October 13, 2003

• I have to admit:  I made a mistake on diving into the world of All Wheel Drive Turbo with my purchase of the Subaru Impreza WRX.  The car is offering me a complete different expectation than that of my experience (with 4 VTEC powered Honda Civic Si's) and I am not sure I am completely converted to swear my life on Subaru cars.

  
  

  10 years ago, I was introduced to two AWD Turbo demons from Japan - the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and the Subaru Impreza WRX.  I liked Evolution a little more, but WRX was the one that was kicking asses in international rally races.  While I continued to love and learn about the high-revving Honda VTEC engines with my Civics, the two cars continued to elude the American car market.  Blame that on the marketing departments of the car companies, which are being ran by "experts" that don't know shit about cars.  The evidence of these geniusly ran departments still exists in the fact that the Americans are still not getting the Type R models in most of their line ups.

  
  

  but I digress.

  
  

  Mid-2001, The WRX hitted our shores and sold like crazy.  Due to many many unpleasant reasons - mainly because of theft risks, I sold my then 2-year old Civic Si and dived into the world of the horizontal opposed engine; on top of that, an all wheel drive turbo'd one.

  
  

  That was when I realized my experience with a normally aspirated (NA) engine with variable valve timing (that'd be the VTEC) doesn't quite apply when it came to driving a car with turbo charged car that weighs 500+ more pounds and grips the road better.

  
  

  I had to deal with turbo lags.

  
  

  I had to deal with weight.

  
  

  I had to deal with working with a clutch that transfers power to all four wheels.

  
  

  I had to deal with a lower compression engine (turbo safe) that doesn't rev like a VTEC.

  
  

  I had to deal wide turning distance of the steering wheel, due the rally car design.

  
  

  I had to deal with long travelling suspensions that are more suitable for dirt racing than road racing.

  
  

  I had to deal with Mitsubishi releasing the Evolution a year later, after convincing me that they would NEVER do so.

  
  

  @#$%&*^!!!

  
  

  The learning part was pretty cool.  It has been 10 years since I popped open the hood of car and not being able to locate the sparkplugs and the exhaust manifold.  I've definitely learned to really like the balance of a car assisted by the horizontal opposed engine.  It made me want to own a Porsche 911 Turbo as my next car. (same engine design)

  
  

  WRX would be an awesome rally car with some strengthening of the suspension parts.  But as a road-guy, I spent most of my resources to make the suspension more geared toward road racing, thus taking away its advantage over other cars.  How ironic.

  
  

  Had I gotten the Lancer Evolution, which is more road racing friendly with its designs, I wouldn't be feeling so oxyMoronic.

  
  

  Reliabilty speaking, Subaru certainly has a better track record than Mitsubishi.  The EJ20 engine in the Impreza is pretty much the same solid technology from 10 years ago.  And with all that has been done to my WRX, I don't think I'll ever get rid of it as long as it's not a wreck.  When it's time to rebuild the engine, I am likely to go with the insane 2.2 liter engine and upgrade the transmission to a 6-speed.  Of course, I expect myself to be able to afford body work to fix and repaint my car, and afford a 2nd commuter while I can carefreely leaving my car to be worked on.

  
  

  That 2nd commuter will have a high-revving VTEC engine.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  • 4:14 am
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