'm after, otherwise it's an R32 (or dare I say, back down the Evo FQxxx MR route).
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Aug 2003
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West Midlands
I the Hawkeye the 2.5 one? I dont think they have the usual burble

Yes they do! All UK models of Impreza have the unequal length manifolds and therefore the burble!

A bog standard hawkeye is.. slow, lethargic, on stilts and therefore very boat like, and an asthmatic mess above 5.5krpm.

RB320 is a step in the right direction and is actually a great car, but the 2.5 is known to be a very unreliable unit. Head gasket failures are very common, as well as piston ring lands. Plus they are not the best to tune as they don't like boost.

If you want to stick to a UK model car that you keep quite standard, buy yourself a 2005 model STi with the Prodrive Performance Pack (lowering springs, exhaust remap) or better still a nicely modified one.

Also, this hawkeye you drove didn't sound too healthy, they're slow, but should feel better than a Golf R32 (in my opinion) when accelerating. I agree that a standard car wouldn't feel as nice handling as the R32, but that's mainly the stilts effect (plus tyres make a huge difference.)
 
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