Subaru Impreza News

This is despite new STi's ability to sprint to 100km/h in about 5.0 seconds, a little quicker than its predecessor.

It was put to use last week for the pricing of the new Impreza STi (right), which is going to put huge pressure on the new Mitsubishi Evo X with its predicted pricing in the $70,000 range.

Subaru officially launched the third-generation 2008 “Rex” today to motoring writers at Simmons Plains Raceway.

A select band of journalists gathered for the first Australian glimpse of the latest Subaru sports car — but in a twist that reflects the rapidly changing nature of marketing, it was computer game wri

Only 550 of the Brooklands model Bentleys are available worldwide."They are tailor-made to the exact specifications of each customer,” said Sue Young, the spokeswoman for Queensland Bentley.Ms Young said the Brisbane buyer wanted to remain anonymous, as did two other Queenslanders who have expressed an interest in getting one of the luxury coupes.She said all three currently own a Bentley Arnage T, worth about $545,000.Maserati's latest GranTurismo will be seen in Australia for the first time at the show, which opens at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre at noon on 1, February 2008.The sports car's appeal seems to have outweighed its $293,000 price tag, because 150 Australian orders have already been taken for the new model, including 20 from Queensland, according the company's Australian general manager, Edward Butler.No other Maserati has sold as quickly and the waiting list for the 2008 GranTurismo is greater than the firm's Australian and New Zealand sales last year, Mr Butler said.Luxury-car sellers say their models have become increasingly popular with younger professionals."The 20 to 35-year age group is taking a much bigger slice of the market share,” said Audi Centre Brisbane dealer principal Greg Willims. “There is no doubt the prosperity in Queensland is growing.”Adam O'Brien, of Brisbane Prestige Cars in Fortitude Valley, said manufacturers were working harder to attract young customers in a bid to keep them for life.Danny Singh, 31, of Brendale in Brisbane's northwest, recently bought a luxury H3 Hummer from Brisbane Prestige Cars for $70,000 then spent a further $15,000 on modifications.Also making their Australian debuts at the show will be new-look versions of cult street machines the Subaru WRX STi, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution — known as the Evo X to fans because it is the 10th in the series.Both are expected to be in the $60,000 bracket.Australia will be represented in the go-fast stakes by a Ford Performance Vehicles version of the Territory SUV, the yet-to-be-released F6 X all-wheel-drive wagon.Brisbane International Motor Show, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Bank, runs from Friday to February 10; Monday to Saturday, 10am-10pm; Sunday, 10am-6pm. Adults $17.50, children $10.

For performance enthusiasts it is like winning the lottery twice.

