- looks sharp - Boxer engine, need I say more? - great price/value - have not spent a cent other than oil changes - solid proven boxer engine (feels like my own little Porsche) - no problem getting to Whistler now (bring on the snow baby!!!)

- cheap paint!!!!!!!!!! - I stopped counting little dents - cheap interior - no 60/40 fold down - rattling noises - sunroof is too small

Love it! It took me a long time to find a used 2.5RS that was not smashed up and it was worth the wait. It is so much fun to drive and I love the look of the car. But in any case, I am always checking out the WRX, even though I am waiting to get a little more feedback in regards to quality. Even so, this was a great buy (1998 with 76000km on it) and has been a fun affordable sportscar since. Thank you Subaru!!! I wish I had the money to rally it, he he!

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'94 BMW 318is (fun car, but awefull in snow and the bills were outrages)

Handling, AWD, styling, headroom.

Interior wind noise, Thin paint, Has harmonic buzz at 110mph, Mechanical engine design.

Bought new in 97 currently has 32k showing but does not reflect the new AT installed at 28k or the new engine installed 2 wks after, nor the complete brake job not under warrenty. Replaced rear wheel bearing, front half shaft seals, drivers side door glass and insulators because of scratches, drivers side tail light gasket that was improperly mounted and filled the spare wheel well with water and damaged the compartment cover and lining of the trunk. I digress to detail the problems with the trans. and engine. Trans incured a 2-3 slipping shift at around 200 mi. I proceeded to document it at every opertunity possible til it was so bad the dealer service could no longer deny it. The engine developed "the knock" and it to became a battle line before confirmation and action given. This issue was at first handled through a silent recall, but now is expained as an inherent result of better engineering. All 2.5 group engines from 98 to present are expected to develope this enhancement at around 20 to 30k, interesting marketing strategy. I generally dumped a car when it did this. The technical explianation is in the haste to increase displacement the stroke was lengthened and the piston skirts were removed to clear the crankshaft throughs allowing the piston to be rocked in the cylinders as combustion starts across the piston top. It becomes ever more noticable during colder weather, cold starts and rears its ugly head out of gear at around 3200 rpm. So there it is. But even knowing all this I still went and bought a 2002 Outback Sport with the 2.5 engine which had received some redesign to the heads and inducton but not the rotating assembly. So now at 32k it too has the 'KNOCK". Here we go again.

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92 Legacey wagon 2.2 AT, loved it, should have reconditioned and kept it. 2002 Outback Sport Wagon 2.5 AT, sure miss that 92 Legacey.

Strong engine, good looks, good gas mileage, comfortable seats, good handling with after-market wheels and tires.

Extreme road noise (partly due to the low profile tires, but noisy with stock also), wind noise, automatic transmission shifting problems, frameless windows would catch on rubber molding every time I closed the door.

I decided to purchase this car because I wanted a reliable 4 door with decent gas mileage and who's looks I could handle. For the time I had it, it was reliable, and averaged between 25-28 mpg. I got an automatic because I anticipated spending time stuck in traffic during my 25 mile commute to work. I regretted it about 2 weeks after I bought it. The car accelerated fairly well for it's hp output, but would perform a lot better with a manual transmission. My pet peeve with this car was that when it downshifted going up a hill, no matter what the speed it would not upshift. I would end up running 4500 rpm on the freeway going up a hill and it wouldn't shift out of third. Very annoying. But everything else worked well. I put some 16 inch six-spoke alloys on it, and along with the plum-colored paint it was a real looker. Unfortunately it apparently looked better to someone else and they wanted it worse than I did, it was recently stolen.

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Acura Vigor. I hope to purchase a Subaru Impreza 2.5RS next

AWD snow and rain performance. Nice combination of ride comfort and performance.

Poor paint. Poor aftermarket support. Constant little and expensive major repair cost. Poor dealer service.

