The 2009 Subaru Impreza 2.5 GT 5-Door

It says something when an automaker sees fit to give the tachometer a place of prominence in the gauge cluster. “We’re serious,” it implies. Unamused sports cars like the Porsche 911 assign the rev counter a level of gravity beyond being a glorified “engine is running” idiot light. Fortunately, the Paprika Red Subaru Impreza GT 5-door that recently arrived in the Autoblog Garage stated its intentions clearly by placing this most important gauge in its “proper” place. New to the Impreza range, the GT model is a chafing dish full of original WRX simmering through an automatic transmission. An autobox may seem anathema to the 224 horsepower turbo-fed boxer, but we were pleased to discover that all the fun is not sopped up by a spongy tranny.

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Shell phases out V-Power Racing fuel (100 RON)

From July 21st, Shell began phasing out Shell V-Power RACING fuel from 46 Coles Express sites in QLD, NSW, ACT and VIC. Availability of normal Shell V-Power (98 RON) is not impacted by this change.

Shell Australia Media Release:

The phase out of Shell V-Power RACING was a carefully considered decision. We took into account a number of considerations, including the need to meet changing market requirements.

Moving forward, Shell V-Power will be Shell’s premium performance fuel, available at selected Coles Express sites in Qld, NSW, VIC and SA. Shell V-Power is developed with Ferrari and is designed to improve the performance of many modern engines. Shell V-Power’s Friction Modification Technology (FMT) aids this. FMT is designed to help the engine turn more freely, and so help transfer energy from the fuel to the wheels more efficiently.

To help with the transition please refer to the question and answers below. For further information on this change, please contact Shell on 13 16 18.

Subaru propose an ECU update for MY08 STI

In an unusual move, Subaru are proposing an update of the ECU ROM update for the MY08 STi. Subaru Australia generally don’t make changes to the ECU ROM, indeed the only other times this has been done recently for turbo-charged Subaru’s was for the Liberty B4s back in 2002 and the MY00 (Version 6) STis in 2000.

The ECU update makes changes to the mid range fueling (mildly richer) as the comes on the boost, and some minor changes around redline to reduce throttle opening before the car hits the rev limiter (effectively softening the impact of the rev limiter when hit).

Also, the changes make fuel cut (which occurs when either preset boost levels have been exceeded or RPM limiter has been hit) effectively last longer by halting fuel delivery (and therefore engine operation) until boost drops to a lower level (MAP levels shown in absolute levels, not more commonly quoted gauge pressure). In simple terms, previously as long as manifold pressure was below 24 Psi when fuel cut had been triggered, engine operation would resume within a few hundred milliseconds, now manifold pressure must be below 10 Psi. This is to prevent the driver banging the car off the rev limiter repeatedly, with the longer pause in engine resumption ensuring the engine is at much lower torque levels when operation resumes.

These changes are designed to rectify some issues that have been mainly experienced by some MY08 STis that are seeing track time.

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Meet & Greet: 26th October, 12:30pm - Supercheap Nth Mackay

Monthly Meet N Greets are held so we can all meet up, have a chat, and even go for a cruise. The meeting place is at Supercheap North Mackay car park at 12:30pm on the last Sunday of the month.

The next meet is on the 26th of October, if your keen to meet us or catch up feel free to come along.

Click here to download the flyer to hand out to other subarus you might feel want to come along.

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Subaru debuts boxer diesel Forester and Impreza

Subaru debuted its new 2.0L diesel boxer engine earlier this year in the Legacy and Outback, and soon it will also be offered in the Forester and Impreza, though only in Europe. These two latest models to feature the unique horizontally opposed oil-burning engines will debut at the Paris Motor Show next month. The Forester 2.0D will offer 147 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque while returning 44.8 combined mpg in the European cycle, which is class-leading for a small CUV over there, while the Impreza 2.0D offers 148 hp and 258 lb-ft (fuel economy for the Impreza 2.0D was not released for some reason). The diesel Forester will hit showrooms later this month while Euro shoppers will have to wait until January for the diesel Impreza. While we certainly hope Subaru is tweaking its 2.0L diesel boxer engine to meet emissions standards in all 50 U.S. states, we haven’t heard one word about it.