A hectic 2007 proved to be lucrative for the car industry with a plethora of new cars launched and more than a million sales throughout the year. And there's no indication that it will be slowing down in 2008.AUDI The new A4, to rival the 3 Series and C-Class is expected here about April, while July will see the hot sports wagon, the RS6 Avant and the A3 Cabrio. Extra A5 variants will follow. BMWBMW has a busy year ahead, starting with the 320d and 335i touring this month. The 1 Series Coupe will go on sale around April, followed by the convertible in May-June. But its big one for the year will be the new X6 Sports Activity Coupe, arriving between July and September. It comes with three engine variants, all twin-turbo, an in-line six, a 3.0-litre diesel and a 300kW 4.4-litre V8. Pricing is expected to start at just under $100,000. And the X5 scores a new engine in February, with the first variable twin turbo diesel offered in the range. CHRYSLER/JEEPJanuary will be a busy month for Chrysler, with the Sebring Cabrio and Grand Voyager people mover both arriving in Australia. The Jeep Cherokee will also get a total makeover. CITROENBased on the C4 Picasso, but bigger and better equipped, Citroen will introduce the Berlingo van between July and September, with a mainly diesel range. This will make room in the line-up for the new Nemo small van mid-year. The C5 will also get a new V6 diesel engine.FERRARIDeliveries of the exquisite F430 Scuderia, priced at about $550,000, will start mid year. Only about 40 will come to Australia and New Zealand. FIAT The reincarnation of the 1960s Bambino will arrive in March, but Fiat has already sold the first four months' supply. The new Fiat 500 will have three engine choices, a 1.2-litre petrol, a 75kW 1.4-litre petrol engine or a 56kW 1.3-litre turbo diesel. Pricing is expected to start from $22,000. The new Ritmo will join the Fiat 500 in March with pricing from $30,000. FORD One of the biggest launches for the year will be the new Falcon. Ford will release details of the new model in February and it's expected to be followed by an unveiling at the Melbourne motor show in the same month, with the official launch around May.FPV FPV will start the year with a new model, the hot turbo Territory, known as the F6 X model. It's the first non-Falcon model from FPV, with 270kW and 550Nm. The FPV Falcon range will also arrive this year. HOLDEN/CADILLACWith Ford's big year planned, you can't expect Holden to keep quiet. But so far, Holden has only announced it is expecting the VE Sportwagon, due in the first half of the year. GM-Holden is also introducing Cadillac with the first model due late in 2008. HONDA Honda will start the year with the new Accord model, due to be launched in February. The small Jazz is also getting an update after the middle of the year. Details on the new generation will be released closer to the launch. The Accord Euro is also expected to arrive later this year. HYUNDAI No big launches just yet, although an upgraded Sonata is expected mid year. JAGUARJaguar's major release for the year will be the new XF in June, with pricing expected to start from $105,000. It will be available in a V6 diesel, as well as a V6 and V8 petrol. KIAPreviewed at the Sydney motor show last year, Kia will launch its new seven-seater Rondo crossover in February. It is expected to start from as low as the mid-$20,000 mark. LEXUSNew for Lexus will be the LX570 around April or May, followed by the IS-F towards the end of the year. Details still to come. MAZDAThe second-generation Mazda6 will go on sale at the end of February with pricing from less than $30,000. It will be powered by a 2.5-litre, four cylinder engine, with 125kW and 226Nm.MERCEDES-BENZThe first arrival for Mercedes-Benz is expected to be the C 63 AMG in mid March. It will be followed by the S 320CDI, priced at $189,874 and the C-Class wagon, which will carry a $3000 premium over the sedan, coming in just under $60,000. MINIAnother new version of a 1960s cult car is also headed our way, with the Mini Clubman launched in February. The modern successor of the Morris Mini Traveller, the Austin Mini Countryman and the Mini Clubman Estate won't get into showrooms until March or April. Pricing will start in the mid-$30,000 area. MITSUBISHIMitsubishi will release two turbocharged Lancers this year. The top-level Lancer Evo X GSR will be here in April and sell for about $58,000. The 2.0-litre four cylinder turbo engine pumps out 200kW and 422Nm. Joining it will be the detuned version in the Ralliart all-wheel drive, at about $40,000. NISSANNissan's first addition for the year will be the all-wheel-drive wagon, the Dualis. Starting at $28,990 and stretching to $35,990, it's powered by a 102kW, 2.0-litre engine. PEUGEOTThe big launch for Peugeot will be the 308 replacing the 307 range, which will start with the 308 hatch in February in both petrol and diesel guises. The touring will follow in June or July, with the 308cc model a prospect for late 2008 or early 2009. PROTONProton has announced the Persona, based on the Gen2 hatch platform, will make its debut at the Melbourne motor show in late February, going on sale in March. It will be priced around the mid-teens. The Gen2 will also get engine updates and minor styling changes. RENAULTThe all-new Laguna will go on sale mid-year with a 2.0-litre diesel engine. SAABJune sees the arrival of the Turbo X AWD. SSANGYONGThe South Korean company will go completely diesel in 2008, with no more petrol engines on offer in Australia. SMARTThe new Fortwo arrives in Australia in February. The one-model brand will get both the 52kW and 62kW models, in hatch and cabrio, being bigger than the current models. SUBARUThe star WRX STi comes in February with a 2.5-litre turbocharged engine, although pricing is still to come. The third generation Forester arrives in March. SUZUKIFebruary's proving to be a busy month, with Suzuki also launching its Grand Vitara diesel. TOYOTAAfter a big year in 2007, Toyota is expecting a quiet year, with only the TRD Hilux due to be launched in April-June. VOLKSWAGENVolkswagen will kick off the year with the SUV, the Touareg R50, to be released in April. It's powered by a 258kW V10 TDI engine. The Tiguan also arrives about October.  VOLVOThe recently launched XC70 arrives in showrooms this month, joined by the C30 diesel also in January. It's priced at $43,950. A base model C30 will also enter the line-up, at $34,450. A 3.0-litre six-cylinder engined V70 will arrive in March. 

