R2 PHU

Thos one was there a few days ago parked the other way around, the mini argument in my head of taking the photo or not ended up with not taking the photo as I have enough to edit and upload already
I also took my Racing Puma down there, it's last visit there was about 2008 or 2009 (and it's been off the road since 2015 until a few weeks ago), and guess what... I forgot to get a photo of it there probably not a bad thing as visually it's looking very sorry for itself, needs paint, bunper clips and wheel centre caps but I don't care because it's finally back on the road!!!

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Did you drive it down here from Surrey? That must have been a lovely drive in that, if a little crashy over the bumps
We have this habit of missing each other by a day or two

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It sounds like you have experienced the bone crushing ride of an FRP Mine has prototype suspension designed for track use too so it's really hard - I believe only 8 were built with this setup. It's the longest drive I've done since recommissioning it to the road, still ironing a few bits out but it still happily screams up to 7500 RPM and is quicker than I remember it being so that must be a good thing! IT was a tremendously fun drive down (but it is in almost any car to be fair!), and I forgot how much louder the overrun pops and bangs are when it's hot
I know, it's not the first time we missed each other Perhaps one day we will have to have a Subaru meet up somewhere

Here it was after the drive back from GW, it ended up with a nice glaze of road dirt and mud down the sides which aren't clear in the photos but you can see the visual side is still rather rough, and there is a lot more lacquer coming off the back on the other side you just can't see from this angle. But I will worry about making it look pretty once I've got over having it back on the road again!!

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My Legacy would look incredibly agricultural compared to your Impreza, but would make a lovely picture! Old vs New

With the state of the roads around here, I have certainly got my moneys worth out of my Subaru. Several times my village has flooded over winter, despite not being near a flood plain.
Only me and a lifted jeep could leave/enter the village, and I ended up ferrying folk around.
Here is a video of me driving through the flood, albeit at a slightly lower level: https://youtu.be/GU9Tc88-WnU?si=-p8pXiNltmG0j2Zd
No impreza could get through that, except maybe the Impreza Outback

Your Puma looks in very good condition! Does not look like it's ever been off the road

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I could bring the Japanese Legacy 2.0 GT Turbo estate if it hasn't sold by then, I mean it's older at 2008 but newer than yours! But those older cars are rare gems, definitely want to keep that going as long as possible!

Nice video, I love doing that in a solid car you trust but in anything else I hate it My old non-turbo Impreza was a trooper on the roads around here, I had water sloshing over the bonnet up to the window, never missed a beat! Loved that car, never should have sold it...
Now I have an old Ranger which appears to have a lift kit fitted and that sails through the floods without even noticing I mostly use it for towing but in the Surrey Hills the rain water runs off the fields and floods out the roads in the valleys so we yave some pretty high water levels at times too! The WRX STI is pretty good at wading thanks to the air intake being so high and the AWD when I've been caught out but it's not my go-to when it's flooding the Hills!

My Puma has always been a 10-footer, even more so now, I used it hard when I got it in 2006, all year round and all over the UK (and track days), never a garage queen like mamy other FRPs. Probably why I'm less worried about how it looks now although I do plan on sorting out at least the lacquer peel if nothing else, and try to track down some wheel centres!!

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Yes a manual non-turbo 2.5L 98 legacy outback is the one exact car i always wanted ever since my dad owned a green one when I was younger. I really wanted a green one but I couldn't be picky seeing as mine is the only one I've ever seen for sale in UK since I started looking.
According to HowManyLeft there are probably only 5 gen 2s left! I really don't like the rear design of the gen 3, plus the extra computation I wasn't a fan of.
Your legacy would definitely be an interesting comparison! I imagine mine will be much more comfortable, but yours much faster
I keep being tempted by non turbo impreza sport gc8s while they're still cheap but keep talking myself out of it
To be fair my MX5 keeps impressing me with how capable it is.
I've taken it down green lanes, on very deep snow in Norway.
I think a combination of its lightweightness, the standard suspension (which I get ridiculed for at every show I go to lol), the snow tyres currently on it, and the high intake makes it incredibly capable.

I've only ever got stuck once. It was in Norway, in weather so poor even Norwegians were complaining! Every day it would rain and nudge just above freezing, then overnight it would freeze, resulting in multiple layers of sheet ice.
A local farmer drove down to help me, but even his tractor couldn't stop on the slope and he had to dig his bucket into the ground to prevent hitting my car.
My dad rescued me with his Type-R. It has DCCD and it was so invaluable in those conditions as it fully locked the diffs.