Best handling car I ever owned. Excellent combination of ride and performance. Always made me smile in the snow and rain. I upgraded the rear sway bar to 20mm. Made the car even more fun allowing you to induce trail break over steer and nice controlled tail out slides in slippery conditions. But! this was the most irritating car I have ever owned. I put 125K on this car over 4 years. Most of it highway miles during a daily commute of 80k. I have never experienced a car interior that eeked and squeeked, icked and acked, ticked and clicked, bizzed and buzzed more than this one. God help you if you want to work on the car yourself because in Canada anyways Subaru will not! sell you a shop manual. Even if they would it would cost you several hundred dollors! And forget about aftermarket support. The only thing I could buy outside a Subaru dealership was oil filters and air filters. None of the parts stores in my area even had listings for Subaru or could even cross reference. Everything had to be purchased through the dealership. Any boy could they charge. I estimate that compared to the other cars I have owned I was paying at least 40% more for Subaru parts than I paid for equivalent parts on other cars. Just as an example 5 days without a car to have a bad Mass air flow sensor diagnosed and replaced. They only charged me for 3 hours labor over the 5 days but they didn't offer me a courtesy car and they charged me $800 dollars. Needless to say I tried to stay away from the dealership as much as possible. I had the brakes done at Speedy Muffler & Brake. Their service was great but they couldn't find any aftermarket source for Subaru brake pads. They had to purchase them through the dealership. They had to call two dealerships, one local and one out of town to get a straight and correct answer on what pad to use. The dealer would not deliver so the Speedy guy had to jump in his own car and go get them, they were so expensive even at his cost ($175 for rear pads) that he gave them to me for the same price because he felt sorry for me. And gave me a life time warranty on them. He later did one of the rear wheel bearings for me. That involved another similar scramble for parts and a $300 bill. After the repair he showed me the bad bearing. It had a standard part number stamped on it that he felt he could cross reference if there was a next time and save me money. Then there was the clutch. I don't abuse clutches. Trying to spin four wheels is just a waste of time and money. Remember I ran up most of my miles on the highway at a steady 100 to 120 km/hr. But the clutch in this car was one of the most infuriating things about it. Once warm it was a model of ease and smoothness. When cold especially on damp days it exhibited a nasty tendency to chatter or shudder as you engaged it. It would start to engage nice and smooth and just as the car started to roll and you felt things were going fine where you could relax and let the rest of the clutch peddle travel out, it would begin this very intense shuddering where it felt like a motor mount had broken. You had to disengage rev it up and slip the clutch to get going. Slipping the clutch and starting off in second gear for the first two or three engagements in the morning would prevent this from happening. Not good for clutch longevity though. I have recently gotten rid of the car with mixed feelings. I will miss the AWD for sure. I have never had so much fun with a car in the winter or rain. I will not miss the constant problems, lack of refinement and fear of high repair costs though! It's funny, even after I have gotten rid of the car I still look it up in the consumer surveys. A recent Consumer Guide Lemon Aid Car Guide describe this car as while mechanically reliable with below average complaints about the drive train. It did suffer from premature rear brake pad wear, cheap interior material, fit and finish, premature rear wheel bearing failure and a weak clutch. Hmmm... maybe it wasn't me after all! I even read the long term report on the highly regarded and hyped WRX in Road & Track magazine with great anticipation. After only 15,000 miles the comments included mention of the cheap interior and clutch chatter. Now I know it wasn't me!

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My past cars were 1969 Austin 1800, 1980 Renault R5 (LeCar), 1988 Honda CRX, and my new car (back to Honda) 2002 SIR

Power, especially at take off, stunning looks, beatiful interior, superb handling..The power button gives the car a serious kick when needed, especially when racing on the freeway! However, if it didnt have it, it would still kick it in...

None really so far...Maybe the petrol usage, takes a guzzling, but should be expected...

What can i say? This car is everything i could ever want or need in a car. I prev had a Mitsubishi Lancer which i thought was the king, but since purchasing this vehicle, i now realise i was seriously mistaken. The take power, looks and handling of this car is beyond belief, and must be experienced to be believed...

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Mitsubishi Lancer...doesn't even compare!

