Subaru Impreza News

The car in showrooms today will only have a four-year lifespan - the shortest yet for a mainstream Subaru model - as the Japanese company accelerates an all-new small-car plan.It has the new Impreza sedan and hatch previewed today at the New York motor show, will develop new WRX and STI performance cars in a separate stream, and is likely to turn the XV concept from this week's Shanghai Motor Show into a compact crossover to sit below the Forester.The latest Impreza twins - with much improved quality and a cabin to rival the previous-generation Liberty - will hit Australia later this year, although the exact timing is unclear following the Japanese earthquake disaster.The new small-car approach is outlined to Carsguide today at the New York motor show by the president of Subaru, Ikuo Mori, standing alongside the all-new Impreza."We separated the character of the Impreza and the WRX. We have no plan to make a WRX on this new car," Mori says."In the past the Impreza models were in combination with the WRX and STI. Now we completely separate the products."He refuses to give any timing for the standalone WRX and STI, although the cars are likely to run less than 18 months behind the Impreza, with a production version of the XV Concept after that.Mori believes the split strategy is the right way to build the Subaru brand, as it moves away from its previous minicar lineup to focus on the Impreza and Liberty families.It's a similar approach to BMW, which is becoming the world's biggest niche carmaker, and Audi, which is exploding its lineup with spin-off body styles and engine combinations."Now we focus our development, so we have some resources to bring to the Impreza," says Mori."The Impreza is a new, bigger, eco-friendly car. The STI is different."

Both the sedan and hatchback will feature new designs, with the teaser shot above showing subtle design cues from the current-generation Liberty. Subaru has only released the above teaser shot ahead of the April 21 unveiling.Continuing to offer all-wheel-drive standard across the range, the Impreza is expected to have a larger cabin, with improvements in interior design and refinement.“We are very excited about the amazing stylish new Impreza” said Nick Senior, Managing Director at Subaru Australia . “It will not only broaden Subaru’s appeal significantly, but offer a new level of interior quality, technology and the safety for which we’re famed.”.Details for the Australian release of the new Impreza have yet to be announced.

CRAIG Lowndes leads a surprising Audi attack on the Bathurst 12-Hour race over easter with a pair of race-prepared R8 coupes. Rule changes for the endurance event at Mount Panorama have opened the event to sports cars and Audi has a pair of R8s coming from Europe - V8 Supercar racer Warren Luff will share with Lowndes - to take on the Porsche 911s that are expected to fight for victory.THE struggling Australian Rally Championship is headed for a revamp and improvement to its relevance under new chairman Scott Pedder. The retired driver intends to make the series more appealing to carmakers from 2011 and move it away from the reliance on the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evo contenders that dominate entry lists.THE full-scale renewal of the V8 Supercars field will take place in 2013 when the category's Car of the Future will become compulsory. There was talked of an optional phase-in for the change in 2012 but V8 Supercars bosses now say the transitional year has been dumped in favour of a single switch at the start of 2013.CITROEN stalwart Dani Sordo, who was superstar Sebastian Loeb's sidekick for five years at Citroen, is moving to Mini for this year's World Rally Championship. Mini is only planning a limited program against Ford and Citroen before a full-scale season in 2011, but has signed Sordo the Spaniard as lead driver alongside Chris Meeke of the UK.FORMER champion Chad Reed made a tentative return to AMA Supercross racing in the USA last weekend riding a Honda for his own team for the first time. The Aussie was fifth at Anaheim Stadium in Los Angeles as Ryan Villopoto won on the Monster Kawasaki he used to ride.

While Toyota's future FT-86 coupe has been grabbing the news - and motor show stands - around the world since last year, the Subaru version has been kept away from cameras.  Now it's in the open. The Subaru coupe will share the drivetrain with the Toyota but go its own way with body styling and cabin flair. Toyota says its two-door sports car - the first since the demise of the MR2 in 2007 - will go on sale in 2012 but the Subaru may not arrive until 2013.  Both cars use a rear-drive platform and front-mounted Subaru boxer engine driving a six-speed manual transmission. An all-wheel drive model was proposed by Subaru but has been dropped because of weight and cost issues.  Though a 2-litre third-generation normally-aspirated (NA) Subaru engine has been fingered as the likely engine, it may be replaced with the punchier 2.5-litre unit. As a sports car, the 2-litre's 109kW/196Nm output is down on some rivals. It compares, for example, with other NA 2-litre cars such as the Honda Civic Type-R's 148kW/193Nm and Mazda MX-5's 118kW/188Nm. The design and price of the Toyota-Subaru coupes may also put it up against turbocharged rivals including the Mini Cooper S, Peugeot RCZ, Citroen DS3, Renault Megane Sport and Volkswagen Polo and Golf GTIs. News from Japan indicates Toyota - which owns 16.7 per cent of Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries - has taken control of engine development and is looking at about 147kW (200hp) without any charging.  Subaru, on the other hand, may option its coupe with the WRX 2.5-litre turbo for 195kW/343Nm or the STI's enticing 221kW/407Nm. That may be enough sting to overcome weight issues and allow the coupe through as an all-wheel drive, pleasing Subaru Australia that has invested heavily in the "All4", exclusive all-wheel drive model range.  Impressive though an AWD coupe would be, it contrast initial plans. In April 2008, Toyota (TMC) and Subaru (FHI) announced the proposed jointly-developed coupe in a statement that says they would "jointly develop a compact rear-wheel-drive sports car that will be marketed by both TMC and FHI." "The compact rear-wheel sports car to be jointly developed by TMC and FHI is envisioned to offer a new `fun to drive' experience based on an all-new vehicle platform powered by an FHI core-technology horizontally-opposed engine. "Production is to take place at a new plant to be built at FHI's Gunma Manufacturing Division in Japan's Gunma Prefecture. TMC will consign production to FHI."

