2002 Subaru Impreza WRX STI Type UK Prodrive Style - A Rally Icon You CAN Afford
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- čas přidán 10. 10. 2022
- In today's video, I drive the first Subaru Impreza WRX STI model sold in the UK - badged appropriately as the "Type UK". This was the first time the STI had been officially sold here, after years of existing only as a grey import.
The car is fabulous, but there's one big problem that not many people are willing to discuss - so let's do that
#Subaru #Impreza #wrxsti #Prodrive #P25
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My sister's boyfriend had a tuned one of these when she was in college. When he came over for thanksgiving giving you could hear him coming from 1/4 mile away.
Thanksgiving?
1/4 mile? Why so close?
😂 he is trolling hard .
@@RSADYNAMICS when I’m clapping his sisters yeeks he’ll hear me coming from 2 miles away 😂 hope your sister is deaf- cuz I have muffler deletes
Was his car loud too?
Has to be the best sounding 4 cylinder engine ever made. 🎶
Certainly one of the most recognisable. The later 2.5 litre cars somehow never sound as good.
Honda B18C , F20C and BMW S14 are also in contention for that title imo.
Not the best. A ford BDA revving at 9 to 10 thousand rpm sounds way better. Most 4 cylinder bike engines sound way better, too.
It is
When I was three years old my neighbour had one of these big eye Subarus and it’s the car that made me love cars
It's the bug eye, not big eye.
@@posniknelb6114 Congratulations I made a spelling error
I've had my 2005 sti ppp for 14 years and still love it. A few small mods, mainly suspension related to help it on trackdays and that's about it. I genuinely don't know what I could replace it with unless I spent a lot of money so I think I'll just keep it and enjoy it.
This DOESN'T look like Colin McRae impreza but to Richard's Burns Impreza from 01. With that car he won the championship that year. The bugeye was used in WRC from 01 to 02.
I thought the same while watching, Richard Burns in the shadow of Colin's legacy so much that the shape he won the world championship with getting atributed to Colin. Sure Colin McRae put blue scoobys with gold wheels in the public eye, but credit where its due to Burns and Petter Solberg, they were WRC world champs too!
I had fond memories of my modified Subaru STi in the late 1990s, I fell in love with the distinctive burble of the scoobie engine, today I am a sucker for Boxengine and it’s distinctive engine sound. Thanks Jay for taking us back to memory lane!
James: you know a subaru when you see one...
You know a subaru when you hear one and you normally hear it before you see it.
Almost like a chinook or an Aston Martin V12.
Chinook ...I 100% get that, fantastic comparison :-)
I've had 3 STI's over the years and they are great fun and so reliable.
Bought a stock 2002 bugeye WRX with 60k miles last year, I've lost count how many complements I've had on it. Young people and older, men and women. It's a joy to drive, isnt expensive to maintain and it's great in bad weather, big boot and seats 4 adults no problem. Its a no brainer, yeah a bit heavy on fuel but servicing and parts are reasonable. It's gone up in value too. Sure it was viewed as a chav mobile 15 years ago but now seems quite the opposite, surprised how many teenagers shout 'Rev it' or 'nice car mate' and see people pointing at it regularly... not something I expected. All I had to do to it was replace the front headlights and add a set of decent tyres. One of the best all round cars I've owned and very practical.. The sound, pick up and handling... as good as it gets. Wish I'd bought one years ago. Was a big fan of Richard Burns and it was a bugeye that won the WRC in 2001.
Believe it or not but my 80 year old mother owns one of those, albeit with about 70k miles. Totally stock and every couple of years when we fly back from Aus it gets a decent road trip. She only drives it about 500 miles/year now so I've probably done most of the miles in the past decade. Has been totally reliable too in the 15+ years she's owned it.
I had a classic 1997 sti import bought it in 2007 owned it for 10 years and never had 1 single fault ,well except a headlight bulb that went ,best car I ever owned wish I never sold it
Unmistakable sound track! Thanks for this Jay - proper trip down memory lane
Had a blob eye wrx for 8 years, loved it!!!!!
