1998 Subaru Impreza WRX from UK and Ireland - Comments

After 24,000 miles the alternator broke, then after having the car back from the dealer for 2 weeks, the starter motor decided to give up. At 30,000 miles the power steering pump and rack were both replaced to poor performance.

Even though the car has been regularly serviced and has a low mileage, the reliability is terrible. Other problems include 3 sets of disc's, new rear calipers, differential required a rebuild at 40,000.

OK the car is fast and burns up the tarmac, but it also burns a hole in your pocket. It seems that every month something is going wrong, I have owned the car nearly 4 years, in that time I have accumulate bills of £4,000. Extremely poorly built, the interior is not up to modern day standards. The car is quick, but I have Sierra Cosworths passing me regularly. I think tuning must be the next step for me.

I own a 2002 Subaru WRX and also Rally a 2002 Impreza STi.

To be honest I believe that your comments are that of a typical "tar burner" as you also state in your review.

Your road-going car has given you more problems than what we had on the rally car, winning the N4 production car title in South Africa. My WRX has given me a few teething problems, but after 40 000kms (25 000 miles) I am on the second set of brake pads, and had nothing else replaced. A Subaru is one of the strongest cars I have ever driven (my 67th car) but believe me, if I want to break it, I will be able to!

Whenever it is wet, my wife simply takes off in the Subaru leaving her BMW 328i for me to slip and slide around on the road. When she has to travel into any "danger" zone she takes the Scoobie!

Have you really driven one of these cars professionally in anger? Nothing is better balanced, nothing in this world near this price range will ever offer you such a perfect ride. Leon@rallystar.co.za.

I must take issue with your comment that "nothing is better balanced".

I currently drive a Peugeot 306 GTI-6, which some nice person rear-ended at the lights a few months back. When it was being fixed, I used a work colleague's Impreza Turbo for a fortnight while he was on holiday. I can honestly say I have never been so disappointed in a car.

Yes, it's stupidly quick, and yes that flat four engine is among the finest mass production engines in existence, but the rest of the car is just your typical cheap Japanese tin box. The handling, I'm sorry, is not a patch on the 306's. Granted, the Scooby will corner faster thanks to fatter tyres and 4WD, but the steering is overassisted, the brakes wooden and the on-limit behaviour is highly questionable.

I can't relate the adjective "balanced" to a car which is trying to understeer off the road one minute, then suddenly snapping into power oversteer the next. To my mind, it's wayward and unpredictable. I didn't know this car any better after two weeks and 1,500 miles than I did the day I picked the keys up. Getting back into the 306 was a revelation. Meaty steering, bags more front end grip and poise beyond the limits of grip that the Scooby can only dream of. The Impreza GRIPS better, but I defy anyone to say with any conviction that it HANDLES better. And a cheap French hot hatch will "out-balance" it in any beyond-the-limit handling situation.

It's a fast car, but the hype is better than the reality. As with all rally cars, the motorsport versions are quite different beasts to the road versions, and boy does it show.

Great review I have just got rid of a 1998 UK Turbo and I am so glad to see it go, it financially ruined me (see review only bad review of 1998 car on here). The build quality is terrible, fuel economy a joke! The engine is to soft when given punished and breaks easily, the gearchange is rubbish more so for this type of car, and the servicing costs if you are stupid enough to go to Subaru are just sheer daylight robbery. I looked at a couple of early imports before I bought this car, and the build quality and finish is awful a lot worse than mine which was bad. Get yourself a Civic Type R or an Integra Type R you may have some cash for once! Not much low end torque, but a much better car in every respect, build, reliability, fuel usage, servicing. These cars may have being the ultimate a few years ago, but now they are being suppassed by newer cheaper more economical cars by numerous manufacturers. Get rid before it ruins you!

The grey import situation is forcing owners to question the wisdom of warranty and main-dealer servicing. Now Rover has been put down, a lot of belt and braces guys will be left high and dry without a warranty. If changing the alternator, starter motor and a couple of front discs, parts bought trade, were only a Sunday morning operation, you guys wouldn't be talking "four horsemen of the apocalypse", "death of first born", "this car's useless" level disaster. Imagine this, you religiously avoid the slightest modification for fear of invalidating the warranty, and pay those through-the-nose dealer hourly rates and OEM retail parts to get the stamps on the service history, just for a pie-in-the-sky, slightly better trade-in price. Hardly worth it when you could be waiting to turn right and some 80-year-old geriatric with reactions like a dead rat goes up the back of you. If that happens, accept the insurance pay out, buy the wreck from the insurance company for spares and buy an identical replacement assuming you have a rural lifestyle. Tip: Insurance assessors are so slack, two-to-one they will read the odometer as 20,000km instead of 120,000km. So accept the payout for 20,000km and buy the wreck as 120,000km.

I ditched my subaru and got myself an 2000 model integra type r uk spec, what a car, its probably as fast as the impreza, but miles cheaper to run and never breaks or has once let me down

it doesn't have the torque low down, but is absolutely stunning at the top of the rev range

the fuel economy is miles better.

Some of these comments are quite old, dating back to 2002, I have a 2004 WRX with PPP kit and have driven it hard since owning it, with 40 extra BHP and similar lb ft of torque from standard its been 100% reliable. Although I always make sure servicing is up to date and let it warm up and down, as you should in any car, soft? If you say so. The only cossies that have passed me are the highly tuned ones on the rare occasion, the standard ones have been passed without too much strain by my WRX. The 306 comments are just silly really, be honest, the WRX has more grip than it knows what to do with. Civic type R's not a big problem to take, however the integra's are faster, but still beaten. Comments on the interior are pointless, its not ment to be a rolls, that's not why you buy it.

I recently bought a 98 WRX STI, fresh import from Japan. The car goes like hell and handles as sharp as a blade. Did have some teething problems, split radiator hose, but no issues since. Vitally important to let this car to warm up and cool down if you going to give it some stick. Servicing cost are not bad here in Ireland, but that's when you avoid dealerships where the Mechanics should wear Balaclava's...