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Showing posts with label impreza s-gt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label impreza s-gt. Show all posts

Monday, November 10, 2008

The Impreza S-GT - A car that confuses the heck out of me.

9:18 PM 0

Do you people out there know who Harvey Dent is? If you’ve been a Batman fan, then you’d know that he is the villain known as Two Face famous for his split personality and a half scarred, half normal face. Now the simple meaning of having a split personality is having two people living inside one being. When it comes to cars, we somehow know that there are some docile cars that turn into monsters at the prod of the pedal (some turbo cars) or with the switch of a button on the dashboard (think BMW M5 with it’s ‘M’ button). But what I shall be telling you guys out there is that the new Subaru Impreza S-GT isn’t a two faced villain or anything like that. It is something incomprehensible if you follow the usual route on how a performance car should be. In fact, no other car feels like it and I think no one except Subaru is psychotic enough to make such a car.

Let’s get started with this review. The 3rd Generation 2008  Impreza reviewed here today is called the S-GT. This Impreza actually replaces the WRX name in Japan and it is a 5 door hatchback with a 2.0 DOHC turbo pumping out 250ps and about 333nm of torque. The version I tested was the Subaru Impreza S-GT 4 speed automatic Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) version brought in by the official importers here in Malaysia. Elsewhere, this is called the WRX. No confusion there. Yes? No?


Exterior and Interior
When this car was first launched, almost everyone nearly died. Fans and non-fans alike wondered what the heck happened to the Impreza. Almost everyone decided that it was styled by an Ah Beng hair-stylist at one end and a 7 year old kid at the other. The design somehow does not really mesh well as if you start from the rear and move to the front, you’d notice that while the rear seems decent, aside from those stupid clear lights, the front seems a little too flat for its bulbous arse. Gel well it doesn’t but when it finally arrived in Singapore about 6 months ago where I first caught a peek of it I somehow realised that it wasn’t so bad as I first thought. It looked like a Toyota Caldina that had its middle cut out after that. Which to me isn’t such a bad thing. Of course, Subaru made it all slightly better with the STI version of this car, but you’d have to buy that car if you want the huge blistered arches and full monty STI look for another RM100K or so.

The trademark scoop is still there but while it looks flatter, it is actually wider and deeper than even the 2nd generation version 8 WRX STI. This is a good thing as I know that the scoop from the version 8 was sometimes reflecting the sun right into my eyes on some sunny days. There is a rear diffuser, but I wouldn’t know if it really works or not. The car also sits on 205/50/17 ADVAN A10 or something like that which are basically the same stupid noisy and not so grippy ADVANs that are shod on the Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0GT sold in Malaysia. This point is not so good as I think the tires are crap and come in a not so common size here in Malaysia.

The interior has taken a step back as it is full of hard plastics. However, being a Subaru it is very well put together and nothing like a Lancer GT. Imagine sitting inside the current VW GTI and instead of the GTI’s black and hard plastic dashboard, it’s a dark grey and you’d know what I am talking about. The seats are grippy enough but for skinnier adults, you’d want more lateral support. The driving position is spot on with steering adjusting for reach as well as rake which you didn’t get with the older Impreza. The seats are also mounted lower which gives is a sportier feel to the car. Being an automatic, I couldn’t tell you whether Subaru managed to get rid of the notchy feel of the 5speed box (but what I can tell you is that the feel of the 6sp gearlever in the latest STI is excellent, better than the previous STIs.). Legroom for both front and rear passengers are light years better than the previous generation, as if you are aware, there was absolutely minimal legroom in Imprezas of yore, which was too cosy for some.
The Legacy based multi link suspension at the rear eats up boot space. I’ve never seen a shallower boot than in this Impreza. I suppose it’s the price to pay for progress.

Driving the Darn Thing.
Now this is where things get interesting, and confusing. Never have I driven a car where it has made me think so hard on two issues; how it drives right now and potential for tuning down the road. With 250ps and 333nm on tap I was certain that it’ll do quite well in the power stakes. But we all know that power must be delivered to the road in order to make things happen however the 4speed auto gearbox with ‘tiptronic’ function lets the car down to an extent. This 2.0liter flat 4 engine with active valve control is a gem of en engine. It may have lost a whole lot of its boxer burble but compared in stock form to the previous WRX and even the version 8 STI it is darn good in its refinement. Why I say so is that this engine, like the previous WRX comes to life at around 3,000rpm when the turbo starts spooling. What’s different is that the power does not taper off after 6,000rpm like in the WRX or the STI8 (boost at around 3,500rpm). It still charges up to its 7,000rpm redline without a significant drop, which happens in the old version as stated above. Unfortunately, the stupid slushbox in manual mode will expect you and me to change up at 6,500rpm, as if you don’t it’ll decide to shift by itself and when you reach for the gear to upshift you end up shifting to 3rd as the box has already shifted for you. This is ridiculous. I want to shift at the redline and not at 6,500rpm as the engine feels bloody smooth and still puts out some power. Why won’t you let me shift up by myself, you stupid, stupid gearbox!!!!!!?