I've always felt that the Bugeye headlights looked, by far, the best out of the 3 types.
Indeed. The bug eye is my best one too. Followed by the GC8, then hawk, then blob.
These newer ones are just computers on wheels. Their design elicits no visceral connection.
One of the few then
What's the remarkable about cars like this, is the fact that they dont have the agressive mean eyes in the front, which most cars especially today have, even if it's a minivan. This bug eyed Impreza has a friendly face, yet it can pull like a mofo if pressed. So why do most other cars need to look like they want to assault you on the autobahn?
Sorry, Blobeye or nothing. At least Bugeye is better than Hawkeye.
same, bought one last year and wish I'd bought one a few years ago when the prices were lower.
This reminded of the immensely enjoyable JayEmm video where he and a friend thought they could rebuild their own WRX gearbox in his garage with no experience what-so-ever. Beautiful Dunning kruger effect case study.
Ha, yep. Though we did put a new headlining in!
Yours and Mark Felton Productions are my two favorite theme music intros.
i love the estate version
Well said Jay about cars bringing people together....car snobs should go have a chat with themselves.
The sound alone is pure automotive heaven.
I have a bugeye wrx wagon. Great cars.
Bug eye for the win, but then most of us early 30’s guys would say that
I'm on my third modded Subaru hatchback - a 2012 STi - with a combined total of well over 400,000 miles on them. They are all rock solid reliable. The first two were WRXs - a bug-eye and a hawkeye. I used Cobb Tuning each time - they don't go nuts in their packages, their Stainless Steel exhaust is expensive but is in the Goldilocks zone for noise. I've upgraded the top-mount intercooler rather than switch to front-mount with super long pipes and a boost threshold of 5,000rpm. The stock turbo makes 400hp, 450ft-lb and the car is still on its original clutch at just short of 130,000 miles. I don't need more than that, and I totally believe that the car would become fragile and break if I tried to go much further anyway.
Sensible mods, competently done, not pushing the envelope too far, that's the way to go. I know it's a cliche, but it's the way the car should have driven all along.
When I ordered mine I was offered a PPP option by the dealer - Prodrive Performance Pack, new exhaust, intake and a stage 1 chip taking it over 300bhp
I think that as they become more and more valuable, you will find more unmodified ones, and those will be the ones that are getting the big money. One thing I've noticed about Impreza ownership, is that other owners are so friendly, you always get a wave from the middle aged man driving it, and the look of slight embarrassment from the lady in the passager seat :)
I hope they dont increase in value (more than inflation and maintenance stacking up). Not because then normal peopel cant afford them anymore, but because the fun of driving a car in my mind decreases with the sticker price. Is it fun to drive a 2 million bucks Ferrari? You cant park anywhere, every scratch costs you 10 grand. And you become a show off.
Haha yes I'm 49 and daily drive a 2004 WRX :)
Im 22 and drivin my 2006 STI, the kids and guys love it. I get constantly compliments for my car.
@@Falkenlp3 Love it!
Im 49 and daily my 2003 uk sti ppp.. 4th impreza love em.
I Have owned over 20 cars in my lifetime , late 40s now and have to say very fond memories of my wrx back in mid 2000's. Keep up the great chanel Jay.😎
I would own one of these or an Evo in a heartbeat! These have to be some of the greatest all round and all weather fast cars to own and use on British roads. No matter what awful usual UK weather is thrown at you this will just lap it up. Very, very cool!
As clarkson ilustrated just a few weeks ago. Audi
@@ricardosilva-xz1yt oh yeah, I LOVE Audi too! Quattro is superb!
i have a fq300 evo 8 and jdm prodrive. id choose prodrive round town all day and evo on open roads / motorways my fq doesnt really open up to mid3rd/4th which is already 160ks etc
@@connorprice1902 that is motoring heaven with both cars, right there! Either car must be awesome but both make you a true award winning Petrolhead Legend!