Fun Reliable Good Looker AWD Comfy

Paint's cheap Sheet metal's to thin Bad digital gauge pack Wheel bearings Radio is poor sounding

What can I say? This car is awesome! I have been a huge Subaru fan for many years now and I think the RS is the best car Subaru has built yet! Plows through the snow, corners on a dime, and launches off the line faster then a WRX. And it’s a real head turner. This models style is much sharper looking the 2002 Impreza’s. (Just my opinion) The ride is super smooth and great on long trips. Sometimes is scary how well this car grips the road. Take that corner at 90? No problem! Gas mileage ranges from 22-33 mpg. Depending on how fast I feel like driving that week. :) Few problems have come up after owning this car for 30,000 miles. Both rear wheel bearings blew up on me. Of course the dealership replaced them under warranty, with out any confrontation. The Digital gauge-pack sucks! It’s been replaced 4 times and the temperature part still does not work!! And last but not least are the paint and body panels. The paint is thin and the body panels dent when a feather falls on the hood. My whole front bumper, hood and fenders look like someone took a sand blaster and destroyed my paint. This is just from normal driving conditions. And I have door dings up the kazoo! I also drive a 91 Legacy and the sheet metal is much stronger and the paint is thicker! Come on Subaru, what’s up?! But the best thing about the car is when you sit down and drive it! I still get a huge grin on my face when I speed off into the desert sunset!

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1987 Subaru GL-10 Turbo Wagon 4x4 1991 Subaru Legacy Wagon awd

Power and reliability.

Tires can bottom out on wheel wells on hard turns. Automatic transmission has a very clunky shift from 1st to 2nd.

Reliable fun sports car -- what can top that? I think this car will never let me down. Subaru certainly has a great concept here. I hope they''ll keep developing the normally aspirated engine lines.

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None

Handling, AWD system, i like the interior of mine (solid black w/ silver dash areas), seats, good acceleration for the size engine, smooth ride and good passing power on the highways.

The buggy round headlights, cup holder placement and no trunk light.... minor technicalities.

The vehicle i had before my Subaru was an SUV. After an unfortunate incident with sed SUV, i purchased my silver RS. I will never purchase another SUV again, my RS stays glued to the road in all kinds of conditions, handles like champ, plows through snow (and anything else), cruises nicely on the highway and is pretty fair on gas. I recently had my windows tinted and put a yakima rack system on top, now it''s ready for anything. I totally love this car, and certainly don''t feel that i''m missing out on HP from the WRX (i can''t afford any traffic tickets) therefore this car is ideal. It''s rather unique looking and i have yet to see one exactly like mine, there''s not a bizillion of them on the road.

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Honda Civic VW

motor, AWD, price, fun factor looks

thin body work,wind noise cheap interior no motor options other than WRX not fair and TOO MUCH BODY ROLL IN CORNERS FOR A SPORT SEDAN SHOULD BE STIFFER

first impresion was torqey motor it goes good for a 4cyl looks good drives a little twitchy good brakes had to use them lately and they saved them where others would not have have devoloped a rattle in windshield backfiring at low speeds(afterfiring through exaust) and a slight banging in the back end when shifting aggresively from 1st to 2nd to 3rd car will go right along on highway had mine at 126MPH +- at 5700RPM +- and thats nice for the money

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2001 VW jetta vr6 95 eclipse gsx

Awesome torque, awesome handling, awesome AWD system, awe and more awe from passer-byers, chic magnet, sweet stock body kit, decent amount of aftermarket parts out there. In my opinion, the ''Blue Ridge Pearl'' color is the best color (especially for an Impreza RS). Roomy.

Dent-magnet to jealous people, thin coating of paint, water pump leak @24000(warranty), cheap stock tires, power drops @ 5600 rpm, redline @ 6200 rpm.

This was my first car and it got me attention and looks right when I first test drove it. Car had 13000 miles on purchase, no mods, $17000... good enough for me. The car is 165 ponies, strong for the money I spent on it. The Scooby looks like it''s gonna literally eat up the car in front of it if you are looking at it from outside of the car. There aren''t very many local owners of the Impreza, but when you do it''s where you make your friends. There are not too many different aftermarket choices out there (compared to the other sports models), but there are plenty. The AWD is hella tight, because I''d be cruising by on a slushy freeway @ 45-55mph (everyone going 30) and the car is still striding forward with control. Also, when I do race, I start at 3000-4000 rpm and the car takes off with me and passengers pinned to the seat. Value and dependability is above average. I now have 36000 miles on it since 11/2000... wow! Tempted modify and drive it everywhere.

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1990 Buick Skylark: nice ride, everything else sucks.