Topic: This could be Snowman's car, 450hp 3.7L turbo Legacy

[UmroAyyar]

When another batch of spy photos of the upcoming Subaru Exiga surfaced yesterday, we didn't give it much thought. We pretty much know the styling direction and dimensions of Subaru's new people mover, but one portion of AutoExpress' article caught our attention. In addition to the Exiga joining a new Legacy sedan and Outback wagon in 2009, Subaru's future drivetrain plans include dropping the 3.0-liter boxer and reworking the 2.0- and 2.5-liter engines to increase efficiency and power. The naturally aspirated 2.0-liter will supposedly produce 200 hp, while the current turbocharged 2.5-liter will exceed 300 hp. While neither of which is huge news, AE also mentions that a Legacy STI is on the way with a turbo'd 3.7-liter producing close to 450 hp. Whether or not such a beast will actually come about is open to debate, but when it does, we hope that Subaru has the foresight to make it available in the U.S.

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/29/subaru-legacy-sti-rumored-to-have-450-hp/

[Snowman]

  One thing that bothers me about Subaru is that they keep the most interesting cars on the piece of pumice in the Pacific Ocean.

[Mitlov]

One thing that bothers me about Subaru is that they keep the most interesting cars on the piece of pumice in the Pacific Ocean.

And yet, people don't light into them like they light into Ford for having separate lines in Europe and North America.  Funny how that works...

[UmroAyyar]

One thing that bothers me about Subaru is that they keep the most interesting cars on the piece of pumice in the Pacific Ocean.

And yet, people don't light into them like they light into Ford for having separate lines in Europe and North America.  Funny how that works...

Not true. People drool over Ford's, GM's overseas offerings as much as they do on some of Subaru's.

Ford and GM are beginning to test waters in that case. Let see if Subaru does that too.

Subaru is quite a small player in the market compared to Ford and it reflects in people's opinions as well.

[Mitlov]

And yet, people don't light into them like they light into Ford for having separate lines in Europe and North America.  Funny how that works...

Not true. People drool over Ford's, GM's overseas offerings as much as they do on some of Subaru's.

By "light into," I meant "flame" or "bash" or "excessively criticize."  People drool over JDM Subarus, yet they don't call Subaru of Canada "a bunch of f---ing morons" for not bringing them over.  That's a big distinction I see.

[Wolfe]

That's a big distinction I see.

And you don't see a distinction between a Legacy STi vs. and a Euro Focus?

One is a limited volume, high performance version of Subaru's highest priced car line, the other is an alternative version of a mainstream model.


I think much of the criticism of Ford regarding their refusal to bring the European Focus here results from the fact that they left the original Focus largely unchanged here for so long while investing in major improvements to the same model elsewhere. In the internet age a lot of people notice things like that and it creates the impression that the North American Focus is a second rate car. Ford themselves may not have benchmarked the NA Focus vs. the Euro Focus but that doesn't mean North American consumers didn't notice the difference.



Weren't the previous generation Legacy STi's powered by the same engines as the WRX STis? If so they'd probably have been slower than the WRX STi and most likely more expensive too and, of course, the Legacy STI wouldn't have any extra brand prestige to sell on either. All considered a Legacy STi would have been a very tough sell here in North America. Now a 450hp, 3.7L Legacy STI certainly does bring something more than the WRX STI and would be a much easier sell.

[The Mighty Duck]

And yet, people don't light into them like they light into Ford for having separate lines in Europe and North America.  Funny how that works...

Subaru has an advantage in that their North American offerings are actually good to begin with.  Ford is offering us junk here and selling good cars in Europe.  Subaru is offering us very good cars here and selling amazing cars in the rest of the world (like the Forester STI...  ).

[johngenx]

No one buys an STi for the fuel economy.  Drop the 3.7L turbo in the STi body immediately and the Evo X just became a non-player in the AWD performance car arena...

[Mitlov]

No one buys an STi for the fuel economy.  Drop the 3.7L turbo in the STi body immediately and the Evo X just became a non-player in the AWD performance car arena...

Except that the STI already has an understeer problem--one that makes it slower around many tracks than the heavier, less powerful EVO--and increasing the size of the engine by 50% is going to make that a whole lot worse.  A 450-hp, 3.7L engine at the front of an Impreza would turn it into a straight-line monster but a backroads pig.  And that's not what a rally car should be.

[ghost]

One thing that bothers me about Subaru is that they keep the most interesting cars on the piece of pumice in the Pacific Ocean.

That's really quite funny. 

[safristi]

Depends on how it RUBS -Ya!!!! ....pumice tha Godess of Larva....

[Triple Bob]

"Exiga"... How very dare they!