After building its brand around all-wheel drive and flat-four boxer four and six-cylinder engines, Subaru is facing a future shock.Though confident of not selling its soul, Subaru Australia is preparing for newer technologies that may take it down a different road, away from its unique selling point.Hybrid and pure electric power, even the possibility of an entry hatch such as the 660cc R2; which may be powered by a conventional in-line four-cylinder; which are on the Subaru horizon.“In five, 10 or 15 years we will have to decide our future strategy,” Subaru Australia managing director Nick Senior says.Senior admits the light-car segment is one area Subaru will have to address because it has no entry B-segment car in its local line-up.“A B-segment car could be well-received,” he says. “However, it may not have a boxer engine or all-wheel drive, then we have to decide whether to move away from our strategy.”He says the current-model R2 could be too small for Australia, but that could change in 10 years.“Particularly if fuel prices continue to climb,” he says. “Our entry point is $24,490 (for Impreza) so we don't get young buyers and it's something we'd like to address.”“It would be good to have a light car so people could step up through the brand.”Fleet sales and its fleet buyback program had helped stimulate second-hand sales for dealers of low-mileage Subarus.“People tend to hang on to their Subarus, pass them down through the family or sell them to friends,” Senior says. “So the fleet buyback deals has been good for dealers.”He denies that fleet sales had damaged the brand.“We did the buyback deal to control the cars and protect the brand,” Senior says.Big rental agency Europcar bought 700 Foresters, 500 Outbacks and 300 Imprezas under a buy-back deal with Subaru Australia. Since then dealers have had a controlled supply of low-mileage used cars that are on-sold every six to 12 months.  

Did we also mention sideways, scary and sensational? Probably not but, then again, the Corolla we are talking about is nothing like the $20,990 showroom success you will find at your local Toyota dealer.This one has true supercar performance, speed on any surface and the ability to tame the toughest roads and rivals in the Australian Rally Championship. It also costs about $150,000.The hand-built Corolla has carried Simon and Sue Evans to an unbeaten string of wins this year on their way to back-to-back successes in the championship. It has also delivered a second straight manufacturers' title to Toyota and its rally boss, Neal Bates.Officially, the car is called a Group N(P) Corolla. Unofficially, it is a Celica GT-4 stuffed inside a Corolla body.To turn the Corolla from a sensible small car into an outrageous rally champion, Bates and his Canberra-based engineering team returned to the days when Toyota ruled rallying and snitched the go-fast stuff from the Celica, its turbocharged 2.0-litre engine and the basics of its all-wheel-drive system and five-speed manual gearbox.It took a lot more tweaking, with local developments in the electronics, driveline, brakes and suspension.But the Bates team came up with a car to go head to head with the Subaru Impreza WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer in rallying.There is only one way to really see how it goes, and that is to strap yourself into the TRD Toyota team's spare car; identical to the Evans Corolla; for an inside look at the recent NGK Rally of Melbourne.This is the final round of the 2007 title series and is run on high-speed gravel roads in the Yarra Valley.There are two days of competition, with 48 crack crews. There are the two serious TRD Corollas driven by Evans and Bates, two Ford Fiesta entries for Michael Guest and Darren Windus, and a raft of privateers led by Spencer Lowndes in a Lancer.The Corolla experience begins two days before the Friday start at Docklands with a quick sprint at a TRD test day. The Corolla fits perfectly, as you'd expect from a custom-made carbon fibre bucket seat, fully adjustable steering wheel and five-point safety belts.The turbo engine lights up from very low revs, the all-wheel-drive system fires the car between corners, and it rides over rough roads as if they are freeway-smooth bitumen.Evans is wickedly quick. Bates is fast in an all-new Corolla; with new body, non-turbo engine and special gearbox. He is developing it for a full-on attack next year. When the rally begins on the special stage near Yarra Glen, the fast guys are gone and we; myself and co-driver Anne Gigney; are back in the pack.It feels as if the Corolla is courting disaster, sliding sideways at more than 130km/h and dancing through all sorts of corners and firing up-and-down on narrow forest tracks.But the TRD terror is never threatened. Evans is going at least two seconds quicker for every kilometre, so the guest car is barely working. Just like driving the Corolla ARC.It is clearly a Corolla but, just like a V8 Supercar, the mechanical changes mean it is only the body that stays the same. Everything else is upgraded and more responsive and far, far more enjoyable.The Corolla is supercar-quick in a straight line, has mighty brakes and grippy Michelin tyres, and turns as if it is driving on bitumen. Until you tickle the throttle and set it sideways. Shortcomings? It is obviously noisy beyond anything acceptable in a regular road car. It is hot and dusty, with no airconditioning, no luggage space and seats that grip great but are not very comfortable.It is also thirsty. It sucks $3-a-litre Elf racing fuel like a hungry V8.But the Corolla ARC proves what can be done with smart minds, focused thinking and a TRD Toyota parts bin that makes a mundane car into something very special.  

