My L. is in the shop for the umpteenth time (actually, it is sitting dead in the garage cause the shop can't deal with it til next week) and I am tired of paying to drive pos rental cars. Thinking about buying a WRX for a daily driver. Anyone have one of these things, or have any experience with them, that can give my any feed back?

 

Alpha,

Going rice on us?

I don't have one, but I've heard nothing but good things about it (other than styling). Personally, I think they look pretty good.

With the power it has, the AWD is a definite advantage.

 

If I had to buy a rice burner in that price range, I think that would have to be it. A very impressive little car.

 

Have heard nothing but raves. May have to shop hard for a decent price. Dealers are bending the customers over and driving it home.

 

WEBMASTER EDITED OUT INFECTED URL (WHY THE H*LL DID MCAFEE NOT CATCH IT!!!

I'd wait for the STi

 

There was one of those at Cal Speedway on Sunday. It, along with the 4wd drive Eclipse's, and the Prosche C4, were the only ones to get ahold of the track later in the day.

I think the guy was running in the low 14's with a car that was driven off the showroom the day before.

I hear that they can run 13.80's in good conditions. Sounds like a pretty awesome for an import.

 

Heard nothing but good things about them if you can get past the big'ol headlights. Been selling them in Europe for a few years so they're probably pretty reliable.

 

Car & Driver has one going up against an Audi S4 and BMW 330-4wd-something-Xi-something and it held its own...seems like an automotive bargain and kind of reminds me of my old SE-R, in a sense.

 

Have heard nothing but good reviews. There is a guy on LS1.com that has one with a few mods running 13.2's!!! And its his wifes car!! pretty impressive, not sure how long it'll stay together running those times, but quick non the less.

 

I have owned Subaru's for many years now. They are great little cars. The WRX is in my opinion the best performance bargan in it's class. Subaru has been selling these cars overseas for years and there is a large aftermarket for them. The stock engine in the WRX is good to about the 400HP level with no modifications to the engine internals. Buy one pop a VF-22 turbo upgrade, downpipe and intercooler upgrade on it and it is a low 13 high 12 second car in the 1/4. All this and still get 25-28 MPG it really is great. If you can find one get a 5-speed as the automatic is alot slower off the line. For that matter get the 5-speed wagon and give some poor kid a complex because a station wagon just blew him away. If you have any questions let me know.

 

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For those who do not have any virus protection and have opened you're HOSED.

 

Why not get a 6-speed Z or SS in the year of it's grand finale. That would make an excellent daily driver. No need for mods to stomp on almost everything out there. Not as cool as the L, and this way you don't have to go rice.

 

I drove one for a day and all I can say is I'm going to order one...but I'll wait for the more powerful one (STi). It's fun as hell and it's perfect for a daily beater. Styling won't turn too many heads but hey...I like the stealth approach. Get some aftermarket parts and you'll be in the 13-12's.

 

The thing looks like a Neon with a bad attitude, but with bite to back up the bark. My friend has one. You can say he's a lifelong Subaru devotee, and frankly, I never saw the reason until I read some reviews on this WRX.

Being AWD, he says it does bog a bit on launch despite its low weight and relatively high power and torque. But he's planning some mods that should help. I kind of tought about a WRX for a while, but I doubt I'll get one. I may have to think about a daily driver if I move to the suburbs and have ot face the Atlanta traffic hell, however.

As for beaters, one of my friends swear by DSM cars. It was an alliance between Mitsubishi and Chrysler I believe, and during its time, it pumped out some nice cars. He has a '92 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 turbo AWD and AWS (all wheel steering) as well as a '95(?) Mitsu 3000GT turbo VR-4. Galant is his daily driver and he's put in some mod including a computer that incorporates drag launch, drag shifting (basically holding the RPM at a pre-set level at launch and at shift to build and maintain turbo boost) and some security features. He tells me that he can floor the gas before launch and tach would climb to 5000 and stay there, building boost, and allow him to launch it with maximum power and no AWD and turbo lag. Same thing for shifting - RPM doesn't drop below 5000. He said he beat a '02 Corvette Z06(?) out of launch (although I'm sure the Corvette quickly caught up) but he may be exaggerating. Security feature is kinda funny; he has to tap a certain sequence with his gas and brake or the car won't start. That'd be a neat thing to have for my truck also. :P

I'm looking for a beter daily commute car just in case... I can't seem to find a '91 or '92 Galant VR-4 around here though.

 

Thank you, BadDog, for bringing me to my senses. As soon as you mentioned rice I remembered that I vowed not to support the economy of a country of a country that systematically slaughters whales for meat and launches all those g.d. longliners. Ditto for enriching any auto makers that got rich from slave labor while their country murdered millions of innocent people. That would include Daimler, of course. And at this point it would really be incumbent on me to buy American, which would leave GM and Ford, wouldn't it? I hate GM, and they don't make any cars I would want anyway, except the Z06, which is more than I want to spend and is too impractical for a daily driver. That leaves Ford, who I am not too fond of, and which doesn't make any cars that fit the criteria of 1) economical, 2) utilitarian, and 3) fun, anyway. The SVT Focus might fill the bill, but its not available. So, looks like I will be getting some miles on the old bicycle in the next few weeks. Thanks for all the comments, they helped.