Great review and is very appropriate to my ownership of a 2006 WRX Hawkeye. I have owned it from new and has covered a genuine 45000 miles. Was my daily driver until I retired 3 years ago and just get used occasionally these days. Whilst it has been modified it is a GB270 replica with similar accessories and remap putting out about 275 bhp. Had no issues with it and performance is superb…have upgraded the front brakes as you elude to. Haven’t the heart to sell it as I am attached to it having owned it from new… sounds great as well and a very practical car which was used for the weekly shop and ferrying my young grandson around in…keep up the great reviews 👍
Excellent video imo. I think they drive great and are a lot of fun for the money. I don’t really care what people think, i am having a blast driving mine. I do think they are under appreciated for the fun value they provide 👍
Thanks J, an icon in lots of ways, they're not for me, but I appreciate what they can do, & glad they exist. 🙏🙏
Loving the emotional way you speak about cars 💖
My dads had a 98 Impreza Sport, a 2003 WRX and a 2.0 GX sport. I’ve had a classic 2000 Impreza sport that I tastefully modified with the help of a certain Derbyshire specialist and really liked my car and enjoyed driving it.
A friend had one of these and it was babied and very well cherished.
I've had a soft spot for Imprezas almost my entire life, my dad had an '03 WRX when I was a kid and even though it only had 220bhp, it really put those horses to work! Always been a little dream of mine to own a WRX STI some day, but I hear horror stories of running costs and to be honest it puts me off.
You need deep pockets to run and maintain one. I had a 2003 WRX myself and it only lasted me two and half months until it spun a bearing. In the meantime while it was working, I found myself replacing age old bits on it and even a replacement brake caliper was £100. Was a great performing car though and made such a wonderful noise! I didn't love it enough though to consider fixing it and decided to buy a Civic Type R EP3 instead, which I thought was a great move.
Very enjoyable video to watch. Glorious details. Great content Jay. Keep it up bro.
Honestly I think a lot of people missed out on owning a truly special JDM car when these were really cheap. Im talking 8 years ago you could get a v5 STI 2 door for around £5-7k. A 1250kg, 280bhp turbo, mechanical adjustable diff, AWD JDM rocket which is as near as makes no difference a 22B without the bodykit 🤷♂️ I have a 1993 WRX i picked up for £1500 about 5 years ago, the same car is now worth £9k+ it really is ridiculous how expensive cars are getting ☹ but still subarus are tonnes cheaper than the equivalent evo/skyline
I love many different types of driving experiences from rwd n/a v8, to my STI’s.
I have never driven a car that had so many people in a hurry to tell my why they don’t understand the car
you did it man - you got the bugeye that some of us had been clammoring for - well done and i plan to enjoy this episode!
I stayed away from Imprezas for ages, due to the endless warnings about unreliability and chocolate gearboxes etc. I caved in 10 years ago and bought a 2005 WRX Blob Wagon, 122k miles and standard apart from a Prodrive Performance Pack and a Litchfield Handling Pack. More useful and in many ways more fun than the E39 M5 that I had before it. Ten years later?.........we still daily it. It works hard, doing gardening work (even pulling tree and hedge roots out with a rope), does tip runs, takes my drum kits to gigs, does house moves for friends and family, country lane blasts, family roadtrips,........and on and on. It's our van now really. It's now showing 168k miles, on the original engine, original gearbox, original turbo, original exhaust.....ORIGINAL CLUTCH!! It just won't die! Had it on the rollers at TEG Sport in December, and it showed 267 bhp and around 280 torque. Still worth as much as I paid for it too. I own faster and more valuable cars, but the Subaru is still the favourite car I've ever owned, and I've had about 45 cars.
Thanks for the great review, it’s a joy to see the older classics - I love driving my ‘18 STi, my wife still doesn’t understand my love for it!!
Wow. I was clinging on to your every word! Can’t tell you how much I appreciate you putting this out there. You have saved me great continuing efforts in trying to convince my entire family why I am NOT GETTING RID of my bugeye. 02C with the gold shoes!……unmodified btw! Au naturelle. What an amazing car 🚙 definitely a motoring and motorsport icon. Iv liked Iv commented and Iv Subscribed! 👍🏽❤️👊🏽
Loved the video and agree with everything you said. Have owned my blue and gold PPP widetrack Blobeye STI for 7 years now. Kept it completely standard and it still puts a smile on my face. Tempting fate but to this day it’s never let me down. Fantastic car.
