Faults:

Hardly anything at all considering the miles, drive/power steering belt snapped on the M25 due to wear/incorrect adjustment.

Very unfortunate with the left rear tire. It got two consecutive punctures and on the last repair the tire blistered so it had to be replaced.

Obviously not the cars fault, just poor winter conditions on English country roads.

Apart from general wear for a car with these miles on the clock, it's in very good condition.

General Comments:

The Subaru Impreza GX Sport is a very undervalued car, it's easily overshadowed by the WRX/STI turbo models, but you can't think about it in those terms. It's more like a mid range BMW 3 series or something along those lines.

Despite the miles mines done, it's rapid, not fast, but once up to speed it cruises very easily, and is very good for motorway speeds and long journeys.

The 2.0L 16v boxer engine is a joy to behold, nothing in this bracket sounds as good in my opinion.

The pleasing thing about this car is the handling, its set-up is comfortable, but because of the 4x4 its very grippy in the dry, and understeers in the wet, although this might be a tire selection issue its controllable and drifts through corners which is a pleasant experience and I've kept up much faster cars, even a Lotus Elise driven fast, which was fun!!

Exterior styling was controversial at the launch with the 'bug eyed' lights etc, but there are plenty of things that offset that, for example the flared arches, and frameless doors look very cool.

Interior styling is very much to my taste, it's very simple with no clutter on the dash, and all the switchgear within easy reach and easy to use.

Materials have improved vastly since the 'classic' impreza models, but they don't come anywhere near the quality you could expect to find in a base level BMW for example. Having said that, the colours are subtle blue on black with silver accents. Also considering the miles it's held together very well.

Faults:

At the 32,000 mile service, the car needed a new fan belt, rocker cover gasket, locking wheel nuts, and brake pads and disks.

General Comments:

I once read somewhere that everybody should own a Scooby at some time in their life. Should they?

This is a stunning car. This isn’t some tarted up sport version like many manufacturers will turn out. This really is a detuned street legal rally car. It has permanent four wheel drive. The hand braek is sharp and cuts out the central differential, so you can do hand brake turns with little effort.

The first time you open the boot, it nearly flies out of your hand, it’s so light. Tap on the bonnet and it sounds like it’s made of plastic. It does have air conditioning and the smart option of both CD player and tape drive with the radio. And the basic seats are proper sports seats, although better ones can be specified.

The long travel suspension isn’t hard. It soaks up rough roads, allowing you to put the power down without skipping all over the place. Which, with the smooth engine makes for fantastic motorway cruiser. It’s easy to find yourself at ninety when you thought you were only doing about seventy.

With the four wheel drive, it almost never loses its grip. Trying to pull out from a side road in the wet, and the front wheels won’t spin. The car just launches forward as if it was dry. And the couple of days I’ve had to go to work in the snow were the best ever. There was about five or six inches of snow on the road the first morning. Just turn the car in early and power drift round. I’ve never driven a car so controllable in the slippy stuff.

It all sounds like the perfect car, but it isn’t. Steering gets pulled from side to side depending on the road surface. I improved this by changing the Yokohama tires for Dunlop.

It may be a four door, but the short wheel base makes it pretty cramped in the back. And a very young boy in his Corsa wants to race you all the time.

But it’s the cost of running it that’s the bigger problem. It’s supposed to be the same insurance group as a Civic Type-R. But the day I bought it, I found it was about a third more expensive.

Servicing isn’t cheap either. Not quite BMW money, but if the car needs any extras, the Subaru dealers will charge through the nose for labour.

However the biggest cost is the petrol. I was expecting twenty seven or more to the gallon. But instead I’m only getting twenty four.

This is a civilised rally car for the road, but I use it mainly to commute twenty miles each way to work in rush hour traffic. And as I said, at the last service the car needed a new fan belt, rocker cover gasket, locking wheel nuts, and brake pads and disks, all of which seamed a lot for a car with only thirty three thousand miles on the clock.

So? Should everybody own a Scooby at some time in their life? Yes! But probably not for too long if they have a high mileage.