Most people expected Subaru's concept car unveiling on the opening morning to be its early reveal of the Subota coupe it is jointly developing with Toyota, which has already shown its thinking with the FT-86.Instead, the wraps come off a four-door sedan that Subaru says is the pointer to the future of its mainstream sedan cars.  That means the Impreza.Subaru has done some darn ugly concepts in the past and there are plenty of shoppers who are polarized by the American-centric design of the latest chunky Forester and Outback.But the Impreza Design Concept is surprisingly elegant, combining a sporty intent that looks much more inviting than today's blandoid Impreza. The good work starts at the chunk nose - complete with the latest interpretation of a corporate grille - and runs back through the trend wheel arch blisters to a chunky butt.The Impreza Concept is claimed as a runner, too, with Subaru's signature 2.0-litre boxer engine in the nose, a constantly-variable transmission and its signature all-wheel drive.Inside, there is a large touch-screen control panel and the technology tweak in the car is an anti-collision system linked to an EyeSight vision camera on the roof.

It's a test mule for the upcoming Subaru version of the shared FT-86 sports car being developed by Toyota. The outrageous body bits are supposed to disguise the car underneath, but instead - particularly because of the rear wing - they point directly to the Subaru connection. It's some of the most bizarre camouflage to hit the road in recent years but there is already a change from earlier test cars - a bonnet with a major bump. This could point to a top-mounted intercooler, something common on turbocharged Subaru engines, but there are also signs of a front-mounted cooler in the test car. So the bump points to this being a Subaru mechanical test car running the engine and transmission from the Impreza STi. Carparazzi sources say the FT-86 project uses a modified Subaru Liberty chassis with some Impreza parts, but with rear-wheel drive only.  It has two-plus-two seating in the cabin and fully-independent suspension. Some sources say the car will be ready by the end of 2011, at least as a Toyota, but there are also rumours it will not be ready for the road unit the back end of 2012. Even so, there is every chance of FT-86 appearances on the international motor show circuit, wearing both Toyota and Subaru badges, next year.

It's the month when the master blaster of the current lineup, the wide- body STi sedan complete with rally-style giant rear wing, hits Australia.  The STi sedan dominated sales of the go-faster Subaru Impreza models through its previous run in Australia, then went missing when Japan decided on a hatch-only sales policy for the current car.But the USA went its own way, demanding a sedan, and it's now the building block for the upcoming local hero.  "It's set for September. It could even be late August, which would mean some hot August nights," says Nick Senior, managing director of Subaru Australia.He says the STi sedan will have everything from the pumped-out guards of the latest 'wide body' WRX to a competition-style rear wing and bigger alloy wheels and brakes.  "It's more aggressive, it has the big wing," Senior says.  He is expecting a big boost to WRX sales when the STi hits, partly because of the car and partly as customers return to Subaru showrooms after the global financial crisis."We're probably selling 10-15 cars a month and we hope to lift that to around 50 when we launch the STi sedan. That market has been the one that's been most impacted by the GFC. It's more of a discretionary spend than any other model we have."Senior says the regular WRX now also comes with a sedan body, a move is already giving a boost to sales. "We're selling two sedans for every hatch. That's consistent with WRX since we first launched it. For many years it was 90 per cent sedan in Australia."Over time we would expect 70-80 per cent of WRX sales will be sedans.  Globally, hot hatches are the thing in Europe but in Australia it's exactly the other way around. We're rather unique in that."