I was hoping to buy one of these next year, The prices will go now James!
Great car. Used to love it as a kid
A really enjoyable & interesting video well done 👍👍
Can't decide what is best. The sound or the car or that shirt. Keep up the good work with reviewing the best mix of cars.
I wanted a pre 2000 WRX from when I first seen one and they had the road runner advert... Now I just paid a deposit on a hybrid Rav4... Love the videos Jay ... Keep up the good work
I hope you caught the person that cut off your testicles 👍
There's a bloke near me who owns one of these and I get soaked every time I see it. Gorgeous car.
Had two prodrive style sti’s loved them
ive had four of these over the years , withiut doubt amazing cars , the driving position is perfect and the way they make you feel is like no other car on the road
Great Video could not agree more Subaru WRX STI is Great car, have had loads of fun with them in the past..
I have a p1 and it's a great driving machine, loves a country road. Yes the interior is cheap plastic but the drive makes up for that.
My mate bought on like this last year!
It is a pure joy to drive this machine!
Brilliant video thanks I have the blobeye version in o2c blue now I’m in my mid 30’s after I said as a teenager to my mate’s “one day I will get one of these”
I would never be without one 👍
I got my o2c blobeye just over two years ago and also in my mid 30's. The car is not for sale and the reaction it gets is great. Owning the car of our teenage years! And lets be honest the Peter Stevens designed blobeye is the best! I mean he designed the McLaren F1 and 22B what more did you need as proof.
@@keheaven definitely there’s just something about them that you don’t get with any other it’s unique. And yes the reaction is great 👍
I've owned my 410hp 2002 wrx sti for 17 years now..... its still my favourite car. more enjoyable than anything else i've personally driven.
Notification squad! Such variety on this channel - Bristols, a Vanquish and now a car for uncultured yobbos! I notice these are the same Wiltshire roads near Warminster you tested the Bristols on...
A brilliant video, I do love a Subaru
More great memories. Had a WRX Estate as a company car back at the end of 2000 and it was a fantastic thing. Very reliable and great fun to drive. My mate has the facelift version and I often remind him to give me 1st refusal as and when he decides to sell it.
Glad you’re a Soob fan! Whats not to like?
One of the biggest mistakes i ever made a few years ago, was to sell my Subaru Impreza Prodrive P1 😞
I'm thinking of selling my p1, how much did you get for it?
@@jochencooper2751 I´m not going to put that up here as it was a few years ago. Let´s just say it was a two owner, FSSH, low mileage car that was well known over at the WOC. Best check up on others that have been sold recently, the prices are quite high for a good example.
I had this exact car in black (‘blue black’) from new in 2002. Got so much positive attention from kids and others. Later added manufacturer approved PPP boosting hp to 300. Certainly the most fun car that I’ve ever owned but found the low speed agility slightly disappointing. The front end would wash out wide on small roundabouts in the wet with minimal provocation. You could prevent this with an extremely aggressive approach which activates the front LSD but in everyday driving, this wasn’t realistic with traffic limitations.
On the other hand, high speed driving (say on twisty A or B road) was sensational and I never remotely reached the limits of this car.
I have a 2003 Blob in sparkly black and I'm surprised that even 8 year olds know what it is, just the other day on the way to work I stopped for a lollipop lady and heard "Look! ..a Subaru!" ..and on the way in today I heard an even younger kid remark "Mum ..look at that sports car!" ...always makes me smile. At least three or four times in the last couple of months I've had small groups of older kids yelling "REV IT!!" ..and of course I oblige :-)
nice road that up near salisbury plain over Warminster way :) great car for it too
I’m not sure what’s louder, the car or your shirt 😊
Much love
A lovely review of a great car. As much as I love a super car, the WRX is more everyday useful, everyday enjoyable and everyday so much fun.
