Hi Biys & Girls,

I has a bit of a run-in with an Impreza (not a P1) last week. I was behind it at the lights, they changed to green and he booted it. I went after him and up behind him till about 80 (ish) and then found it pretty easy to pull out and go past him.

Question: I appreciate that the Impreza is a VERY quick car, but do they slow off over 80????????



Your help answering this question would be appreciated

 

Sounds as if he felt he had proved his point if the first time you could pass was at that speed........If that's true, he did.
Anyone mad enough to keep flat out regardless of conditions will overtake most cars eventually but that doesn't really prove anything.
XR2s and white vans pass me all the time - certainly doesen't prove anything about the cars' respective performances.
Oh, I passed an RS4 the other day - somehow I don't think he was trying either.

 

I wouldn't say that he proved a point, the guy was constantly looking in his mirror in disbelief that I was still right behind him. When he got back beside me at the next set of traffic lights, the guy wouldn't even look across at me. I think that it was the S2000 that proved a point!!!!

 

I think the older Imprezzas are quicker to 60 than the S2000 due to a lower weight (1150kg?) and AWD but at around the speeds your talking about the increased BHP and good traction should see the S2000 pull it back which sounds like what happened. I think the newer base turbo model (the damn ugly one) is slightly more powerful but also quite a bit heavier and hence slower.

 

Off the top of my head, I am sure that the Impreza has a 0-100mph time that is at least 1 second slower.

 

In a standing start the Impreza is easier to get away thanks to it's AWD than the S2000. A good start in the S2000 (admittedly a clutch burning rare occurance) would see the S2000 keeping pace with the Impreza and then pulling away as 3 figures were reached.

What the figures don't say about the Impreza is the in gear responsiveness. My Turbo will go from 60-90 in 5th gear in about 6s. In 4th gear you'd be looking at about 3-4s. Where the Turbo looses out to the S2000 is the throttle responsiveness.

Basically a standard Turbo and an S2000 will be pretty evenly matched on straight roads. On the twisties a Turbo is very flattering and I would expect a Turbo to start to pull away (with identical skill level drivers....). A Turbo with the Prodrive Peformance Pack or a P1/STi will be all over an S2000.

IIRC std turbo/217bhp, PPP 237bhp, P1 276bhp
but the torque figures are tree stump pulling

My guess is your 80mph sprint had the Impreza driver sensibly thinking of his license

 

There's so many different versions of the Impreza available in the UK - WRx turbo, UK 250's, P1's, RB22's and STi's that it's so hard to tell which ones are which! - and then it's complicated by the fact that the imports are EVEN FASTER.....

You can usually reliably assume if it's got a air-scoop out the bonnet along with huge alloys that it's going to have anywhere between 220 and 280 bhp (they've just released a 315bhp Jap version!)

Mate of mine had a Jap import 280 bhp version with a sprint gearbox - it's the fastest car (especially round twisties) that i've ever been in! bar none!...tose things feel sooooooo sure/solid on the road

But when you think that he's an ex-racing driver that may have more to do with the sensation.

Coming from Scotland in the wet on Sunday I was passed by several 'lesser' cars - tho' I was making the effort to go quite quick I just think they new the roads better and/or were better drivers.

.....

 

Sounds spot on to me. Local knowledge is incredibly levelling. If you know the road well you may be able to travel almost flat out in an ordinary car. The unfamiliar driver in a high performance car will have to travel more carefully not least because of the extra potential to get into very deep trouble. This explains why it's so much easier to follow someone than be the one being followed. Even easier at night. Good for you, slowing in the wet. People who drive at the same speed regardless of the conditions frighten the life out of me.

If you factor in driving skills and more hard to define qualities such as anticipation, it's easy to see how a repmobile can track a performance car. I don't care what car you are in, on congested roads around here, say between Worthing and Brighton, driving fast but not racing, you would not get to your destination more than a minute or two ahead of a typical Mondeo. And to do that you would almost certainly upset one or two other drivers through rapid lane changing, violent braking and acceleration etc.

The trouble is, how do you identify whether the person you are having fun with is a fellow enthusiast who will drive according to the conditions, or a right nasty piece of work who would like to run you into the next set of roadworks? There are lots of the latter around here and envy has a lot to do with it in our cars.
Best place to race - on a track I think, although we wouldn't be human if we didn't enjoy the odd traffic light grand prix!

 

I had a run in with a Megane Coupe in very busy traffic conditions and, for the first time ever and I hope the last, I got the "red mist" so for a period of time I was as "lethal" as he was.

Anyway, I came to my senses after about 3 miles and as I backed off he came up behind me. We came to a section of dual carriageway where the inside lane was coned off. Would you believe the stupid bar steward undertook me by going inside the coned off area. I let him go. Interesting the woman driving the car in front of me, a new Civic Type-R as it happens, gave him the finger as he went past.

 

as opposed to the ordinarily ugly one eh ? I personally think that they are all ugly - like a car that some schoolkid has drawn. - would not have one if I was paid (well maybe........if the price wars right - AND I could drive it in the dark ) As for the EVO - ahem.............