Back in 1999 I’d picked sides in the World Rally Championship wars and that side was Mitsubishi. By 2004 the Evo VIII ruled and Ralliart would sell you an FQ400 with what seemed like more horsepower than you could shake a stick at. Memories of why I bought a Galant VR-4 and not an Evo VI still lingered. Apart from the price having gone up significantly, could I really live with something as focused as an Evo on a daily basis? In 1999 the answer had been ‘probably not’ and nothing had changed, an Evo was still a frenetic phenomenon. So I thought it might be time to try the other side. I traded the Porsche Boxster for a year old 2003 Subaru Impreza 2.0 Turbo World Rally Xperience Subaru Technica International Prodrive Performance Package 305 to give it its full title.
There are always used Porsche Boxsters for sale and whilst the 3.2S I had been enjoying was the more desirable variant, one with my warranty history and 50000 miles on the clock meant it wasn’t worth what I would have liked for it – hence replacing it with a ‘previously loved’ Scoobie rather than ordering new again. The WRX STi was the one to have especially as I still craved the sort of performance I’d become used to with its predecessors. In any case here was I, mid 40s, professional and a father of two. I’d had my mid life crisis yellow Porsche but despite that what I really wanted was the extra loud exhaust and the big wing on the back. “Oh, really…” was my wife Janice’s despairing comment when I returned home with it having collected it sight unseen from a dealer 100 miles away – why do I keep doing that? It would have been nice if it had been Subaru blue with gold wheels. It had the gold wheels (of which Janice disapproved) but was otherwise silver. The important thing was the Prodrive Performance Package.
Prodrive ran the Subaru rally team and devised the various special editions over the years including the highly sought after P1 and RB5 editions that are now worth serious money. For the GC/GD generation cars, characterised by their bug eyes and introduced in Britain early 2002 it meant a power hike to 305bhp, an increase of 30 or so over a stock STi and most importantly a factory warranty to cover the modifications. It’s previous owner, by all accounts a gentleman of mature years, had only kept it a year but nevertheless had rung up over 19000 miles in that time.
Whatever Janice’s opinion the Subaru felt like it ticked quite a few boxes. It was certainly quick, especially when the roads got wet but the winter of 2004-5 was snowy. In this part of the world that means about 2 inches – just enough to be annoying. It snows even less these days so perhaps the Scoobie will remain the only car I ever spun on the public highway. I’m sure I hardly twitched my foot on the gas but the rear decided it wanted all the power and round we went then off the road down a shallow bank and to rest inches from the hedge and trees of our local wood. My mother taught me never to lift off; never to touch the brake unless you really, really have to. It was something she learned from her father and characterised her driving style as much as my own. I kept the motor running, the wheels spinning and the car clawed its way through the winter mud and slush and back up the verge onto the highway. But it sounded awful for the mile it took to get home. The noise turned out to be a beer can stuck between a brake disc and the wheel rim. That removed it was back to normal. I took it for an alignment check. It hadn’t budged a fraction. No harm done.
In 2003 we had bought a ski apartment in a French alpine resort and we were keen to make as much use of it as possible now the children were 13 and 9. The Citroën D Super 5 would be fine for summer trips, as was the Alfa 156, but in buying the Subaru I figured that something with four wheel drive made more sense for the 1534 mile round trip. In the end it only went once because it wasn’t the best of long distance cars and I spun it again in the Alps too! I was only driving from the drop-off for our flat and the main car park which was all of 300 meters when it decided to do a neat pirouette on the only hairpin bend. We missed the snowbank on one side and the rock wall on the other, a dab of opposite lock and no harm done, again. I put chains on after that…but I worried that I wouldn’t be so lucky if there was a third time.
After the experiences of that first winter with the Scoobie I hatched a plan which would solve the issue of carting the family to the Alps and that will form the next episode of this saga. Meanwhile the car proved it worth for my daily commute and the longer trips I needed to make to see clients. As the business had expanded we had opened several regional offices so my clients were often now better served by colleagues in more convenient offices so my mileage was reduced compared to previous years.
Whilst I’d taken the Mitsubishi VR-4 on track I’d been conscious that was a company owned car. The Subaru was mine so I wouldn’t have to put my company hat on whilst I explained to myself what a season of track days had cost in terms of wear and tear. Our local circuit which was near my office is not a race track but designed specifically for track days and corporate events. It’s fast but safe with a wide variety of bends depending on which parts of the complex are in use. In England when you book something ahead you just have to take your chance with the weather. Bad weather was never a problem for the Scoobie. There was one time, when I’d gone to the circuit at Brands Hatch, it rained so much only people with 4WD cars ventured out! Even so the Subaru was heavy on tyres – I wasn’t so committed to track work that I had wheels and tyres just for track use, a track day was (still is) just for fun, to explore the car and maybe hone my skills a little.
The fog lights which mine had were also vulnerable to stone damage, though mechanically it was built tough and an end of season service threw up nothing out of the routine. When a friend managed to throw the car off the track and traveled about 100 metres sideways across the rough grass outfield I took it for another alignment check. Again absolutely in specification and its charmed life continued.
That all said I thought the Subaru was a bit “wooden” – in many respects the Alfa 156 was more fun on track with more feedback if not the sheer power and braking performance of the Subaru. Later updates to the Impreza allowed you to change the torque distribution front to rear (my car was fixed 50:50) and, I understand, improved steering feel with geometry revisions. By all accounts the previous first generation cars were supposed to be more talkative so, maybe like the SAAB Turbo I had, I intersected with the brand at a slightly sub-optimal point in time.
Although I was pleased that I’d owned it, I ended up only keeping the Subaru for 13 months and 15000 miles. By November 2005 it had gone. Our car fleet had evolved through two more steps with two different cars that could better focus on the specific tasks we had for them.
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