I love simple cars
Love '90's Japanese motors - just pure unadulterated fun. Have owned Evo's and STi's and currently own a (100% standard and NO electronic aids, not even ABS) V5 STi Type RA that came back from Japan with me as couldn't bear to part with it. Have owned and driven loads of more modern European performance cars but... just don't do it for me in the same way.
Another one who owns an STI RA, u lucky bastards, I whish I could have one for free.
I think the drive to restore modified examples back to factory will really push the price of spare parts through the roof.
Great review. 😎👍"
Thank you for pointing out the WRX is the homologation model, not the STI! Either way, since 1997 no AWD or turbocharged homologation model was required for WRC use.
It's the same with GT3 and RS Porsches, btw.
I've owned my 03 STI for 16 years now, and it's only had one owner before me. I can't bring myself to part with it, after 136k of driving pleasure, it still runs sweet and owes me nothing.
Love these cars. Could you please review the 2016 civic type R FK2. It's one which doesnt get as much love as it should
I’m not a scooby guy but I’d happily own one for a while
May not be just cosmetic. The Prodrive exhaust system came in 3 flavours. A 2 box system on the WRX, a Single box system on the STi and an option of a sport cat in the STi. If this car has everything it might well have the sport cat too. I bought a Prodrive system from an STi for my WRX and it came with standard cat (owner had fitted something decatted and lairy) and I had to buy a prodrive sport cat separately. They make a decent difference.
Fantastic motoring journalism.
Owned two WRX STIs (one big power) and were the only cars capable of overtaking multiple cars in torrential rain through the Peak District.
Love the three minute delicate way of basically saying they were predominantly owned by chavs 🤣🤣
I think clean ones of these are now being recognised as a proper performance classic. And you can still use it beyond a Sunday morning with its practicality
I am one of the people who regularly swings between desiring one of these and looking down other people hooning about obnoxiously in heavily modified versions of them. I guess you could say I’m STi-curious 😂
The 2 litres r a stronger engine but I think the 2.5 litres r a much better drive….you’ll just need to drop in some forged pistons, up-grade the headgasket, use some head bolts and also I’d do a oil pick pipe and windage tray upgrade
Great comment, my current 470bhp STI has exactly all those things done
@@eliclarke72 and mine!
I had a 2005 WRX Prodrive wagon. Simply superb. I couldn't part with it but bent it reversing in Tesco. They are hugely under rated. You need Michelin PCS tyres to get the best out of them. Utterly reliable.
Absolutely awesome cars, especially the Bugeye 👌
We were lucky enough to review a rare JDM S202 on our channel 🔥👌
Absolutely stunning motor vehicle. 👌❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
This guy is my new top gear way better than the new guys also I have a 2005 wrx hawkeye and I’m very happy with it the key is too look for a good engine not a good paint job because paint is easyer to fix
I’d do awful things for a WRX. I remember seeing a red blobeye on the street I lived on.
I've had MY05 STI, 997 Porsche, Ferrari 360 Modena, MY10 STI and another MY05 STI. And from all these the most I miss the collector grade euro-STI, which I sold to a European car collector for a quite hefty money. It was unmodified MY05 "blobeye" and only 50k miles driven "widetrack" one. Of course in WR blue. He'll do a real nuts n bolts restoration to it and at least it will end to someone's nice collection of 1990s, early 2000's rallycars.
JayEmm, appreciating a Subaru is doing awd donuts, and hooning around. They will blow head gaskets eventually regardless, may as well thrash em!
A car that I had never really spent much time thinking about that surprised me when I drove it was the 370z. Also the Honda fit with a stick. Both fun cars that exceeded my expectations
So?
Had a 2004 WRX Wagon non molested totally standard, loved it. Practical being the Wagon and reasonably quick. Only thing I could never work out was to why Subaru didn't put baffles in the Sump.
I had a Blob-Eye Impreza WRX with the Prodrive Performance Pack, and it was the most fun car that I have owned. And it was utterly reliable. Watching this video, I might have to sell my Aston and buy another Impreza.
For me, my "gateway" was my Forester XT ..once bitten and all that.
