Welcome to the unofficial Subaru Impreza reference site where you will find everything and anything about the Subaru Impreza. Whether it is a WRX turbo, STi Type R 22B or humble 1.8 litre wagon we will hopefully have the answer for you. Also part of the site is the Impreza Web Owners Club (IWOC), a group of enthusiasts who share one thing in common, interest in the Subaru Impreza

The following pages are dedicated to one car in particular, the Subaru Impreza Turbo. This is the car which I chose to replace my old faithful Celica after 6 years of ownership. Amongst other things you will find details, news and information on the road going versions plus information on the rally versions of the Impreza from Group N to the World Rally Car. Included are road tests by myself and others, my own accounts of ownership of not one but two Impreza Turbos and finally the Impreza Web Owners Club (IWOC). Read on!

My original 1989 Toyota Celica GT4 2litre Turbo 4x4

The World Rallying Championship has brought about many interesting vehicles and there have always been show room and modified categories as well as some spectacular specials in the 1980's. Unfortunately there were some fatalities and the series returned to a show room based competition with the specials now being limited to certain events as special off road rallies such as the Paris Dakar. From 1988 to 1996 the rules required that any car entered into the championship had to be type approved with at least 5000 built and sold to the public, an engine capacity of no greater than 2 litres but turbo charging being permitted, and 4 wheel drive in a 4 seat (if not 4 door) saloon/coupe. This has brought about quite a few specialist cars available to the public, and who's going to complain? The first car that really exploited this rule was the awesome Audi Quattro, and from this spawned a generation of lookalikes from competing manufacturers.

Unfortunately some markets do not allow these road going rally specials to be imported due to emissions/noise restrictions etc, and thus they have never seen the normal road going cars such as the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, Lancia Delta Integrale, Nissan Sunny GTiR, Toyota Celica GT4, Subaru Impreza Turbo etc.

1995 World Rally Championship Group A Contenders
Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi Lancer E3, and Toyota Celica GT4

It was due to the success of the Impreza on the World Rally Championship that almost over night cult status grew. Before 1995 not many people gave the small family saloon a second glance, and then one man, a certain Colin McRae changed that one week in November 1995 taking a win in the RAC Rally of Great Britain. He came back the following year and on winning the rally snatched the championship title from the grasp of his team mate Carlos Sainz in a sister car. Further information on the rally car versions of the Impreza can be found on the Rally Impreza section of the site.

With motorsport success the motoring press started to take notice of this pocket rocketship in its road going form and there was hardly a month which went by in 1997 where a version of the car was featured or tested. Since the introduction to the UK in 1993 the model has been through a face lift exercise at the end of 1996, and now at the end of 2000 there is an all new Impreza aiming directly at the likes of Audi, Ford and VW. This new version, known as the New Age Impreza, will see for the first time the Impreza Turbo being imported into the USA.

As mentioned above I replaced my Celica with an Impreza Turbo, and now am on my second. An account of Impreza ownership from my perspective can be found within these pages.

These pages generate a lot of interest from owners of the marque and from a handful of us keeping in touch by email 4 years ago we now have the Impreza World wide web Owners Club (IWOC) with over 1200 owners and counting from all around the world! Membership is free and is based around these pages and the IWOC email list server. If you want to keep in touch with Impreza news, scoops, and information IWOC is the place to be!