Will the new Impreza be a dismal failure?

[grugsticles]

I think the car will be on the speed from the first competitve stage.

The SWRT have spend a wad of cash, a lot of time building/designing/testing/adjusting to get the car back all with Subaru Ajapan oin thier backs.
They have a great test driver in Marco Martin (I still wish he would return ), so i cant see how the car can fail.

If anythying, there might be mechanical reliability issues, but as far as speed is concerned the car will be up as a definate rally winner.

[jens]

Won't your countryman Markko Märtin drive the new Subie on some occasion this year ??

There have been rumours about his participation in the Finnish rally, but nothing concrete yet.

[grugsticles]

There have been rumours about his participation in the Finnish rally, but nothing concrete yet.

Now im excited!

[WRC2006]

Chris has achieved consistently good results, but what I am afraid of is that even if the new car is quicker, it would be unreliable and Chris would fail to continue scoring good consistent points like he is doing now. In the current state of WRC finishing is more important than just pure speed. There is no doubt that Loeb has been clearly faster than Atko so far this year, but he has had one more retirement and therefore is only 2 points ahead.

Conclusion: Better drive a car, which consistently brings you a 3rd place rather than a car, which finishes in 2nd position in half of the rallies, but retires from the other half.

Like I said above, I repeat it again, Chris is driving the Subaru Impreza according to the weaknesses of the car. He doesn't push it hard because he knows already that the car will never cope with the pressure. The real example is Petter who crashes almost in every rally while trying to push it hard. Why do you ask him to push the car which break down every time it is pushed on the limit? Better to slow down and score important points for his team.

Remember his main target is to score as much as possible for his boss before thinking on his personal interest. Following this, I think he is doing a brilliant job compared to the car he has.

[Daniel]

There have been rumours about his participation in the Finnish rally, but nothing concrete yet.

Hasn't Markko gone on record saying that he doesn't want to drive competitively again?

[Zico]

I think the car will be on the speed from the first competitve stage.

The SWRT have spend a wad of cash, a lot of time building/designing/testing/adjusting to get the car back all with Subaru Ajapan oin thier backs.
They have a great test driver in Marco Martin (I still wish he would return ), so i cant see how the car can fail.

If anythying, there might be mechanical reliability issues, but as far as speed is concerned the car will be up as a definate rally winner.

Yep, me too. This is SWRT's chance to address the issues with the old car, I think they will take it with both hands.

[jens]

Why do you ask him to push the car which break down every time it is pushed on the limit? Better to slow down and score important points for his team.

Where did I say this? I'm satisfied with his consistency.

Hasn't Markko gone on record saying that he doesn't want to drive competitively again?

That too, but on the other hand - never say never. : Those Finnish rally rumours have so far indeed been only rumours and Subaru has officially denied them.

[Torsen]

i'm sort'a under the impression that the new car will be worse ... it probably won't be until the 2009 season that they get all the kinks knocked out.... GO SUBARU!

[Kharts]

I think both Subaru driver's are winning talent and I think Prodrive will probably be making a better car but I'm skeptical on whether the new car will be a winner because of its size/wheelbase etc. I'm no engineer but it seems like the short wheelbase cars (focus/C4/Xsara/206) are winners while all the long ones (EVO/Impreza/307) have struggled in general.

Doesn't the new Imprezza have a longer wheelbase than the current one by something like 10cm? I so badly want them to be winning again but I'm not convinced its going to happen until Subaru corporate can give them a smaller car to work with.

[Daniel]

I think both Subaru driver's are winning talent and I think Prodrive will probably be making a better car but I'm skeptical on whether the new car will be a winner because of its size/wheelbase etc. I'm no engineer but it seems like the short wheelbase cars (focus/C4/Xsara/206) are winners while all the long ones (EVO/Impreza/307) have struggled in general.

Doesn't the new Imprezza have a longer wheelbase than the current one by something like 10cm? I so badly want them to be winning again but I'm not convinced its going to happen until Subaru corporate can give them a smaller car to work with.

A long wheelbase isn't a bad thing.