I seem to have very little luck with wheel centres. I couldn't get my MX5 wheels off as a previous owner had snapped the captive holders and used silicone to hold them on instead. Thankfully I prefer how it looks without them anyway

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Those Gen 2 cars are worth holding onto now, I know at least 2 maybe 3 people in a car group I'm in that have been looking for one for some time, and considering how many car groups exist there's going to be more than that on the hunt!!
This Legacy GT is seriously rapid for a 4 cylinder automatic estate car, it's everything I remember from the Legacy's during my Subaru garage years except the speed, our 3.0 Spec B was rapid but still not as quick as this 2.0 GT - I don't know why International Motors never imported this model as a UK spec, I think it would have sold well. If I had the money I would keep it but I only bought it sell it, apparently I chose a third Lada over a fantastic Legacy... Don't judge me

I reckon you are spot on about your MX5 and it being so capable, my 1991 MR2 was UK spec 2.0 non-turbo completely standard and it was unbelievably capable in mud snow and floods, I put it down to the narrow tyres cutting through the top surface and the weight of the engine at the back pushing the grip down. The side intakes were fine in water as a steady bow wave left those areas dry! I went through a flood that had knocked out a VW Passat and a Nissan Micra, both owners were trying to stop me but I was late so I tried anyway, half way through the grip started to go and it was snaking a bit as the water came up to the front screen briefly as my heart began to pound but it pushed on through and emerged the other side in a thick plume of steam and squealing belts it was also able to climb the side of a muddy Welsh mountain for the WRC rally there, passing the stranded cars along the way (people essentially drove as far as their car would let them then parked and walked up), and I was laughing by the time I was passing Range Rovers and Discoverys, made it all the way to the top car park where it was only old school off road cars and chunky tyres. The marshall couldn't believe it and his exact words to me were "how the f---- did you get that up here!" He then called another guy over who took photos and then they let me in the car park. Unfortunately it was MOT cost to pass being higher than what I paid for the car that sadly forced a sale before I was ready to say goodbye.

YouTube is full of Impreza Turbo models in inclement weather towing all sorts of vehicles out of trouble, good thing your Dad had his with him that time! I don't think there is much need for a GC8 non turbo if I'm honest, it's probably going to need a lot of welding and upkeep for a basic car. I think your MX5 seems a solid enough companion!

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Honestly I was always under the impression I was the only person who actually cared about gen 1 Legacy Outbacks. They were designed as excellent farmers vehicles, excellent they were, thus most were used as farm vehicles.

I must admit I've always been put off by automatic legacies, partly because they didn't get low ratio, also because I just need that control, and sometimes, when in Norway, the extra 20 feet in distance I can get up a steep hill can make the difference between making it to the cabin or not.
Subaru's 2L engines were absolutely their forté! One of their only engines that just keep going and going and that doesn't have head gasket issues.
Recently, I've been trying to programme a key fob to mine, but oh man it's proven difficult. Most locksmiths hear "Subaru" and say no. Subaru specialists near me can't touch it because it doesn't use OBD, rather SSM. I doubt dealers will touch it with it being 25 years old, but unless you know anyone, that seems to be my only choice now.

My father has very similar stories from his marshalling days. One time he was really late to the rally, and he had to get to the bottom of the track from the top. It was quite a sight watching him in his old Defender racing through the rally track as fast as a rally car All the other marshals thought he was crazy.

Have you ever watched the series of videos from Rufford Ford? It's genuinely incredible how stupid some drivers are, and how incapable modern cars are, especially BMWs. Even the SUVs from BMW have their intake at the bottom of the engine bay pointing down. It's genuinely possible to flood a BMW just driving through a puddle.

One of my favourite videos is of a completely stock 1st gen Forester turning up at one of those "Let's go to the base of a huge hill and try to get up it" events Americans seem to love.
All the other vehicles were huge fords and chevys all specifically built for off-road, and they were all laughing the Forester out.
Then the Forester just made it up the hill without even struggling and their laughing soon subsided!
The comments are equally as funny. One I specifically remember - Subaru guy is just on his regular commute and wondering what all these people are here for

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That excellent farm use unfortunately is why so many have fallen to the rust fairy!

Honestly I'm not interested in any car with the autotragic gearbox (at least this one was before the horiffic CVT box era), but this is how it was when I got it, it's effortlessly smooth and silky I'll give it that. The only auto I've owned in my own name was the Durango because they didn't do a manual, even my Mustang is manual.

What key fob style is it? The blue with the black button or the chunky key with 1 or 2 buttons, or something else? If it's the first two I think my garage can help still but anything else I'd have to ask - perhaps send me a photo if you want me to ask my guys?