The meanest Impreza of them all has moved upmarket away from the boy racers who have so passionately adapted the super-fast small cars.Its price alone will scare a lot of them away, with Subaru stating two STI models will cost somewhere between $60,000 and $70,000 when the cars arrive in Australia next February; a significant increase over the previous model's $56,990.The STI is a more exclusive model than the last, with changes that can be picked at first sight. Subaru has given the STI its own unique and menacing body shell; complete with pumped-out front and rear guards.The panel changes are significant, with only the bonnet, front doors, roof and rear hatch in common with the standard WRX.Its wide wheel arches not only look cool, but allow for the STI's front and rear track (the distance across the axles) to be increased by 40mm and 45mm respectively, which gives the car a greater footprint than the just-introduced WRX.While the STI's wheelbase is the same as the new WRX, it is longer than the previous model.The STI is available only as a hatch and Subaru insists there will be no STI sedan.Subaru actually designed the new STI before the other Impreza models. It wanted to build a car that could win the World Rally Championship after years of poor results.The engineers decided a hatchback was the best possible solution as it offered a longer wheelbase with less front and rear overhang.Of course, the WRC car will have a very different mechanical make-up, but the base and body are the same as the STI road car.While some STI fans will mourn the passing of the sedan, there are other advantages for switching to a hatch apart from the handling benefits, including increased headroom for the rear passengers.There are also more improvements under the bonnet, including a power total that rises from 206kW to 221kW at 6000 revs and raising torque from 392Nm to 407Nm at 4000 revs.The engine is still a 2.5-litre turbocharged boxer, but several changes have been made to boost its responsiveness as well as peak power and torque.The last STI engine had variable control for the inlet valves but not for the exhaust valve. Now they are both variable, making the engine meatier. There is also a bigger intercooler, redesigned turbo, a more free-flowing exhaust for less back pressure and the repositioning of the catalyst closer to the engine.The same 2.5-litre engine is used for all Subaru STI export countries, while the domestic market uses a higher-revving 2.0-litre engine with a hint more power and torque.Tests of the European STI have found the car is able to dash from 0-100km/h in just 5.2 seconds, but Subaru Australia said it would wait to carry out its own test, using its own method, before announcing the official sprint times for the local model.The new STI comes standard with a six-speed manual and there is no automatic option.The constant all-wheel-drive system uses a helical front limited-slip differential (LSD), a Torsen rear LSD and a mechanical centre differential paired to an electronic LSD.Subaru has introduced a more complex version of its centre differential control system. It now features different differential control configurations as well as the ability for the driver to manually set the front/rear drive split between 50/50 front/rear and 41/59 front/rear.STI drivers can also use the SI-Drive system which controls the engine mapping and alters the throttle character, allowing a choice between more aggressive and more conservative modes. Will consumers maintain their loyalty to the latest Subaru 'hatch' range?