I'm ignorant of the Subaru engine technology that sounds like it has more moving parts than my Honda. I'd really love to know what's going on in there that isn't in mine. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't give it another thought. Not life and death here. Just curiosity.

-John

 

Very simple: engine type. Hondas use an inline four, Subarus use a boxer four. The Honda engines have been tuned to be very quiet for the most part, excepting the Vtec technologies. The Subaru engines are just flat fours, no fancy gizmos or gadgets. They are raw, but they are powerful (I'm talking about the 2.5 engine and above, including WRX overseas and of course the almighty 22B).

My 2.5RS will smoke any Integra that is not a Type-R. Provided I have my brain strapped on, on that particular day.

 

Scoobies have a great, and unmistakable, flat-four engine note. The only extra moving engine parts, over our Hondas, would be the extra 2 cams found in the short-lived 4-cam sube engines (I think they reverted back to a 2-cam architecture in ~97-98). The opposed four design imbues most subes with strong low to mid range punch (torqey), but I find that they tend to run out of steam at about 5k rpm (but driving an S2k may have something to do with this). I wouldn't characterize their engines as "raw", due to the fact that opposed design is naturally balanced and makes for smooooooth revs, or particularly powerful as the HP/L numbers show(--just talking NA here--). They are extremely reliable engines though..

Siper are you running any mods on your 2.5? I've always been interested in this car and even considered purchasing one as a daily driver. It's sporty & practical and would easily survive a New England winter. Having driven this car on numerous occasions, I don

 

Answered. Thanks.

 

koejing,

You're right, the Sube does have a (great) advantage at low end with the torque punch.
A GS-R could hand a 2.5RS its lungs with a good driver behind the wheel, but I've heard fewer stories of GS-R wins than I have of their losses.

My car, other than a Whiteline 18-22mm adjustable swaybar (set at 18mm) and a Kartboy shortshifter ( www.kartboy.com ), is completely stock. Well, okay, a drop-in K&N air filter, but that doesn't count for much. The only reason I call the Sube engine raw, or "not fancy" is because it lacks any of the Vtec or other fancy lift-control, or whatever, technologies. It's merely a flat-four--period. Very smooth, yes, but it's a very well-designed engine.

Many of us feel that one of the 2.5RS' greatest falls is 3rd gear. It's just dead.
No punch. 1st and 2nd are rip-snorting powerhouses. 3rd just....... dies. 4th actually feels to have more punch, to me.
The transmission in an Integra would laugh itself to death at the rotten one in the Subaru, but the engine makes up for it. Besides, my short shifter helped a lot. Perfect it ain't, but it'll do!

I tell ya what I'd absolutely love, is a 22B (the "holy grail" of Subaru WRX cars) in normal street guise. Still have the fender flares.... but no gold wheels, no stickers, no big wing. A car like that could literally obliterate 95% of the cars on the road!

-S2-

(Hey, a guy can dream.)

 

Siper,

Isn't the new Turbo Impreza coming this spring based on the 22B engine? The introduction of the new turbo'ed Imprez in the US was the main reason that I didn't buy the 2.5RS. Can you point me to some good impreza forums...I want to read up on the new model?

koejing

 

Well the best one out there is www.impreza-rs.com otherwise known as "iClub" ...

I post a lot there. I go by Siper2 there as well. Not a moderator though.

The new car is not based on the 22B. It's based on the WRX. The 22B is a super-tuned special-edition WRX that only a few lucky bastards were able to get their hands on.
The new car (we're talking about the US edition) should have something like 220 hp. I believe. A good boost over the RS, but I still won't buy it! I don't like the bodystyle at all. Then again I haven't seen it in person, so.....

A couple magazine reviews say it's a much newer kind of car. Less road noise, more refined interior.... that kind of stuff. Some of the reviewers said that it's not as good as the old car though, so maybe the horsepower boost isn't big enough to compensate for the new body design, or extra weight? Not sure.

Anyway... iClub Forums is an excellent site!

-S2-