I have seen a few videos that pop up on my Facebook feed from the Ford, invariably it seems to be the BMWs that struggle the most - in fact the local Ford to here only last weekend (I found 4 plates ) a BMW 2 series B-Class clone crossed through while I was there and the engine died, but she was able to restart it luckily for her and carried on her way..!

That's the sort of thing those older Foresters were brilliant at! We had a used 2006 Forester XT with ProdivePP and I drag raced (and won) against a base model 911 who was clearly showing off to the woman in the passenger seat not sure how that conversation went after but I was well ahead

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Chunky with 2 buttons. The smooth one on the right is what came with the car, however the motherboard was completely dead.
The main issue is my car doesn't use OBD, rather SSM. So I need to find someone who has that plug.
The Mazda's diagnostics are so much easier to read. Literally just probe it with a multimeter and the voltage and current combination tells you what's wrong with the car.

Those turbo foresters are surprisingly fast! Basically an Impreza with ground clearance

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Unfortunately it's not good news on my end either, they cannot help with this either, and they've been asking around everyone including some of the old technicians who worked on them from new. Surely someone somewhere must have the equipment still...!

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Thank you so much for trying
There is lots of support for this in America, but that seems incredibly excessive for a key.
When I do find someone who has the equipment, perhaps I should get multiple keys programmed as I'll never find someone else

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No problems at all, happy to try!
If there were more on the road still I'd consider investing into it and becoming a bit of a specialist but I don't see much opportunity for making the money back looking at the prices for them!
I definitely recommend getting a few copies - for all the older Subarus you have

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I'll just mysteriously happen to lose all my keys about 10 times and you'll make profit
I believe the Type-R is SSM as well, but the forester is probably OBD-1.. very weird.
Thank god for the OBD-II standard; just ashame it only came into effect for cars that are too modern for me. It's interesting that every car I have been in that was built after 2000 felt like it didn't have a soul compared to pre-2000s cars.

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Haha my best (and only) customer

I know what you mean, I've found a few cars eith driving passion and soul newer than 2000s and sometimes in surprising places! That said my Subaru albeit 2017 is largely unchanged under the skin since 2006 and is without all the driver experience ruining additions, it has no driving assistance or parking assistance of any kind or even stop/start (phew!) because it's all about me and the machine! It's a rare combination to come by so recently, and without a doubt will be the newest car I eill probably ever own again. My current garage begins in 1989 and hovers mostly around the 90s and very early 00s. All are manuals and I'm a huge supporter of #SaveTheManual ! Even my Ranger truck is a manual which I use for towing mostly.

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Mine + my fathers current fleet ranges from 1963 - 2000.
Can you tell what our cut-off year is
Interesting what you say about your Impreza. I would have to drive it to really know what it's like. I must admit I never really like the new-age design of Imprezas very much, but the version you have is the 2nd best looking imo. I imagine it's rather heavy due to modern safety mandates? Certainly compared to how lightweight GC8s are it's hardly a comparison

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Seems like 2000 is a family cut off not bad though keeping it on the old tax system!
Which one is the 1963? I don't remember seeing that?
My oldest was 1981 but that was (regrettably) sold a few years ago.

My WRX is definitely heavier than any of the pre-hatchback and later models, with the GC8s easily coming in the lightest of all! Mine has a lot of safety features and the later body designed around interior safety so it is definitely chunkier and wider than I would like for a sporty car, but it still hunkers down and does the subaglue job of holding to the road! My dream garage includes a few Imprezas and alll of them would be a more direct and rae driving experience. I actually looked at an RB320 when I was looking for this Subaru, since the RB320 was released during my time at Subaru I have fond memories but I was looking for a car I could use daily and not worry about it corroding from the inside out, plus I would feel bad wearing out an RB too much more than just good honest fun driving, the roads here are so overgrown and massive oot holes the wheels, suspension and paint would be ruined in now time
There was a P1 for sale down the road from here recently at auction, it had been used daily and was in relatively poor shape and needed some welding, but I just saw a P1 that I could daily myself because it's already messed up! Unfortunately it sold really cheap which made it even more of a tease to me because I don't have the money at the moment, but it's probably the cheapest P1 by a long shot and for a long time...

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The old tax system is a blessing and a curse. My first car, W973JFC, a 1st-gen Fabia was ~£300 per year to tax, however if I had bought the exact same vehicle built 6 months later, it would have cost £100 less per year, simply because it would have been in the 2001 tax bracket.

