The new Subaru Impreza WRX - would it's looks stop you buying one? (picture enclosed)

[Psychic Cookie]

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/ADRIAN1/data/new_car_pics/l582111_l.jpg
This time next year all being well I'm hoping to be in a position of being able to afford one of these or at least something in this sort of price range but to be perfectly honest I'm not sure I can live with the looks.

All the reviews say it's a fantastic car and to forget about the way it looks but the question is can I and could you?

(BTW the price is about £21,500. If it was your money what would you buy? Also please keep in mind that I could live with a two seater. The new MX-5 VVT is looking very tempting at about £20,000 too)

[Dead Man]

Personaly, I couldn't buy a car that looks like that.

There are a lot of top cars that if you are not buying new you could get for £20,000.

Work have just purchased an Audi TT for around 25000 (225BHP, 6 speed etc) so by this time next year you could have one of them. Also just got a A3 1.8T quatro for around 18000 which is pretty nice. (sales reps get all the best cars...)

A lot depends on what you realy need from you motoring. To be honest with the current climate of speed control, I see less point in high top speed and more in 'agility' however a 'second' car that I could take on track would be top of my list.


DM

[[APST]]

id go for the EVO 7 when it comes out

[Psychic Cookie]

Dead man:
I always buy new and would rather slit my throat then buy a TT. They are SOOOO ugly (easily uglier then the Impreza)
The A3 sounds interesting though :)

[APST]:
The Evo 7 is gonna be about £10k above my budget :(

[TheSpaceCowboy]

IMO it really dont matter what it looks like if its good enough ! Take the mitsubishi evo`s ugly as Fu8k( The evo 7 is real ugly )
http://www.4car.co.uk/spyshots/spyevo1.jpg
Would i ave one ? 0-60:4.4 secs course i would ! Many great cars r ugly the Aston Martin v8 Vantage,the evos,the scoobys, the new elise !
£20-25K If it were my money? Honda Accord Type R (revs for eva)or the S2000, Audi S3,The Nissan 200SX(another example of ugly but great) Top Choice : Evo 6 rs @£24K Mmmmm

[Dead Man]

TT it is then ;)

The A3 had less than 20000 miles on a V plate. Had the full leather etc (some very nice alloys).


Out of intrest why do you buy new always? Modern cars are built pretty bullet proof and with a 3year warenty a year old car is has had a good chunk of deprecitation knocked out of it and is nicely run in...

DM

Oh and Space Cowboy is right about the Honda, that engine is a peach (drove one at Milbrook, wow revs to 8K and is so much fun.)

[Swany]

dunno what id get m8, but got agree with the looks.
Anyone else noticed how car designers seem to have gone way off the rails recently. Almost all the cars new Ive seen in the last year have been gutwrenchingly ugly.

The new scooby, the new celica, the xsara, the new mondeo, the new laguna, the new elise, and on, and on, and on....

Somebody's gonna have to tell these overpayed misfits what a good car actually looks like!

[-reaper-]

Does anyone else looking at that Scooby think it just looks like an Escort?

[Psychic Cookie]

Originally posted by Dead Man
Out of intrest why do you buy new always? Modern cars are built pretty bullet proof and with a 3year warenty a year old car is has had a good chunk of deprecitation knocked out of it and is nicely run in...
Well tbh I suppose I assume that everybody drives their cars like I drive mine which in reality I know isn't the case but I don't like to take the chance!!!

I had my Esprit new and at the 6000 mile service the dealer asked how much track use the car had had. I replied 'none at all' and he couldn't believe it because the tyres and brakes were in his words "showing signs of abuse"

Then at 12,000 miles the front suspension gave up and had to be re-built!

Basically I'm a hooligan and shouldn't be allowed out on the roads at all. I accelerate fast, brake late and hard, rev the engine to the limiter even in the supermarket car-park!

I would never buy a used car off me!!! :laugh:

Like I say though I always assume that people who buy the types of cars that I do treat them in exactly the same way as I do but I guess I'm probably wrong.

I'd just rather buy a car new that I can be sure of rather then a used motor that I'm uncertain of :)

[Psychic Cookie]

Space Cowboy & Swany... How can you say the new Elise is ugly??? :eek:
http://www.lotuscars.co.uk/media/1_Front_34_.jpg

http://www.lotuscars.co.uk/media/4_Profile.jpg

It's one of the best looking cars made for years.

[Psychic Cookie]

Whoops, sorry about the size of those pictures! They came out a bit bigger then I was expecting :o

Another car I like the look of is the newly facelifted MX-5 - especially the new 160bhp VVT model shown below in silver:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/ADRIAN1/previews/new_pics/aefd33049_l.jpg

[TheSpaceCowboy]

Originally posted by Psychic Cookie
Space Cowboy & Swany... How can you say the new Elise is ugly??? :eek:
Cos it dont look like this !
http://www.enterprise.net/lotus/elise/images/rock_front.jpg
[/B][/QUOTE]

[Dead Man]

I have found the perfect vehicle for you :E



http://members.tripod.com/~fab_belfast/asinc1.gif



Seriously it sounds like you should get a car to drive on the track, or you may at the very least lose you licence :O

Oh and I quite like the new MR2.