Its adventurous nature is signalled by cues like the black wheel arch mouldings, roof rails and taller ground clearance – 30mm higher than the standard Imprezas.It also gets a revised grille, rear spoiler, 16-in alloy wheels, exhaust cover and sports bucket seats with ‘mocha accents to distinguish it from other variants’ – and possibly also because it’s a great colour to disguise when you’ve brought some of that adventurous outdoors back into the cabin.  The fit-out includes Bluetooth, iPod-compatible 10-speaker audio system and leather trim to steering wheel, handbrake and gearstick.Priced from $27,490 – with a $2000 premium to add a four-speed automatic transmission – the XV is powered by the 2.0-litre boxer engine carried by the Impreza R, RX and RS, mated to a five-speed manual with Subaru’s symmetrical all-wheel drive.The XV is designed to “carry on the spirit of the previous Sportswagon and RV, but with some youthful styling cues that we are confident will add a new dimension to our small car range,” says Subaru Australia managing director Nick Senior.He says the carmaker expects the newcomer to add 100 sales per month to Impreza’s tally.

But even if not a sure thing, you wouldn’t bet big against it.  Within days of the traumatic three-car incident that smashed both a fair amount of the screaming Mazda RX-8 SP competing in this year’s rally – and any hopes of the car finishing  –  Mazda Motorsport’s formidable boss, Allan Horsley, had begun to think not of what might have been (that would be challenging the eventual winning Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo Strada), but what will be…In the wake of that trauma, Horsley’s team directed its full focus into Mazda’s second entry, the Mazda3 MPS driven by Brendan Reeves and navigated by his sister Rhianon Smyth. In this they achieved second in the Showroom class and a little less than astonishing ninth overall. Not only was it the fastest front-wheel-drive, it licked Porsches, Evos, WRXs and an Audi TT-RS.No mean feat over five days, 40 stages and 2000km of competitive driving in often appallingly, all too Tasmanian autumn conditions piloting what one of the crew wryly described as a “turbo, front drive shopping trolley”.“For those people who think that a two-wheel drive can’t perform in the wet, just look at Brendan and Rhianon’s result,” said Horsley, a figure of local motor racing legend, who has never been constrained by convention. “With the best car, the best crew and the best team behind them – anything is possible.”The “best car” in the entire Targa, Mazda would argue, was not the weepingly expensive Lambo, though this was the one that captured not only the Targa title, but the hearts and minds of the spectating public.   Going into the third day, the Mazda team confidence that this Targa could be theirs was evident.This Horsley special RX-8’s bantam 1280kg and forced induction rotary engine imbued it with lynx-like agility through Tasmania’s endless twisties into which it was able to brake, according to driver Steve Glenney, some 100 metres later than certain rivals.When the going got straight, however, it couldn’t hope to match the kilometre-crushing Lambo. Already, though, Horsley is onto solutions to extract more in 2011.That engine – or at least its essential ingredients – will be housed in a newly-built RX-8 SP after an incident 11.6km into the Mount Roland leg that made one of the Targa’s most spectacular stages memorable for all the wrong reasons. But for the razor reflexes of Glenney, it might have also have been the site of a tragedy.Pouring into the first bend of a double apex right hander near the peak of the mount – not too far from where Eric Bana memorably came to grief a few years back – Launceston’s Simon Froude struck oil on the road and speared his Porsche 911 into the “cheese grater” steel cable that stands between competitors and likely oblivion in the form of an almost sheer drop.With the Porsche snagged by the front axle, its nose pointed towards the heavens, the crew of the next car through – David Ayers and Robbie Bolton in their Nismo 400R – halted as per race regulations and rushed to their aid.Then Glenney, with navigator Bernie Webb, poured through at perhaps 160km/h. With a split second to react, Glenney flung the car about and went into back of the Nismo, left three quarters first – a brilliant manoeuvre that surely saved himself and Webb from disaster. But not the RX-8 SP.“It was running beautifully,’’ Webb lamented as we waited for the flatbed to retrieve the shattered Mazda from the mountain road that now seemed even wetter and colder. “We’d had issues, but we’d overcome them. We’re out through no fault of our own.”By race’s end on Sunday afternoon, the Mazda crew, though ebullient over the MPS, knew they’d be back in 2011 to take care of what they clearly regard as unfinished business.Besides, what matters the 19th event when you can win the 20th and bequeath to the buying public an RX-8 SP 20th Targa (very) special edition?  You wouldn’t bet against it.In the meantime, we drivers of keenness, but infinitely less ability, can approximate in street legal form the Mazda Targa experience without access to car manufacturer’s racing budget.Every inch a rival for Volkswagen’s award-winning Golf GTI, the Mazda3 MPS starts from similar money - $38,435 – and packs an output that towers over the VW’s: the Japanese entrant rings 190kW and 380Nm from its turbo-charged four potter, over the German’s 155kW/280Nm.The RX-8, meanwhile, remains the world’s only mass –produced rotary engined car. While the version available to you and I comes without the Motorsport’s turbo-charger, but it does rev past 8000rpm and, from $55,715 (though you really want the $57,778 GT), seems unbelievably reasonable for something unique.