My father's Spitfire is a Mk1 - 704PPO. He has owned it since he was 17.

I used to own a 1st-gen Octavia vRS - KU05GXY, and honestly I found that too big for the roads here, yet that was small in comparison to modern cars. It was incredibly fast though. I remember a colleague at work in his Kia Sportage thinking his car was faster down the dual carraigeway. He pushed his car as hard as he could, and I thought he was just cruising lol.
He has never wanted to see who is faster down country roads; I wonder why

When my father was looking for his Type-R, at that time P1s were roughly the same price, but P1s didn't come with DCCD, which he really needed.
It took us a long time to find one for sale which didn't have a knackered DCCD where a previous owner drove it in the dry with fully locked diffs.

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It was only £240 when I imported my Mustang for a year which annoyed my Mum as a 4.6 V8 was the same as her 1.6 Escort As I'm sure you are aware that thankfully imports follow the old rule too which make it easier to follow. That said your Fabia is a very annoying and common problem many people have, in fact my previous STI was a 2014 which was nearly £600 per year to tax when I had it but when I changed to the 2017 model, identical car in every way except it has DAB radio inside, the tax was £140 per year because it was registered after the tax change that year. Of course that now is noticeably more expensive too...
I'm loving the Samara and 2111 being under 1.5 litre in the cheaper category for old cars

That Spitfire is a little gem, nice that he has owned it since 17! I have no plans to sell my FRP so it's still not bad to have owned that since 19 I reckon! Apparently I did know about the Spitfire as I have liked it already

I used to think my Jaguar was too big for the roads here and it would give me panic attacks leaving it in a car park knowing I was coming back to a new scratch ir ding (it was black!), sadly that was one of the reasons I chose to let it go (the other being the eye watering heart attack costs of replacing things that needed replacing, everything is much bigger and more expensive on the R models!), but it was by far the best car I've ever owned and I doubt I will own another car with 507bhp for some time - if ever!

Sounds like some fun with the Skoda vs the Sportage, I've always had a soft spot for the Skodas and have always wanted an Octavia vRS but not enough to go spend the money. Hopefully one day I will get to drive one to satisfy the itch at least!

Good luck trying to find a GC8 without a knackered anything by most former owners P1 is perfectly sufficient for me as I have no major snow drifts to tackle That Type-R is definitely worth staying on top of as it's becoming rarer year on year!

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How was your 2014 vs your 2017?

I think I scratched my late 20th century itch with the Felicia; have never had a plan to own a Lada

He has done pretty much everything to that Spitfire, though he has made sure that every modification he has done is something that Triumph could have done at the time with their parts bins.
When I inherit it, that and my Legacy are the 2 cars I'm never getting rid of under any circumstance.

To be honest I am super careful with my MX5 in car parks. I always park in an end space, nowhere near a trolley park. Even that wasn't enough as someone dented the driver's door in a pub car park last winter.
Another time someone was having a phone call on speaker and decided in his great wisdom to drop his phone on my bonnet and use it as a phone table.. Safe to say I was not best pleased.

I would recommend one of those Octavias while they are still £4k in perfect condition.
I'm sure you'll come to a similar conclusion to me in that it feels too computerised. But there's nothing like the feeling of everyone else thinking you're in a boring everyday saloon car until you floor it and they disappear from your mirrors.

My Dad decided, rather than putting more and more miles on the Type-R using it as a daily, he bought a Forester to use as a daily instead. Apparently the Impreza is running sweeter than ever since then.

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The 2014 car was identical in every way except the older car had more tinted rear windows and the newer car has digital radio, but there was an issue between Subaru UK and myself over the older car so much that I wanted nothing more to do with it but I wasn't finished with the WRX side so "upgraded" to a newer one in better condition. I love that despite being 2017 it still has no driver aids and not even stop-start!

I always wanted a Lada but it was the Riva (2107 style) that I wanted, needless to say that I am very happy with the 2 working and 1 barn find Ladas that are in my care and I am not looking for any more. This sticker was on the back of the 2108 Samara when I bought it and I think it holds the truth!!


Period modifications and upgrades are definitely the way to go! I would be doing the same thing to be fair.

I too always look for the most safest parking spot available which is of course miles away from where you need to be, but it's a good way of getting my steps in
I've lost track of the amount of times people have damaged my cars through not caring...
I hope you said something to him about using your car as a table, that's so disrespectful. I had people sit on the front wings of the DeLorean before and they got a few choice words also!!

Seems like the Impreza has found that sweet spot of enough use to keep it goid but not too much!

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