But I would still get a Caterham 7 and a car for every day.


DM

[Psychic Cookie]

Space Cowboy:
I had one of the first Elise's - chassis number 594 (they are up to about 12,000 now I believe) and it did indeed turn heads but arn't they looking just a tiny bit dated now???

Dead Man:
LMAO. That's actually me sitting in that C5 and as you can see I'm having a whale of a time :laugh:

I'd quite like a Caterham 7 too but other memebers of the household are not so keen!!!!! :D

[SS004]

Lo

It's down to personal taste.

I think that the subaru looks terrible, the design of those front headlights are abnormal.

If I was you Cookie mate I'd have the Elise without a doubt. That is one fine looking car and if, and it's a big if atm.....things go well for me this next 12 months I will deffo invest in one of those myself.

SS

[TheSpaceCowboy]

Originally posted by Psychic Cookie
Space Cowboy:
I had one of the first Elise's - chassis number 594 (they are up to about 12,000 now I believe) and it did indeed turn heads but arn't they looking just a tiny bit dated now?

IMO no it don’t it still looks great ! I think the new one may suffer from becoming dated cos the designers have caught the stretched focus headlight disease /me hopes they find a cure cos all new cars are coming out with them and really are starting to look the same

[Piglet]

NOoooooooooooooooo, You've gotta get the Scooby....

When I first saw it I thought it looked stoopid, but now, I've gotta say I actualy LIKE the looks of it. What would you rather drive, that scooby which every person who's ever watched Top gear will give you respect for driving, or a posmobile, which most people just ignore.....

The subaru grabs you attention, even if it is ugly as sin (not my opinion), which is unusual nowadays, + it's so damn good, no-one will be able to catch you, not even the police :E

Piglet.......

P.S. Please get the subaru :) Please? Pretty please :)

[[APST]]

The subaru grabs you attention, even if it is ugly as sin (not my opinion), which is unusual nowadays, + it's so damn good, no-one will be able to catch you, not even the police


Unless of course this is after you

Subaru Impreza Prodrive - The Subaru Impeza Prodrive is capable of 0-62 miles per hour in 5 seconds with a top speed of 150 mph. This vehicle is currently in use by the Humberside Police vehicle Crime Unit. It is all wheel drive and contains some state of the art electronic equipment.

http://b.postmypic.com/b.nsf/Z/humbrsidRNDQ/$file/humbrsid.jpg






[Edited by [APST] on 13-02-2001 at 10:15 PM]

[Psychic Cookie]

So many cars, so many options!

Thank god I've got at least a year to think about it all :rolling:

Just one thing about the Elise - have you seen how cheaply some of the early ones are on the used market now?

I bought mine in February 1997 for £23,000 (had a few options fitted) and sold it again 14 months later for £24,000! :D

Today if you look in the classifieds you can find used four year old Elise's with 40,000 miles on mthe clock for £13,000!!! :eek:

I read somewhere a few weeks ago that the 'honeymoon' is now well and truly over for the Elise and it does make me wonder how well residual values will stand up for the new model. In basic spec it's £23,000 (and there's about £4000 worth of options available on top of that PLUS a further £800 if you want a metallic paint finsh which I'd wager 90% of people will go for) so you could end up spending close on £28,000 which to my mind is taking the p!ss. I wouldn't mind betting that would lose £10,000 after a couple of years of ownership too :mad:

And lets face it, if your spending £28,000 on a car then a whole new division of motors open up to you.

Evo VI RSX plus £2k left over for a nice holiday anyone???

[[APST]]

lol i resized it now

got a good pic of a police lotus esprit too

[Swany]

if you like Ive got pictures off U.S. police using Corvettes and Lamborghini Diablos!!!
EEEK! Imagine trying to outrun one of those things on the motorway!!! :eek:

[Piglet]

Er, ya know what I meant :E

Anyway, round where I live the fastest thing the plod have got is a 1.8 diesel escort (my friends dad's a copper) and it tops out at 85 mph :laugh:

You could out run it in that ickle C5 :)

Piglet..........

[BuzzinHornet]

Originally posted by Piglet


Anyway, round where I live the fastest thing the plod have got is a 1.8 diesel escort (my friends dad's a copper) and it tops out at 85 mph :laugh:

You could out run it in that ickle C5 :)

Piglet..........

ROFL!!!! my first car, a fiesta 1.1 went faster than that!!!
I never broke the law by speeding in it tho :laugh:
*cough* erghm *cough*

[Edited by BuzzinHornet on 15-02-2001 at 12:00 AM]

[[BEER]Bud Ice]

The lights on the Subaru Impreza WRC look fooked. I much preferred the older style lights.