TMW - The Licence loser or the car to frighten the elderly, either way, this is one hell of a car.

There is only one car thats available that will frighten the old and get the kids to grin with envy, and that is the Subaru WRX/STi, and when it is the traditional Blue, then you know you have a car thats not only a licence loser, but a back cruncher, and thats exactly what you have here with this Subaru.

The Scooby just oozes speed from the outside, from the Pic-Nic table spoiler at the back, the side skirts and the deep grill at the front and the huge air duct on the bonnet, you just know that you will not be let down in this car.

Being that this car is a four wheel drive with manual gearbox, getting the power down smoothly is difficult, well, at the start of ownership, once you get used to the way the car works then getting the car to pull away at speed without either slipping the clutch, over revving or making the car misbehave, either way, that noise you get from the quad exhaust is just awesome, and one that you never get used too, take it through a tunnel, rev hard and the noise is phenomenal.

The four door saloon, as a bog standard car is great, plenty of room in the back for the rear passengers, and the huge boot space, bring it to the front and again you have loads of space for front seat passengers, but then add it to that power and it takes it to another level, a level thats not matched or beaten by anyone, the nearest rival is no long available, and the Mitsubishi Evo X is no more.

the 2.5 litre Boxer engine, with twin scroll turbocharger is more power that you will ever need, the top speed of the car is 159mph, so more than double the UK maximum speed limit, and because of the power and speed, it means that the CO2 is a whopping 242g/km, and thusly the fuel consumption just happens to be :-

• Urban Cycle 20.2mpg
• Extra Urban Cycle 33.6mpg
• Combined Cycle 27.2mpg

Now, these figures might look low, and they are, but you expect this in a car of this ilk, working your way through the short shift gears is easy, and you get up to 6th gear quickly and efficiently, with the fully independent suspension all around giving stability and making journey's sure footed and easy.

The display up front gives you all the info you could ever need, now, whether it was me, or the car, i cant say, but i found the central display difficult to operate and getting the info i needed was not that easy, so i left it on the fuel consumption page, so that i can see what i was, or was not achieving.

You can lock the central dif if your needing to drive heavy in a straight line, but try and turn a corner with teh central diff lock on, and it does not like it, at all  !

The Car cost £29,000 before any options are added, but then it comes with a whole host of standard kit including, but not limited too :-

• LED Lamps Front & Rear
• Pop-Up Headlamp Washers
• Front Fog Lamps
• Rear Diffuser
• Rear Privacy Glass
• Leather & Alcantara Seats
• Aluminium Pedals
• Electric Windows
• Keyless Entry
• Push Button Start
• Dual Zone Air Con
• Multi Function Display
• Seven Airbags
• ABS with EBD
• Bluetooth
• Four Cylinder Boxer Burble
• Cruise Control
• Hill Start Assist
• Torque Vectoring
• Boost Pressure Gauge

And So on, these are just a small selection of the options that you will find on this car, and it is all these and more that make the car a brilliant car to own and run.

CONCLUSION

So, would i have one, well, if you ignore the low mpg, the firm suspension, and the over hard seats that can hurt your back, then too damned right i would, but then those things are expected, and complaining about them after you have taken delivery is wrong, owning a car like this comes with these foibles, so, you have to suck it up and enjoy it.

Just enjoy the speed, the room, the look, oh yes that look, it is a stunning car, and the noise, thats another reason to have this car, the noise it makes, you will never get fed up with opening the window and tapping the accelerator, the growl is something to love and enjoy, ok, yes i want one, and i want it now, unfortunately i dont think my back would cope though.