After a lot of thought i decided to buy a new car this year. Taking a look around and seeing what i could get for my money i came across this Subaru impreza GB270 at our local Subaru dealers.

I have never been a massive fan of Imprezas but this really caught my eye. I originally looked into buying one from new in 2007 when i was informed of the launch of this limited edition final version of the much praised saloon version.(only 200 saloons were madealong with 100 estate versions)

But after receiving the Brochure and prices and looking at the still extensive list of extras it needed to bring it up to scratch, despite apparently being fitted with a £7000.00 extras pack from the factory. I would have been looking at around £25,500 and it sort of took my breath away as it seemed a huge amount of wedge for what essentially was a tarted up WRX.

With the launch of the also limited edition RB320 and comparing kit on the 2 cars i figured these cars to be well out of my league.Time is a great healer though !! and 2 years later these wonderful cars are fetching between £13-£17k. That is £8k off the rrp and if you are lucky enough there are some real low mileage examples around ( like mine, an ex prodrive company car!).

Having owned it for around 3 months now and racking up 5 thousand miles !! i have started to give it the care and attention it needs to keep it in tip top spec.

After getting over the initial shock of all that extra power i have some what got used to it. I have not the time or money to start messing around with the mechanics of this beast , but reading up on people that have, 340 hp is obtained with relative ease. With time i may add a few of the things ie Stainless exhaust,induction system and maybe a turbo and inter cooler upgrade but that will be as the items i have wear out.

Should i ever have a spare 10k to throw at it 500 hp can be achieved with forged internals and a mahoosive turbo!! Given the fuel consumption it has as standard i doubt this will be for a very long time though.

Within the first week i started to 'meddle ' with it, but i would like to think for the better. I have never been a fan of lexus style lights and grew tired of the look of them quickly and replaced the standard items for the older style 'blob' eye versions from the previous 04/05 model. I also purchased a set of the sort after Prodrive mudflaps, but these were the most ill fitting things i have ever seen and for £250 !! i expect a lot better for my money. After a bit of research i discovered a purpose built set for half the money from U,S.A by a company called Rallyarmor which really do set it off. Being a limited edition car i have decided to keep the rest of the car standard in appearance . I may fit a rear window diffuser as i dont think it would look out of place. In fact i am surprised it didnt come with one as the RB320 does and so do the STI versions.

Overall my transfer from French hot hatch to Japanese rice rocket has been a joy. I wouldn't say i am used to four wheel drive yet , and it all seems a bit of a mystery what is going to happen when going round a fast bend. With its symmetrical 4WD it is virtually impossible to unhinge it round a bend. It never does what i expect it would do, i always thought it would behave more like a rear wheel drive car, but it tends to behave like a front wheel drive car , just going straight on when traction is lost !!!

First attempt at the standing quarter at Santa pod

Thanks for looking