I now have a 2003 (blobeye) WRX STI with the Prodrive performance pack fitted from new, my one is in a slightly less shouty black but still with Prodrive gold wheels.
Other than what Prodrive did, it's about 98% stock and I intend to keep it this way, though I might try to get better (and colder) airflow to the intake.
I've only had it for three months and it stopped scaring the sh!t out of me after about two months of practice driving. I feel like we both know each other now :-)
Thumbs up :-)
I had a WRX wagon. It had leather seats but strangely these were less desirable. Quite uncomfortable on your bum after long miles. But very exciting on the twisty stuff. The second favourite car ever.
I love my 98 Terzo.
I've got a 02 sti and I love it but they can feel a bit boring (safe) to drive sometimes if your use to french hot hatches or rwd stuff.
Other than that they are one of the best sounding 4 bangers you can get and are quite practical as far as a weekend toy goes.
I owned a U.K. 300 bug eye for many years and thought it to be a truly great basic sports car - ( great bits on the outside - basic bits on the inside ) - never let me down , never broke down . Fantastic fan clubs etc - my only problem was I discovered German M cars and never went back to Subaru or JDM cars
😱 Used to blast my own 350bhp type uk around those roads, my uncle who used to race cars, blastrd it around the new forest at three figures was left astonishd by it, it was a horse of a car, was a blob eye though
Subaru are freaking awesome
I bought my one and only Vauxhall (Corsa CDTi 54 plate), and spent more in the 4 years I had it in keeping it on the road, particularly through MOTs, than I paid for it. People years ago called the Cortina the Dagenham Dustbin, and that monstrosity was a very close cousin.
It really is just the chav thing Jay. I'm older and wiser now, I'd consider one. Despite my Alfa fetish, I'm getting fed up having a winter and summer car. This is a fine allround machine, that you can still have loads of fun in, still take camping, take to the shops, do the school run, do the airport run blah blah blah
Wish I could get the OEM STI TYPE UK suspension for a refresh.
Mine had a soft front LSD that soon wore-out and did little to help after six thousand odd miles....
The sixth gear synchro was made of cheese
And the Brembos were almost good enough to manage a mere 340 bhp
Mine ran 2 bar of boost for 70,000 miles before a refresh. Never ever let me down even once.
Still have my blue/black mica one after 21 1/2 years
The WYIOC used to regularly hire Blyton for get our anti-social antics over with in a safe environment....
P.S. The Hella FF1000 kit isn't on that car..... mine has the only one I ever found for sale. And a Whiteline rear ARB is a must buy !
I appreciate the performance, value for money, rally pedigree and sound. Haven't driven one but I'm sure it's a fun drive. I'm just not a fan of the chavvy image (would rather be anonymous), styling and cheap looking interior / materials. They're also quite ubiquitous. How solid does the Impreza feel? Switch gear, doors, handles etc.? I like using and living with a car that feels well made. Doors that thunk give me great satisfaction 😊 What's it like to drive around town or on long journeys?
I love my 02 sti its my wknd car as I have a modern bmw 4 series company car, it has been remapped to 335bhp and had some coilovers and a fast road geo setup and a back Box to unleash the Rumble but apart from that it's standard lol,Jay you forgot to mention that these have a semi forged engine and front and rear lsd diffs, I genuinely love myn just feels special.
The early Bugeye STI had genuine forged pistons. It’s the later Blobeye that had the semi forged or hypereutectic pistons.
I have a impreza s202 and that is as quick as a skyline r32/33 great cars
A twenty year old "scooby"..... unmodified, does it have a boot full of rocking horse shit? WOW a very lovely video thank you and WHOEVER let you drive that car.
Will have to let you drive my RB320 once it's got the new engine in.
My dad ordered one of these brand new in 2002. His had the smaller spoiler though
hah. I was looking for a v8 falcon, and ended up picking up a Gen 1 WRX GF8 for cheap. It was rusty, but Kickstarted 15 years of Subaru ownership. Had a few BMWs In that time and a Nissan truck for going bush, but soobs have been constant.