He says most of their customers are people who have been given a rally lesson as a gift."Almost exclusively it"s a gift from a female to a guy as a Father"s day, birthday or Christmas present," he says."Only about 10 per cent of our customers are females.Our customers are often people who are hard to buy presents for.They already have everything like a big screen TV and this is a bit different."RallySchool last year conducted courses for almost 5000 customers over 153 days in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.Of those, 80 days were in Sydney, 30 in Victoria, 22 in Perth and eight each in Queensland and South Australia, but this year Ryan plans to increase the Victorian courses to 52, South Australia to 14 and Queensland to 10.The courses include six-lap drives, 12-lap drives, and half-day and full-day courses with prices from $195 to $995.They also host corporate events and level two instruction which leads to CAMS licensing, however Ryan says only about one percent of their customers ever progress to competition level."Most people have had very limited previous competition experience and aren't interested in competing," he says. "We want to teach them driving skills and promote the sport. We want to show them how addictive it is." RallySchool has over 50 instructors with about half competing at varying levels from club to international."We have six instructors at each event with an average of about 100 years" shared experience," Ryan says.Currently among their team is Ben Atkinson who began driving in club rally championships in 1999, but has mainly filled his trophy cabinet as co-driver to his brother and former World Rally Championship driver Chris, plus Cody Crocker, the most successful driver in the history of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.I recently attended a half-day course with 10 other drivers at the Ipswich-based Willowbank track, which Ryan says is the fastest in the country with its clay base.The event begins with a briefing in which Ryan explains the fundamentals of rally driving and how it differs from road driving."The instructors will encourage you to go faster by pressing harder on the brake pedal," he says."Keep both hands on the steering wheels at 3 and 9 o'clock because you need to know at all times where your front wheels are pointing."You need your front wheels pointing down the road and you need to look down the road not where the car is pointed."He advises we leave it in third gear around the tight circuit to reduce the amount of wheelspin.Sceptical drivers head out with an instructor and pretty soon find out that the old dictum of "in slow, out fast" really works and a higher gear than you would normally select provides more control over the driving wheels. The cars have limiters to prevent you going ridiculously fast, but still hurtle around the track at higher speeds than most can handle.They run on normal road tyres to avoid churning up the track, but apart from the rubber and some suspension tweaks, the vehicles are virtually race ready. Pretty soon instructors have the novice drivers picking up speed and confidence and returning to the pits with a grin as wide as their outstretched arms.As Ryan says, "the guys on TV make it look easy". Having never driven on a dirt track before, I first had to "un-learn" a lot of tar habits such as trailing the brake and using a wide arc through corners. On the dirt, he says you get your braking over in a straight line and you stick to the "clean line" on the inside of the corner where the best grip is. They don't teach the "Scandinavian flick" or handbrake cornering, but they do teach valuable lessons in car feel and control.Each driver gets four six-lap sessions, one in each car (Lancer, Subaru and Ford ute), and the fourth in the car of their choice. Around the country, RallySchool has 14 vehicles: two Ford utes, one Holden ute, eight Subaru WRX STi sedans and four Evo Lancers.The three cars used at Willowbank are spread out on the track at the same time, so there is little down time for customers. They also rotate through a second Subaru as a passenger with Atkinson showing them the finer points of rally driving.To cap it off, customers also experience a hot lap with a rally driver, which puts their own brave attempts into perspective. The hot laps are a real adrenalin rush, but they also show just how far off the pace you are. For an extra $50, customers can also buy a video of their experience.Brad Hooper, 32, drove five hours up from Kempsey in his Golf GTI to take part in the course. "The instructor gets you to pick up your speed quite quickly," he says.The motorsport fan who also owns a Ducati 1098 motorcycle was given the gift by his wife, Kathryn, two years ago.Michael Whitehouse, 46, of Brisbane, has no interest in motorsport and was given the course as a present from his partner, Lynne Newbury."It's just an adrenalin rush," he said after his drive. Newbury bought the course for Whitehouse "because he has everything else"."I thought it best to buy him an experience he will remember," she says. "Now he can tick that one off his bucket list."WHAT I LEARNTI will never be Chris Atkinson;I drive too fast into corners and don"t use enough brake;If you go slower into the corner, you can get on the throttle earlier and achieve more terminal speed on the next straight;Braking transfers weight to the front wheels which gives them more grip and steering feel; The smoother you drive, the less you unsettle the car.SNAPSHOTWHAT: Rally driving lessonsWHERE: Richmond, Toronto NSW, Willowbank QLD, Werribee VIC, Tailem Bend SA and Bakers Hill WAHOW MUCH: six-lap drives ($195), 12-lap drives ($375), half-day ($555) and full-day course ($995)WHO: RallySchoolWEB: rallyschool.com.auPHONE: 1800 208 000