legacycentral bbs

... but it's not mine.

GOTCHA!

It's a company car actually, a customer shuttle. That's right, my dealership is actually that cool, we have a WRX for a customer shuttle! There's some story behind it, somebody bought it and decided they didn't want it or something like that, so I think they traded it back in with 1500 miles on it.

Anyway, I get a call this afternoon from one of the guys at the UCF car club, and he's telling me he needs cars to be in a video shoot. Naturally, he didn't take too fondly to the idea of my Legacy being in it (c'mon, the car is absolutely beautiful right now ), so I racked my brain a bit and came up with an idea.

I asked him if I could borrow the WRX shuttle car for the video shoot, assuring him that it would only be in the video for about 10 seconds, sitting still. And since my manager is just that cool of a guy (he loves me to death), he didn't even hesitate, he said "Sure, go ahead, keep it overnight, take it home! "Just have it here tomorrow morning at 8, in case we need it..." Ack, so yeah, I gotta get up really early. I should be in bed already.

So it was in the video shoot, which will be airing at the Black Ops Performance booth at Hot Import Nights in Orlando this weekend, and in the credits is a little thing that says: Special Thanks to Star Imports

Anyway, so what do I think about it? I'm not going to lie, the overall experience was quite entertaining... without getting into TOO much detail, let's just say I didn't drive it like I was afraid of it being a company car Anyway, yeah, it was pretty fun, despite the Edsel front end. But I do feel the car leaves a fair amount to be desired...

First off, I'm quickly growing away from the EJ255. Yes, that means the LGT/OXT/BajaT too. While I can definitely appreciate the extra torque of the bigger engine between 1k-2.5k rpm - it's a lot easier to pull away from a stop than an EJ205 - I just think the EJ255 has too many driveability issues. Yeah it tries to start boosting at 2.5k rpm, instead of 3k like the EJ205. But the EJ205, once it hits 3k rpm, it's fully boosted and ready to go. The EJ255 has to think from 2.5k rpm to 4k rpm about whether it wants to be on boost or not. And yes, by that I mean hesitation. And LOTS of it. I'm reading many negative reviews of LGT's having this bad hesitation in the 2.5k to 4k rpm region. I've driven a couple LGT's with this problem, and this car had it too. I'm inclined to say there's a factory ECU reflash for this, but I'm not sure, I'll have to check on it. To be sure, I tried it with the A/C off, and it still hesitates. Anyway, it's extremely irritating, and it makes the car feel a lot slower than it is. So, at this point, I still stand by my previous opinion that I prefer the EJ205 to the EJ255.

We know the 06 WRX got upgraded brakes, standard 4-pot calipers up front and 2-pots in the back. I did take a few opportunities to test them, and I sure hope my disappointment with them is just due to the factory pads, because I wasn't impressed. I was seriously expecting my teeth to get pulled out of my skull, and I feel I have the right to expect that, but it definitely wasn't like that. Like I said, maybe with a good set of pads on it, they'll bite harder, but as they are now, I'm not impressed.

Fit and finish... I really like the center tach, the TR seats do feel really nice, and the car does have a real quality feel to it. The headlights just plain ROCK. Compared to Patti's headlights, it felt like I was driving around with WRC foglights all over the place

While it is good that people aren't using RE92's as a scapegoat for their screw-ups as much as when the WRX first came out, I still feel that RE92's suck for the most part. I still lost grip on a few twisties, despite being perfectly setup for the turn. And I have been able to take those same turns faster in Patti, which doesn't have any better of suspension, and has higher-profile, although sticker tires. I still think if I were to get a new Subaru turbo, the first mod I would do would be tires. Lest we forget, RE92's are standard equipment on Camrys

Anyway, I need to go to bed, but in conclusion: The 06 WRX's are entertaining, but the hesitant EJ255, overrated brakes, and, yes, the Edsel nose, still put me off from having one.

Honestly, I don't think most people understand what brakes really do. They do NOT stop the car. They initiate the motion that leads to the TIRES stopping the car and they handle the heat generated from stopping.

Unless you are on decent tires, or at least comparing apples to apples stopping distance tells you nothing. And if the suspension is different (aka brake dive) you might get a different "feeling" for how fast the car stops. Other than that better brakes give you better modulability and heat sink capabilities. Most of these can not be appreciated unless you are on the limits of braking ability. That's when larger rotors and more caliper pistons difference come into play.

subyluvr2212 wrote:I still lost grip on a few twisties, despite being perfectly setup for the turn.

I highly recommend doing an auto-x school or track day and then comment on how you were set up on turns. A stock Impreza is definitely not setup to lose it on street curves.

Ok, end rant. Not trying to rail against you Michael. I would give the newer brakes another chance if you get to use them in a performance setting to truly be able to tell the difference (if any). You should make a trip up here one summer to do an open lap at the Beaver, they go rain or shine. They have excellent instruction and you WILL feel like a new driver after the day is over. You probably have tracks closer than Ohio, though. You might want to check them out, but only if you can get instruction from at least a club level racer.

No offense taken William, but I must add a few things...

I pride myself on being a damn good braker. I've gotten myself out of some sticky situations by just braking progressively and not panicking. I've managed to pull off emergency stops without even making the ABS work. That said, I never made the ABS work in this car, even in the wet (it was raining a good portion of the night). I had them pretty close to locking, but not quite. So it wasn't like I was using the brakes way beyond the capabilities of the tires. The brakes still feel mushy, and there still seemed to be some fade. But, like I said, I think it's just the pads.

When it comes to driving skill, I'm not bad. I have autoXed and rallyXed, and I've been told by professionals that I do have potential, but just basically need more track time, which I agree with. So maybe I shouldn't say "perfectly setup," but I didn't do anything n00bish like stomping on the throttle before the apex or pussing out and hitting the brakes and upsetting the car. I took an onramp and managed to drive quite smoothly, 3rd gear, enough throttle to have the turbo spooled, etc. I was maybe going 60, but it was a pretty large-radius turn. Anyway, I really wasn't going THAT fast, and I already had the tires at their limit, it was getting ever-so-slightly squirrely underneath me. And that part of town was dry too.

Finally got my camera to spit its pics out, so here's a pic I took that night of the car sitting in my driveway.

I'd seriously be willing to wager that this is one of the ONLY pics taken somewhere besides a dealership, where there is one of the oldest Subarus and one of the newest Subarus together:


Oh, and I think I found out why the car was hesitating like it was... I found out the company has been using 89 octane gas in it

Ooooh, they should definitely know better than that. Cheap bastards!!!!