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Japan’s Subarus get Stereoscopic Vision

Both Honda and Toyota have been toying with laser-based Active Cruise Control systems for over a decade now, while the German luxury car makers have offered more expensive radar-based gizmos for almost as long. The premise of both is that an electronic copilot keeps an eye on the road ahead maintaining a safe distance from the car in front, even slamming the brakes at the last moment in an emergency should the driver fail to react.

Now, Subaru has come up with a third system, which while not quite as advanced as KITT, is as close as we’ve ever seen. For a premium of $3,000 a new JDM Legacy or Outback can be fitted with twin cameras, one on each side of the rear view mirror, that use human like stereoscopic vision to judge distances and generally keep tabs on the driver. Not only does “EyeSight”, as the system is called, can help you keep your distance on the highway (which would have been handy for the McRae convoy on Sunday) and in stop start traffic, but also incorporates a lane departure warning system, a wake up call should everyone pull away from the lights but you (put your iPhone down), and even keeps an eye out for pedestrians while you look for that illusive break in traffic at a T-junction. Best of all, EyeSight will stop you driving through your own garage door because you selected Drive instead of Reverse – a shockingly common occurrence according to Subaru.

Click through to Subaru’s Japanese website to see a cool Flash presentation and video of the system in action. First click “Pick Up – EyeSight” then the engine start button, then (once the Intro finishes) EyeSight TECHNOLOGY Movie.

Three thousand bucks may sound like a lot of money, but how much do garages charge to repair even a minor fender bender these days?

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Colin McRae tribute convoy reaches 30-miles long

Oh, those Brits. When they’re not faking making corn circles they’re writing a rally legend’s name using 1,086 Subaru Imprezas as pixels. This, of course, was the finale to the weekend long celebration of Colin McRae’s life, which saw over 1,100 Scoobys converge on Prodrive’s test track in Warwickshire. Precisely how many cars took part in the ensuing 30-mile convoy is unknown, but if you don’t have anything better to do right now, you can have a go at counting them in the video after the jump (and look out for the near miss at 6:42). Even the local constabulary showed up in a WRX pursuit car.

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20-mile-long convoy of Subarus to celebrate life of Colin McRae

This picture was taken a just a day after the rally legend was killed in a tragic helicopter crash near his home in Lanarkshire. Without prompting, rally fans from across the UK drove to Scotland to hold a memorial in the McRaes’ hometown, which quickly filled up with Subarus, most of them WR blue.

One year on, they’ve gotten organized. Next Saturday, August 30, Colin’s dad, Jimmy, will drive his son’s famous 555 Impreza out of Lanark and head for Prodrive’s factory in Banbury, southern England. By the time he reaches Birmingham he will have 700 Subarus in his mirrors forming an all-wheel-drive parade that’s expected to stretch over 10 miles. Then, on Sunday the 31st, another 600 scoobies are set to join the tailback as it heads to Prodrive’s test track in Warwickshire. Yep, that’s 1,300 cars in a 20 -plus-mile snake, powered by 5,200 horizontally opposed cylinders.

Although official entry to the event is now closed, organizers expect even more Subarus to show up on the day. Details of the route can be found at http://www.mcrae-gathering.co.uk

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VIDEO: Time lapse build of Subaru rally car over 800 hours

It’s no secret that running a motorsports team is a lot of work, but probably most of us don’t know how much time and effort it really takes. Just building the race cars can take hundreds of man hours, as evidenced by this stop-motion video created by the U.S. Subaru rally team. Starting with a stock 2008 WRX STI, the team strips the car down to its frame by removing the engine, drivetrain, interior and even the windshield. The complete transformation takes an amazing 800 hours of labor. Knowing that makes us cringe even more when we see one roll end over end.

Click here to see the video.

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Mackay WRX Meet N Greet - 31/08/08 9:00am

Monthly Meet N Greets are held so we can all meet up, have a chat, and even go for a cruise. The meeting place is at Supercheap North Mackay car park at 9:00am on the last Sunday of the month.

The next meet is on the 31st of August, if your keen to meet us or catch up feel free to come along.

We will be leaving at 9.15am, so come along and bring a tank of fuel and find out where we are headed on the day. Ill be bringing along my r/c wrx for something to do on the stops.

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