And then, if you’re already pissed about it and leave it in ‘D’ for the remainder of your drive you decide to do a tight corner, you slam on the 2pot front and 1 pot disc brakes (yes, no more Subaru 4pots for S-GT, sigh), which have feel by the way and take the corner, the gearbox decides to change to a lower gear a few million years after you’ve already passed the apex of the corner and then you become a rocket again:
80km/h 4th gear, hard on the brakes, enter corner, slam the accelerator, on or slightly before apex and it moves………..half a second later drops 2 gears and dumps 333nm of torque all at once as it feels like making up to you for the delay.

There’s a bit of drama when this happens as it sometimes feels like the car or lorry thundering towards you may crash into you as the above happens. What this car needs it at least a 5speed auto. The 4 speed box never allows anyone to fully utilise the power of the flat 4. So while driving this car, I noticed that the tuning of the engine was marvellous, but let down by the ancient automatic gearbox. The Legacy GT has a 5 speed auto, and it’s bloody marvellous. I don’t remember actually struggling for a gear in that car at all. So Subaru either get a 5 speeder autobox or you’d have to tune this ride yourself to get the power in so much earlier. This can be done by a few tuners locally, a more open exhaust system and you can use lightweight crank pulleys to lessen inertia on the engine. This would theoretically bring down the power band to about 2,500rpm and this car will pull well even if it has that stupid auto box. Of course, if you bought this car for the wife or you just use it to go to the market or don’t like to tune cars, then don’t bother with the last few sentences then.

Oh yeah, there's an 'ECO' button somewhere near the gearlever and if it's on, lights up the word 'eco' on the meter panel. God knows what it does, most probably some economy mode which I kept off as you are driving a 2.0 turbo, the heck with economy.

When it came to the ride and handling of this car, things started to get even more mad.

The thought of ‘land yacht’ came to mind. I’ve never sat in a hatchback that made me feel like I was in a Donzi pleasure cruiser out at sea by the coast of Klang. This Impreza has a ride so smooth and it conquered all sorts of bumps the roads of Petaling Jaya threw at it. Potholes and undulations of badly tarred surfaces gave it no problems at all. Sound insulation was of pretty decent quality and I couldn’t hear much thuds and thumps while driving it. However, while soft, it has an boat like feel to it as body movement wasn’t properly controlled. You could feel a slight corkscrew or swaying movement. It’s like one of those buildings that are made for withstanding earthquakes, there are rubber plates in the structure that help the building sway to the way the earth shakes. The Impreza feels like that, small secondary movements aren’t handled by the suspension. It’s like Subaru launched this Impreza without finishing the fine tuning.

High speed left and right lane changes (at around 140km/h) seem to be fine in this car, but sharp turns or even your friendly neighbourhood round-a-bout turns into a high seas drama as this car has incredible body roll. Body roll coupled with not so grippy 205/50/17 tires make any corner above 80km/h into an adventure. I’ve never entered the Rothman’s roundabout in Petaling Jaya at 70km/h with the tires screaming as if I was doing 1,250km/h. The roll at that round-about was something amazing. I have never driven a car that rolled so much aside from the original Perodua Kancil a long while back.
While the chassis felt stable and solid, and its nose pointy and direct, you’d be holding a little back due to the extreme roll angles this car can achieve. You have to drive this car for a few days, weeks or even decades before you find the actual limits of this chassis. I suppose you’d call it a full gravel type suspension, where you can actually tackle any bumpy stretch of road without bouncing off of it. This car would be somewhat fabulous going on the old Bentong road (with a better gearbox of course) as no bumps or undulations will surprise this car’s suspension and that quick pointy steering would help. However, you’d have to take time to learn to find the grip as well as have the balls to get to that level of trusting the chassis. As such, the average driver will find that this car is totally crap with its ridiculous body roll.

So who should buy this car then? It depends. Those that wants an auto WRX as he’s tired of rowing his own gears. Those that buy for their wives to go shopping. Those that don’t want to own the full monty STI. Those that do not want a Civic Type R, a VW GTI or any RM200K grey imported, reconditioned performance car.

I’d buy it. But I’d have to spend RM4,500.00 on a good set of shocks and springs and 215/45/17 tires instead of the 205/50 tires to kill the body roll as well as add grip and another RM3,000.00 or so on ECU tuning, aluminium crank pulleys and a more open exhaust system. But at RM189,000.00 + RM7,500.00 (you don’t have to do this at once of course), it is still very, very tough call. However again, if you want a challenge of finding a car's limits, this is the ride for you and when you're bored or you've found the limits, get the suspension fixed for a second dose of thrills. It's achallenge for some, a pain to others.

+ Fabulous engine power delivery and refinement, smooth ride, good build quality, pointy steering, adjustable handling
- stupid automatic gearbox, stupid body roll, secondary fidgety ride, hard plastics

Note: I’ve read recently that there will be changes to the 2009 Impreza sold in the States, the 2009 2.5 WRX (S-GT) will have a new stiffer suspension while the old 2008 WRX will continue to be sold and it will be called the 2.5GT. I hope that the changes will be included in the S-GT sold here.
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